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General discussion

1080p/24, 120hz, and pulldown method (please help)

Jun 4, 2010 2:31AM PDT

I've been in the market for a new lcd tv for about a month now and I have some questions that i cannot seem to find defacto answers for at this time.

I've done a lot of reading on the difference tech specs regarding LCD tvs and HDtvs in general.

The first set i purchased was Insignia NSL42X10A. It was a "bargain" set i guess but had serious backlight bleeding issues so i returned it. It was 120hz and uses 3:2 inverse pulldown to "accurately reproduce film content", which i assume it means 24fps content.

When i watched movies on this tv they looked like regular movie film (as i am used to seeing it) as long as i had their "Smooth Motion" feature turned off.

When i returned the Insignia i got a Vizio E420VL, also 120hz, 42", but says in the specs that is did not support 3:2 reverse pulldown. The set also has a "Film Detection" mode that (according to the manual) will detect "film" content, which means 24fps i guess, and display at 24fps like its supposed to be i don't see a different with that set to auto or off.

Now when i watch a Blu-ray (my player is outputting at 1080p/24) or stream a netflix movie in HD or something the film does not "look" like film should. Even with Vizio's Smooth motion turned off and their "Real Cinema Mode" turned off (or on to "smooth" if Smooth Motion is set to any level) there still seems to be a slight "soap opera" or "shot on video" feel to the movie.

Is this because it is using 5:5 pulldown and not 3:2? Also i thought 3:2 was only really needed for sets that had a refresh rate that wasn't a multiple of 24? I want to be able to watch a movie like it would appear as normal.

Most other Vizio models, like the SV420M, say "3:2 or 2:2 Reverse Pull-down: Yes " in the additional features section where the E420VL says No.

I'm confused about what i need to be looking for here. I want to be able to enable the "Smooth Motion" features if i want them but if i set to off i want to see film the way it was intended.

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