(Credit: Jeffrey Hazelwood/PCMag)
Have you ever watched TV and thought your favorite movie or show looked a little strange? Perhaps people are moving unnaturally, camera shifts are slightly disorienting, or everything feels just a bit too fluid. There's a reason for that so-called "soap opera effect." It goes by different names depending on the TV company, but the technical term is motion interpolation.
Motion interpolation is a special smoothing effect that TVs use to push the frame rate of the show or movie you're watching from the native 24 or 30 frames per second to match the TV's frame rate of 60, 120, or higher frames per second. The TV digitally combines and interpolates the images in the video signal to simulate additional frames that aren't actually present. This can be useful for watching live sports and video games, but for most shows and movies, 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 films and primetime TV look right.
Every Brand Hides It Under a Different Name
For some TVs, the Cinema or Movie mode automatically disables motion smoothing because it's understood that you want to watch film or video content 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 disable motion smoothing manually.
Different television brands use different names for motion smoothing features, so you need 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 to determine if it's enabled, then disable it. If you aren't sure, here are some of the most common settings for different TV brands.
Amazon Fire TVs
The exact term for motion smoothing varies from model to model on TVs that use the Fire TV platform, but for Amazon's own, like the Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED, it's most often called Action Smoothing.
- Press the gear button on your remote
- Select Display & Sounds
- Select Advanced Settings
- Select Action Smoothing
Google TVs
The motion smoothing feature on Google TVs can vary slightly between models, but on Hisense TVs like the UR9, it's called Motion Enhancement and Motion Clarity. They're two different features that do slightly different things, but should both be disabled if you want to make sure motion smoothing is completely turned off.
- Press the gear button on your remote
- Select Settings
- Select Display & Sound
- Select Picture
- Select Advanced Settings
- Look for the motion smoothing features in that list (Motion Enhancement, Motion Clearness)
LG TVs
(Credit: Will Greenwald)On webOS-powered LG TVs like the Evo G6, the motion smoothing feature is called TruMotion.
- Press the gear button on your remote
- Select the All Settings icon (the one with three dots) near the bottom of the list
- Select Picture Mode Settings
- Select Picture Options
- Select TruMotion
Roku TVs
On Roku TVs like the brand's Pro Series, you need to select a specific input or use the app to bring up the full selection of picture settings.
- Open an input or app
- Press the asterisk (*) button on your remote
- Select Picture Settings
- Select Advanced Picture Settings
- Select Action Smoothing
Samsung TVs
On Samsung TVs like the S95H, the feature is called Auto Motion Plus.
- Press the gear button on your remote (it will probably have a gear; the numbers 1, 2, and 3; and four colored squares on it)
- Select All Settings
- Select Picture
- Select More Picture Settings
- Select Picture Clarity Settings
- Select Auto Motion Plus
Vizio TVs
Motion smoothing on Vizio TVs like the Mini-LED Quantum TV is called Clear Action.
- Press the gear button on your remote
- Select Picture
- Select Advanced Picture
- Select Clear Action
How to Fix Other Common TV Issues
An important caveat: If you want to watch live sports, you should turn on motion smoothing during games. It can actually improve the visual experience when the camera pans quickly across a field or court.
If you have other TV problems, these easy fixes will help you get your picture straight, bright, and untinted.