Some TVs may have a mysterious ghosting effect. This is caused by the soap opera effect, and here we will explain what it is and how you can solve it.
What Is The Soap Opera Effect?
The "soap opera" effect isn't an official term, but it's now used to describe something that many people may already know about - sharpness reduction caused by your TV or video source device (like a DVD player or set-top box). Sharpness reduction reduces edge definition on moving objects - motion blur.
The reason for this reduction in sharpness is usually down to the processing of the original picture signal from the TV's manufacturer. Because each revision of a TV can cause a slightly different look, different TVs will show this differently too.
What Causes The Effect?
The cause is almost always picture processing - the judder reduction features on most modern TVs, which smooths out movement with a lot of blurs and added noise. This is particularly noticeable when watching movies with panning shots, such as war films or scenes filmed in dim lighting, which both make it easier to see the effects of low-quality post-processing.
It can also appear during sports like football and tennis. It's not good news for people who prefer more realistic movie images and better quality output from their TV (or video source). But don't worry, we'll show you how you can disable the soap opera effect on your TV set.
Can this effect happen on any TV model?
Not all TVs have the effect - some manufacturers have opted to leave it out of their latest models. The first notable TV with this feature was Panasonic's TX-L37D7B, which was released in 2009. Since then almost every manufacturer has jumped on the bandwagon, with Samsung being one of the most prolific offenders.
How To Fix Soap Opera Effects?
More expensive TVs won't have this issue, as they will use better quality processing. It's also more noticeable at lower resolutions (i.e. 720p) than it is at 1080p, because the pixels are closer together, which makes it easier for your eye to see pixel structure on the picture.
Some TVs - especially older ones - won't have any motion-enhancing features turned on by default. If you're watching a movie with no added effects to smooth out movement and it looks fine, then there's a good chance that your TV doesn't do anything unusual to the source signal when displaying content that isn't designed for extra processing.
Many local dimming LED-backlit LCD TVs come with motion enhancement enabled by default because many people prefer the so-called 'soap opera effect'. This is because it makes movies look more like they're being filmed on a camcorder.
Many people prefer its softer, less realistic look. If you don't want to have this feature enabled, then just go into your TV's menu and find the picture setting that has something related to motion smoothing. It will be marked with either "soap opera effect" or "motion enhancing".
Turning both of these features off should get rid of any unwanted blurring on moving objects in video content, although you may lose some added depth due to dimming backlights too - this is why some TVs have adjustable settings for dimming levels.
Keep looking at the screen when panning shots are moving - if there's severe blurring, then your TV probably uses motion enhancement. If there's no blurring at all and the picture looks jittery (like a handheld camera), then you can be sure that this isn't it.
You should also know that most modern TVs won't show this effect when playing video games, because they can tell what sort of content is being displayed and will tone down the processing accordingly. However, some older models don't do this and may over-compensate for games by applying extra smoothing to them! Also, check into whether or not your laptop has any judder-reducing features turned on - many laptops with large screens have these enabled by default.
What about gaming?
If you play games on your smart TV, then using its judder reduction features will make them look worse rather than better. These effects are designed for movies and broadcast TV, where low frame rates like 24fps (for a film) or 25/50fps (for PAL/NTSC broadcasts) need to be deinterlaced before they can be shown.
Can you prevent this effect on your TV?
Any attempt to reduce the judder/soap opera effect on your TV will make the image look more realistic, but some people prefer the way it looks with processing.
All LCD TVs come with something called 'motion enhancing' which is designed to make 24fps (film) or 25/50 (broadcast) content look smoother by adding extra frames of animation between each original frame. This creates a slight stutter in fluid movement and makes movies look like they're being shot on a camcorder.
Some screens come with this feature enabled by default - if you don't want it, just go into the menu for this setting and turn it off. If your smart TV has an option for the 'soap opera effect', then turning that off should also make things look more realistic.
Is there a motion smoothing feature on your TV?
LG calls it TruMotion, Samsung has Auto Motion Plus and Sony have a similar feature called MotionFlow. Panasonic TVs have Intelligent Frame Creation, Toshiba uses Super-Real Scene Remaster and Philips TVs use Perfect Natural Motion.
You can change these settings on most modern TVs to make 24fps (or 25/100) content look smoother by adding more "frames" of animation between each one. This creates a stutter effect which makes movies look as though they're being shot on a camcorder. If this is your preferred method of watching stuff then you'll need to keep this setting enabled - but some people don't like the way it looks.
How to find this feature on your TV?
All of these features are usually found in the picture settings on your TV. They're sometimes under different names though, so look for anything that references motion smoothing or processing of any kind. It might be called the 'soap opera effect' if you want to turn it off - but make sure you try it with this feature enabled first before assuming that's what you're looking for!
If I don't have this feature, does my TV add extra frames?
Most TVs are set up to smooth out 24fps content by default because most people prefer the added sense of depth that this creates rather than watching movies appear more jerky or stuttery.
If your TV doesn't have the option to disable the soap opera effect then there is probably nothing to worry about in terms of judder - this is just how the TV processes 24fps content out of the box. There are ways to get rid of judder for games on your console, depending on which model you have.
Do plasmas have this problem?
Plasma screens don't have the same motion issues as LCDs because there is no backlight flickering. Many plasmas will come with some form of 'smoothing' enabled by default, but that's not to do with the judder/soap opera effect.
So people who have a high-end TV and complain about so-called "motion judder" might be right, even though they didn't know what was going on. Furthermore, plasma displays don't have this issue at all because there is no backlight flickering.
Also, lower-end TVs which feature processors designed to reduce motion artifacts normally detect 24 fps input from a Blu-ray player or ps3 console and remove judder from those sources leaving any real source to show the effect.
Bottom line
Motion smoothing is an added frame between each frame so to speak. It makes the picture look very sharp and clear but it also adds a fake effect which can degrade your viewing experience. So if you have this option, don't turn it on unless you like that effect or for gaming (for slower-paced games like RPGs).
Another thing to recognize: if you have an LCD TV that has a "motion judder" and want better motion performance after all, then you either need to spend more money on a high-end plasma display or buy an LED TV that uses 100hz/120hz panels instead of 60hz. The only other option is to change the source material by having it converted to 3:2 pulldown before your blu-ray player or PS3 can receive such content.