It essentially turns 24p video into 30fps video, which is more compatible with the way TVs and broadcast systems work. None of that is what causes the distracting too-smooth effect.
However, it does mean that 24p content broadcast on TV already looks a bit different from what the director intended. If your set is a Hz or Hz one, it adds faux frames to source content if motion-smoothing settings are turned on. But just as a Hz or Hz TV can make movies look less like movies, it can also be the ultimate screen for watching 24p content as intended.
This should make your TV show each frame of your 24p content 5 times per second on a Hz set or 10 times per second on a Hz TV. As for the other aesthetic qualities of watching movies on TV, using the set's Movie mode, Cinema mode, Film mode, or THX mode if your set has it usually works best. Tim Moynihan covers hardware for Gadget Lab, with a concentration on cameras, TVs, Ultra HD video, virtual reality, and the weirdest things he can find.
Read more. Contributing Writer Twitter. And an entire cinematic language has developed around the rate of 24 frames per second — the way actors perform, the way shots are composed and cut and cameras move. This is why an awards show or a news broadcast shot on video at a higher frame rate looks and feels different from a film.
David Niles, an engineer and producer who helped pioneer the early application of HDTV, has tested varying frame rates on viewers to see how they respond. With 24 frames, people liked the actors better — they felt the performances were better. In reality, it was exactly the same thing. And that may require new forms of creativity. There has been some movement of late, however. Last year, Christopher Nolan and Paul Thomas Anderson, together with the Directors Guild of America, reached out to the UHD Alliance, a group that brings together entertainment and electronics and tech companies, in an effort to find a solution that satisfies both filmmakers and TV-makers.
Meanwhile, Sony and Netflix introduced a setting called Netflix Calibrated Mode on newer Sony TVs that could turn off smoothing and change settings to better replicate a theatrical experience. It seems to be a good business move for Netflix, which relies on relationships with filmmakers to keep producing content. Netflix had originally hoped to get all manufacturers interested in such a setting, according to Richard Smith, senior product manager with the company.
Some manufacturers, such as Vizio, have stopped setting motion smoothing as the default. And there are technologies being developed today that will allow image settings to be carried over in the metadata transmitted from a piece of content into a TV — so that, effectively, a film or show would automatically adjust your picture settings for you according to what its creators intended.
When you watch an NBA game, motion smoothing might turn on by itself; when you watch The Last Jedi, it would turn off. But it may be years before such technology becomes widespread. In fact, it may become something of a necessity in the not-too-distant future. As TV screens increase in size, brightness, and processing power, judder will become even more noticeable.
And besides, defenders of motion smoothing say, the aesthetic problems many of us have with an out-of-date frame rate are themselves out-of-date. Is motion smoothing all that different, Stessen argues, from other technological developments that were met with resistance from older generations, be it compact discs supplanting vinyl or the introduction of sound and color to motion pictures? So far, the efforts of filmmakers shooting at high frame rates have not made any of us clamor for more.
But that could still change: Ang Lee will give it another shot with his upcoming Gemini Man , and James Cameron — a man who has proven repeatedly that he can make audiences embrace new technologies — is reportedly shooting his Avatar sequels at high frame rates.
And supporters and critics of motion smoothing do agree on one thing: If people watch motion smoothing long enough, they may not want to go back. Sound familiar? Also, showing fps content with frame interpolation for Hz displays messes with the cadence, as the display is adding frames that never existed. It is literally fake and removes the judder between frames we expect to see. That said, motion smoothing is not always a bad thing. As mentioned above, motion smoothing can be great for sports and video games, as it leads to smoother-looking action.
Even if the Soap Opera Effect bothers you some people are more sensitive to it than others , you may well find it preferable for sports. There are even some people, rare though they may be, who prefer watching movies with motion smoothing turned on.
Finally, there are people who notice nothing amiss. In virtually all cases, all you need to do is adjust one setting on your TV and the Soap Opera Effect will vanish.
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