How to Disable Soap Opera Effect
The term “soap opera” refers to a soap opera series shot on a video camera, the quality of which is easily distinguishable from movies shot on film.
Typically, soap operas are shot at a frame rate of 48p or higher, higher than the 24p frame rate in movies.
What is a “soap opera” in movies? The movement of objects in the frame is heavily smoothed for better display on the screen. This smoothing of objects on video is called “frame interpolation”.
They insert specially created missing frames into the video stream to make the picture clear without interruptions and blurring.
What is the Soap Opera Effect
The movement of the object on the screen at the speed of the film with a frame rate of 24p reduces the clarity of the picture. After all, the video itself cannot create all the frames of motion at a certain speed of moving objects in the frame. Here, we need artificially created interpolation of frames (insertion).
When shooting subjects for which the clarity of the entire frame is essential, it is not so noticeable. For example, videos about sports competitions or news stories — yes, this can include any video not shot for feature films.
In a game movie with a frame rate of 24p, where the focus shifts from object to object, it will not be possible to generate frames for a video stream of the required quality. The final result on the screen for viewers is different quality. Many people do not perceive such a video; it turns out like a movie with the name of the genre “soap opera.”
This mode has many opponents. There is even a special “director’s mode” when you turn off the mode to improve the movement on the screen. Then, the movie turned out as the director intended. There is no frame interpolation mode here.
When viewing the content, you might think the soap opera effect is an image processing error. But these are traces of processing a particular function, equipped with almost all modern TVs. Depending on the manufacturer, this function has a different name for TV settings.
However, the technology responsible for it is known as Video Interpolation or Motion Smoothing. This feature is added explicitly to most modern TVs and solves picture display problems.
What is Motion Smoothing?
Motion smoothing (also known as “image interpolation”) is designed to make motion sharper by artificially increasing the frame rate of your video to match the refresh rate of your TV. However, this post-processing effect can cause a “soap opera effect” and introduce new visual artifacts into the video.
Your TV scans the previous and next frames and guesses what the transition image should look like. It then generates an entirely new image and inserts it.
Sensitivity to motion smoothing varies from person to person, with some people finding the effect hard on the eyes. Many people won’t notice any difference when motion smoothing is turned on, while other viewers may even enjoy this feature for specific purposes, especially when watching sports.
When Should I Use Motion Smoothing?
Movie makers strongly recommend turning off motion smoothing when watching movies or other content shot at 24 frames per second. However, you may see some benefits of motion smoothing when watching sports, news, and other content.
Ultimately, the decision to enable this feature depends on your preferences.
“Smudging” in movies is an integral part of the frame. The focus may be on an object or character the director wants to draw the viewer’s attention to, and the background is usually blurred. Usually, “blur” refers to a separate part of the frame when we can identify the part of the picture that the filmmakers want us to see.
Why Hollywood Employees Are Against These Features
Over the last few years, the media has often discussed the negative impact of “motion smoothing” technology on the movie-watching experience.
Systems to improve the transmission of movements on the screen appeared a long time ago. At first, they were helpful because of the low speed of “reaction” of the panels of those years and the low power of the processors controlling them. Televisions did not have time to fully “work out” the picture on the screen. The effect of jerking and blurred movements appeared. That’s why there was a demand for systems that could somehow combat this.
Why do they build them into all video devices if they are so harmful? Most of these systems are designed for televisions, which are used more for reproducing television formats. The scan rate exceeds the classic movie’s 24 frames per second.
Most television broadcasts — reports, studio shows, sports broadcasts — are conceived and shot so that most objects in the frame are sharp and not out of focus.
In these circumstances, “motion enhancement systems” that remove any blurriness and discontinuity in moving objects on the screen are helpful and work well.
How to Turn Off the Soap Opera Effect
The “soap opera effect” is a common problem where the motion on the screen looks unnatural. It often occurs because the TV simulates 60 or more frames per second (fps) when the original video does not provide this. Most movies and shows are displayed at 24 or 30 frames per second, the standard frame rate for film and 30 frames per second for television.
