Tom Cruise Thinks You Should Turn Off Motion Interpolation

AlphaAtlas

AlphaAtlas

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Tom Cruise recently tweeted a video asking TV owners to turn off the "motion smoothing" effect on their sets. Tom and Christopher McQuarrie claim that interpolation "makes most movies look like they were shot on high framerate video rather than film." Most modern TVs do indeed come with this feature enabled by default, and the pair claims movie producers are working with manufacturers to make motion smoothing features more apparent and accessible.

Check out the video here.

I'm taking a quick break from filming to tell you the best way to watch Mission: Impossible Fallout (or any movie you love) at home.


For what it's worth, I disagree with Tom on this one. Good video interpolation can make a film look significantly sharper, particularly in action heavy scenes someone like Tom Cruise is likely to be in. In fact, now that I'm used to it, I have trouble following fast-paced scenes in movie theaters. But there are definitely some bad implementations out there, and there are niche cases where even good implementations produce some nasty artifacts, like in animation, or documentaries featuring lots of old film footage.
 
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TangledThornz said:
Game mode seems to work best.
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Yeah, that's a generally a good option. It's basically telling the TV "don't waste time screwing with the image."

But I did recently read a thread on how Samsung's newer motion interpolation supports uneven frame delivery, and can give you "free FPS" in games. That's gonna come with a latency hit, but it's still an interesting idea...
 
When I go to some peoples houses I turn it off while they are not in the room, it's ungodly annoying for movies. Live sports? Ok. Movies or the like....NO. Most people have no idea what it is, and lots of TVs are coming with it on by default.
 
Is this related to the fake refresh rate numbers TV makers like to quote? Real 60hz but it's 240 motion blah blah blah. I turned off all that jazz on my TV. Since I use it for watching TV/movies and don't game on it, it wasn't a big deal.
 
thank you tom!!

i hate this feature. before my aquos lc45gd5u's logic board died, i thought i'd never have to worry about this.

now im always looking to disable "motionflow" or whatever. when i saw my buddy watch stuff with it on, i asked him how he found it tolerable. he didn't even know what i was talking about.

this mode makes everything look like it was shot realtime in a basement imo.
 
BlueFireIce said:
When I go to some peoples houses I turn it off while they are not in the room, it's ungodly annoying for movies. Live sports? Ok. Movies or the like....NO. Most people have no idea what it is, and lots of TVs are coming with it on by default.
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You're the friend they need, not the friend they deserve lol.

Seriously, the message is good, but did we need this?
 
TripleAgent77 said:
Seriously, the message is good, but did we need this?
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I imagine it also could be a new marketing strategy. Just a plug for a movie won't get onto as many news sites as something where he is telling people how to set up their tv. Either by making fun of him doing so or really wanting to spread the word. Either scenario makes more people aware of the movie.
 
I can finally agree with Tom on something.
AlphaAtlas said:
Yeah, that's a generally a good option. It's basically telling the TV "don't waste time screwing with the image."

But I did recently read a thread on how Samsung's newer motion interpolation supports uneven frame delivery, and can give you "free FPS" in games. That's gonna come with a latency hit, but it's still an interesting idea...
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NO

I've tried this on a newer Samsung and the input lag skyrockets from like 18ms to 150ms. Any motion clarity gained is negated by the input lag. It may "look" like 240 FPS, but it feels like 5 due to the input lag.
 
So when I got my Samsung LCD way back in... 2008(?) 10? basically the first year LED became a thing, and were like $1000 more than a comparable LCD I turned on "120Hz mode" and turned it off about 2 minutes later never to put it on again. And to think that was actually a selling point on the box... I was like this is bullshit, that doesn't make it 120Hz.
 
Meh it depends on your flavor

24fps double shuttered to 48fps really improves clarity

24fps interpelated to 240fps means only 1 frame in 10 is real, and the rest is a guess

24fps with blend frames converted to 72fps seems to be my sweet spot.


Or you know, you could start filming movies using something other than the slowest fps required to record audio, on film with iso nothing. Its not "artistic", it was the limit of the most state of the art equipment from 100 years ago.


We didnt pick 29.97fps for ntsc and 25fps for pal because of art, we picked it so it matched the wave form of the electricity that was ran to our houses...


Whats next, keeping high way speeds at 55 because that was the technical limit of drum brakes stopping a car within 250ft?
 
nightanole said:
Meh it depends on your flavor

24fps double shuttered to 48fps really improves clarity

24fps interpelated to 240fps means only 1 frame in 10 is real, and the rest is a guess

24fps with blend frames converted to 72fps seems to be my sweet spot.


Or you know, you could start filming movies using something other than the slowest fps required to record audio, on film with iso nothing. Its not "artistic", it was the limit of the most state of the art equipment from 100 years ago.


We didnt pick 29.97fps for ntsc and 25fps for pal because of art, we picked it so it matched the wave form of the electricity that was ran to our houses...


Whats next, keeping high way speeds at 55 because that was the technical limit of drum brakes stopping a car within 250ft?
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Unfortunately due to audience reactions to The Hobbit I don't think we'll be moving to 48 FPS any time soon. Otherwise, I agree.
 
