EricM407:

LED lights that flicker 60 times a second are not doing it for effect. Most people can't perceive 60 cycles. But google "LED Christmas light flicker 60 Hz" and you'll find a sample of at least a hundred folks it drives bananas.

Florescent lighting used to similarly really irritate me. "Older fluorescent fittings using a magnetic mains frequency ballast do not give out a steady light; instead, they flicker (fluctuate in intensity) at twice the supply frequency. While this is not easily discernible by the human eye..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_lamp

"LCD flat panels do not seem to flicker at all as the backlight of the screen operates at a very high frequency of nearly 200 Hz"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flicker_fusion_threshold

I can actually see the high flicker on my own modern HPw2207 LCD as I write this. It's hard to believe this light could be running at 200 Hz. But that is precisely why they needed run them so high. It's related to human Flicker Fusion Threshold, the reason movie projectors, TVs & CRTs had to artificially introduce higher flicker frequencies.

My point re LCD flicker, of course, is that... LCDs flicker. (From more than one source as you acknowledge)... not whether it is related to a refresh signal. In fact my whole premise is that an LCD image has its own flicker problems that must be addressed; similarly film projection, television and CRTs. In each case, the solution involves provision of an acceptable flicker rate.

This thread started with the point that somehow LCDs were immune from flicker. That there was "no light cycling" involved with LCDs. Well of course there is. And your 24fps LCD "acceptable image" is only acceptable because the technology deals with LCD flicker.

That aside, agreed, most computer rendered video at 24 fps with an ultra-high refresh would look just as choppy. You need to up the frame rate itself for an improvement there.

"It is argued that games with extremely high frame rates "feel" better and smoother than those that are just getting by (referred to as "buttery smooth" by devoted gamers)."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate

As I mentioned above, I would describe Doug Trumbull's 60fps Showscan as "buttery smooth" as well.

RBG