I'm looking at Vizio's 42" LCD TVs. There's a 60 Hz model, 120 Hz model, and a 240 Hz model. What's the Hz rating do for me and is it worth the extra money for the 120 or 240?

That refers to the number of times that the screen is refreshed in a minute. the higher the number the smoother the screen flow looks. If you are watching a football game on a low res tv and the camera is panning down the field the yard markers will appear to jump from one spot to the next. On a hi res tv they will flow more smoothly. Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

yep, duckie has it right. with the 60 a lot of fast paced sports stuff can be a blur. THe higher the res the clearer things will be. If you just watch normal TV, and area not a gamer. the 60 will be fine I would think.. I have a 120 and still notice some blur.

Cool- thanks guys. There won't be any games played on this TV, but it will have a lot of sports on it. It sounds like I'd likely be OK going with the 120 then?

DD, when you said you still notice some blur on your 120, are you referring to gaming or is that for a typical sporting event (BB, FB, and golf will be on our TV a lot)?

The material is received with a maximum frame rate of 60, which means the picture is only updated at 60Hz and that is a maximum. Sometimes it is only 30, depending on format.

So I am not sure how the faster refresh really helps. Maybe it lets them use a different LCD screen that is faster or something. The best idea would be to go to a store and watch each set for a while. Make sure they are set to the same settings, like default or whatever, for color contrast brightness etc.

I have the 120hz 47" vizio, and on gaming(ps2) there is some blur, not any noticed while watching tv or football (but i have HD programming). HD programming makes a huge difference.

I have a 120hz 42" LG and only notice the blur when something pans really quickly. Otherwise, its not a problem.

So, if you watch sports where the camera is moving alot to follow the action, it may be worth it for you depending on cost.

Your standard definition signal will only allow for the native resolution and refresh rate. Therefore in order to fully achieve the potential 120hz refresh rate, it would need to display the high definition signal. According to Samsung and their 120hz and 240hz TVs, you need to be receiving a 1080p resolution to obtain the full refresh rate potential. Therefore, on anything other than 1080p gaming systems, 1080 On Demand services from some providers, Blu Ray, or HD DVD signals, you will not reach the TVs full potential.

I think the marketing folks are woofing you. I found this on CNET. HD programming is either 30(60 interlaced) or 24 frames per second. 24 frames per second is only used on blu-ray movies because that is the rate film at the theater was.

To best display 24 frames per second the tv has to be a multiple of that. So if you have 120 it displays each frame 5 times. If you have 60 it has to play some games since 60/24 doesn't come out even.

The stuff about motion sounds like baloney to me. here is the part of the article talking about it.

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More mixed signals: 1080p/60 versus 1080p/24
1080p HDTVs are a dime a dozen, but not all 1080p HDTVs are created equal. First off, some older HDTVs with 1080p resolution couldn't accept 1080p sources at all. More recently, the advent of Blu-ray has delivered another video format variation to worry about: 1080p/24.

The numbers 24 and 60 refer to frame rate. Moving video is composed of a certain number of frames transmitted every second that combine in the viewer's mind to create the illusion of movement. The nominal rate for film is 24 frames per second, while the rate for video is 30 frames per second. In standard 1080p video, which is technically 1080p/60, each frame is repeated twice. Every 1080p HDTV sold today can accept and display 1080p/60 sources via its HDMI inputs.

Not every 1080p HDTV properly displays 1080p/24 sources, however. Most Blu-ray players, as well as the PlayStation 3, have a setting that lets the player transmit 1080p/24 video directly. Blu-ray Discs with movies that originate on film are encoded at 1080p/24 to preserve the proper cadence of film--that characteristic motion that's smooth but not too smooth. If your player is set to output 1080p/24 directly, and your TV can properly display it, you're seeing the image as close as possible to what the director intended--how it looks when displayed on a cinema screen from a film projector at your local movie theater.

Generally, for an HDTV to properly display 1080p/24 it needs to have a refresh rate at some multiple of 24. The standard refresh rate for HDTVs of all varieties is 60Hz, which is not a multiple of 24. There's no benefit to sending these displays 1080p/24 instead of 1080p/60. If the HDTV can actually show the signal (some cannot), the result usually looks the same regardless of the setting on your Blu-ray player.

On the other hand, increasing numbers of LCD TVs have refresh rates of 120Hz or 240Hz, for example, while a few plasmas refresh at 48Hz, 72Hz, or 96Hz. All are exact multiples of 24. Some of these HDTVs come closer to preserving the cadence of film than others, and some can introduce extra dejudder video processing (usually user defeatable) that also affects cadence. Unlike with resolution, there's no easy way to tell from the spec sheet if a display with a multiple of 24 as its refresh rate handles 1080p/24 correctly, although most such displays that we've tested do.

For most viewers the visible benefits of 1080p/24 are slight. Displays that cannot show it correctly can nonetheless produce a viable semblance of film's cadence, one that to experienced viewers appears to stutter slightly, especially in pans or camera movement, instead of move more smoothly like true film cadence. But for purists interested in seeing every last benefit of film, 1080p/24 signals mated to a 1080p/24-compatible display are worth the investment
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