The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has created an entirely new motion blur specification known as ClearMR. This new standard aims to give customers a clear picture of the display quality in action, including the best gaming monitors, and to determine if the display is too blurry for their use case. This standard applies to all kinds of displays, including those built into computer monitors, televisions, notebooks, and tablets.
Motion blur on modern displays is described as the time it takes for a pixel to change color. This most popular benchmark includes a gray-to-gray or black-to-white response time metric. As the name suggests, these benchmarks determine how quickly a pixel can change color from various shades of gray, or from pure black to pure white. , the sharpness of moving objects is improved and blur is less noticeable.
However, according to VESA, these time-based metrics are obsolete. Modern display technology is very advanced and contains many artificial pixel response time enhancements, especially popular in gaming monitors. But despite these enhancements, they are not perfect solutions and often fix monitor performance in one area at the expense of another.
ClearMR plans to fix this or, more specifically, to address these issues more carefully. VESA’s new standard aims to limit the use of these artificial enhancements, so consumers can more fairly compare motion blur quality at the natural limits of their displays.
ClearMR introduces a new ranking system called CMR Ranges. The range has seven categories with no numbers in between, including CMR 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000, 7000, 8000, and 9000.
Each category represents a performance level based on the percentage of sharp and blurry pixels. For example, VESA points out that ClearMR 7000 is defined as his CMR range of 65-75 times more clear pixels than blurry pixels.
The test is done with a high speed camera that takes pictures of the test pattern moving across the screen as the pattern changes from frame to frame. A luminance device then tests the overall luminance of the display, using the same pattern to check the quality of color reproduction and display brightness. All data is then compiled into profiles and converted to CMR values.
The higher the ClearMR number, the clearer the moving scenes and objects will appear. VESA made it very clear that each ClearMR category represents a visible real-world upgrade in visual fidelity.
To make display buying even easier, VESA is releasing a ClearMR badge that monitor manufacturers can add to their qualified displays. Only monitors that reach a Flagship Rating of 9000 earn this badge, so if you see the ClearMR badge on your display or box, you know for sure that your monitor has the best visual clarity.
This new quality standard seems like a good win for the entire display market. Especially in the gaming monitor market, nearly every display has some kind of pixel-to-pixel response time booster in the form of overdrive – overvoltage pixels to improve pixel response time, or buck to speed up pixels. ULMB (Ultra Low Motion Blur) response time to strobe lights, or other similar techniques. Great for gaming, but can negatively impact overall image quality and color reproduction for other workloads.
ClearMR will be generally available soon. Display makers like Samsung and LG have already certified multiple displays with the ClearMR logo, including Samsung OLED displays and his three LG UltraGear gaming monitors. Therefore, this display standard should become mainstream within the next year or two.
