Lately, the television industry has been buzzing. From Jingdong and Sony, Hisense, TCL, Skyworth, Konka, Changhong and other head manufacturers in March jointly launched a number of "game TVs" with high refresh rates, to the recent hisense launch of Ace (E55H), Skyworth released a full-channel 120Hz high brush product matrix (Q53 series, G53, A33), TCL held a "electric blue true high brush TV T7E" conference, in the high brush TV track, can be called "fairy fight".
However, for users, behind the hilarity is more question marks - why do TV manufacturers get together to exert efforts to "game TV", even Sony Dafa is not exempt from vulgarity? Which is better, 120Hz or 240Hz? What do the so-called "full channel high brush" and "true high brush" mean?
There is no hurry, today we will clarify these problems one by one, remove the marketing fog, and strike hard at the "IQ tax".
Demand for gaming TVs is booming
According to GFK data from Yikang, the demand for gaming TV ushered in explosive growth in 2021, with online retail sales growing by 649% year-on-year. JD.com platform data also shows that in 2021, the number of searches on the game TV platform will reach 1 million, and sales will increase by 27 times. More market forecasts say that the retail sales of game TVs in mainland China may reach 3.5 million units in 2022, accounting for nearly one-tenth of the total retail sales of the TV industry in 2022.
The root cause of the explosion of demand for gaming TV is the increase in consumer demand for high-quality and high-performance TVs. TVs with high-performance configurations such as 4K/8K ultra-high-definition display screens, high refresh rates above 120Hz, low latency, and full-blood HDMI2.1 interfaces are called "gaming TVs" by manufacturers. The core advantage of gaming TV is actually the display first, under the premise of ensuring high definition, to provide users with a high refresh rate of the experience.
Specifically, "game TV" can better support the display of a large number of high-speed sports screens in action blockbusters, sports events, and next-generation games, and provide users with a clearer, smoother and more comfortable visual experience through 120Hz high-brush screen body, a powerful chip that supports high-brush decoding, WiFi6/HDMI2.1 high-speed data transmission, AI algorithm optimization and other software and hardware configurations.
120Hz or 240Hz?
In 2016, internationally renowned director Ang Lee launched the world's first 120-frame film and television work "Billy Lynn's Halftime Battle"; three years later, director Ang Lee launched the 120-frame film "Twin Killers". It can be said that high frame rate film and television works make high refresh rates continue to enter the public eye.
In the field of gaming, stuttering and screen tearing are a major culprits that affect the game experience, and the most direct factor causing these problems is the screen refresh rate. The refresh rate has a very important impact on the player's game judgment, reaction, shooting accuracy, etc. Taking 120Hz as an example, in FPS games, the screen can show a more silky and smooth effect than 60Hz, and even players will feel that the opponent's action has changed from "teleportation" to "slow motion", which can see more details of the action, so as to carry out accurate strikes.
At present, there have been 240Hz, 144Hz, 120Hz and other high-brush products in the TV industry. So, the higher the refresh rate at this stage, the better?
The answer is no. On the one hand, compared with 120Hz, which has been developed for many years, 240Hz is very scarce in content sources - whether it is a film and television source or a game input source, there is no actual use scenario of 240Hz; on the other hand, the 240Hz solutions taken by major manufacturers at this stage are 240Hz high brushes achieved at the cost of losing image quality. Some time ago, the industry set off a "full-channel 120Hz" discussion boom, and many industry insiders had detailed discussions on high-brush solutions such as "HSR" and "DLG" that damaged clarity.
In contrast, the 120Hz specification not only supports the game screen output of 4K120Hz in the next era game console Sony PS5 and Microsoft XBOX series, but also the film and television film sources with a high frame rate of 120 frames are increasing year by year. It can be said that for a long time in the future, 120Hz will become the main use scenario for high-brush TV users.
Say no to "argument theory"
Recently, TCL "Electric Blue True High Brush TV T7E" press conference repeatedly emphasized that it is a real high brush, Skyworth also emphasized "full channel 120Hz" when promoting its new products. Is there a fake high brush on the market?
Similar to the development of 8K television, when new technologies first emerge, there is often a period of mixed fish. And we must understand that in order to get a real 120Hz viewing experience, the TV must support 120Hz from multiple key links such as screen, decoding chip, transmission, etc., which is indispensable, and in this way, it is necessary to support 120Hz in HDMI, USB, streaming media and other multi-channel, that is, full-channel 120Hz high brush.
At present, from the perspective of hardware standards, there is no 240Hz native TV screen at this stage, and the display effect of 240Hz can only be achieved through technical means "simulation"; from the perspective of chip decoding, the computing power of the current flagship TVSoC does not support 4K240Hz. That is to say, under the limitations of the current screen body and chip computing power, the TV cannot reach the "true 240Hz" display.
Therefore, at this stage, the most mature and balanced solution between the two dimensions of clarity and refresh rate is "full channel 120Hz".
In general, the collective efforts of domestic and foreign head manufacturers to brush TVs and upgrade the large-screen video and audio entertainment experience for consumers are very worthy of recognition and encouragement. But at the same time, it also appeals to manufacturers not to forget that the core of TV products is display, the core of the viewing experience is picture quality, not to be wrapped up in "only parameter theory" and "only marketing theory", and should take practical product innovation and user needs as the starting point for steady development and benign development. I also hope that consumers will polish their eyes, distinguish carefully, and choose the right products according to their own needs.
(7910102)