Question about monitors and refresh rate

[kotsumu]

Do you know how when you visit an electronic store, they have monitors up for display, some of them are playing HD videos. Some of the videos are really really really smooth as if they are like fast forwarded by the tiniest bit.

What allows that on a monitor? How do I achieve that effect on my monitor and TV? Is that part of the video or the monitor? I'm assuming that is a high refresh rate.

 

[manofchalk]

I believe the in-progress monitor guide in my sig and sticked to the top of the forum may answer your question.

Most content (movies and TV shows typically) played over TV's runs at a frame rate of 23.97 or 24FPS, so its possible that the footage you were watching was displayed at a higher framerate so it appears smoother. Watch The Hobbit and see if you get the same effect, that was recorded and released at 60FPS.
There are "120hz" TV's on the market, but from what I am aware they aren't true 120hz, but use frame interpolation to guess what would go between each frame.

In answer to the question, it could be either.

 

[kotsumu]

I believe the in-progress monitor guide in my sig and sticked to the top of the forum may answer your question.

Most content (movies and TV shows typically) played over TV's runs at a frame rate of 23.97 or 24FPS, so its possible that the footage you were watching was displayed at a higher framerate so it appears smoother. Watch The Hobbit and see if you get the same effect, that was recorded and released at 60FPS.
There are "120hz" TV's on the market, but from what I am aware they aren't true 120hz, but use frame interpolation to guess what would go between each frame.

In answer to the question, it could be either.

Upon further research (and of course with the help of your guide), I have concluded that what I was seeing was actually just Motion Interpolation. Different companies label their Motion Interpolation with different names (eg. Sony = MotionFlow). I was able to achieve this effect with software and didn't need to invest in new hardware. Although, if I were to buy a HDTV in the near future, I would consider HDTVs with Motion Interpolation. The Hobbit example that you told me to compare to was spot on. Thank you for showing me the way.

EDIT:

To clarify somethings, most video data are at 24fps. Motion Interpolation will add frames in between to make it lets say 48fps or 60fps. Now the problem is when more frames are added to make it 120fps. In order to see any effect, the screen has to be refreshing equal to the frame rate. So a screen refresh of 120hz would be required. Am I correct?