The Soap Opera Effect - Yay or Nay?

[kashif]

Guys do you prefer the soap opera effect or not on your 4k led tv? I mean the Auto motion plus or you call it the option to make image smooth and without blur. I see, it made picture very clear and blur free but I feel as I am watching making of a movie or some kind of TV show, Do you guys like it or not?

[Geoff D]

I hate SOE on most films, it makes me feel queasy. That said, some digitally shot shows which don't have the usual film-like cadence can work pretty well with mild motion interpolation, looking smoother without producing either motion artefacts nor outright SOE. Mann's Miami Vice and the Hobbit movies look great using the Clear Motionflow setting on my Sony TV.

[garyd97]

I can't stand it. It makes everything look cheesy.

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I hate SOE on most films, it makes me feel queasy. That said, some digitally shot shows which don't have the usual film-like cadence can work pretty well with mild motion interpolation, looking smoother without producing either motion artefacts nor outright SOE. Mann's Miami Vice and the Hobbit movies look great using the Clear Motionflow setting on my Sony TV.

Really?!?

[Pieter V]

Always 1:1 here, as it was meant. Speaking of: Mann, Collateral has also that strange FPS speed up, just like Mad Max. Did you guys also noticed this?

Mann did this to Public Enemies (2009) too.

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by Pieter V

Always 1:1 here, as it was meant. Speaking of: Mann, Collateral has also that strange FPS speed up, just like Mad Max. Did you guys also noticed this?

Mann did this to Public Enemies (2009) too.

He, like Miller is old school under cranking was a done thing

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

Really?!?

Yes, really! They didn't go for a film-like 'look' on Vice, not just because of the digital HD capture but because of the wider shutter angle that was used (which IMO is more the cause of the weird motion in the other two Mann films mentioned above), so there's more of that video-like motion blur throughout the movie and it seems to give the motion interpolation processing something more to 'hang on to', if that makes sense.

Going full MotionFlow with Smooth or Standard still makes it look pretty naff, causing motion artefacts all over the place, but the Clear setting adds just enough temporal smoothness without drawing attention to itself.

[Falaskan]

No. I prefer blur.

I think Jimmy Fallon aka Sara (with no h) said it best:

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Yes, really! They didn't go for a film-like 'look' on Vice, not just because of the digital HD capture but because of the wider shutter angle that was used (which IMO is more the cause of the weird motion in the other two Mann films mentioned above), so there's more of that video-like motion blur throughout the movie and it seems to give the motion interpolation processing something more to 'hang on to', if that makes sense.

Going full MotionFlow with Smooth or Standard still makes it look pretty naff, causing motion artefacts all over the place, but the Clear setting adds just enough temporal smoothness without drawing attention to itself.

Huh, since we have the same settings I am so trying this

[Geoff D]

Not sure if Clear works the same way on the 2015 models tho

[katiehlvr2]

I agree with Geoff. Ive noticed that with newer movies, fast 7, hobbits, a little bit of smooth motion can make it look very good. Anything really prior to 2012 for me is turned off mode.
I just watched Powder, Breakdown and River Wild on HDX and had to turn it from 2 down to 0.

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Not sure if Clear works the same way on the 2015 models tho

Hmmm worth playing with then, it will take me ages to get the settings right or get an isf guy round again to set the bloody thing up right anyway

[atlantajoseph]

The SOE is the most horrifying default setting of the television era. Poor clods all over the globe are watching subpar nonsense at this very moment without quite being able to place why.

[AK65]

Originally Posted by atlantajoseph

The SOE is the most horrifying default setting of the television era. Poor clods all over the globe are watching subpar nonsense at this very moment without quite being able to place why.

The default energy star BS that makes the TV dim randomly might be worse.

[Opips3]

NAY

[K i r a]

Nay, nay-- A million times Nay.

The only thing I accidentally left on but didn't mind was True Cinema on my Sony X850C, which only seems to speed up the mouth? It's weird, but the effect is VERY minimal and not at all intrusive as SOE is.

[Geoff D]

True Cinema on the Sony's doesn't actually do anything at all to regular 24/50/60p content. What it does do is reverse 3:2 pulldown on 24fps content that's been encoded at 60Hz, thereby restoring the original 24fps cadence (and it works very well indeed).

[Adam_ME]

Absolutely not. I hate it. Now if it's the way the movie was shot(i.e. The Hobbit at 48fps), then I'm ok with it. Not that that's even available for home viewing right now. But my Samsung is set to Clear mode(at least I think that's what it's called).

[Spike M.]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I hate SOE on most films, it makes me feel queasy. That said, some digitally shot shows which don't have the usual film-like cadence can work pretty well with mild motion interpolation, looking smoother without producing either motion artefacts nor outright SOE. Mann's Miami Vice and the Hobbit movies look great using the Clear Motionflow setting on my Sony TV.

[whats4k]

My Sony seems to do a great job increasing frame rate and without causing motion sickness to the viewer.

I can't stand watching straight 24 fps. I see individual frames, especially during panning shots, annoys me a lot. I keep motion flow on smooth setting and it does a great job. I do see the artifacts around fast moving objects as the television tries to fill in the missing visual information, but the artifacts don't bother me nearly as much as a progressive signal in 24fps.