Albert Laro, film expert: "There's a good chance you're misusing your TV to watch movies."

Have you noticed that movies look strange on your new TV ? Like watching Blade Runner 2049 filmed with a soap opera camera? Don't worry, you're not alone.

Content creator and film creator Albert Laro posted a video on TikTok in which he explains a common mistake many people make when setting up their televisions: activating motion smoothing , also known as the "soap opera effect."

"There's a good chance you're using your TV all wrong to watch movies. And even Tom Cruise tells you so," Laro warned at the beginning of the video, referring to the public campaign the actor led a few years ago against this technology.

Although it may not seem like it, the problem isn't with the movie or the TV, but with a feature that's enabled by default on many current models.

Motion smoothing, or video interpolation, was designed to improve fluidity in sports broadcasts or live events by eliminating motion blur. However, in doing so, it creates an artificially sharp and fluid image that completely disrupts the aesthetics of cinema.

“It makes Blade Runner 2049 look like The Passion of the Hawks ,” Albert Laro humorously summarizes. This unwanted fluidity translates into unnatural movements , almost as if the actors were performing live in your living room. A phenomenon that many viewers perceive as “something strange” without knowing exactly what it is.

The solution, fortunately, is very simple. Just access your TV's picture settings and disable motion smoothing. Depending on the model and brand , this option may be called by other names: " motion interpolation ," " video interpolation ," " auto motion ," " trumotion ," among others.

If you can't find the option, Laro recommends a quick Google search with your TV model to find the exact steps.

“It took me weeks to find the solution , because I didn’t even know how to describe the problem ,” he explained, recalling his own experience when he discovered it.

Albert Laro's message echoes that of many film industry professionals. In fact, years ago Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie recorded a video in which they asked viewers to disable this feature to properly watch their films.

Because yes, films are carefully edited with a specific frame rate to achieve a unique feel . Altering that completely changes the director's artistic intent.