Refresh rate

Refresh rate measures how many times per second a screen redraws its image, expressed in hertz. A 60Hz display redraws 60 times a second, while 120Hz displays redraw twice as often, which can make fast motion, like sports or action scenes, look smoother and reduce the blur that comes from motion on slower-refreshing panels. It is a separate spec from resolution, though the two are often marketed together.

For movies, most content is filmed at 24 frames per second, so a display's refresh rate matters less than how well it handles that specific frame rate without added judder or artificial smoothing. For gaming, refresh rate becomes far more important, since a 120Hz display paired with a source that can output 120 frames per second delivers noticeably more responsive, fluid motion during fast-paced games.

A common mistake is paying extra for a 120Hz TV without checking whether the actual sources, receiver and cables in the chain can pass a 120Hz 4K signal end to end, since older HDMI ports or cables can silently cap the connection at 60Hz. Another is confusing a manufacturer's marketed motion-smoothing number with true native refresh rate, which are not the same measurement.