Does the difference between 60hz (iPad Air 13 inch) and 120hz (iPad Pro 13 inch) affect how viewing movies and videos look? I understand scrolling and the Apple Pen that there is a noticeable difference but didn’t know if it affect movie or video viewing.
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All iPads iPad Air 60hz question
- Thread starter Geekboy12
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No. Movies are 24fps and videos can be anything up to 60. I don’t know if anyone records in 120 (there’s no reason to, really).
60 is not divisible by 24, so you will get some hitches/uneven movement in 24 fps movies and shows during camera pans that are not there on the ProMotion display. If you are sensitive to that kind of thing is the other question…
Videos can theoretically be any frame rate. Movies tend to be 24, but not all there’s been a few 48fps films.
120 or 240fps recording generally mostly happens when recording high speed footage that is then slowed down. So if you record 240 and slow it down 8x, you get 30fps slow motion.
But the 120ProMotion screen is not just about high refresh. It also offers adaptive refresh. The 60hz panel is always locked to 60. The ProMotion panels range from 1hz to 120hz. Exact range depends on device. Only phone and watch go all the way down to 1hz. MBPs and prior iPads had 48-120. Latest pro is 10-120. This does matter for movie watching. If you’re watching 24fps on a non ProMotion panel it needs to perform 3:2 “pulldown”.
A promotion display can set its refresh rate at either 24 ir48hz and get much better frame pacing.
Yes, all you say is true, and I know that. But I wanted to simplify it. In practice - I guarantee you 99.99% of people won't be able to notice the frame pacing differences on a non-ProMotion screen. In practical terms, you will be able to enjoy movies and videos on both 60 and 120 ProMotion displays equally - that is, if you ignore the Mini LED / Tandem OLED differences to regular LCDs (which are much more noticeable).
Yeah, but really, so many screens out there are 60Hz - I have two great OLED TVs, one of them is 60, the other 120Hz - and movies look great on both. This is a non-issue for the vast majority of users.
Admittedly correct. The difference is minor enough that, unless you rely on professional work requiring perfect frame pacing, it probably shouldn’t matter that much to your purchasing decisions. The average viewer would probably not noticed unless it’s dire by side and they were asked to focus and look for it.
The one advantage the iPad Air display is likely to have compared to that of the OLED iPad Pro is that it probably wont suffer from PWM which can be a real issue for some people out there! Actually for someone who will be spending a lot of time on their iPads, not having a PWM display is desirable even if you dont actually suffer from it.