Even though I usually detest this TV setting, I always switch it on for watching the World Cup

Even though I usually detest this TV setting, I always switch it on for watching the World Cup – In order to experience smoother, more fluid action during soccer matches, I advise turning motion smoothing off most of the time.

Particularly during the World Cup, nobody wants their soccer matches to appear choppy. Fortunately, live sports can appear smooth thanks to your TV’s motion smoothing option. Make sure to turn it on for the game and turn it off for movies and TV because it just tends to make everything else appear worse.

Disabling motion smoothing is typically one of the first things I advise folks to do to enhance their TV viewing experience. This feature is found on practically all TVs, and it almost always makes what you’re seeing appear somewhat artificial or like a soap opera (the “soap opera effect” is the term for excessively smooth television). When you want to view the majority of episodes and movies, you should turn it off. However, if you intend to watch live sports, you need activate it. Go to 1:04 in the video below to learn how to accomplish it.

Motion Smoothing: What Is It?

The majority of TVs have motion smoothing as a visual processing feature. In order to reduce the jerky appearance of visual motion, new frames are inserted in between existing frames in a video stream. In order to maintain an even and consistent video, these frames are interpolated, determining halfway points and processing the image (sometimes in conjunction with patterns of backlight flickering to further enhance the impression). It functions, but the end product is a video that doesn’t look natural. It’s often termed the “soap opera effect,” because it makes the movies and series you’re watching look like they’re being taped for daytime TV.

TV content is often maintained at 30 frames per second, while film footage is typically captured at 24 frames per second. Motion smoothing raises those values up to 60, 120, or even (depending on the TV maker) 960 with different techniques. Making the majority of the content appear smoother is very startling because it was produced, edited, and mastered at 24 or 30 frames per second. Therefore, if you’re viewing a movie or TV show, you should disable motion smoothing. The option is located in the video settings on your TV (see this article to identify the setting for your TV model; however, as manufacturers update their software, the processes may differ slightly).

Motion Smoothing’s Benefits for Sports

Conversely, motion smoothing is a helpful feature when viewing live sports, particularly those that involve passing, kicking, throwing, or shooting a ball. The camera movement ruins the image because of the way TVs produce images. If you’ve ever seen the video stutter while the image moves across the field, you’ve undoubtedly noticed this. This is exactly what motion smoothing resolves without making the experience worse.

Additionally, depending on your cable provider, graphics in a sports stream can move at 60 frames per second. Because viewers want a more realistic image, the soap opera effect is less of a problem. After all, sports aren’t exactly the polished, creative vision of a film or television program. Just don’t forget to disable motion smoothing once again before viewing anything else.

How to Resolve Typical TV Problems

These simple solutions will help you get your image straight, bright, and untinted if you have additional TV issues. See how we test TVs if you’re interested in learning more about our TV evaluation procedure.