ULMB 2: Ultra Low Motion Blur Technology for Sharper and Clearer Images

After 8 years since the introduction of ULMB (Ultra Low Motion Blur) technology, its second generation is coming ULMB 2. The aim of this technology is to minimize the effect of image blurring during the transition from one image to another. Pixels take a while to change color, even in an age of very fast monitors. ULMB solves this problem by turning off the backlight when the pixels change color, and when it is turned on again, a new ghost-free image is displayed. If you’ve seen the movie My Doll is on Fire, where they stole the raffle at the ball, that’s exactly the principle. With the light on, the thief who was stealing and had to return the stolen item could be seen, so it was turned off to preserve anonymity. With the light off, the process of change (intended return) would not be visible, and only the result of this change could be seen (although in the film with the exact opposite, unwanted result – however, the fact that the process was not visible, it was fulfilled). We want something similar here. We don’t want to see the process of change (transformation of pixel color from one to another), but only the result of this change. That’s why it “goes out”.

However, it also has ailments. Although the image is sharper because these transitions are not visible, inserting dark frames (up to 75% of the time) also means that the image is much darker. That’s why ULMB didn’t really catch on with many players. The new generation is a slight improvement of the previous one and should remove (or at least suppress) some shortcomings.

G-Sync Ultra Low Motion Blur 2 uses the features of modern monitors, and Nvidia says that, for example, with a 360Hz monitor with ULMB 2, the resulting clarity and sharpness of the image should be comparable to a 1440Hz monitor (there is no such thing). A relatively common 120Hz monitor should thus effectively reach the performance of a 480Hz monitor, but it would still not meet the requirements for ULMB 2. In combination with G-Sync, it can synchronize the times of turning off and on the backlight, at the same time it can set a more aggressive overdrive for the pixels in the lower part of the display so , in order to better prepare for displaying the correct color, which Nvidia calls Vertical Dependent Overdrive (the overdrive depends on the pixel position on the screen). In order for a monitor to be marked as supporting ULMB 2, it must effectively reach at least 1000 Hz (in the aforementioned 75% case, so at least 250 Hz actual frequency), offer ULMB 2 even at the monitor’s maximum frequency, and achieve a brightness of at least 250 nits without double images and crosstalk .

ULMB 2 is already available on Acer Predator XB273U F (27″ 1440p 360Hz) and Asus ROG Swift 360Hz PG27AQN (27″ 1440p 360Hz) monitors. It will also soon appear on the Asus ROG Swift Pro PG248QP (25″ 1080p 540Hz) and AOC Agon AG276QSG (27″ 1440p 360Hz) monitors.