New LG CX, Want More Soap Opera Effect

KrisCo

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Hi guys, I'm new here, thanks for having me. I bought a 65" CX recently, and I want to increase the Soap Opera Effect, but I haven't had any luck so far. After browsing here and other places for a short while, I have learned that the SOE is generally hated, but hopefully y'all will have some advice on increasing it. I would think it would be as easy as reversing whatever y'all do to eliminate it, but the results aren't as profound as I'd hoped they'd be.

I haven't purchased a new TV in nearly 2 decades, but it was time to upgrade, so I thought I'd go for the best. A moderate amount research indicated that LG OLEDs were top-of-the-line, so we forked over the money. I don't buy TVs often, so I figured I'd get the best I can afford now and hope it stays relevant despite tech improving at such a fast rate. Now that I have the TV, I've done some searching about SOE, and some threads I've viewed indicate that LG OLEDs are capable of producing strong SOE, so I'm hopeful.

About 10 years ago my brother bought a new Samsung and a Blu Ray player, and I experienced the SOE for the first time. I really enjoyed it, and looked forward to my opportunity to upgrade, though I knew it wouldn't be any time soon. My former TV was not capable of it, but I assumed every modern TV I can buy in 2021 would be. I didn't even research that "feature," I just assumed that by getting one of the best, I would have it.

So far, the only 4K UHD content I've viewed is from streaming services, and I hope that's the reason why my SOE is not nearly as profound as what I experienced 10 years ago. Is streaming content capable of producing the SOE? I have a PS5 on order, but it won't arrive until mid-April. I suppose I could wait until then to find out if Blu Ray is better at producing SOE, but I'm terribly curious about it, so do y'all have any advice about it? I'd also like to know if 4K Blu Rays suffer from the dark screen compression anomalies that I see from streaming movies. I do like the 4K content I've viewed so far, but currently from the sources I've viewed, it's not blowing my socks off. I can see weird anomalies surrounding fast-moving objects, like a strange blur in the backdrop around the fast moving object. In dark scenes, I can see huge blocks of darkness gradient, which is surprising to see in a 4K media format.

The only settings I've discovered to increase smoothness are the obvious settings; TruMotion, which I see makes a difference, and Smooth Gradation. I can't see a difference at all when I change that setting.

So, can anyone here who owns an LG CX offer any advice? Any other general tips to enjoy my TV more?

Thanks for your time.
 
SOE is motion interpolation, it's done by the video processing chip inside the display.

LG brands this as Trumotion which you've found, use the smooth option or set it to user and play around with the settings you might prefer. Not much more you can do than that.

LG also offers another option called OLED motion Pro this is black frame insertion to improve the clarity of motion, though the downside of this is it will reduce brightness so its not recommend for use with HDR content. When set to High it will give best results, medium or auto are middle ground options.

The smooth gradation is not a motion setting it is for removing banding/grading in the video.

Yes streaming video services rely on heavy compression so there will be some artefacts in the stream, but it also depends on how fast your internet connection is. I would recommend testing it with a wired ethernet connection to your router in case your wifi is a limiting factor resulting in lower quality stream.

However using motion interpolation will also cause visual glitches as well so keep that in mind.

4K UHD Blu-ray will be better quality but the motion interpolation is done by the TV alone not the BD player and if buying a PS5 just for BD playback cancel that order, its a waste of money, get a regular 4K BD player.

Have a look at rtings suggested settings for the CX.

If you want the smoothness without motion interpolation then get a PC not a PS5 and just push everything up to 120fps for high frame rate gaming, PS5 will be typically 60fps some 30fps and the rare 120fps title.
 
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Regarding streams, this is easy to miss if this is your first 4K display - Netflix requires you to upgrade your membership to access 4K HDR videos. I believe these require about 15mbps.

While Amazon Prime won’t require an upgrade, just be mindful that they have made the irritating decision to split their HD and 4K content - so it’s a little more infuriating at times to find.

Personally, I am not a fan of LG’s handling of low bitrate HD content, from macro-blocking to chrominance overshoot. Having said that my experience is from the 2018 LG C8, I gather they would have likely much improved this by now.

As for artefacts, it’s hard to know whether that’s low quality streams or just the Trumotion settings you are using. I personally can’t stand SOE, it only takes a few moments and I feel like I’m watching TV on a boat. 🤮
 
SOE is motion interpolation, it's done by the video processing chip inside the display.

LG brands this as Trumotion which you've found, use the smooth option or set it to user and play around with the settings you might prefer. Not much more you can do than that.

LG also offers another option called OLED motion Pro this is black frame insertion to improve the clarity of motion, though the downside of this is it will reduce brightness so its not recommend for use with HDR content. When set to High it will give best results, medium or auto are middle ground options.

The smooth gradation is not a motion setting it is for removing banding/grading in the video.

Yes streaming video services rely on heavy compression so there will be some artefacts in the stream, but it also depends on how fast your internet connection is. I would recommend testing it with a wired ethernet connection to your router in case your wifi is a limiting factor resulting in lower quality stream.

However using motion interpolation will also cause visual glitches as well so keep that in mind.

4K UHD Blu-ray will be better quality but the motion interpolation is done by the TV alone not the BD player and if buying a PS5 just for BD playback cancel that order, its a waste of money, get a regular 4K BD player.

Have a look at rtings suggested settings for the CX.

If you want the smoothness without motion interpolation then get a PC not a PS5 and just push everything up to 120fps for high frame rate gaming, PS5 will be typically 60fps some 30fps and the rare 120fps title.

Excellent advice, thanks for sharing your knowledge. Regarding the PS5, we got it for me and the kids to play games. (Mostly me, but don't tell my wife.) Is the PS5 deficient for 4k blu rays, or is it just the price that makes it not ideal? Will it play the blu rays as well as a high quality stand-alone player?
 
Excellent advice, thanks for sharing your knowledge. Regarding the PS5, we got it for me and the kids to play games. (Mostly me, but don't tell my wife.) Is the PS5 deficient for 4k blu rays, or is it just the price that makes it not ideal? Will it play the blu rays as well as a high quality stand-alone player?

If will play blu-rays fine its just expensive and power hungry vs a regular 4K BD player.
 
Regarding streams, this is easy to miss if this is your first 4K display - Netflix requires you to upgrade your membership to access 4K HDR videos. I believe these require about 15mbps.

While Amazon Prime won’t require an upgrade, just be mindful that they have made the irritating decision to split their HD and 4K content - so it’s a little more infuriating at times to find.

Personally, I am not a fan of LG’s handling of low bitrate HD content, from macro-blocking to chrominance overshoot. Having said that my experience is from the 2018 LG C8, I gather they would have likely much improved this by now.

As for artefacts, it’s hard to know whether that’s low quality streams or just the Trumotion settings you are using. I personally can’t stand SOE, it only takes a few moments and I feel like I’m watching TV on a boat.

Thanks for the advice. I haven't tried Netflix yet, only Prime. I might join them again. Do you guys think the TV will upscale standard blu rays with a standard blu ray player? Will they look better on this TV than a 1080p?
 
The TV’s upscaling will be perfectly adequate. If you’re coming from an LCD TV, then just the nature of OLED and the contrast between light and dark will give your old Blu-rays a new lease of life.

As for the PS5, this is a much better 4K Bly-ray player than the Series X. I think you’ll be pretty satisfied with the PS5, the only downside is that it doesn’t support Dolby Vision. Although given Sony’s TV’s support this, I wouldn’t be surprised if the PS5 gets an update for this.

The only real complaint I can throw at the consoles as 4K Blu-ray players is that they’re on the noisy side.
 

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