Proper 23.976 fps support
One of the biggest failings with the Clarksdale-based Core i series CPU's was that they could not use a resolution of 23.976 Hz, which is necessary to view Blu-Ray properly as most of modern movies currently are released with that refresh rate. Instead, the CPU’s output a 24 Hz. When we watch a movie filmed in 23.976 fps (23.976 Hz) at 24 Hz, it means that every 40 seconds, an extra frame must be inserted to sync the audio, meaning we get a slight judder in the image, mostly visible if the image is panning at that point.
Unfortunately, the new Sandy Bridge CPU’s still have that error. The way around it is to turn off UAC (yes, it is weird), which then allows the CPU to use 23.976 Hz instead which means we will only see stutter every 5 minutes or so.
For a long time, AMD has had much better support for 23.976 fps, and that continues with the Llano APU. While not hitting 23.976fps exactly, it comes close at 23.978fps (measured by MPC-HC) and that means stutter only once every 8 minutes.
As long as UAC is turned off, the Intel Sandy Bridge CPU’s do a decent job in handling 23.976 fps material. AMD still has the upper hand though, with almost perfect 23.976 support without having to turn off something as important as UAC.
Note: It is very possible these issues will not be noticed by users. Some may even prefer to set the resolution to 60 Hz and use a so called 3:2 pulldown to get the 23.976 fps video content to play even if it introduces judder when panning.