I am planning to purchase a Samsung QLED 4K TV in a couple weeks. I’m trying to decide on the size (49- vs 55-inch) based on my viewing space and current furniture, but annoyingly the technical specs between those two units are different even though they are the same Q80 series. The key differences are that the 49" has a true refresh rate of 60Hz (“Motion rate 120”) and is HDR8x, while the 55" has a true refresh rate of 120Hz (“Motion rate 240”) and is HDR12x.
Does the true refresh of 120Hz really matter – is there any actual source content that runs natively at 120 that would look bad at 60? I just stream content via Roku (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc) and watch digital cable TV. I don’t have a Blu-ray player but there is a possibility I could get a PS5 or something down the line. I strongly dislike all that motion smoothing stuff that creates the soap opera effect, so I’m not sure I would appreciate a 120Hz native panel doing a lot of processing on 60Hz source content.
The 49" set probably fits my space better, but I don’t want to regret missing out on true 120Hz if that’s really a thing or is going to be a thing soon for streaming content. I assume HDR 12x vs 8x is mostly marketing fluff or for youngsters with keener eyes than mine.
120Hz doesn’t matter for video content yet, but the new generation consoles will support it at 4K. And if you ever want to plug a PC into the TV you could also benefit from it.
Yeah I think you are right with the HDR marketing fluff thing, they are Samsung’s term for ‘HDR10+’ and possibly the bigger number means it is a bit brighter.
It can matter if you’re sensitive to judder, and depending on the other hardware in your setup.
This video explains it extremely well:
The short explanation is if you’re playing content that’s 24 frames/sec like a movie, a 120Hz screen can display each frame for the same amount of time, while a 60Hz screen can’t because 60 isn’t a multiple of 24. The effect of this can be pretty subtle, so it may never bother you, but it’s worth knowing about.
Thanks for that link–that was a really good explanation of judder. I was familiar with 3:2 pulldown from back in the DVD days but never fully grasped the concept of reverse pulldown, which may be more relevant today since I don’t think(?) many current sources are feeding straight 24fps content to the TV other than maybe a video camera or something. But if movies have been 3:2 converted from 24 to 60fps for streaming or broadcast, then a good TV could reverse it back to 24fps and show it seamlessly at 120Hz, if I understand correctly.
I need to take some measurements for sure. My current TV is only 32" (!) and 720p (lol) and is on a fairly modest TV stand that is about the same width as the TV itself, so it is hard to visualize the impact of a 49 or 55-inch unit without cutting up some massive cardboard pieces or something. Those AR apps that “place” the TV in your room don’t quite cut it.
OK. But how far away from the TV will you be sitting? That’s important because you may not be able to make out the extra resolution of a 4K TV if it is too far from you or too small.
My Samsung (couple years old) HDR is so crappy, I disable it to watch Netflix shows. Otherwise it turns too dark. Every show ends up like game of thrones dragon scene. Ozark is particularly bad.
