Adjust refresh rate video playback in Android or Windows to fix Judder

Today we will explain what is the Judder effect and how to configure our Windows or Android system to have an optimal video playback without this problem. A very common and annoying defect that produces images jump and can affect the quality of video reproduction, let’s see in this guide because it is produced and how it is solved in the majority of devices.

Table of Contents

WHAT IS THE JUDDER EFFECT

This effect produces a distortion or jump in the video playback, you can see this problem especially in a horizontal or vertical traveling when we are playing content recorded at 23.976 Fps on a monitor set at 60Hz. To avoid it we need to change the refresh rate at 24Hz known in conventional TVs as 24p mode.

Some TVs have a Cinema or Movie mode that corrects the Judder even if it is at 60 or 50Hz, the result sometimes is not as good as actually playing the content at its native refresh rate.

The 23.976 Fps format is a standard that is used in most movies, the synchronization lag between the film and our screen produces a distortion that causes the Judder effect. The result can be quite unpleasant, there are people who are much more sensitive than others to this effect.

Examples of the Judder effect

Here we can see the unpleasant effect of the Judder, as we see in the traveling we have image jumps by interpolation.

We have several tests to check if we have the system correctly configured, the flow of the image should be smooth.

CONFIGURE WINDOWS PC

In this section we will see how to configure KODI or the MPC-HC player to avoid the judder effect on our screen.

To acquire a mini PC or HTPC to playback multimedia content, consult the models we recommend

Configure MPC-HC with MadVR for automatic screen refresh

One of the applications that helps us to configure our system exactly is MadVR a complement for the MPC-HC player that gives us the possibility of adjusting the refresh modes with our TV and other video enhancement.

Download MPC-HC and install it
Download MadVR and unzip it in a folder, it is important to leave the folder of this program in a fixed place.
Inside MadVR execute the install.bat file as Administrator with the right mouse button.
Execute MPC-HC, go to Options> Playback> Output
In the Video DirectShow menu change to madVR. We accept and restart MPC-HC
Playback any video with MPC-HC and pause it.
Click on the right mouse button on the video and go to Filters> madVR
Click on the Edit Settings button
Go to Devices and expand the menu of our TV and observe that it is marked as Digital monitor / TV, if is ok do not change it
In the menu Calibration is where we are going to adjust the refresh modes, it has several options.
– Switch to matching display mode: change the screen mode of our TV when you start the video in window mode or only when we go to full screen
– Restore original display mode: restores the screen mode when we close the video player or when we leave the full screen mode
– Treat 25p movies as 24p: treat 24p videos as if they were 24p, requires reclock programs
– List all display modes madVR: here we will set the screen modes compatible with our TV, for this we must first have tried them from the control panel of our GPU validating that they work. The format will be for example: 1080p23, 1080p24, 1080p50, 1080p60
Press OK, Accept and restart MPC-HC
When we play a video we will see how the screen jumps to black and reappears with a new screen mode.
If we want to go deeper into MadVR we can play with the scaling algorithms, we must bear in mind that the more powerful the filter, the more machine we need, the image quality can improve considerably, but this is personal.

Configure KODI to have KODI automatic screen refresh rate in Windows

Download and install KODI
Go to Settings> Player> Video
In the lower left corner we change the settings level to Expert
Click on Adjust the refresh rate select the way the system detects and changes the screen resolution, always or only when you start and end a video, the last is what we recommended.

CONFIGURE ANDROID TV

To solve the Judder effect in Android we have to configure both hardware and software and take into account a number of points.

Android native Settings

If our Android system has an automatic refresh rate setting in the firmware and really works we can use this way
Normally only the brands with support and development department take care of these points, the low-cost TV-Box no
As an alternative we can try the LibreELEC system for Android that already integrates this mode
To select a model to play multimedia content consult the Android TV models we recommend

AFR alternative

If out TV-Box don’t have auto refresh rate setting or don’t work we can use AFRd app if we have root permissions.

Read our Guide to configure AFRd system in Android

Configure KODI to avoid Judder on Android

Some systems such as the NVIDIA SHIELD TV or the TV-Box MINIX can change the refresh automatically using KODI, configure it is very simple and you just have to follow the following steps:

Download and install KODI
Go to Settings> Player> Video
In the lower left corner we change the settings level to Expert
Click on Adjust the refresh rate select the way the system detects and changes the screen resolution, always or only when you start and end a video, the last is what we recommended. We can also select if we want the system to pause before playing the content with the new configuration, it is recommended.
Go to Settings > System > Whitelist = Select all out TV resolution or refresh rate (mark all if you don’t know)