Obviously, if you exclusively watch 24/29.97/48 fps movies, a display that updates faster than that has no benefit to you. I suppose it does get the next frame faster.
But have you watched 60/120/240 fps content? How often do you update your TV? If you're going to keep it for more than a few years, definitely get 240 Hz.
I was similarly dismissive of high-frame-rate displays, until I got a new monitor (4k, 120fps, replacing an ancient 1080p display with screwed up vsync settings that capped it at 30 fps because I didn't know any better) and watched some content I'd shot on my own Insta360. Oh my god was it incredible. Buttery smooth and sharp and fast, like real life instead of a movie. I booted up Rocket League just to see the difference. It's like walking around while looking through a smartphone camera preview versus looking at the world with your own eyes. 30 fps is now hard to watch and totally unplayable for me. (Yes, unplayable, not unwatchable; if you ever hook up a PC gaming system to the TV there's zero dispute in my mind that 240 Hz is worth it, even if it's less important for movies).
I understand that 24/29.97/48 fps have incredible inertia in because of limitations in distribution - if it can't be played on Blu Ray at high frame rates, and can't be played at the box office at high frame rates, there's a chicken-and-egg problem where studios don't produce HFR content so distributors don't support HFR content.
But I cannot imagine that this will hold off high-frame-rate content forever. More and more distribution is over vertically-integrated streaming providers. Because each frame is similar, the bitrate of compressed 120fps content isn't 2x that of 60 fps which isn't 2x that of 30 fps (it's more like 1.5x, with diminishing returns), so it won't cost 2x as much to distribute high frame rate video. It takes more compute from the encoders, but the AI boom is fueling GPU improvement at incredible rates.
I think that the first sports league (XFL? UFC?) to offer 120 fps or 240 fps content will put a crack in the dam that will quickly erode. Some AAA blockbuster action movie (by Ang Lee?) will premier exclusively on some streaming service, with special treatment to be distributed at 120 or 240 fps. A few top-tier cinemas will update some of their projectors to run at high frame rates. Eventually mainstream sports and mainstream movies and optical media standards will be at high frame rates.
Whether that's before or after your next TV upgrade or not, I don't know.
But have you watched 60/120/240 fps content? How often do you update your TV? If you're going to keep it for more than a few years, definitely get 240 Hz.
I was similarly dismissive of high-frame-rate displays, until I got a new monitor (4k, 120fps, replacing an ancient 1080p display with screwed up vsync settings that capped it at 30 fps because I didn't know any better) and watched some content I'd shot on my own Insta360. Oh my god was it incredible. Buttery smooth and sharp and fast, like real life instead of a movie. I booted up Rocket League just to see the difference. It's like walking around while looking through a smartphone camera preview versus looking at the world with your own eyes. 30 fps is now hard to watch and totally unplayable for me. (Yes, unplayable, not unwatchable; if you ever hook up a PC gaming system to the TV there's zero dispute in my mind that 240 Hz is worth it, even if it's less important for movies).
I understand that 24/29.97/48 fps have incredible inertia in because of limitations in distribution - if it can't be played on Blu Ray at high frame rates, and can't be played at the box office at high frame rates, there's a chicken-and-egg problem where studios don't produce HFR content so distributors don't support HFR content.
But I cannot imagine that this will hold off high-frame-rate content forever. More and more distribution is over vertically-integrated streaming providers. Because each frame is similar, the bitrate of compressed 120fps content isn't 2x that of 60 fps which isn't 2x that of 30 fps (it's more like 1.5x, with diminishing returns), so it won't cost 2x as much to distribute high frame rate video. It takes more compute from the encoders, but the AI boom is fueling GPU improvement at incredible rates.
I think that the first sports league (XFL? UFC?) to offer 120 fps or 240 fps content will put a crack in the dam that will quickly erode. Some AAA blockbuster action movie (by Ang Lee?) will premier exclusively on some streaming service, with special treatment to be distributed at 120 or 240 fps. A few top-tier cinemas will update some of their projectors to run at high frame rates. Eventually mainstream sports and mainstream movies and optical media standards will be at high frame rates.
Whether that's before or after your next TV upgrade or not, I don't know.