Blur Busters Forums

I was reading about the MAME builds that implemented black frame insertion, and it seemed like something that would be better to implement at the driver level rather then asking every developer that has a 60hz locked game to individually implement it. The benefits are obvious. There are a lot of games that run way too fast if you force 120hz, and even those 60hz games that will run at 120hz properly would benefit from judder reduction. The next best option would be monitor level support. Input 60hz and the monitor could do the black frame insertion so we'd be able to use lightboost without the crazy judder.

TSM wrote:I was reading about the MAME builds that implemented black frame insertion, and it seemed like something that would be better to implement at the driver level rather then asking every developer that has a 60hz locked game to individually implement it. The benefits are obvious.

Agreed. It should at least be an accessible option.
However, don't forget the balancing between visible flicker, and strobe rate. 75Hz and 85Hz is a good sweet spot, as it is high enough not to be too objectionable a flicker, yet low enough to be easy on a GPU. This is since you only need to meet the magic formula of framerate matching refreshrate matching stroberate for good motion clarity. ULMB supports 85Hz strobing, so you can do 85fps @ 85Hz. BENQ Blur Reduction supports 75Hz strobing (via a Custom Resolution Utility) and can do 75fps @ 75Hz. Below those numbers, strobing is either not supported or does a double strobe (which affects motion clarity).

TSM wrote:Input 60hz and the monitor could do the black frame insertion so we'd be able to use lightboost without the crazy judder.

Why not just do it the easier way: Run true 60Hz and strobe the backlight at 60Hz instead?

Monitor makers can more easily do things that way, and crude 60Hz strobe backlights experiments have been done already. Monitor makers aren't doing it because 60Hz flicker is otherwise quite awful to look at, and monitor manufacturers are reluctant to provide this feature because it would generate more complaints than compliments.

The software black frame insertion is simply to fix a hardware limitation by supressing every other strobe, to convert a double-strobe into a single-strobe. (For non-strobed displays, black frame insertion is still good too - It converts a two-120Hz-frame persistence (16.7ms) into a single-120Hz-frame persistence (8.3ms), reducing motion blur by 50% on non-strobe-capable displays).

I have been working to try to convince monitor manufacturers to at least provide a hidden 60Hz adjustment, at least as an Advanced User Adjustment hidden behind a healthy warning screen. Eventually, I hope one monitor manufacturer will capitulate to this request & Blur Busters will probably begin recommending that said monitor for emulator use (for those individuals that are comfortable with 60Hz strobe flicker).

I hope manufacturers also don't forget 50Hz support, yes, it probably looks quite horrible but it would be quite useful for PAL emulation (without using 100Hz and black frame insertion), mainly needed by 8/16-bit home computers (like Amiga and C64) that have huge amount of PAL-only scene demos and games.

twilen wrote:I hope manufacturers also don't forget 50Hz support, yes, it probably looks quite horrible but it would be quite useful for PAL emulation (without using 100Hz and black frame insertion), mainly needed by 8/16-bit home computers (like Amiga and C64) that have huge amount of PAL-only scene demos and games.

50Hz on CRT was pretty bad even with the phosphor decay, but 50Hz using a squarewave strobe backlight would be downright nasty -- but yes, it should be at least an accessible advanced-user monitor toggle, hidden behind a healthy warning pop-up ("Are You Sure You Want To Activate 50Hz/60Hz Strobing?")!