# Video vs. Film and Modern HD TV and framerates **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 15, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-vs-film-and-modern-hd-tv-and-framerates/567672 "2011-01-15T02:43:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-vs-film-and-modern-hd-tv-and-framerates/567672/1 "2011-01-15T02:43:43Z")
Remember the old days, say, Fawtly Towers? Portions were shot in video, and portions were shot in film. Or more modern days… daytime soap operas with their identifiable film cameras? You get to know the difference. I finally have my home theater set up. I debuted it just now with “Snakes on a Plane” (long story behind that selection). The whole time, I thought to myself, “this looks like a SyFy made-for-TV movie.” (and I don’t mean the storyline!) With my previous (smaller) 1080p TV, I upscaled a lot of DVD-quality films. But this was a 1080p movie on a 1080p set. While the frame quality was good, I couldn’t get past the made-for-TV look. Is it me? Is it the fps? Do I have to get used to this look? ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-vs-film-and-modern-hd-tv-and-framerates/567672/2 "2011-01-15T03:13:44Z")
That look is caused by your 120 Hz TV interpolating frames. You can disable it, but the exact name of the setting depends on your manufacturer. You can find a bunch of terms for it [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_interpolation#HDTV). ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-vs-film-and-modern-hd-tv-and-framerates/567672/3 "2011-01-15T03:23:19Z")
It may also be digital film cameras, which often feel like a video camera, with its unique light sensitivity. Michael Mann films do this for me. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-vs-film-and-modern-hd-tv-and-framerates/567672/4 "2011-01-15T03:26:39Z")
I’m also guessing it was the TV being 120hz. My friend has one and it looked like everything was in fast motion. Prolly great for games; made movies look really cheap though. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-vs-film-and-modern-hd-tv-and-framerates/567672/5 "2011-01-15T08:06:28Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > That look is caused by your 120 Hz TV interpolating frames. You can disable it, but the exact name of the setting depends on your manufacturer. You can find a bunch of terms for it [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_interpolation#HDTV). Yip. It totally defeats the purpose of moving to 120hz, which was to make all the common framerates evenly divisible, and to decrease the blurring effect of LCD. Instead, interpolation causes blurring. There really is no reason for any signal that is less than 60hz to be interpolated. Just run the same frame multiple times, perhaps even fading the last one slightly to eliminate the LCD blur, and you’re fine. There really is no reason for 24hz film not to use 5:5. ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-vs-film-and-modern-hd-tv-and-framerates/567672/6 "2011-01-15T17:08:11Z")
Interpolation is not tied to the 120 Hz refresh rate. It is a feature that can be turned off on most sets. On my Samsung, for instance, it’s called Auto Motion Plus 120 Hz. Despite “120 Hz” being in the name, turning it off only turns off the interpolation and does not affect the refresh rate, which is an inherent feature of the panel. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-vs-film-and-modern-hd-tv-and-framerates/567672/7 "2011-01-15T19:34:56Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > I’m also guessing it was the TV being 120hz. My friend has one and it looked like everything was in fast motion. Prolly great for games; made movies look really cheap though. It works best on sports. Makes everything else look like soap operas.