What is hfr

It was decided to use 24fps, primarily because most cinemas at the time could handle that particular frame rate, and has remained the standard in film production incredibly for the last hundred years. When TVs were introduced into homes in the s, the approach was slightly different. At the time TV images were composed of a series of scanning lines, so an interlaced image would essentially scan half the frame, and then the other half of the frame at a refresh rate of 50 or 60 times a second.

Since this was happening so fast, the brain would unconsciously combine these interlaced frames into a full field image at a rate of 25 or 30 frames a second. As broadcast and display technologies developed, TV production was able to use progressive scan video, which basically means shooting at 25 or 30 full video field frames a second, and this is often referred to as 25fps for PAL and 30fps for NTSC.

Since both of these frame rates are very similar to the 24fps used at the cinema, it was also relatively easy to show movies on TV. You do need a compatible TV though. HFR films require specific equipment to be able to play them back. Not many movie theatres have the technology, but they're slowly being upgraded as the technology becomes more popular. These can playback 60fps and fps games and video respectively.

Even when not fed native HFR content, they interpolate frames to make 24fps video run more smoothly. It's similar to when your TV upscales standard definition content to high definition or even 4K Ultra HD, it reads the data it has to hand and then works out how best to fill in the gaps. Higher frame rate content gives a much smoother image compared to 24fps. It's capable of showing up greater detail within scenes. It's especially useful for gameplay as it can significantly reduce lag.

Just as some may view a smoother image as an advantage of HFR, others will see it as a disadvantage. It comes down to personal preference, but many see the smooth motion of HFR films as too "soap opera-like", and they lose a sense of theatricality. If a film is shot in HFR, then the set, prop and costume designers all have to take extra care when creating items for the film. HFR films show up a lot more detail than non-HFR movies, so any discrepancies, such as being able to see modern day technology or items in a period film, will be seen by the audience.

Traditionally, films have 24 of these images — called frames — every second. This number was originally chosen not only because it was considered high enough to give the resultant image a smooth impression of motion, but also to allow a decent quality of sound sound was embedded into the film at this point. Television programmes work to different standards. In effect the term refers to any frame rate higher than is conventionally used - so anything better than the current fps.

Having more frames per second inherently improves the smoothness of motion, and gives a higher degree of resolution and clarity. Watch any of The Hobbit films and each of these advantages are clear - but not everyone liked what they saw. The extra smoothness and resolution makes the films look more lifelike, but also very different from the norm.