The Computer Revolution/Hardware/Refresh Rate vs. Sampling Rate

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Refresh Rate

The refresh rate refers to monitors, televisions and other visual display devices. It is also known as: "vertical refresh rate", or "vertical scan rate for CRTs. It refers to the number of times in a second that a display is fully lit up. For a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) this is the number of times the ray draws from the top corner of the screen to the opposite bottom corner, in one second. It is measured in hertz. It is this phenomenon that causes the bar on a screen that is seen on a television show as the refresh rate is not enough to compensate for the intermediate frames taken by the camera.

This is in contrast to a frame rate, which is the number of frames shown per second. Whereas if a monitor has a 48Hz refresh rate and the show is at a 24 frame rate, then the screen will be lit up twice for each frame that appears on the screen.

Sampling Rate

The sampling rate for audio is the equivalent to the refresh rate for video. There are instances that the refresh rate is called the sampling rate interchangeably. In audio, this is the number of times a second that the sound input is recorded and saved. The sample rate of an audio recording is a good indicator of the overall sound quality. With the same measurement unit as the refresh rate, it is a noticeably higher number for a sampling rate for audio. Here are some rates and what they are commonly used for:

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