1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,040 Monitor manufacturers have been lying to us about something really important. 2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:08,600 You know when you look at a spec sheet, you'll see a field that says response time? 3 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:12,760 Yeah, that number is a lie probably. To put it simply, response times tell you 4 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:15,840 how quickly the pixels on your screen transition 5 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:20,360 from showing you one color value to another. And it matters because if your response time 6 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:24,280 is too slow, moving images on your screen could look blurry. 7 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:27,760 Not exactly what you want after dropping all that money on a new display. 8 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:33,400 So let's say you found a monitor that's a nice low response time. Maybe as low as a single millisecond listed on the box. 9 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:39,320 It sounds good at first, but how exactly did this display manufacturer arrive at that number? 10 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,400 Well, they tested it, but not in a way 11 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:45,720 that reflects how anyone is realistically using a monitor 12 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:51,480 or even in a way that reflects how the monitor next to it on the shelf was tested by its manufacturer. 13 00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:57,320 What kinds of things could be wrong with their tests? Well, for starters, they're often conducted in hot rooms 14 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:03,560 which decreases the viscosity of the liquid crystals inside the display, allowing them to respond more quickly. 15 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:07,000 And when we say hot, we mean significantly 16 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:11,400 above normal room temperature. In fact, the Video Electronics Standards Association, 17 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:17,480 or BESA, calls the temperature at which many of these tests are carried out as abnormally high. 18 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:20,600 And that's not the only way that these results get manipulated. 19 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:26,440 Lots of monitors have an overdrive setting, but that doesn't mean they include an automatic transmission. 20 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:32,560 What a monitor overdrive does is artificially force a faster response time by applying a higher voltage 21 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:36,240 to each pixel. And while it can be a useful feature, 22 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:41,520 it's also quite common for overdrive to produce artifacts like inverse ghosting or coronas. 23 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:46,640 And as you may have guessed, monitor companies are also often guilty of applying very aggressive 24 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:49,640 overdrive settings when they do their response time tests 25 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:54,800 so that they can put the lowest number possible on the spec sheet, even though those overdrive settings 26 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:58,720 make the picture look like hot garbage a lot of the time. 27 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:05,000 Combine that with the fact that results can be cherry picked from the very best units instead of reflecting an average. 28 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:10,000 And it's not surprising that fudged response time numbers have been identified as a major issue 29 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,640 among display enthusiasts. BESA has recently come and saved the day 30 00:02:13,640 --> 00:02:19,560 with a new certification called ClearMR, which defines a strict set of standards for testing. 31 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:23,800 First off, tests have to be conducted within a narrow temperature range 32 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:29,040 reflective of typical room temperatures. That's between 72 and a half and 76 degrees Fahrenheit 33 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:32,360 or 22 and a half to 24 and a half degrees Celsius. 34 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,120 Additionally, monitors have to be tested at their native resolution, 35 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,920 only after a warm-up period and at default settings. 36 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:45,280 Although critics have pointed out this might unfairly exclude monitor features such as backlight strobing 37 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:50,080 that could mitigate the effects of slow response times, BESA seems to be mostly concerned 38 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:54,280 about the inherent properties of the display panel itself unless about the features that you add on later. 39 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:59,960 And BESA has also shown willingness to tweak standards over time as they did with display HDR. 40 00:02:59,960 --> 00:03:04,080 So maybe these critics' concerns will be assuaged eventually anyway. 41 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,080 For the moment though, ClearMR sets acceptable limits 42 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:12,000 for overshoot and undershoot as well. This is when a pixel misses its color target 43 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:16,240 because an overdrive setting has forced it to transition abnormally quickly. 44 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:21,200 To earn certification, BESA says that overshoot can't be more than 20% and undershoot 45 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:25,200 can't be more than 10%. Similar to BESA's display HDR program, 46 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:30,840 monitors that pass the test will be given an official ClearMR logo along with a number 47 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:36,040 ranging between 3000 and 9000. These numbers represent approximate ratios 48 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:41,240 of clear pixels to blurry pixels on your screen. So a display rated as ClearMR 3000, 49 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:45,000 the lowest certification level, will have around 3000 clear pixels 50 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:49,200 for every blurry pixel on the screen. Since the ClearMR standard is quite new, 51 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:55,040 there aren't many displays out there yet sporting the badge, but seeing as most major display manufacturers 52 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:58,760 are BESA members, we're hoping to see it become super common, 53 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:02,720 similar to the display HDR certification, especially on gaming monitors. 54 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:07,600 As I know, you didn't just spend all that money on your latest GPU just to have your games 55 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:11,280 look like a poop smear, did ya? Thanks for watching guys. 56 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:14,440 If you liked this video, hit like, hit subscribe, and hit us up in the comments section 57 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:17,680 with your suggestions for topics that we should cover in the future.