Sony “Motionflow Impulse” reduces motion blur without interpolation

Several new Sony HDTV’s can eliminate motion blur using “Motionflow Impulse“, a CRT-style strobe backlight that does not use interpolation! This mode is very video-game friendly, and completely eliminates motion blur during 60 fps @ 60 Hz. Try this setting with consoles, computers, emulators, and sports!

Supported Sony HDTV’s: HX920 Series, HX923 Series, HX925 Series, HX929 Series, XBR-55HX950, XBR-65HX950, KDL-47W802A (Budget), KDL-55w802A (Budget), KDL-55W900A, W905A Series, XBR-55X900A (4K Ultra), XBR-65X900A (4K Ultra)

The good news is that it has excellent motion clarity (similiar to LightBoost), and it retains the Sony color quality, with better-than-plasma video game motion on an LCD. It flickers like a 60Hz CRT, and add a very small amount of input lag (but less than interpolation).

TIP: Make sure you turn OFF the ambient light sensor to obtain a brighter picture during Sony Motionflow Impulse! This will prevent the TV from dimming the picture.


About Mark Rejhon

Also known as Chief Blur Buster. Founder of Blur Busters. Inventor of TestUFO. Read more about him on the About Mark page.

25 Comments For “Sony “Motionflow Impulse” reduces motion blur without interpolation”

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FallenServant
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FallenServant

Hi, when you say this is better than plasma are you including Panasonic 3D models? I did not see any hint of motion blur on the VT60 but if there is something better maybe I should cancel my order?

xandre434
Member
xandre434

i can confirm that impulse mode exists on the much cheaper sony kdl-47w802a and kdl-55w802a models. in game mode, black frame insertion is the only motion setting available. this absolutely does eliminate sample and hold motion blur. the image is much darker, but i found i could crank up the settings to sufficiently for use in a light controlled room. as for the flickering, i can’t even tell in the slightest, but i did grow up on crts.

despite having none of the pesky sample and hold smudging, there is some slight ghosting in impulse mode. that is to say, in certain high contrast situations (pretty much only with vertical lines moving horizontally), i can see a single, faint trailing ghost image during fast motion. note that this doesn’t produce any visual blurring effect anywhere on the screen. the ghost is subtle enough that unless there is something like a vertical pole moving across a clear sky, or trees, or the edge of a wall, i can’t see any abnormalities. close inspection reveals that even these slight ghosts are perfectly sharp.

i ended up sending mine back because of some dead pixels, but now i’m trying to see if i can find something for a comparable price that might not exhibit any of this slight ghosting while inserting black frames (i forgot to mention that these artifacts seem limited to impulse mode).

so i guess i’m wondering if the effect is just because of the poor pixel response time of the set, or if it is just a side effect of black frame insertion. because if it is just an unavoidable side effect, then i must say that it’s by far the least of all the other evils i’ve encountered searching for a 60hz display, and that therefore sony’s bravia kdl led line with impulse is the best bet for anyone that cares about motion blur at 60hz.

xandre434
Member
xandre434

my observations are confirmed by this review:

“The last three options increased motion resolution to 1080 lines. The “Impulse” mode uses backlight scanning/ black frame insertion techniques to “reset” our retinal persistence and improve the perceived clarity of moving objects. No interpolation is applied in this mode, so there’s no interpolation artefacts, but we did see some double edge ghosting on selected panning shots.”

i should also note:

1) very low input lag in game mode.
2) i almost gave up on my 47w802a because of the brightness/contrast drop in impulse mode. after fiddling with all the settings forever, it was just still too dim. surfing around all the menus as a last resort, i happened upon the power saving section , which wasn’t really where i’d expect it to be at all, and noticed that the freaking ambient light sensor was on by default. i turned this off and got more brightness/contrast that i need.

RuudBoek
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RuudBoek

I have some good news about the impulse mode on the sony 2013 KDL-55W905A.
The impulse mode is now available in gaming mode and the input lag in that impulse mode is only 30 ms!
The even better news is that it has been tested with the Leo Bodnar input lag tester, so a highspeed camera input lag test, will probably show 15 ms less.

So there you go, lightboost quality gaming that does not have the way too heavy 120fps requirement. The flickering is still there though.
Good chance that the same low input lag will be valid for the much cheaper Sony w805 as well.

Here is the review, the part about impulse mode is just above the Conclusion:

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/sony-kdl55w905a-201305172987.htm?page=Performance

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