During CES 2024, Nvidia announced a new G-SYNC technology called Pulsar that aims to address motion blur when using a variable refresh rate. The first monitor with G-SYNC Pulsar support will be launched later this year.
Pulsar combines two techniques to combine the benefits of VRR and Ultra Low Motion Blur, like this writes Nvidia. These two technologies do not work very well together yet. ULMB uses strobing to effectively flicker a monitor’s backlight when a new image is to be displayed, without illuminating the transition from frame to frame. This reduces motion blur considerably, but this cannot be properly adjusted to a variable refresh rate.
With G-SYNC Pulsar, monitors can apply Adaptive Overdrive to remedy this ailment. With this technique, transitions of pixel colors are adjusted by an algorithm to both the location of a pixel on the screen and the current refresh rate. This should ensure that ‘readability and blur reduction are maintained across a spectrum of refresh rates and across the entire screen’.
In addition, Pulsar uses what Nvidia calls Pulse Modulation. Strobing can cause a flickering image as a side effect, which is unpleasant to watch for some. By dynamically adjusting the strobe pulse for brightness and duration, Nvidia wants images to be easy on the eyes while reducing flicker.
According to Nvidia, the technology can achieve “effective motion clarity” up to 1000Hz. For the time being, G-Sync Pulsar only works on specific monitors that support it, of which the company only mentions the recently announced ASUS ROG Swift PG27, which should be launched in the second half of this year.
At the CES fair, Nvidia also announced that G-SYNC, without any Pulsar support for the time being, will be available via the cloud gaming service GeForce NOW.