Frame rate on LED TVs

[Adam Lounsbery]

Before I dig into the internet (I did some cursory searches, but couldn't find what I wanted), I thought I'd throw this question out to the experts here.

Yesterday I bought a new TV, a Samsung LED TV (UN46D6000SF), similar to my old one, but it has a much faster refresh rate.

Which brings me to my question. I test drove a couple of different DVDs and TV I'd recorded, and analog films look very strange on it. For instance, my Blu ray of Sweet Smell of Success looks crisp and sharp, and the blacks are beautiful. However, the movement is totally weird-looking, because the film was shot at 24 frames per second, but I think the newer TV refreshes each frame multiple times to create extremely smooth motion.

The problem is that this has the effect of making everything look as if it's shot on high-definition video instead of film. Even movies recorded off of regular TCM have this effect.

Has anyone else experienced this? Do you know if there's a way to adjust the refresh rate for watching older films?

[Adam Lounsbery]

OK, I just took a break to play around with the TV, and found that turning off "Auto Motion Plus" under advanced picture settings worked. There are different options, "smooth," "standard," etc., but choosing "off" makes older movies look right again. The faster refresh rate is great for stuff filmed in high definition, but for older movies it makes them look like particularly well filmed episodes of Doctor Who from the '60s. Too weird.

Does anyone else have experience optimizing classic films for newer TVs built with only the digital era in mind?

[Steve-O]

no... it really shouldn't happen (classic films on newer TVs should work just fine). I'm a fan of Samsung and have two (nothing new however) and I have no problem watching everything. Try this thread too: http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=33015

Sounds like setting are set too high causing the blur...

[Harry Fabian]

Classic analog movies that I have taped (dvd-r) off TCM/FOX don't look quite right on my LCD tv. I suppose I should try to adjust it, but I watch my movies with my projector and everything looks fine and normal on my movie screen.

[dax]

LED and LCD are the same thing. The only difference is the former uses LED backlighting while the other uses fluorescent. They are both LCD screens. Making films look like video is a problem with LCD technology. LCD's were originally designed for static displays like computer screens. There is a latency with LCD pixels which cause the blurry image of fast motion scenes you see on LCD displays. To compensate the manufactures came up with frame interpolation to sharpen motion detail, which makes film based content (24 frames per second) look unnatural and has often been called the soap opera effect. Video (60 frames per second) fares much better on LCD screens.
Plasmas don't have issues with latency and fast motion.

[Adam Lounsbery]

Turning off the "auto motion" interpolation has made everything look pretty much fine when I watch a movie or play a DVD or Blu ray. The "soap opera" effect was disconcerting when I first test-drove the TV, but the interpolation is something I have control over, so I'm happy with my purchase.