How to Turn Off Motion Smoothing on Your TV
If you’re experiencing the “soap-opera effect” on your TV, or if your picture simply doesn’t seem to look natural, here’s how to disable motion smoothing.
This has probably happened to you: You sit down in front of your TV to watch your favorite movie or show, the credits roll, and everything looks strange. People move around unnaturally, and every shift of the camera is slightly disorienting. You can’t shake the feeling that whatever you’re watching is somehow too smooth.
That’s probably because it is. It’s called motion interpolation, a special smoothing effect many TVs can use to push the frame rate past the native rate of the show or movie you’re watching (usually 24 or 30 frames per second, nudged up to 60, 120, or even higher). Colloquially, it’s known as the “soap opera effect,” because it makes whatever you’re watching look like a daytime soap opera. The TV is adding additional frames, digitally combining and interpolating the images in the video signal to simulate more than are actually there. It can be useful for watching sports and video games, but for most content, it’s jarring and unnatural.
You don’t need to live with it, though. If your TV has motion smoothing features, it probably has some way to turn them off. You just need to dive into your TV’s picture settings and flip the switch to make film look like film and primetime TV look like primetime TV again.
For some TVs, the Cinema or Movie mode automatically disables motion smoothing, because it’s understood that you want to watch film content (again, 24 or 30fps video) as it’s presented. Put your TV in Cinema or Movie mode, whichever is present, and see if it turns off the soap opera effect. If it doesn’t, you’ll have to manually disable the motion smoothing.
Different brands have different names for motion smoothing features, and you need to be able to identify the right one for your TV. Look for any setting with “Motion” in the name under the Picture or General settings of your TV and see if it’s enabled, then disable it. If you aren’t sure, here are some of the most common settings for different TV brands.
LG
LG calls its motion smoothing feature TruMotion, and it can be found on most of its TVs. In the Picture menu, select Picture Mode Settings, then Picture Options, then TruMotion. Here you can disable TruMotion.
Samsung
Samsung’s feature is called Auto Motion Plus. In the Settings menu, go to Picture, then Expert Settings. Select Auto Motion Plus and set it to Off.
Android TV (Hisense, Sony)
Hisense simply calls its motion smoothing feature Motion Smoothing. For Sony, the motion smoothing feature is called Motionflow. In both Hisense and Sony Android TVs, the features can be found in the same menu. Press the Home button to go to the Android TV home screen, then scroll down to Settings. Select System Settings, then Picture. Scroll down to Motionflow or Motion Smoothing and turn it off.
Roku TV (Element, Hisense, Insignia, RCA, Sharp, TCL, and More)
Roku TVs made by Element, Hisense, RCA, TCL, and other companies all have very similar menu systems because they use the same Roku interface. Not every Roku TV has a motion smoothing feature, but those that do call it Action Smoothing. While on your desired input or playing video from an app, press the Option button to bring up the menu screen. Select Advanced Picture Settings. Scroll down to Action Smoothing and disable it.
Amazon Fire TV (Element, Insignia, Toshiba, Westinghouse, and More)
Several manufacturers use Amazon’s Fire TV platform. They include Element, Insignia (both companies makes both Fire TV and Roku TV televisions), Toshiba, and Westinghouse. If any of these TVs have motion smoothing features, they’re simply called Motion Processing. Bring up the Settings menu, select Picture, then choose Advanced Options. If Motion Processing is on the list, turn it off.
How to Fix Other Common TV Issues
If you have other TV problems, these easy fixes will help you get your picture straight, bright, and untinted. And if you’re curious about our TV reviewing process, check out how we test TVs.
Read more: “Easy Fixes for Common TV Problems”
Originally published at www.pcmag.com.
