Refresh Rate Explained

Why Some LED Screens Still Flicker on Camera

One of the most common questions in rental, XR, and broadcast projects is:

“Why does the screen still flicker even though the specification says 3840Hz?”

In reality, refresh rate is far more complicated than a single number shown on a quotation sheet.

Real camera performance is also affected by:

This is why two LED screens with the same advertised refresh rate may perform completely differently during filming.

Refresh rate refers to how many times per second the display updates the image.

Measured in:

Examples:

Smoother Visuals

High refresh rates reduce motion blur.

Better Camera Shooting

Essential for:

Reduced Flicker

Improves visual comfort.

Refresh rate:

Display hardware performance.

Frame rate:

Video content playback speed.

Both influence image quality.

For normal conference room projects, 1920Hz is usually already acceptable.

However, in XR virtual production environments, especially when using high-speed cinema cameras, many studios now prefer:

Otherwise, scan lines and brightness instability may still appear on camera.

This is one of the biggest differences between normal rental LED projects and true virtual production systems.