Samsung HOWTO

Eliminate LCD Motion Blur on Samsung 120 Hz Monitors

Supported Monitors: Most samsung 700D, 750D and 950D series.
Tested: S23A700D, S23A750DS23A950D, S27A700D, S27A750D, S27A950D
For LightBoost instructions on ASUS and BENQ 120 Hz, click here instead.

Samsung SA700D, SA750D, and SA950D has a little-known strobe backlight similar to LightBoost that eliminate LCD motion blur. Samsung does not advertise this as an official LightBoost feature. A synchronized stroboscopic backlight works by keeping pixel persistence in total darkness (unseen by eye) between refreshes, and strobing the backlight only on fully-refreshed LCD frames (high speed video). As a result, the refresh-synchronized strobe backlight eliminate LCD motion blur. This brings CRT motion clarity to LCD displays.

Enable Strobe Mode on SA700D, SA750D and SA950D

  1. Set your PC into 120 Hz mode.
    (Control Panel -> Display -> Adjust Resolution -> Advanced -> Monitor)
  2. Before the next step, change “Response Time” to “Normal” via the monitor OSD.
  3. Now, turn on “3D” via the monitor OSD, frame-sequential mode.
  4. Keep using the monitor even for 2D gaming.  (No 3D glasses needed)
  5. For better color, change “Magic Angle” to “Group View”
  6. Run motion test at www.testufo.com/photo in Chrome or another 120Hz web browser.

Note: On some computer configurations, your monitor might turn off when entering and exiting video games.  If this happens, simply turn on your monitor again.

Important: The zero motion blur effect occurs at fps matching Hz, so you ideally need 120 fps at 120 Hz for the best CRT clear motion effect.

The good news is that the Samsung strobe backlight works with both AMD Radeon and nVidia Geforce cards! (Credit: CyberGamer.com.au review).

PixPerAn tests and TestUFO tests show 75% less LCD motion blur than regular Samsung 120 Hz even for 2D usage, which is a huge reduction. PixPerAn readability test of at least 25. This is an additional reduction on top of the 50% motion blur elimination caused by going from 60 Hz to 120 Hz. As a result, you get almost a whopping 90% less LCD motion blur than regular 60Hz! This is because the Samsung 3D mode enables a strobe backlight, which also eliminates motion blur during 2D usage.

The bad news is that the input lag is worse than official LightBoost monitors, so this is not as useful for competition online gaming as official LightBoost monitors. However, the lack of motion blur is quite handy for solo gaming, and the Samsung is known to have better colors than most TN-panel monitors!

The Science Behind Strobe Backlights

The Samsung strobe backlight is almost identical to LightBoost. This high speed video (480fps + 1000fps) demonstrates a LightBoost strobe backlight successfully bypassing pixel persistence as the motion blur barrier:

TFTCentral posted a good article about Motion Blur Reduction Backlights, explaining how strobe backlights can eliminate motion blur. Other information can be found here on this website, including Scanning Backlight FAQ, as well as Science & References.

For information about LightBoost monitors or other motion-blur-eliminating monitors, see the Official 120Hz Monitor List, or the LightBoost HOWTO.


30 Comments For “Samsung HOWTO”

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oni66
Member
oni66

Hello Chief,
I own a SA950D plugged in through a DisplayPort and have applied your tutorial which resulted in a fairly dim screen.
Is this fix absolutely required to have an acceptable 120Hz experience (is it something I can ignore?)

Thanks in advance.

FencerMusashi
Member
FencerMusashi

Hi blurbuster, I have a quick question. I have a Samsung S23A700D. I did all the steps you mention above and in the final step where you run a test on testufo.com, my frame rate is only 40fps and the refresh rate is at 40hz. It also says “VALID” on the bottom of the page.

Is that the result that you suppose to get on testufo.com? Or am I supposed to get 120fps and 120hz?

Thank you for your help.

brid555
Member
brid555

In SoftMCCS its reading 2 of the monitors as samsung s23a700 and the other as Dell NV surround. The dell nv surround says DDD/CI not supported and everything below that is greyed out. On either on the samsungs it allows me to put in those commands
03 D4 00 40 gets me
12:11:41.03438…..[S] 51 84 03 D4 00 40 2C [P]
12:11:41.13839…..[S] 6E 84 03 D4 00 40 2C*[P]
12:11:41.1413A…..Checksum error
and 03 D4 00 20 gets me
12:13:36.6893B…..[S] 51 84 03 D4 00 20 4C [P]
12:13:36.7933C…..[S] 6E 84 03 D4 00 20 4C*[P]
12:13:36.7963D…..Checksum error

brid555
Member
brid555

Then I tried to set up nvidia surround, but the screens just go blank, when i click apply. I read online to download .inf drivers for a dell alienware 2310 and install. I tried that and now it allows me to get into nvidia surround mode.
I dont know if any of that will interfere with what your having me test.

brid555
Member
brid555

both times it said checksum error.
I for sure have an issue with one of the monitors. 2 of them lets me connect via DVI and the computer knows they are samsung s23a700 monitors but the one monitor I have just goes black when i connect via dvi. When I connect that monitor with dvi to a active dual link display port adapter then display port to my video card. Then it will display 640×480 but it doesnt know what kind of monitor it is. With the CRU1.1 utility I exported the stuff from the samsung monitor and then imported it to the Generic pnp monitor and then changed product id. I now had my computer recognizing all the monitors as samsungs and it let me set them all to 120hz.

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