Tom Cruise feels passionately about motion smoothing – that is, turning it off to enjoy his (and others’) movies ‘properly.’
It’s a technology that the majority may leave on on their TV settings and some will claim turning off brings no discernible difference (decide for yourself below) to watching content, but actor Tom Cruise wants you to enjoy how content how he and his film industry contemporaries intended it to look – without motion smoothing.
The motion smoothing setting is present in nearly all TVs incorporating HD and 4K resolution support and is most often left on by default by manufacturers – creating what some lament as the ‘soap opera’ effect. Although creating new frames in between the 24 or 30 frames per second in video content can be useful for enjoying sports, this effect can change the look of TV and films for the worse and not actually deliver the ‘smooth’ effect its name purports.
Whether it will prove to be an impossible mission to get to the mainstream TV-owning audience to adjust their settings remains to be seen, but Cruise took to Twitter to share a video speaking about the pitfalls of motion smoothing with director Christopher McQuarrie (Mission Impossible - Fallout and Top Gun - Maverick).
Motion smoothing technology most commonly comes under the guise of '240Hz TruMotion', 'Motion Smoothing Effect' or 'Auto Motion Plus' on TV sets. A comparison video looking at action-based content with and without the effect is shared below for you to make your own mind up about how to enjoy your next movie night.