Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms: interlacing
interlacing
a way of arranging a video display so that the CRT scans all the odd-numbered rows first, then all the even-numbered rows, or vice versa. This is supposed to reduce flicker because the whole screen is scanned twice as often as it would be if the rows were scanned in order.
In practice, interlacing reduces flicker only if adjacent rows are similar so that they can blend together. Thus interlacing works well with an ordinary TV picture but not so well on a computer screen, where a horizontal line, for example, might occupy only one row. With computer graphics, best results are obtained with a noninterlaced display that scans the whole screen at least 70 times per second.
