50 Hz or 60 Hz: which is better?

When buying a screen, you have to pay attention to many things, not least the Hertz specification. We'll tell you which is better, 50 or 60 Hz, in our large comparison.

Which is better: 50 Hz or 60 Hz?

Hertz is the unit of the refresh rate of your screen. This indicates how many screen changes the screen can handle. 1 Hz stands for a frame change per second, 60 Hz for a full 60 frames per second (also frames per second).

• In general, it is therefore always advantageous to have the highest possible refresh rate available.
• Humans can hardly process more than 30 frames per second, but if the frame rate falls below this, the images or films appear jerky.
• If a film was made at 25 frames per second, it works very well on a 50 Hz screen, since each frame is simply shown twice and the 50 frame changes can be achieved exactly. On a 60 Hz screen, however, this is not optimal.
• Conversely, this calculation also applies to media that have been optimized for 30 Hz or 60 Hertz.
• Movies, for example, are usually shown at 24 Hz, but the 50 Hz, which is the standard with the PAL system (common in Germany), fits very well.
• Especially if you are interested in 3D films, you should even consider 120 Hz or 240 Hz. The 24 film-typical frames can be perfectly resolved here. You must also note that in 3D the Hertz number is divided between both eyes and thus halved. So you have practically only 60 Hz available.

You should not only look at the frame rate when buying a screen. You also have to choose between LCD and OLED - we explain the differences.