120hz TV and HTPC

[yingx2]

Hello,

Lately I've been wanting to purchase one of those 120hz models as I kinda like watching films with frame-interpolation on. (they called it Soap opera effect. A lot of people hate it though.)

The problem is, I don't know how this thing works with an HTPC. Let's just say, if I play a QuickTime movie trailer with Media Player Classic on my PC which is connected to a 120hz TV with a regular d-sub cable, can I get the frame-interpolated, smooth output on that TV? Do I need any special configurations or all I need is press a button labeled something like "Motion Compensation" (whatever they call it) on my remote?

Any comment will be much appreciated : )

[Blue_MiSfit]

Yes you can.

The TV takes a 24, 30, or 60hz signal from HDMI etc and does the interpolation.

You need to enable / configure this in the TV's menu system. If you're lucky there's a button specifically for this on the remote ;)

I'm one of those people who hate frame interpolation for ordinary playback. It's a necessary evil for passable standards conversion, but for regular playback? C'mon... :devil:

To each his own of course, but to me the effect is distracting and cheapening - perhaps because I'm indoctrinated to believe that the film / 24p "look" is "better". Aside from that, there are always artifacts in the interpolation. Ghosts, blocking etc bother me very much as well.

Good luck to you though. A 120hz set is a great idea even if you don't use the interpolation, because you can get relatively jitter free playback with 24hz, 30hz, and 60hz material. Yep, I like that just fine! :D

Derek

[TinTime]

Let's just say, if I play a QuickTime movie trailer with Media Player Classic on my PC which is connected to a 120hz TV with a regular d-sub cable, can I get the frame-interpolated, smooth output on that TV?

But would it work with the TV in PC mode? I don't know.

Of course, a further question would then be:
Why buy a fancy new TV and not use an HDMI input?

[Blue_MiSfit]

What do you mean, "PC mode"? using a VGA / d-sub connection? You should never do that. Most HDTVs I've worked with only accept strange resolutions over VGA, and can almost never do 1920x1080 at 60Hz (native)...

SO yeah.. don't hook a new TV up with an analog connection if you can avoid it :) HDMI is pretty awesome...

Derek

[2Bdecided]

To each his own of course, but to me the effect is distracting and cheapening - perhaps because I'm indoctrinated to believe that the film / 24p "look" is "better".You stick to that view - it's saving film makers and broadcasters a fortune! Just imagine the cost of having to film and broadcast everything at 120fps!!!

Cheers,
David.

[TinTime]

What do you mean, "PC mode"? using a VGA / d-sub connection? You should never do that. Most HDTVs I've worked with only accept strange resolutions over VGA, and can almost never do 1920x1080 at 60Hz (native)...

SO yeah.. don't hook a new TV up with an analog connection if you can avoid it :) HDMI is pretty awesome...

Derek

I agree. I was just suggesting to the OP (in an admittedly roundabout way) that HDMI would be the better option :)

[yingx2]

Thanks a lot guys : )

The d-sub connector part was there because I wanted to know if this motion compensation really worked in pure PC mode. For example, if I move the cursor on the screen from the top left to the bottom right with frame interpolation on, will the cursor trail movment also become smoother becaused of the extra amount of interpolated cursors being displayed?

I've been using MTtools+Avisynth+ffdshow to creat the MEMC effect on my PC for quite some time but it requires a lot of processing power and like you said, artifacts will happen when the motion gets trickier. (ex: multiple objects moving at differenct speeds, towards different directions) but I can live with that.

And recently I happened to see a S? model demoing Avatar in a local store. I was really surprised at what I saw. It was like the movie was actually shot at 50fps in the first place. No smeared objects. No moving macroblocks around the edges. No ghosting waving hands. Before you say "Hey it's because it's 95% in CG", I've watched this movie numerous times using frame interpolation on my PC so I know where to look for those artifacts and I was looking hard for them with my nose on the screen.

That's why these 120hz sets are now much more appealing to me : )

[Soulhunter]

You stick to that view - it's saving film makers and broadcasters a fortune! Just imagine the cost of having to film and broadcast everything at 120fps!!!

Cheers,
David.
Guess part of the problem why it looks unnatural is because the motion-blur will no more "match" the framerate. Usually you pick a shutterspeed twiche as high as your framerate to create visual pleasing motion-blur, so for 24fps you pick a shutter of 1/48s. When the TV upconverts your movies, you get 120fps, but still with 1/48s. motion-blur, heh? So "native" 120fps material could look different/better... Reminds me, I wanted to have a closer look at what this TVs actually do by filming the same scene upconverted (to 60fps, no 120Hz TV here) and non-upconverted, off the TV screen (with a 1080p60 camera). Or did someone else already do this? >.>

[BigVern]

Hello,

Lately I've been wanting to purchase one of those 120hz models as I kinda like watching films with frame-interpolation on. (they called it Soap opera effect. A lot of people hate it though.)

I spent 2 weeks, and nearly bricked my LG TV using hacked firmware, and finally offical firmware, to get rid of the "soap-opera" effect!

Each to their own I suppose :)

[mariner]

I spent 2 weeks, and nearly bricked my LG TV using hacked firmware, and finally offical firmware, to get rid of the "soap-opera" effect!

Each to their own I suppose :)

You mean frame insertion without "SOE"?