{"id":47440,"date":"2023-12-21T23:39:14","date_gmt":"2023-12-22T07:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/?p=47440"},"modified":"2023-12-21T23:39:16","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T07:39:16","slug":"how-to-turn-off-motion-smoothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/how-to-turn-off-motion-smoothing","title":{"rendered":"What Is Motion Smoothing (and How To Turn It Off)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you ever been watching TV at a friend or relative\u2019s house, and something seems a bit off with the picture? If your TV\u2019s motion is soft, unnaturally smooth, or even nauseating to look at, it could be due to a feature called \u201cmotion smoothing.\u201d While this feature is enabled by default on most new TVs, you can easily disable it for a more traditional cinematic experience. Here\u2019s everything you need to know about what motion smoothing is and how to turn it off on any major TV brand. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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Before you can understand what motion smoothing is, it\u2019s important to know a little about frame rates and refresh rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frame Rate vs Refresh Rate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

These days, most TVs will have a refresh rate of 60-120Hz (Hertz). That means your TV will refresh the screen 60 to 120 times every second. The problem is most movies and TV shows are only filmed at 24-30 frames per second. So, your TV needs to show the same frames multiple times in a row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if your TV had a refresh rate of 60Hz, and you were watching content originally filmed at 30fps, your TV would simply show each frame twice. Technically, this will double the frame rate of the video from 30fps to 60fps, so the video\u2019s frame rate (60Hz) would match your TV\u2019s refresh rate (60fps).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read More: <\/em><\/strong>What is a good refresh rate for TVs<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When your TV stops on these duplicate frames for too long, it can make moving images look blurry. You\u2019ll be able to notice problems with motion when the camera pans or objects move across the screen quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n

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What Is Motion Smoothing?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Motion smoothing (also known as \u201cimage interpolation\u201d) is designed to make motion look sharper by artificially increasing the frame rate of a video to match the refresh rate of your TV. However, this post-processing effect can cause a \u201csoap opera effect\u201d and introduce new visual artifacts to the video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When enabled, motion smoothing will fill in the gaps between frames. Basically, your TV scans the previous frame and the next frame and guesses what the transitional image should look like. Then, it generates a totally new image and inserts it instead of duplicating frames.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Motion smoothing often smooths things out too much and creates what\u2019s known as the \u201csoap opera effect.\u201d This will change the original feel of your movies, making them look like they were shot on a digital camera rather than film.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, your TV won\u2019t always generate perfect transitional images. While you might not notice any distortion at normal speed, you can see unwanted shadows, halos, flashes, and even dropped frames when the video is slowed down.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sensitivity to motion smoothing varies from person to person, with some finding the effect hard on the eyes. Many people won\u2019t notice any difference when motion smoothing is enabled, while other viewers might actually enjoy the feature for certain uses, especially sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Should You Use Motion Smoothing?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Filmmakers strongly recommend turning motion smoothing off when you\u2019re watching movies or other content shot at 24fps. However, you might see some benefits from motion smoothing when watching sports, news, reality TV, and other content that was originally shot at 30-60fps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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