What do you like better: BFI or Gsync/Freesync?

What do you like better?

  • Black Frame Insertion (BFI), Strobing

    Votes: 4 16.7%
  • Gsync, Freesync, Adaptive Sync.

    Votes: 20 83.3%

  • Total voters
    24

Pastuch

Gawd
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
624
What do you like better: BFI or Gsync/Freesync?

BFI or Black Frame Insertion: Otherwise known as strobing backlight, these improve motion performance while reducing brightness.

Gsync/Freesync: These synchronize monitor refresh rate to frame rate to reduce tearing.


Personally, for FPS games and definitely Rocket League I prefer max refresh rate with BFI. That probably goes for anything online and competitive.

For single-player games I'll take adaptive sync.

One monitor can do both but the panel isn't an OLED.
https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/asus/tuf-vg27aq
 
I love BFI, but I can't live without gsync.


Too bad that one monitor that does them both has terrible crosstalk, which makes strobing completely useless.

But with the new gsync OLEDs I don't care about LCD even if it could do both at this point. The enhanced motion clarity isn't going to make up for the comparatively terrible image quality.

I hope OLEDs become capable of simultaneous blur reduction and gsync soon. It's the only significant improvement left for OLEDs aside from simply supporting higher refresh rates. In a couple years we'll be eyeing microLEDs.
 
On my previous monitor I used both based on use case. For games that consistently ran at high framerates I used ULMB, for games that did not I used G-Sync. My current one doesn't have BFI unfortunately.

On an OLED I don't really care too much about BFI. I think the motion clarity without it is already good.
 
BFI without doubt, for me it's on constantly. I've got a BenQ one I feel they don't dim the brightness a lot using it, I am at 36 brightness with it turned on and maybe 24~25 with it off for similar percieved brightness. I'm looking forward to test 4K OLED 120Hz 48" BFI action for sure.
 
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Due to input lag reduction when using VRR and lag increase when using V-Sync when trying to match game frame rate to monitor refresh rate actually using BFI/strobing might not be that good idea for competitive gaming. Also because BFI on LCD works byt first drawing frame on screen and then flashing LEDs during vertical blank time which adds latency by itself.

OLED with VRR and BFI (or rather something like rolling bar) would be the perfect solution.
Maybe one day...
 
The long term solution is 1000hz refresh rates. Flickering sucks and motion blur sucks.

It's all just pissing around until they get there.

This is one of the reasons that I find things like VR so amusing. We can't even get two dimensional displays right, and people think we can do good VR.
 
Both at the same time on an OLED would be end game. But there are some serious technical challenges to that, as seen by the lackluster perfromance of the ASUS products that attempt it.
 
I must be the only person here who barely notices the difference gsync/vrr makes in a game. I hardly ever get tearing in a game so turning on gsync does nothing for me. On the other hand, I can see the difference in motion with ULMB/BFI immediately and it makes fps shooters way smoother. I'm currently split whether I should wait on the 360 Hz panels coming out this year or grab the new BenQ xl2746s which just got released because to me motion smoothness is paramount.
 
I must be the only person here who barely notices the difference gsync/vrr makes in a game. I hardly ever get tearing in a game so turning on gsync does nothing for me. On the other hand, I can see the difference in motion with ULMB/BFI immediately and it makes fps shooters way smoother. I'm currently split whether I should wait on the 360 Hz panels coming out this year or grab the new BenQ xl2746s which just got released because to me motion smoothness is paramount.

Honestly, I'm wondering if you should just sit on what you have and hope some newer/smaller OLED's come out with rolling scan. If you're satisfied with what you have now, it may be better to wait and see what we'll have in a couple of years.
 
I must be the only person here who barely notices the difference gsync/vrr makes in a game. I hardly ever get tearing in a game so turning on gsync does nothing for me. On the other hand, I can see the difference in motion with ULMB/BFI immediately and it makes fps shooters way smoother. I'm currently split whether I should wait on the 360 Hz panels coming out this year or grab the new BenQ xl2746s which just got released because to me motion smoothness is paramount.

