#TechTalk: The "Soap Opera Effect"

Have you ever watched a high definition tv show or movie and ever felt like it looked a little odd like a soap opera? This is known as the "Soap Opera Effect" and it is a visual effect caused by motion interpolation. The goal of motion interpolation is to give the viewer a more life-like picture.

This effect is most noticeable in Blu-ray DVDs and the legendary Tom Cruise himself wants you to know how to turn it off. 

For viewers of the Mission: Impossible Fallout Blu-ray (4k or standard edition) Cruise and the movie's director Christopher McQuarrie hop on the screen to encourage you to turn off the motion smoothing feature in your TV's settings. The movie's filmmakers did not intend for the movie to look the way it would if the effect was left on. 

Our tech guy, Marc Saltzman was way ahead of the game, writing about this same topic back in 2014!

"While the high-definition picture certainly looks sharp, there's something a bit odd about the image. You can't quite put your finger on it, but that TV show or blockbuster movie you're watching almost looks like it was shot with a cheap camcorder instead of high-end video camera," Marc wrote. 

Thankfully for us, Marc tells us how to turn the tricky function off.

You can find it in the Settings menu and might be listed as "Motion Interpolation" or "Motion Smoothing," there you can turn it off or adjust its intensity. 

Read more at CNET.com


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