HOWTO: Using ULMB Beautifully or Competitively

Ask about motion blur reduction in gaming monitors. Includes ULMB (Ultra Low Motion Blur), NVIDIA LightBoost, ASUS ELMB, BenQ/Zowie DyAc, Turbo240, ToastyX Strobelight, etc.
Owned_-
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Re: HOWTO: Using ULMB Beautifully or Competitively

Post by Owned_- » 10 Jul 2020, 17:03

I recently purchased a 27' ASUS Tuf gaming VG27AQ 165hz Monitor, and I'm pretty unfamiliar with it's settings as I came from a MSI Optix AG32C. I feel as if I'm not getting the full use out of my new monitor. I don't know what OSD/ Windows/ Radeon settings to use for top competitive fps performance. Everywhere I go online tells me opposing opinions. I tried my hardest to understand the info from this article but I know so little about this technology.

I play Rainbow Six Siege at a high skill gap and I want to squeeze as much performance out of my rig as possible. In summary I'm practically clueless when it comes to what settings are the best settings to use and your insight would be much appreciated.

PC specs: Cpu Ryzen 9 3900x, GPU Radeon 5700xt, Motherboard Gigabyte x570 Gaming X, RAM 32gb G.skill Trident Z 3000 MHz, SSD Samsung 860 EVO 1TB, PSU Powerspec PSX 850GFM.

ysenojftw
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Re: HOWTO: Using ULMB Beautifully or Competitively

Post by ysenojftw » 15 May 2021, 09:46

So if you want to use elmb, without gsync or vsync, do you cap the fps to hertz or leave it uncapped?

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Re: HOWTO: Using ULMB Beautifully or Competitively

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 15 May 2021, 17:44

ysenojftw wrote:
15 May 2021, 09:46
So if you want to use elmb, without gsync or vsync, do you cap the fps to hertz or leave it uncapped?
Depends on your priorities. Smoothness vs latency.
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Re: HOWTO: Using ULMB Beautifully or Competitively

Post by mxblue » 23 Oct 2021, 17:17

Excellent post, thank you.

If I can drive 400 FPS in Overwatch and have a 240hz monitor w/ ULMb it sounds like I should either cap the game to 240 frames (frame rate = hz) or run 400 fps uncapped.

If I cap to 240 and fps never dips below, do I still need to run Vsync? Or because I can keep consistent 240 fps Vsync is not needed?

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Re: HOWTO: Using ULMB Beautifully or Competitively

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 26 Oct 2021, 12:53

mxblue wrote:
23 Oct 2021, 17:17
Excellent post, thank you.

If I can drive 400 FPS in Overwatch and have a 240hz monitor w/ ULMb it sounds like I should either cap the game to 240 frames (frame rate = hz) or run 400 fps uncapped.

If I cap to 240 and fps never dips below, do I still need to run Vsync? Or because I can keep consistent 240 fps Vsync is not needed?
It really depends on your goals.

- Latency-priority strobing should try for an overkill framerate beyond refresh rate
- Quality-priority strobing should always go framerate=Hz since strobe jitters can occur above/below refresh rate.

If you hate strobe jittering, you need high-DPI high-Hz low-sensitivity mouse settings + also a framerate=hz strobing. Gets you the necessary super smooth scrolling / turning / panning.

Now, if you're playing FPS competitively, you're probably latency-priority, so if you use strobing in esports, you probably don't want to cap your frame rate, despite the quality flaws (amplified jittering effect).
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Re: HOWTO: Using ULMB Beautifully or Competitively

Post by ysenojftw » 12 Nov 2021, 10:51

So on my Alienware 360hz, i would set ulmb on, which brings the hertz down to 240hz and then leave my fps uncapped for csgo since I get 500-700? Now for my dpi I normally use 500 and 1.7, would you suggest raising it for ulmb? I basically want to give it a try and see if I like it.