Maybe; it really, really depends on what and how you're playing, and well, your own eyes, versus everyone else's.

Personally, I can't unsee tearing, and I can't stand input lag.

G-Sync fixed that with release 1.0, and I'm not going back.
 
I must be the only person here who barely notices the difference gsync/vrr makes in a game. I hardly ever get tearing in a game so turning on gsync does nothing for me. On the other hand, I can see the difference in motion with ULMB/BFI immediately and it makes fps shooters way smoother. I'm currently split whether I should wait on the 360 Hz panels coming out this year or grab the new BenQ xl2746s which just got released because to me motion smoothness is paramount.

I'm with you 1000%, if I can hit the right frame rates I'll pick BFI every time over gsync. Edit: Provided you're using a monitor with imperceptible strobing (no flashing) and a bright enough display. My Samsung does both.
 
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You can use RTSS's Scanline Sync feature in conjunction with BFI to have the low input lag of G-Sync as long as you can maintain 120fps without requiring more than 70% GPU load.
 
Maybe; it really, really depends on what and how you're playing, and well, your own eyes, versus everyone else's.

Personally, I can't unsee tearing, and I can't stand input lag.

G-Sync fixed that with release 1.0, and I'm not going back.

Input lag for BFI is next to nothing (1 ms additional on some models) for the better monitors (e.g. some Acer and BenQ models). I wish I could say I even notice when G-Sync does anything while on vs off, the difference is so minuscule to me that I really have to look for it. With BFI I instantly see the difference in smoothness, it's hard to describe really. I plan on grabbing the new BenQ XL2746S as soon as they offer it on Amazon (it's on BenQ's site right now for $650..pricey).
 
Input lag for BFI is next to nothing (1 ms additional on some models) for the better monitors (e.g. some Acer and BenQ models). I wish I could say I even notice when G-Sync does anything while on vs off, the difference is so minuscule to me that I really have to look for it. With BFI I instantly see the difference in smoothness, it's hard to describe really. I plan on grabbing the new BenQ XL2746S as soon as they offer it on Amazon (it's on BenQ's site right now for $650..pricey).

But doesn't this vary depending on framerate (frametimes)?
 
But doesn't this vary depending on framerate (frametimes)?

Well for optimal BFI you want framerate = refresh rate and if it drops you can get additional lag. At 1080p even midrange cards can consistently hit 120 fps steady in most competitive games.
 
Well for optimal BFI you want framerate = refresh rate and if it drops you can get additional lag. At 1080p even midrange cards can consistently hit 120 fps steady in most competitive games.

I see -- that's probably where our perspectives differ. I'm at 1440p and not necessarily always looking for 120FPS+, and mostly at games that aren't competitive.
 
You can use RTSS's Scanline Sync feature in conjunction with BFI to have the low input lag of G-Sync as long as you can maintain 120fps without requiring more than 70% GPU load.

It's pretty fantastic when you can get it to work properly yeah. If the BFI on those new OLEDs works as well as advertised I'll definitely aim to do that for the few games I play where the conditions are met.
 
It's pretty fantastic when you can get it to work properly yeah. If the BFI on those new OLEDs works as well as advertised I'll definitely aim to do that for the few games I play where the conditions are met.

I'm intrigued, could one of you gents please explain how this works? Why is a low GPU load required in this scenario?

I have a 1080ti so I don't think I can enable Scanline sync yet but I'm planning on buying an HDMI 2.1 video card and new CPU to go with the CX48.
 
It's a bit complicated.

I would sum it up like this: with a very reliable/stable setup (the low CPU/GPU usage mean you have headroom and reliable calculations) you can have a single fixed tearline and using software adjustments, you can move it up or down until it's invisible.
 
The basic idea is that you're trying to get consistant 120FPS frametimes (8.3ms), while also syncing them up to a 120Hz monitor, without V-Sync.
 
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