Your Home Tech

02/19/2022

Welcome to Your Home Tech Tips #3!
"Tech is Hard; We're easy." Serving the Tampa Area.

Have you ever watched a movie and something just seems off? Maybe it’s too smooth and a little weird, like it was shot with a video camera? This is called the ”soap opera effect” and it’s caused by something called “Motion Smoothing” that’s a default setting on nearly every current TV.

Theoretically, motion smoothing makes the film run smoother and cleaner. In practice, errors and visual artifacts have made it extremely controversial. Maybe you’re fine with it (and that’s ok), but many aren’t, including some Hollywood directors. Here’s what it is and how to deal with it.

A standard film or TV show is usually shot at 24 to 30 frames per second (FPS), while modern TVs are capable of operating at 60 or 120 FPS or more. Film uses a “flicker effect” to simulate realistic motion, and audiences have learned to accept and understand, and even love it. When motion smoothing is turned on, the TV essentially adds fake frames into a movie in order to artificially increase the frame rate and make it display smoothly at higher frame rates. Motion smoothing erases that film flicker & replaces this cinematic look with less realistic movement. This creates the smoothing effect, but unfortunately, can create an unnatural look (what has come to be called, “the uncanny valley”).

In 2019, several filmmakers announced a partnership with the UHD Alliance to develop the “Filmmaker Mode” on TVs that is optimized for watching film at home, and can replicate the theatrical look and feel. Filmmaker mode has been added to certain TV sets manufactured since 2020, but it's nowhere near as widespread as motion smoothing. If it’s available on your set, try it and see if it makes a difference you like. If not, try turning off motion smoothing and see if you think it’s more “cinematic”.

Here’s how to find motion smoothing on your TV:

- Go to your settings menu
- Go to Display settings
- Look for Picture or Advanced
- Look for something like “Motion”: True Motion, Action Smoothing, Auto Motion, Motion Flow Smooth Motion, etc…
- Switch it off
- You're done!

Now, just see how well it works for you. You can always turn it back on.

And as always, if you’ve got questions or have any need with all of your home tech, from TVs to WIFI, to Phones, Your Home Tech is here to help.

Tech is Hard; We’re Easy.

Jason Torres
Your Home Tech
(813) 438-4115
YourHomeTech.net

01/28/2022

YOUR HOME TECH TIP #1. Hi and welcome!

There have been some dangerous mass emails in the last month from North Korea's infamous hacking group, Lazarus, about job opportunities at Lockheed Martin. Once active on your system, they take over your windows computer by altering the Windows Update system.

If you opened such emails, you can head over to the highly respected and world-famous Malwarebytes page at https://www.malwarebytes.com and install their free antivirus trial. It'll let you scan your system and remove any harmful malware. (Always a good idea to run a check once in a while, anyway).

How one of North Korea's most sophisticated APTs tries to avoid detection by using legitiate tools during its attacks.