Soap Opera Effect: Set the TV’s Motion Setting to Off

To stop the soap opera effect, open your TV’s picture settings, find its motion setting and set it to Off: Auto Motion Plus (or Picture Clarity) on Samsung, TruMotion on LG, Motionflow on Sony, Action Smoothing on a Roku TV. Filmmaker Mode does the same in one step on TVs that have it: the UHD Alliance’s specification for it sets “Motion Smoothing/Interpolation: OFF”.

Motion smoothing adds frames between the ones in the video. Sony’s guide says Motionflow “increases the number of image frames to display videos smoothly”, and Samsung says the setting removes ghosting and blur from fast motion. Whether that looks better is your call. Samsung itself says these settings “look great on live TV, like sporting events or parades” and that most films “are not intended to be viewed with these features”.

The setting on each brand

The 7 brands below, with the path as each maker’s own page prints it and the software or year it names.

TV brand	Setting name	Menu path, as the maker gives it	Choices it lists	Filmmaker Mode?
Samsung	Auto Motion Plus (Picture Clarity)	Settings › Picture › Expert Settings › Auto Motion Plus Settings (no model year named)	Auto (default), Off, Custom	On the UHD Alliance’s brand list
LG	TruMotion	Picture › Advanced Settings › Clarity › TruMotion (2025 webOS guide; same path on webOS 22 and 6.0). webOS 5.0 (2020): Picture › Picture Mode Settings › Picture Option › TruMotion	Off, Cinematic Movement, Natural, Smooth Movement, User Selection (2025)	Yes; LG’s guide has FILMMAKER MODE Auto Start
Sony	Motionflow	Settings › Display & Sound › Picture & Sound › Picture › Motion › Motionflow › Mode › Off (current BRAVIA Help Guide)	Off; Custom adjusts Smoothness and Clearness	Not on the UHD Alliance’s brand list
TCL (Google TV)	Motion Clarity	Home › Settings › All settings › Display & Sound › Picture Settings › Motion Settings › Motion Clarity	Not listed in TCL’s guide	Yes; FILMMAKER MODE is a picture mode
Hisense	Motion Enhancement	Settings › Display & Sound › Picture › Motion Enhancement (Hisense support, 2024 Google TV model)	Not given	On the UHD Alliance’s brand list
Roku TV (Roku-made and partner brands)	Action Smoothing	Star button › Picture settings › Expert settings (Roku also writes Picture settings › Customize Picture › Expert settings)	Off, Low, up to High	Not on the UHD Alliance’s brand list
Vizio	“Motion settings” (Vizio does not name it)	Menu › All Settings › Picture; Vizio points to your model’s user manual	Not given	Not on the UHD Alliance’s brand list

Roku’s steps start with a show playing, then the Star button. The TCL row is for TCL’s Google TV sets; TCL also sells Roku TVs, which Roku’s page covers, with its note that partner models may name these settings differently.

Samsung: Off or Custom

Samsung ships Auto Motion Plus on Auto, which it says “automatically turns on and off based on the type of program being watched”. Off removes it. Custom keeps it with three controls: Blur Reduction, Judder Reduction and LED Clear Motion. Samsung describes judder as rough motion, “such as camera panning or zoom”, when a show “has fewer frames than your TV displays”, and Judder Reduction is the control aimed at it.

LG and Sony: check the picture mode first

Both brands lock the motion setting in game picture modes. LG says “TruMotion cannot be set if you set the game mode for the video mode”. Sony says that when Content type is Game, Motionflow and CineMotion are disabled. If the setting is greyed out, change the picture mode first. Our console settings guide covers what game modes do on these TVs.

LG’s 2025 guide lists Off as the first TruMotion option. Its older webOS 22 page lists only Cinematic, Natural and Smooth motion, and suggests TruMotion for console games that run at 30 frames per second. Sony’s guide lists CineMotion separately from Motionflow; Sony describes it as reproducing 24-frame film motion smoothly, and its troubleshooting page sets both to Off for a distorted picture. Sony’s spec sheets also carry a Motionflow rating, which our BRAVIA series page quotes for some models.

Filmmaker Mode: one switch instead of several

The UHD Alliance, the industry group behind the label, says Filmmaker Mode turns off motion smoothing, sharpening and noise reduction, and keeps the source’s frame rate and aspect ratio. Its list of brands offering it names Samsung, LG, TCL, Hisense and Panasonic among nine. LG’s guide warns that the mode “may appear darker than other Picture Mode”.

Some sets switch to it on their own: LG has FILMMAKER MODE Auto Start, and TCL’s Google TV guide says its Automatic Content Recognition setting can switch picture mode when Filmmaker Mode content is detected. That TCL setting shares its name with the viewing-data feature in our guide to TV tracking settings, though TCL describes it only as the picture-mode switch.

If it comes back

Settings can be saved per input and per picture mode: Vizio says so, and LG’s guide has an Apply to All Inputs option. Turn motion smoothing off on each input you use, or apply it to all. Roku says some Roku OS updates have turned motion smoothing back on. If you are still choosing a set, our TV shortlist covers the models the reviews rate highest.

Questions people ask

How do I turn off the soap opera effect on my TV?

Open the picture settings and find the motion setting: Auto Motion Plus or Picture Clarity on Samsung, TruMotion on LG, Motionflow on Sony, Action Smoothing on Roku TVs. Set it to Off. Or pick Filmmaker Mode, which the UHD Alliance specifies with motion smoothing off.

Does Filmmaker Mode turn off motion smoothing?

By the UHD Alliance’s specification, yes: Filmmaker Mode disables post-processing such as motion smoothing and keeps the source frame rate. Samsung, LG, TCL and Hisense are among the brands on its list. Sharpening and noise reduction go off too, and LG warns the mode may look darker.

Why did motion smoothing come back on my Roku TV?

Roku says some Roku OS updates change motion or picture defaults, sometimes turning motion smoothing back on. Set Action Smoothing to Off or Low again under Star, Picture settings, Expert settings.

Should I leave motion smoothing on for sports?

That is a preference, not a fix. Samsung says its motion settings “look great” on live TV such as sport, and Roku suggests Action Clarity for sports and Action Smoothing Low or Off for films. Try both on the content you watch.

Why can’t I change TruMotion or Motionflow?

Game settings lock them on some sets. LG says TruMotion cannot be set while the picture mode is Game, and Sony says a Game content type disables Motionflow and CineMotion. Switch the picture mode or content type first.

What is motion smoothing called on a Hisense TV?

Motion Enhancement. Hisense’s support team gave the path Settings, Display & Sound, Picture, Motion Enhancement for a 2024 Google TV model. Hisense TVs on other software may lay out the menu differently.