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Re: HOWTO: Using ULMB Beautifully or Competitively

Post by olain » 03 Jan 2023, 04:50

Chief Blur Buster wrote:
06 Sep 2017, 18:35
Example of Certain Competitive Advantages of ULMB

Turn off ULMB/LightBoost and look at this animation (on a regular LCD):


(you can run this in full screen mode too, if you wish)

1. Stare at the stationary UFO. You see vertical lines clearly, but stars are hard to see.
You're immune to display motion blur. ULMB won't help competitively.
I was trying this out for myself on the 300hz Acer XV272UKF (same as XB273UKF), I could see the white lines clearly on the black background, and the squares sort of fades out of focus.
I guess this means I am immune to display motion blur.
Chief Blur Buster wrote:
06 Sep 2017, 18:35
2. Eye-track the moving UFO. Vertical lines disappear due to motion blur, but you see stars better.
You're at mercy of display motion blur. ULMB can help competitively.
Doing this test suddenly the black squares are very much visible, and the background fades to grey with some miniscule black vertical lines that are hard to notice while focusing on the moving UFO
Chief Blur Buster wrote:
06 Sep 2017, 18:35
3. Turn on ULMB (or view on a CRT) and eye-track the moving UFO.
Now you easily see both the vertical lines and the stars (line gaps) at the same time!
Turning on VRB (Acers strobe tech) on either "Normal" or "Extreme" changed nothing, I would still experience 1. and 2. as before VRB was turned on.

I guess this is normal behavior as appeareantly I am just immune to display motion blur?

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Re: HOWTO: Using ULMB Beautifully or Competitively

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 04 Jan 2023, 13:54

For 2. "fades to grey" = you're seeing motion blur.

Now that being said, if you're not seeing a difference for item #2 with VRB=ON versus VRB=OFF, something is amiss -- whether by the display -- or by an aberrance in your vision behavior (compared to the average human).

#1 and #2 should look more identical than before when VRB is on (aka no longer a difference in white line thickness or black gap thickness).

Rather than being immune to motion blur, it is possible you're seeing perpetual motion blur -- everyone sees somewhat differently than the next individual.

You might also be interested in seeing how www.testufo.com/persistence behaves with strobing on/off. It's easier to see "pictures in the motion blur" when strobing is turned off with that one.
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Re: HOWTO: Using ULMB Beautifully or Competitively

Post by olain » 05 Jan 2023, 11:54

Chief Blur Buster wrote:
04 Jan 2023, 13:54
For 2. "fades to grey" = you're seeing motion blur.

Now that being said, if you're not seeing a difference for item #2 with VRB=ON versus VRB=OFF, something is amiss -- whether by the display -- or by an aberrance in your vision behavior (compared to the average human).

#1 and #2 should look more identical than before when VRB is on (aka no longer a difference in white line thickness or black gap thickness).

Rather than being immune to motion blur, it is possible you're seeing perpetual motion blur -- everyone sees somewhat differently than the next individual.

You might also be interested in seeing how www.testufo.com/persistence behaves with strobing on/off. It's easier to see "pictures in the motion blur" when strobing is turned off with that one.
About the Stars test..
I honestly think most people will agree they experience both #1 and #2 (as do I)

"1. Stare at the stationary UFO. You see vertical lines clearly, but stars are hard to see.
You're immune to display motion blur. ULMB won't help competitively."

I have a hard time thinking anyone would not experience seing vertical thin White lines and fat Black lines while the stars (square black blocks, really) are hard to see (allthough you sense something is moving in the background.)
Which, if true, means everyone is immune to motion blur.


"2. Eye-track the moving UFO. Vertical lines disappear due to motion blur, but you see stars better.
You're at mercy of display motion blur. ULMB can help competitively."

The wording of #2 is too specific, as Vertical lines don't disappear, but they appear to change. The fast moving eye motion translates the black and white lines in to a grey background, and it seems like there are tiny black vertical lines.
The squares are of course easier to see when you focus the moving objects.
Again, I have a really hard time believing anyone would not also agree with #2, which is a dilemma when you also agree with #1.

I agree with #1 and #2 so, so according to the test I am immune but also a victim of motion blur :D

A better test, would be to also include "photos" of perceived reality, I get that this might difficult to film but it can easily be fabricated.