Fractional numbers are used there to represent 24, 30, 60, and 120 frames per second. But we don’t need all these exact values to explain these effects right now; we need them all when explaining “judder”.
Modern TVs have a refresh rate of 120 Hz or can display up to 120 frames per second. They often have image processing features that smooth motion or simulate a higher frame rate.
These features effectively smooth video at 24 or 30 frames per second. The problem is that they make the video too smooth. It looks unnatural and jittery, resulting in a soap opera effect. Motion smoothing sometimes works when watching sports or playing video games, but everything looks weird in most movies and TV shows.
Many TVs also have a “movie director mode” feature that can be turned on to turn off all post-processing features, including motion smoothing automatically.
Ports and Video Resolution
Most TVs have HDMI 2.0 inputs, which limit video sources to a 60Hz refresh rate. To fully utilize a 120Hz TV, look for a model with an HDMI 2.1 port.
Your TV picture’s clarity, smoothness, and “cleanliness” depend directly on the frame rate. The minimum frame rate for creating a sense of smooth motion on the screen – 12-18 frames per second — was established at the dawn of cinematography.
In the first silent films, L.J. Lumiere chose the frequency of 16 frames per second. The frequency of 24 frames per second was adopted as a standard for sound cinema. Plausible and smooth images on the screen become only at frequencies higher than 48 Hz; only film consumption when shooting movies will be massive.
While many film cameras can only have specific shutter angle ranges, digital cameras offer new possibilities. Just as focal length and aperture were used as creative tools to control the sense of scale and depth of field, shutter angle can do the same for motion.
The optimal setting will ultimately depend on other factors, such as how fast the subject is moving in the frame or the creative intent of the cameraman. Someone may want to use a higher shutter angle to increase exposure time and reduce image noise in low light or to give the impression of a softer, smoother movement. Alternatively, fast action may emphasize depicting sharp detail in each frame using a smaller shutter angle.
Another consideration may be the era of the movie you want to emulate. Shutter angles much smaller than 180°, for example, more accurately mimic the style of old newsreels from the 1950s, while a 180° shutter angle usually gives shots a standard cinematic style.
How to Turn Off “Motion Smoothing”
LG ( TrueMotion)
1. Go to settings.
2. Select the picture menu.
3. Tap on picture mode settings and picture settings.
4. Turn TrueMotion off from the smooth mode.
Roku ( action smoothing)
1. Press “*” on the TV remote control.
2. Select Advanced Picture Settings from the menu.
3. Find the “Action Smoothing” option. There are four levels of anti-aliasing: high, medium, low and off. To disable the feature altogether, select “off”.
Samsung (Auto Motion Plus)
1. Open the settings menu.
2. Go to picture settings and scroll down to expert settings at the bottom.
3. Select expert settings and scroll to Auto Motion Plus settings.
4. Select Auto Motion Plus and turn it off.
Sony (MotionFlow)
1. Go to the picture settings menu.
2. Go to Advanced Settings.
3. Scroll to MotionFlow.
4. Open MotionFlow settings and turn them off.
Vizio (smooth motion effect)
1. Scroll to settings.
2. Select the image settings.
3. Scroll down to the advanced picture menu and select it.
4. Select the smooth motion effect and turn it off.
Panasonic Viera ( Intelligent Frame Creation)
1. Press “Menu” on the remote control.
2. Select picture settings.
3. Scroll to “Intelligent Frame Creation”.
4. Toggle to the “Off” position.
Amazon Fire TV ( motion processing)
1. Go to the settings menu.
2. Select an image.
3. Select additional options.
4. Scroll to Motion Processing and turn it off.
Hisense ( motion smoothing)
1. Press the Home button on the remote control.
2. Go to settings.
3. Select system settings.
4. Select an image.
5. Scroll to “Motion smoothing” and turn it off.
