Filmmaker Mode coming to Samsung TVs to combat motion smoothing

Samsung’s smart TVs are going to adopt Filmmaker Mode this year and do away with post-processing motion smoothing, revealed the UHD Alliance at CES 2020. The motion smoothing effect is present and turned on by default on numerous HD TVs, resulting in blurrier fast images and what the public now calls the ‘soap opera effect.’

As the name suggests, Filmmaker Mode is a viewing mode designed by the UHD Alliance for watching movies and shows. The mode disables the heavy motion smoothing post-processing effect and preserves the original colors, aspect ratios, and frame rates, resulting in an image that’s much closer to the filmmaker’s original vision.

It might not become available on older Samsung TVs

Filmmaker Mode is not a development by Samsung but by the UHD Alliance, which means that it will also become available on other brands of TVs including LG, Vizio, and Panasonic. Now, according to Variety citing these companies at CES, Filmmaker Mode won’t be coming to their older TVs and, instead, it will be reserved for their 2020 models. It doesn’t sound like Filmmaker Mode can be implemented through a firmware update.

Samsung didn’t reveal any details as to which of its TV models will have Filmmaker Mode, but considering the similar announcement from the other three companies, there is a strong possibility that Samsung, too, will skip its TV models launched in 2019 and earlier. In other words, Filmmaker Mode might become available only on Samsung’s 2020 TV lineup revealed at CES and later models, and possibly not on every one of them. We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.