Why are certain movies on HD+Blu Ray looking like British Television / Commercials?

[Mahaguru]

I went to Fry's a couple of times last 2 weeks, and they were playing Transformers, ID4 and Push on a couple of big HDTVs and were a display for Bluray. The colors looked like a cross between British Television and commercials. Movie colors are different, but these didn't look like movie colors. Movie colors are usually darker and more saturated.

Also, whenever the camera moved it produced a very weird effect that is usually seen in documentaries and home movies. It appears that the the camera moves too fast, and the TV is unable to keep up and the background looks like one is looking out of a fast moving car.

Didn't look too convincing. Maybe it's just a calibration issue.

Edit: Interesting, found this Link

 

[Shawn]

turn off smooth motion

 

[SpanishFry]

prob. 120Hz TVs.

 

[0roo0roo]

yup, 120hz..everything becomes daytime soap

 

[Genx87]

Awesome, I am not the only person to think this on 120Hz TV's.

 

[CRXican]

not sure if it's the 120Hz thing or not

My friend has Verizon FIOS and they seem to broadcast in 1080P. On his newer LG HDTV it looks the way you describe and how the yahoo answer guy describes. I have to adjust whenever I'm over there watching it.

I can't decide if I like it or not. Almost seems too real and kills some of the movie experience.

 

[ivan2]

hmm british TV, too much graduated natural density filters.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

120hz

 

[hanoverphist]

i have a mitsubishi 120hz dlp, ill have to keep an eye out to see if this is happening with mine too. i havent noticed the probs yall are talking about, but i can turn the 120hz thing off and see if it changes drastically

 

[Crusty]

I don't like the soap opera effect

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: ivan2
hmm british TV, too much graduated natural density filters.

lulwat?

 

[CZroe]

Yup. Even though 120hz is a multiple of the native 24hz theatrical rate, they are all using their proprietary motion techniques to add detail that isn't really there. That, combined with the "LOOK AT ME! I'M SET ON 'RADIOACTIVE' MODE TO GET YOUR ATTENTION!" adjustments and you have your explanation. If they were properly calibrated with Digital Video Essentials, they would have followed the instructions and turned off any image enhancements (where possible) and lowered the brightness for a very film-like look. FWIW, a lot of the more recent digitally-filmed movies and special effects blockbusters use DNR (Digital Noise Reduction) and others use it to reduce film grain, though purists hate that and prefer the softer, more natural "film look." On the other hand, Pixar tries hard to simulate film and 300 had excessive grain out the wazoo (intentional; for the "gritty" look).

 

[Atomic Playboy]

It's not "120 hz" that's the problem, it's built in software designed to interpolate missing frames and estimate what the screen image would be for those frames. Smooth motion, advanced motion processing, judder reduction, etc., it goes by many different names, but the effect is something that most people find unnatural and distracting when watching movies (although some people do prefer it for things like sporting events to reduce the blur on fast-moving objects). Without the smoothing effect enabled, the screen will still have a 120 hz refresh rate, it just won't be interpolating missing frames in that way.
As for the colors, typically TVs are set to a "store demo" mode when on display, which blasts the contrast and the brightness and oversaturates the colors to give it a visual "pop." This is done because generally when comparing two sources side by side, the human eye will say that whichever is brightest has the best picture quality (even if it is completely blown out in terms of saturation). It's the same reason Bose plays material louder over their speakers than a competitor's in those side-by-side comparisons; we tend to think that louder means better sound quality. If you go into a big box store and see the TVs all blown out, ask if you can see the remote for a particular model; then you can access the menu, change the color levels, and get a better idea of what the set will actually look like in your own home.