Before the Broncos and Patriots kick off on Sunday afternoon (or the Seahawks and Rams that night), you’ll want to change one setting on your TV for the best possible football-viewing experience.
One of the first things I tell people to do to improve their TV viewing experience is to disable motion smoothing. Nearly every TV has this feature, and it almost always makes whatever you’re watching look a bit unnatural or like a soap opera (which is why too-smooth video is called the “soap opera effect”). You should turn it off when you want to watch most shows and movies. However, you should turn it on if you plan to stream NFL games or watch other live sports. For instructions on how to do that, skip to 1:04 in the video below, which we created before the last summer Olympics as a reminder to enable the setting.
How To Turn On Motion Smoothing for Sports
For more on motion smoothing and why it’s actually good for sports, read on.
What Is Motion Smoothing?
Motion smoothing is a video-processing feature found in most TVs. It works by injecting new frames between the frames in a video signal to make the image motion look less jerky. These frames are interpolated, calculating halfway points and processing the picture to keep the video even and consistent (often in conjunction with patterns of backlight flickering to further enhance the effect). It works, but the result is a video that looks unnatural. It’s often called the “soap opera effect,” and it makes the movies and shows you’re watching look like they’re all recorded for daytime TV.
Depending on your TV model, the interface for turning motion smoothing on might look something like this (this one is for Roku TV) (Credit: Will Greenwald)
Film content is usually recorded at 24 frames per second, and TV content is usually kept at 30fps. Motion smoothing bumps those numbers up to 60, 120, or even (depending on the TV manufacturer) 960 with different tricks. Most content was created, edited, and mastered at 24 or 30 frames per second, so making it look smoother is extremely jarring. Hence, you should turn off motion smoothing if you’re watching a TV show or movie. You can find the option within your TV’s video settings (check out this story to find the setting based on your TV brand, though the steps can vary slightly as manufacturers update their software).
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The Best Big-Screen TVs for Sports
Why Motion Smoothing Is Good for Sports
On the flip side, motion smoothing is a useful feature when you’re watching live sports, especially sports involving a ball that gets passed, kicked, thrown, or shot. Due to how TVs create images, the camera movement wreaks havoc on the picture. You’ve probably noticed this if you’ve ever seen the video stutter as the picture pans across the field. This is precisely what motion smoothing fixes without adding more problems to the experience.
In addition, a sports feed may have images that move at 60 frames per second, depending on your cable provider. That means that the soap opera effect is less of an issue, as viewers want a more realistic image. Sports aren’t quite the mastered, artistic vision of a movie or TV show, after all. Just remember to turn motion smoothing off when you watch anything else.
How to Fix Common TV Issues
If you have other TV problems, these easy fixes will help you get your picture straight, bright, and untinted. And if you’re curious about our TV reviewing process, check out how we test TVs.
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About Our Expert
Will Greenwald
Principal Writer, Consumer Electronics
Experience
I’m PCMag’s home theater and AR/VR expert, and your go-to source of information and recommendations for game consoles and accessories, smart displays, smart glasses, smart speakers, soundbars, TVs, and VR headsets. I’m an ISF-certified TV calibrator and THX-certified home theater technician, I’ve served as a CES Innovation Awards judge, and while Bandai hasn’t officially certified me, I’m also proficient at building Gundam plastic models up to MG-class. I also enjoy genre fiction writing, and my urban fantasy novel, Alex Norton, Paranormal Technical Support, is currently available on Amazon.
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