Ghosting Test

A moving object at a known speed, so you can see whether your panel leaves trails behind it. This is a visual motion test — it produces a description, not a response time in milliseconds.

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Recommended

Black → Gray · 960 px/s

The most revealing dark transition at a practical tracking speed.

Advanced transition and speed

Transition

Speed

In the test: Space pause · H hide UI · Esc exit. Motion starts paused if your system requests reduced motion.

How to look

  • 1.Track the object with your eyes. Following it is what makes trails visible; staring at a fixed point hides them.
  • 2.Start at 960 px/s. Go faster only if nothing shows.
  • 3.Try Black → Gray in a dim room — dark transitions are where most panels struggle.
  • 4.Change one thing at a time: speed, then transition, then the monitor's overdrive setting.

Your browser's frame delivery affects what you see here. If motion looks like it stutters rather than smears, check the observed frame cadence first.

What the different trails mean

A dark trail behind a moving object means pixels are taking too long to brighten — the classic slow transition. A bright or inverted edge in front of or behind the object is overshoot: the overdrive circuit pushed the pixel past its target and it had to come back. That one is a setting, not a defect — look for "Overdrive", "Response Time", "TraceFree" or "AMA" in the monitor's menu and step it down one level.

Heavy dark smearing that only shows in dark scenes is a known characteristic of many VA panels. It is not something a setting fixes, and it is worth knowing about before buying rather than after.

Why there is no millisecond figure here

Real gray-to-gray response time is measured with a photodiode aimed at the panel and an oscilloscope recording the transition. A web page has no access to any of that — it can only move a shape and ask what you saw. Any browser tool that reports your panel's response time in milliseconds is reporting something it cannot know. More on where we draw that line.

What this test is good for: comparing overdrive settings on your own monitor, checking whether a panel smears in dark scenes, and deciding whether motion clarity is good enough for how you actually use it.

What this test checks

  • Motion trails behind objects moving at a known speed
  • Overshoot and inverse ghosting from aggressive overdrive
  • Dark smearing across five different transitions

Related tests

Refresh Rate Test

Frame cadence your browser actually observes, with the caveats.

Dead Pixel Test

White, black, RGB and gray slides — the core check.

Screen Diagnosis

Answer a few questions to narrow down what you are seeing.

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