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When buying a screen, there are many things to consider, not least the hertz rating. In our comprehensive comparison, we reveal whether 50 Hz or 60 Hz is better.
Which is better: 50 Hz or 60 Hz?
Hertz is the unit of measurement for your monitor’s refresh rate. It indicates how many image updates the monitor can manage. 1 Hz represents one image update per second, whilst 60 Hz corresponds to a full 60 images per second (also known as frames per second).
- Generally speaking, it is therefore always advantageous to have the highest possible refresh rate.
- Although the human eye can barely process more than 30 frames per second, if the frame rate falls below this, images or films appear jerky.
- If a film was shot at 25 frames per second, this works very well on a 50 Hz screen, as each frame is simply displayed twice, thereby achieving exactly 50 frame changes. On a 60 Hz screen, however, this is not ideal.
- However, this principle also applies in reverse to media optimised for 30 Hz or 60 Hz.
- Cinema films, for example, are usually shown at 24 Hz, which is well suited to the 50 Hz that is standard in the PAL system (common in Germany).
- However, if you’re interested in 3D films in particular, you should even consider 120 Hz or 240 Hz. The 24 frames typical of films can be rendered perfectly at this rate. You should also bear in mind that, with 3D, the hertz figure is split between both eyes and thus halved. This means you effectively only have 60 Hz available.
