Tom Cruise on the "Soap Opera Effect"

Have you ever wondered why feature films you see in the theater don't have the same cinematic, visual impact on your home TV...even though you just bought a high-end TV during the holiday sales? It's most likely because of a setting on that expensive big screen that you didn't even know existed and probably came pre-set from the factory. Manufacturers have different names for this setting in their TV menus, but they all basically do the same thing, artificially increasing the frame rate of the video to help remove motion blur. It works well for sports, but takes away the cinematic/film look in major motion pictures and makes them look like a soap opera broadcast...like you're watching a feed from an old camcorder (remember those?). I worked for many years for a major consumer electronics company, and I've never been a big fan of this feature from the first day I saw it over a decade ago. Now Tom Cruise, the star of Mission Impossible Fallout and Christopher McQuarrie, the screenwriter, producer and director of the film have posted a video to bring attention to the motion smoothing feature that is degrading your viewing experience of movies at home. Here's the video encouraging you to turn off motion smoothing to best enjoy their latest release: