The best TV refresh rate is 120Hz and higher, but there are pros and cons to that.

Today's 4K TVs are all marketed with "action" and "clear" numbers from 60 to 240 and higher.They are mostly made up.The real story is here.

The M-Series Quantum is marketed with higher refresh rate numbers.

TV makers don't do much to explain refresh rate, which is one of the more confusing aspects of TV technology.They often double it.

The refresh rate is how many times per second the image on your TV changes.It's rare to see a TV with the number 60 listed.The soap opera effect and black frame insert are used by manufacturers to claim a higher number.Sometimes those claims are justified and sometimes they aren't.

The higher the refresh rate, the more accurate it is.No 4K TV has a native panel refresh rate higher than 120Hz.It doesn't mean the claim is false if the number is higher than 120Hz.

You can see the terms on various TV makers' marketing materials and websites.Many don't use the term "refresh rate" or "Hz" when referring to the TVs motion handling capability.

The TruMotion number is listed along with the panel's native refresh rate.

It used to be about this, but now it's more upfront."Motion Rate" is what its 4K TVs and 8k TVs have.This is more than the native refresh rate.Motion Rate 240 shows a native refresh of 120Hz.A 60Hz refresh is what a Motion Rate of 60 means.

Sony doesn't list a number on its website for most of its TVs in 2019.There is a number along with the native refresh on others.

The native refresh rate is double the Effective Refresh Rate.The "Clear Action" number is triple the ERR and so 6x the native refresh rate.

The sets say "60/ 120Hz CMI" for the cheapest models, but all of them are actually 60Hz native refresh.The most expensive TV is the 75-inch 6 series.

You need a native 120Hz refresh television for the most effective increase in motion resolution.It is possible to have some improvement even with a 60Hz TV if it uses some other feature that improves motion resolution.

The refresh rate is the number of times a TV changes the image.This was 60 times per second with traditional TVs.

120 frames per second is the rate some modern TVs can refresh at.We've covered this before and it's the same with 4K TVs.Some parts of the world have TVs that refresh at 50 and some at 100.It depends on the electricity in your country.

50 and 60 work the same, as do 100 and 120.For my own sanity, and ease of reading, I'm going to stick with 60 and 120, but feel free to read that as 50 and 100 if you're in the UK, Australia or any place with 50Hz electricity.

Is the higher refresh numbers just another "more is better"?Is it a marketing ploy?Not completely.Motion blur can be reduced in TVs with higher refresh rates.

The models suffer from motion blur.This is where an object in motion blurs and looks softer than if it were stationary.

The blur is created by your brain.Your brain makes assumptions as to where the object is going to be in the next fraction of a second.The problem with the current TVs is that they hold the image for the full 60th of a second, so your brain thinks it should be moving, when in fact it's just a series of still images.

The details are beyond the scope of this article.BlurBuster's article is great for more information.

The motion blur we're talking about is caused by how the television works.This is not the same as the blur the camera creates.

Some people don't care about motion blur.Some people don't even notice.I notice it and am bothered by it.It can be minimized.

The refresh rate is only part of the solution.Doubleing the same frames doesn't really help reduce motion blur.Something else is needed.

Two main methods are used.The first is frame interpolation, where the TV itself creates brand-new frames that are sort of a hybrid of the frame that came before and the one that comes after.This can fool your brain because it doesn't blur the image.It can lead to the soap opera effect, which makes movies look like smooth reality TV shows.The effect is hated by film buffs and others who pay close attention to image quality.

There are different levels of processing where motion blur can be reduced and not cause harm to the image.On the other end of the dial, there's even less motion blur, but the movement is very realistic and67531.Some TVs let you choose how much processing is applied to the image, others only have a single setting.There are more settings to be found further down.

Black frame insert or scanning backlight are other alternatives.This is where the TV's backlight goes black.This means that the image doesn't hold in place, so your brain does not see it.Many people will see the image flicker if it is poorly done.The light output of the TV is not outputting any light for a period of time.

Both of these techniques are used by manufacturers to come up with their "effective refresh rate" numbers.An effective refresh rate of 120 might be claimed by a TV with a 60Hz refresh and a scanning backlight.The TV might have an effective refresh rate of "540."There is no transparency in how companies determine their "effective rate" numbers, but there is more consistency now than there used to be.

It's possible that these features are inconvenient over time.If you are sensitive to a flickering backlight, you might need to turn these features off.If you notice motion blur, it's best to find a TV that has a 120Hz refresh rate.

There are two things happening here.It's simple, and one we've said many times before: don't trust marketing.Don't trust it at face value.Marketing is meant to sell a product, not give you information about it.That's not important.

Reducing motion blur is the second.There was a noticeable improvement in motion resolution when 120Hz TVs first hit the market.The technology is only getting better.