Computer lines

Our eyes are too slow to see the TV image being refreshed, thats why you don't see the lines when watching TV.

 

This 'strobe' effect is also the reason for spoked wheels on TV sometimes appearing to rotate the wrong way.

 

I believe this effect appears in "real life" too. It doesn't have to be on TV.

 

Same effect can be demonstrated when watching a spinning wheel or a car tire. Our brain/eyes have some specific sampling frequency at which they "sample" the outside world. When the frequency of angular rotation is slightly higher then the sampling speed (angular speed < sampling speed < 2*angular speed) you're getting an effect which is called " folding" (sampled frequency is switched with a complex conjugate variant of itself + phase shift) and this effect causes you to see the wheel spin the other way. ;) Quite interesting actually, since it can be applied everywhere. Such as filming a computer screen or watching a movie etc..

 

I don't think that the so-called strobe effect happens in the 'REAL' real world. What I mean by this is that it is not noticed in good old plain and pure sunlight. It is noticed under artificial lighting due to the 50/60 hertz that our eyes cannot see normally.