One of the specifications you’ll see (or will not see) when researching a new LCD TV flat screen purchase is response time. This important spec represents the amount of time it takes for one pixel to go from active (black) to inactive (white) and back to black again.

Think of it in relation to shutter speed on a camera. It’s the speed at which an LCD panels crystals “twist” to block and allow light to pass. It is measured in milliseconds (ms) with a lower number meaning faster change between active and inactive pixels and resulting in less image artifacts. The lower the response time the better.

Many current and older LCD TVs with longer response times display a smear or blur around fast moving objects making them unacceptable for action scenes, sports, video game and just about any fast moving video. For example, when watching a baseball game on an older LCD TV the ball could appear to have a comet like tail when moving quickly across the screen.

This distracting lag time in response in LCD televisions and displays has been called among other names: motion lag, trailer effect, fast motion blur, smearing. It is prevalent in LCD flat panels, but not as much in LCD rear projection televisions. The reason this smearing effect is important to you as a consumer is that a high response time (slow conversion) can completely ruin an otherwise good looking picture, no matter what the contrast and luminance of the television. That being stated, some people are much more sensitive to it that others. (more…)