If you’ve seen Sony’s Z-series of Bravia TVs, you’re probably wondering what 200Hz means, and why it’s suddenly such an amazing feature that you can’t live without. To understand why 200Hz is both a great example of marketing speak and a feature that you do want on your next TV, you need to understand a little bit about how TVs work.

In Australia, we use the PAL standard for our TVs. Among other things, the PAL spec has a refresh rate of 50Hz (as opposed to the NTSC spec of 60Hz found in the US and Japan). On your old CRT TV, that would mean that the picture would change 50 times every second (alternating between every second line every half a second).

When CRTs were introduced to 100Hz technology, it meant that the TV would double the frame rate, refreshing the picture twice as quickly by displaying each frame twice and therefore reducing visible flicker on screen.

100Hz technology works a little differently on LCDs and plasmas. For these TVs, each frame from the video source is analysed by a video-processing chip. The chip creates a hybrid image of the two frames, and inserts it between them. The end result is a slightly more fluid representation of motion, which is particularly beneficial to LCD screens.

Sony’s MotionFlow 200Hz Z-series Bravia TV takes this idea to the next obvious level – doubling the frame rate again. So instead of inserting just one frame between the two source images, the video chip inserts three different frames that are digitally composed to show the transformation from one frame to the next. And because there are now four frames displayed for every one coming from your source input, you get much smoother motion, making sports and fast-paced action much more enjoyable to watch.

As 2009 rolls on, expect more and more TV manufacturers to roll out 200Hz television sets. And then expect some all new breathtaking technology to be introduced as the next must-have feature… Because if there’s one certainty about digital televisions, it’s that they just keep on getting better.

Nick Broughall is the editor of Gizmodo Australia at gizmodo.com.au. He wrote this article for the February issue of Popular Science.