Image
Image


I tried the persistence test you mentioned, and my opinion is that it is the same test as the other, with the same outcomes.
Focus on the still ufo, you will see vertical thin white lines and fat black lines, while you can sense a fast moving image background.
Focus on moving ufo, you will see the background image, and you can notice tiny black vertical lines if you make an effort, but its so tiny its like interlacing..
Same test, same dilemma, who will not agree on both #1 and #2?



Regarding strobing effect, I tried the test on both my work monitors that are dumb 60hz, my 165hz Acer with nvidia ULMB, and finally my Acer 300hz with VRB in 2 modes, same perception of the tests across all monitors with or without strobing.
I even tried 2 browsers, Edge and Chrome. Could it be related to v-sync settings, or am I just an anomaly?

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Re: HOWTO: Using ULMB Beautifully or Competitively

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 13 Jan 2023, 00:09

Image
I see multiple black lines inside that. Your backlight uses PWM dimming if you have more than one gap per vertical line.

(Can also be some smartphone sensors that takes multiple photos per longer-exposure photo, but that is another Pandora Box)

_____

Now that being said if you fix your PWM dimming problem (and have only ONE black gap per visible line), then the next weak-link domino is that your eye-tracking accuracy can influence this.

Some people have shaky eyes during eye tracking, and some have very smooth-tracking eyes. Shaky eyes (saccades) can cause black gaps to momentarily reappear. Younger people with good eyes that moves at a more constant speed (rather than stop-go-stop-go motion in eyeballs) during eye tracking -- will see a perfectly solid white background with zero black lines.

If you don't pursuit perfectly, you will have artifacts like briefly-reappearing black lines. if you pursuit very well, the black lines won't reappear. This varies significantly from person to person.

Just because you see a faint amount of black lines (e.g. whether 1% or 5% or 10% black lines) you're still 90% accurately eye tracking. If you had ZERO thickness increase in the vertical lines, then there's a weird behavior in your display motion blur perception. But if you see the lines thicken by more than 50% and the black thin by more than 50% to the point where most of it is "solidified" (like the photo), then you're closer to normal than not. However, I track eyes better than that and can manage to make the black lines completely disappear with the accuracy of my own eye tracking, at least at the ~80fps scale. It is wholly possible that your eyes can't rotate as smoothly as mine can, but even if you can only do 80-90% accuracy, you're still subject to the competitive advantages of this FAQ. Even 90% motion blur will still osbscure a tiny enemy or a tiny nametag above a person.

Please note that I'm using metaphors about lines and stars. In one specific game lines might be a camoflaged distant enemy (10 pixel tall) running through a dense forest, and stars might be the stationary collectables inside a forest. Or in another game, the lines might be the ball in Rocket League, and the stars might be the other players in your peripheral vision. Or it might be vice versa. Again, they are metaphors. X means X and Y means Y, where the lines may metaphorically represent one thing in a game and stars may metaphorically represent a different thing in a game.

For the vast majority, it's easier to see the "stars" (tiny gaps in vertical lines) when staring at the second UFO, regardless of whether you're strobing or not.

Now, for a more real-use case (that is less metaphorical)
Let's move to www.testufo.com/map at 120Hz+
Try to read a street label without strobing. It's harder.
Try to read a street label with strobing. It's easier.

Even though the strobing is laggier, you were able to read the street label better. This could be the nametag or enemy in a blurry pan of DOTA where you're rush-panning/turning/scrolling while trying to pay attention to things before the screen stops panning/turning/scrolling.

The bottom line is:
- Sometimes you need the lowest lag
- Sometimes you need the strobing advantage

The metaphor at the start of this thread is simply to illustrate the tradeoffs of strobing, and to help the user decide whether strobing might be worth trying for them. Understanding which game to use strobing in, and which game not to use strobing in, varies a lot from person to person, and sometimes the human reaction time will go down with strobing (reduce human lag more than the increase in system lag). The fetishization of latency numbers need to be nuanced by the complex latency chain where you have concurrent increases and decreases elsewhere, creating a different total. And the lag chain includes the human:

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