WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.040 Monitor manufacturers have been lying to us about something really important. 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? 00:00:08.600 --> 00:00:12.760 Yeah, that number is a lie probably. To put it simply, response times tell you 00:00:12.760 --> 00:00:15.840 how quickly the pixels on your screen transition 00:00:15.840 --> 00:00:20.360 from showing you one color value to another. And it matters because if your response time 00:00:20.360 --> 00:00:24.280 is too slow, moving images on your screen could look blurry. 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:27.760 Not exactly what you want after dropping all that money on a new display. 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. 00:00:33.400 --> 00:00:39.320 It sounds good at first, but how exactly did this display manufacturer arrive at that number? 00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:42.400 Well, they tested it, but not in a way 00:00:42.400 --> 00:00:45.720 that reflects how anyone is realistically using a monitor 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. 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 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. 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:07.000 And when we say hot, we mean significantly 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:11.400 above normal room temperature. In fact, the Video Electronics Standards Association, 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. 00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:20.600 And that's not the only way that these results get manipulated. 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. 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 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:36.240 to each pixel. And while it can be a useful feature, 00:01:36.240 --> 00:01:41.520 it's also quite common for overdrive to produce artifacts like inverse ghosting or coronas. 00:01:41.520 --> 00:01:46.640 And as you may have guessed, monitor companies are also often guilty of applying very aggressive 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:49.640 overdrive settings when they do their response time tests 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 00:01:54.840 --> 00:01:58.720 make the picture look like hot garbage a lot of the time. 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. 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 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:13.640 among display enthusiasts. BESA has recently come and saved the day 00:02:13.640 --> 00:02:19.560 with a new certification called ClearMR, which defines a strict set of standards for testing. 00:02:19.560 --> 00:02:23.800 First off, tests have to be conducted within a narrow temperature range 00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:29.040 reflective of typical room temperatures. That's between 72 and a half and 76 degrees Fahrenheit 00:02:29.040 --> 00:02:32.360 or 22 and a half to 24 and a half degrees Celsius. 00:02:32.360 --> 00:02:36.120 Additionally, monitors have to be tested at their native resolution, 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:39.920 only after a warm-up period and at default settings. 00:02:39.920 --> 00:02:45.280 Although critics have pointed out this might unfairly exclude monitor features such as backlight strobing 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:50.080 that could mitigate the effects of slow response times, BESA seems to be mostly concerned 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. 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. 00:02:59.960 --> 00:03:04.080 So maybe these critics' concerns will be assuaged eventually anyway. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:07.080 For the moment though, ClearMR sets acceptable limits 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:12.000 for overshoot and undershoot as well. This is when a pixel misses its color target 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:16.240 because an overdrive setting has forced it to transition abnormally quickly. 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:21.200 To earn certification, BESA says that overshoot can't be more than 20% and undershoot 00:03:21.200 --> 00:03:25.200 can't be more than 10%. Similar to BESA's display HDR program, 00:03:25.200 --> 00:03:30.840 monitors that pass the test will be given an official ClearMR logo along with a number 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:36.040 ranging between 3000 and 9000. These numbers represent approximate ratios 00:03:36.040 --> 00:03:41.240 of clear pixels to blurry pixels on your screen. So a display rated as ClearMR 3000, 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:45.000 the lowest certification level, will have around 3000 clear pixels 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.200 for every blurry pixel on the screen. Since the ClearMR standard is quite new, 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 00:03:55.040 --> 00:03:58.760 are BESA members, we're hoping to see it become super common, 00:03:58.760 --> 00:04:02.720 similar to the display HDR certification, especially on gaming monitors. 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 00:04:07.600 --> 00:04:11.280 look like a poop smear, did ya? Thanks for watching guys. 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 00:04:14.440 --> 00:04:17.680 with your suggestions for topics that we should cover in the future.