Refresh rate is kind of meaningless when talking about LCD. In a CRT, where the term originated, a beam of electrons scanned the screen horizontally from top to bottom, hitting phosphors which emmitted light. After the beam left a particular pixel, the phosphor was no longer excited (
) and the light decayed. The decay meant the display had to be refreshed, even if the picture shown was static, and this caused flicker. In an LCD, there is no phosphor to decay after an electron beam has hit it, therefore there is no reason to constantly refresh the screen. If an LCD pixel is turned on, it's state is maintained (either actively with a transistor or passively with a capacitor) until the data changes. No decay = no flicker (from the panel itself. Backlighting is another issue).
The refresh rate given for LCD TV is really a function of the controller speed and (more importantly) LCD response time. Yes, on televisons the screen is redrawn at the rated refresh rate, but that's because until recently TVs were fed a rather imprecise analog signal (the old joke was NTSC stood for: Never Twice the Same Colour
), not because they actually needed refreshing. Computer monitors were given analog signals as well (VGA), and did the same.
Backlighting, however, can show a noticable flicker if it's the electro-fluorescent type. LEDs can also show a flicker if the brightness is regulated by pulse width rather than by voltage level.
Which is better for
your eyes?
Ya got me, that's totally up to whichever you find more comfortable.