I bought a new TV and immediately hated it. Every movie looked like it was shot on a camcorder. Dramatic scenes felt like behind-the-scenes footage. My wife said, “Why does everything look like a soap opera?”

She was exactly right. The setting is literally called the “soap opera effect,” and you can turn it off in about thirty seconds.

What is happening to your picture

Movies and TV shows are filmed at 24 frames per second. Your brain is used to this — it creates a cinematic feel. Your new TV is artificially creating extra frames and inserting them between the real ones to make the motion look “smoother.” The result is that everything looks hyper-real, like a live broadcast or a daytime soap opera.

Soap operas were traditionally shot on video at 60 frames per second rather than on film at 24. That is why the effect looks soapy — your TV is converting 24 fps film into 60 fps video.

How to turn it off

The setting has a different name on every brand. Here is where to find it:

Samsung: Settings > Picture > Expert Settings > Auto Motion Plus. Turn it off.

LG: Settings > Picture > Picture Mode Settings > Picture Options > TruMotion. Turn it off.

Sony: Settings > Picture & Display > Picture Adjustments > Motionflow. Turn it off.

Vizio: Settings > Picture > Advanced Picture > Clear Action or Motion Control. Turn it off.

TCL / Hisense (Roku TV): Press the star button on the remote while watching content > Picture Settings > Advanced Settings > Action Smoothing. Turn it off.

If you cannot find the setting, search online for your TV model plus “turn off motion smoothing.” Every modern TV has this setting somewhere.

Should you ever leave it on?

Yes — for live sports. Motion smoothing actually improves the look of fast-moving sports like hockey, basketball, and soccer. The puck or ball tracks more smoothly across the screen. Some newer TVs let you set motion smoothing per input, so you can have it on for the HDMI port connected to your cable box and off for the one connected to your streaming device.

For everything else — movies, prestige TV shows, anything you want to look cinematic — turn it off. Your TV should show the frames that actually exist, not the ones it invents.

I turned it off three months ago and have not looked back. Movies look like movies again. My wife stopped asking why everything looks like a soap opera.