Tom Cruise Says You Must Disable This On Your TV (And He’s Right)

By Jesus Diaz
published

If you want to enjoy films like Mission Impossible Fallout, Tom Cruise says you should turn off your TV’s motion smoothing effect, the one that makes everything look like a soap opera.

Tom Cruise says that your TV’s motion smoothing effect, the one that makes everything look like a soap opera, is crap and you should disable it. And we completely agree.

Credit: Getty Images

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Motion smoothing is a technique used by the latest 4K and smart TVs to insert fabricated frames between real frames of anything displayed. It happens on regular HD sets, too.

It was allegedly designed to make sports, news programs, and other content look “better," using interpolation to create new frames that in turn allow for a higher screen refresh.

In practice, it makes everything look terrible — especially movies, since the effect will make them look like soap operas. Hence the nickname for this infamous technology: the soap opera effect.

MORE: Disable Motion Smoothing Right Now for a Better TV Picture

Unfortunately, for some reason beyond any rational human’s comprehension, the Samsung and LGs of this world ship their TVs with motion smoothing on by default. Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie say that you must turn this effect off to watch Mission Impossible Fallout, which is being released today for home viewing.

They are right. It will make that film and any movie look like the filmmakers intended it (unless you are watching The Hobbit, which was disgracefully shot in 3D at 48 frames per second).

Don’t worry. If you were unaware of this abomination and want to disable it right away, we got you covered: check out our guide to disable motion smoothing here.

Jesus Diaz
Jesus Diaz

Jesus Diaz founded the new Sploid for Gawker Media after seven years working at Gizmodo, where he helmed the lost-in-a-bar iPhone 4 story and wrote old angry man rants, among other things. He's a creative director, screenwriter, and producer at The Magic Sauce, and currently writes for Fast Company and Tom's Guide.

5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • darkomaledictus
    Most of us have been disabling this crap since HD tv came up with this crap. Wondering, is that a hidden secret or "technology" from our Scientology overlords ;).
    Reply
  • Peter Martin
    i didn't need him to figure that out. i disable anything that messes with the picture. it's like the first watt obsession thing for me, i don't want anything messing with the original signals in my music or my videos
    Reply
  • john.poe
    I almost took my first Samsung HD TV back to Best Buy when I bought it years ago because of this B.S. - until I figured out what it was and how to turn it off. I've bought a few Samsungs since then and the first thing I do is turn that off. I can't IMAGINE why they have it on by default!
    Reply
  • mrmessma
    I agree that people shouldn't use interpolation, as it's making up frames that aren't originally there. That being said, people should get over thinking anything more than 24 fps isn't cinematic. There is nothing wrong with higher frame rates if that's how it's originally filmed. Stop yelling at clouds old men. You only feel this way because you grew up watching E.T. that way (and so did I), but open up a little and you'll realize you're just biased.
    Reply
  • dufusbighonr
    I have disconnected from tom cruise and his movies. Good tip regardless for films other than his.
    Reply