AlphaAtlas said:
Yeah, that's a generally a good option. It's basically telling the TV "don't waste time screwing with the image."

But I did recently read a thread on how Samsung's newer motion interpolation supports uneven frame delivery, and can give you "free FPS" in games. That's gonna come with a latency hit, but it's still an interesting idea...
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The "Just give it to me straight" option. I've got two very different large panels (one LG, one Sony), and both are basically unwatchable in any mode other than "game". Too much processing!
 
AlphaAtlas said:
Tom Cruise recently tweeted a video asking TV owners to turn off the "motion smoothing" effect on their sets. Tom and Christopher McQuarrie claim that interpolation "makes most movies look like they were shot on high framerate video rather than film." Most modern TVs do indeed come with this feature enabled by default, and the pair claims movie producers are working with manufacturers to make motion smoothing features more apparent and accessible.

Check out the video here.

I'm taking a quick break from filming to tell you the best way to watch Mission: Impossible Fallout (or any movie you love) at home.


For what it's worth, I disagree with Tom on this one. Good video interpolation can make a film look significantly sharper, particularly in action heavy scenes someone like Tom Cruise is likely to be in. In fact, now that I'm used to it, I have trouble following fast-paced scenes in movie theaters. But there are definitely some bad implementations out there, and there are niche cases where even good implementations produce some nasty artifacts, like in animation, or documentaries featuring lots of old film footage.
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Only thing ill agree with Tom Cruise on. Never makes anything better with movies.
 
I have no idea how anyone actually can tolerate it without getting motion sick. EVERY panel I have used it on, from cheap $99 32" LCDs to $5K plasma sets, and about 6 different sets/brands in between, just makes me want to puke and gives me a terrible headache. Why would anyone want that?
 
Friend of mine just bought a beautiful 65" Samsung on cyber sales. No returns allowed. They default the 240hz BS to ON! Which means at the minimum ideal viewing distance of 8-9 feet in their living room his wife wanted to kill him when she thought the big screen was causing her headaches and nausea. He called me panicked. Told him to turn off the smoothing. Two days later he and his now happy wife are enjoying TV and movies nausea free.

The effect is not "proper" or "good." It does bad things to the image and motion. Things the brain doesn't cope with well especially when it fills your field of vision.

It's NOTHING like a game at true 144hz.
 
This stuff makes me motion sick, walk into Costco every time and I SMH at the awful motion smoothing. As I get older I realize I easily get motion sick though.
 
Wonder if it's a scheme for Scientologist's to insert subliminal messages into your TV to "Join Us, It's real Cool!".

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Tom is overlooking the more important issue regarding average consumers and their television settings. Until the Vivid preset is obliterated and companies stop shipping TVs with brightness and contrast at 100%, the eye scorching epidemic will continue to be a bigger threat to national security than frame interpolation.
 
Why do hardware manufacturers have to change? Why don't filmmakers instead change and produce movies that look better with motion smoothing?

I think filmmakers should adopt Freesync (1 and 2), Adaptive Sync, and Gsync. I'm not sure what good it would do, but it sounds cool.
 
He happens to be right here, but anyone who is convinced because this Scientology loon says anything really ought to take a step back and consider what sources they trust.

Just because the man knows how to act (and even that may be a questionable assertion) doesn't mean he is a subject matter expert on anything else.
 
nightanole said:
Meh it depends on your flavor

24fps double shuttered to 48fps really improves clarity

24fps interpelated to 240fps means only 1 frame in 10 is real, and the rest is a guess

24fps with blend frames converted to 72fps seems to be my sweet spot.


Or you know, you could start filming movies using something other than the slowest fps required to record audio, on film with iso nothing. Its not "artistic", it was the limit of the most state of the art equipment from 100 years ago.


We didnt pick 29.97fps for ntsc and 25fps for pal because of art, we picked it so it matched the wave form of the electricity that was ran to our houses...


Whats next, keeping high way speeds at 55 because that was the technical limit of drum brakes stopping a car within 250ft?
Click to expand...
People are used to 30 for crappy home videos, not "films", and some people feel nausea from the higher frames. Hopefully one of these days we get some nice high framerates.
 
an aside: tom cruise is teh FUCKING MAN.

i never thought he'd recover after the whole katie holmes oprah thing, but man some of the roles he took 18 years ago were unreal.

minority report, anyone? top gun? vanilla sky? eyes wide shut? jeez the list goes on, but i'd say those are some (of his) that influenced me the most.

really loved him as the doctor in eyes wide shut (kubrick was trying to capture the mundane aspects of a typical "high earner" who unwittingly fraternises with the "illuminati", which is how the plot thickens).
 
I prefer interpolation. First time I experienced it was with powerdvd9 watching an episode of lost, I loved that fire looked like Fire! Blew my mind.

Granted the implementation on my last two high end Samsung TV may be better then what some people are experiencing but I love it and am disappointed HFR never caught on.

Like gaming some people are comfortable with 15-30 fps of consoles others of us find it irritating amd exhausting. I've never known any one to begin gameing at 120hz and then casually revert.
 
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