I was reading an article on the new LG display with a refresh rate of 7680Hz and it says:
While a typical refresh rate for a monitor might be 60Hz-240Hz, an outdoor display designed to be viewed from a distance needs to be much higher
The idea that there’s an intrinsic link between refresh rate and viewing distance is new to me and feels unintuitive. I can understand the need for high brighteness for far view distance. I also could understand refresh rate mattering for a non-persistent (CRT) display. But for an Led display surely you can see it far away even if it refreshes once a second?
Refresh rate normally needs to be high enough to avoid pixels “jumping” between refreshes on high resolution displays, so wouldn’t higher view distances allow you to decrease the refresh rate?
Is the article just spouting bullshit? Or is there an actual link between refresh rate and view distance?
It’s likely peripheral vision vs focal vision, combined with an optical illusion.
Our eyes are not monolithic, the capabilities vary over the retina. At the center, is a small area of high density, high acuity vision. We actually scan this about rapidly, relying on memory to create a wider image.
This acuity comes at a trade off however. Moving outwards, our vision moves towards motion and low light vision it also loses colour information. This area is great for spotting something sneaking up on you, but not what. This area is a lot more sensitive to flicker than our core vision.
In your case, it’s likely 2 fold. You’re seeing most of the games in your peripheral vision, this makes any flicker more pronounced. Secondly, your eyes/brain are trying to scan and absorb too much information (multiple rapidly changing and unpredictable images, spread out over physical space). The illusion your mind creates breaks down. The visual processing areas of your brain can’t fill in the gaps reliably, so your higher mind perceives stuttering. As you move closer, your focus tightens, and things clear up.