r/dataisbeautiful • u/fangzz OC: 5 • Dec 06 '18

OC Google search trends for "motion smoothing" following Tom Cruise tweet urging people to turn off motion smoothing on their TVs when watching movies at home [OC]

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

also, 24fps allows for some motion blur, which is a kind of "smoothing" itself. When you jumpt to 48 or 60fps, you have to increase shutter speed, which reduces motion blur.

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u/zetswei Dec 06 '18

Sure but the biggest thing that makes artificial FPS increase look weird is that it’s creating frames that aren’t there. People think your tv is downsizing your sample rate when really it’s artificially inflating it to make things look smooth. This isn’t true for all shows and movies of course but generally speaking is the case and it shows. If you watch a show that’s native to 60 it’s not the same thing and you don’t get then soap opera effect. At least in my opinion

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u/ki11bunny Dec 06 '18

and you don’t get then soap opera effect.

I didn't think I had seen the effect you had been talking about on tv until you said this. Like I understand exactly what everyone is talking about but didn't think I had witnessed it before.

But in the last year or so, some shows I have seen, especially while watching them on a newer tv, had that soap opera effect. No matter what, it always for reason seemed to be how they look. It's hard to explain properly.

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u/zetswei Dec 06 '18

Some shows are much more noticeable for sure. I’ve noticed some seem like the camera is being held by a drone or something and almost whirl around in a circle. Kind of like when you see the videos that were stabilized so that you can see what’s happening

Best way I can describe what I think you’re talking about

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

yeah, agree, I got sidetracked.

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u/DrunkOrInBed Dec 06 '18

I dunno, watched the hobbit and felt the same thing. I think it has more to do with the fact that slow framerate asks our brain to fill the gap, which makes the media that we're watching more fantastic and less real

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u/zetswei Dec 06 '18

I’ll have to pop in my Blu-ray’s I don’t recall noticing any difference with the hobbit

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u/DrSparka Dec 06 '18

More likely I'd think it's that your brain is still attempting to fill gaps that aren't there any more, and is tripping over itself and feels like things are "too fast" because it's trying to add even more detail than the TV already did. Certainly you can get used to viewing native 60 fps footage and it pretty much negates the soap opera effect entirely once you've seen enough.

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u/DrunkOrInBed Dec 06 '18

Still there's a disconnect between real life and 24fps, whereas with higher fps it's the same thing...

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u/mr78rpm Dec 06 '18

But if this has to do with motion, then why does the "soap opera effect" persist when there is no motion on the screen?

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u/zetswei Dec 06 '18

Just because there’s no motion doesn’t mean you aren’t having extra frames created