"Some HD TVs make the picture look outright strange... like it's a home video or something..."
The statement above is found on many article websites and forums about HD TVs... not word for word obviously, but a majority of those who have made it in the HD world know about this weird phenomenon called "The Soap Opera Effect." Some people buy their TVs for this effect alone. They say it looks 3D, or "exclusive." What?! It just gives me a headache.
Most Yahoo! answer sites have blamed it on a certain Samsung TV; but the real reason why some TVs have this "Soap Opera Effect", or capability to see the panning of the camera, is LCD TVs that use 120/240hz. This is a mere side effect of LCDs that creates frames in movies or TV shows that never existed in the first place. This is also called "frame interpolation." Most TVs are able to turn this effect off, but unfortunately some TVs can only lower this effect.
Another term used for this "Soap Opera Effect" is "smooth motion" or "judding". Why this is even a problem baffles me, mainly because these technologies are off-the-wall expensive and shouldn't have such a heart-wrenching problem. Yes, dramatic, but who wants to watch something that looks fake? Not me!
