TELEVISION fans have complained over a common ‘Soap Opera Effect’ setting that might be ruining your TV shows and movies.
The setting – often slammed by directors and Hollywood stars – is easy enough to switch off, so check your TV right now.
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What is the Soap Opera Effect?
The Soap Opera Effect is the result of a common TV feature known as Motion Smoothing – or Motion Interpolation.
When you buy a modern TV, it will have a refresh rate measured in Hz.
If it’s 60Hz then it can display 60 images in a single second – and a 120Hz can do double that. This is the rate that the screen can “refresh” its image.
This is great for something like gaming or sports, which are rendered or filmed at similarly high refresh rates.
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But TV shows and movies are traditionally filmed at 24 frames per second.
This creates a visual effect that we’ve all come to associate with watching TV shows and movies – and it’s very noticeable when you watch content filmed at higher frame rates.
Some TVs offer a motion smoothing feature that adds in fake frames to bring the frame rate of a video up to match the refresh rate of your television.
This creates a smoother look, but not everyone likes it.
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And some people call it the Soap Opera Effect because early broadcast soaps were shot using cheaper 60fps video as opposed to 24fps film.
What’s wrong with Motion Smoothing?
Some viewers simply don’t like the Motion Smoothing look because it’s simply not what we’re used to when viewing cinematic content.
But movie buffs – including top actors and directors – also dislike the fact that Motion Smoothing introduces “fake” frames that were never actually filmed.
Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise and Star Wars director Rian Johnson have both spoken out about the feature.
Many viewers have also complained about it.
In one Reddit thread on the topic, a TV fan wrote: “I dislike it and find it distracting. I turn it off and never felt the need to turn it on again.”
Another complained: “Turn it off. It’s a nauseating effect. Especially on older shows.”
And one said: “I won’t watch something with it on and I’m shocked when I see people have it set on their own tv. It’s so immediately obvious and distracting to me.”
So dive into your settings and turn it off before settling down for a movie or TV night.
Some TVs now feature a special option called Filmmaker Mode that aims to showcase movies as the director intended.
It was created as part of a partnership between movie directors (including Martin Scorcese), Hollywood studios, TV makers and the UHD Alliance.
“Watch your movies and TV shows the way the filmmakers intended,” the UHD Alliance explains.
“This new picture mode on supported Ultra HD TVs preserves the director’s creative intent and provides a cinematic experience.
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“By disabling all post-processing (e.g. motion smoothing) and preserving the correct aspect ratios, colors and frame rates, Filmmaker Mode enables your TV to display the movie or television show’s content precisely as it was intended by the filmmaker.”
So give that a try and see if you prefer it when watching movies.
