I just created a pull request in blinkstick-node that provides stateless 60fps streaming examples that can be easily adapted to any POV application. For use with Flex and Pro (see code comments) on Windows, Linux and Mac.
The 20ms timeout recommended for the BlickStick stateless callstack is actually very close to 60fps already, and I was able to push it to a stable 16ms (1000ms/60).
The result of this experiment is that the BlinkStick firmware and the WS281x circuitry proves to already handle POV streaming speeds!
The caveat is the quality of the physical LEDs users might attach to the BlinkStick. Some brands of LEDs (like on my cheap discount strip) are not able to switch colours fast enough, resulting in blur above a given framerate. This is equivalent to pixel response times on displays and varies by make and model.
Please see the examples (based on flex_stream.js) for a demonstration.
CPU usage is very low, even at 60fps which leaves plenty of room for real POV applications.
Tested with 8 LEDs at 60fps/16ms, resulting in some colour blur. So, lower framerates can be preferable. 30fps/32ms looked great and is still POV.
Future optimizations in the firmware may further improve fps, but 60fps is already too fast for many current LED brands’ color switching response times.