Is PC gaming on a 50Hz TV any different than 60Hz?? Do I need 60Hz??

[Potential Legend]

So I'm buying a new TV very soon and I'm getting it mostly for gaming so I can plug my laptop into it and enjoy a bigger screen. All I want to know, is if it's really important to get a 60Hz TV, or will 50Hz be fine? Most of my games run at 60 FPS or above except Skyrim. And I've heard that by using a 50Hz TV I wont be getting the full image that my laptop is giving out.

The only problem is that 60Hz TV's are very hard to find for some reason and so far haven't found anything except 50Hz. So what would you guys recommend I do?

[Legendary old man]

You are reading something wrong maybe. I have never seen a 50Hz TV. The least I see is 60Hz and almost everyone I look at is 60Hz.
http://www.newegg.com/LED-TV/SubCategory/ID-798?cm_sp=TVcat264-_-VisNav-_-LEDTV

[Potential Legend]

Originally posted by facedown:

You are reading something wrong maybe. I have never seen a 50Hz TV. The least I see is 60Hz and almost everyone I look at is 60Hz.
http://www.newegg.com/LED-TV/SubCategory/ID-798?cm_sp=TVcat264-_-VisNav-_-LEDTV

Well unfortunately that's because you're in America and I'm in New Zealand so we're probably a few months behind in things like technology. There's almost no 60Hz TV's compared to 50Hz when I look online. One website shows only 4 60Hz TV's at stores in New Zealand while there's just over 20 50Hz TV's,

So that aside, can someone please answer my original question? Asking if getting a 50Hz will make an impact on my gaming? Whether it's Skyrim or Counter Strike?

[Veristä mössöä]

Well of course lower hz = not so smooth gameplay.

What comes to full image ( you mean resolution right? ), you have to find the specs of your laptop to check what it's capable to.

[Potential Legend]

Originally posted by ontelo:

Well of course lower hz = not so smooth gameplay.

What comes to full image ( you mean resolution right? ), you have to find the specs of your laptop to check what it's capable to.

What do you mean by full image? My laptop resolution is 1366x768 which is the same as all the TV's I'm looking at. Some are 1920x1080 (I think) does it matter if I get one like that because I've used a TV with that resolution before and had no problem. I don't know what Hz it was though.

[Veristä mössöä]

We can't answer to that. You have to check the manual to find out which resolutions with certain hz your laptop can maintain external monitors.

[Potential Legend]

Can you tell me where to check that because it didn't come with a user manual booklet?

I didn't realize it was an issue of compatibility because shouldn't it work with any TV with an HDMI input? I thought the only difference is the frames per second?

[senseidongen]

@Ontelo If you set the second screen as the only desktop (disabling the laptop screen) surely it will output at 60/50Hz? But yeah, the other issue with getting a TV that is 1920 x 1080 to hook up to your laptop for gaming is to do with processing power. 1920 x 1080 compared to 1366 x 768 is literally double the pixels, which requires more graphics power to render at the same fps. upshot is, frame rates at 1080p will be lower than 768p on your laptop.

With regards to your actual question, if you're getting 60 fps from your laptop, the screen can only display 50 fps, so it won't be quite as smooth as that's the maximum frame rate you'll actually see

[Potential Legend]

Originally posted by senseidongen:

@Ontelo If you set the second screen as the only desktop (disabling the laptop screen) surely it will output at 60/50Hz? But yeah, the other issue with getting a TV that is 1920 x 1080 to hook up to your laptop for gaming is to do with processing power. 1920 x 1080 compared to 1366 x 768 is literally double the pixels, which requires more graphics power to render at the same fps. upshot is, frame rates at 1080p will be lower than 768p on your laptop.

With regards to your actual question, if you're getting 60 fps from your laptop, the screen can only display 50 fps, so it won't be quite as smooth as that's the maximum frame rate you'll actually see

Okay well that's fine I don't mind running it on a lower resolution, it doesn't make much difference to me and I already play about half of my games on 1280x720 for smoother framerate.

Alright so games like Skyrim wont make much difference, do you think it would cause problems in online action games like Counter Strike or TF2? If the computer is able to run it at around 100fps, even if the TV is only showing half of that will I actually miss anything important or get any input lag?

Thanks for all the help by the way!

[senseidongen]

If you're targeting lower resolution, then might still be worth getting a 1080p TV as an investment, but that's entirely up to you.

I don't personally play TF2 or anything like that and I game on an A10 APU that rarely pushes more than 30 fps (at the settings and res I use: I used to play mostly on my 360 so 30 fps looks fine to me) but I have heard people insist that they can tell the difference between 60 fps and 100 fps so it depends how attuned you are to such things!

[Veristä mössöä]

Input lag has nothing to do with the source of the signal. It's all on the TV / monitor. Usually TVs have much higher input lag than PC monitors.

[Blaagh]

ok - not an expert so dont bite!

I think they say 50Hz but it's not limited to that. They just put that up so you know it is a "normal" TV and not 100Hz or 200Hz .. which process the tv input 50 frames to make it more smooth.

I have a pretty cheap flatscreen LCD with FullHD and it can process both 50Hz and 60Hz input. In 1024x768 res from pc even 75Hz is possible.

Best way to know of course is to look at the manual. I know its strange but they usually don't give all in details of their tvs capability. Its like they're afraid you could pinpoint them on a feature.

[rotNdude]

New Zealand has an electric grid that is 50Hz. That's why you see TV's that say they do 50Hz for the refresh rates.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate

[Blaagh]

No, its because they use PAL TV-signal which is 50 Hz ;)
http://countrycode.org/tv-standards

[rotNdude]

Originally posted by Super Mario nStar Ultra:

No, its because they use PAL TV-signal which is 50 Hz ;)
http://countrycode.org/tv-standards

Yes. It's because France and other countries with a 50Hz electrical grid developed PAL and SECAM to be synchronous with a 50Hz electrical grid and the US developed NTSC to be synchronous with a 60Hz electrical grid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country

[Mr Keefy]

It was easier to sync the CRT up that way.
UK broadcast system is still 50Hz for HD content so it gives problems when using the XBone to view and snap your TV or as a pass through.

I think all HD TV these days support 60Hz inputs.