Sony Motionflow & Film mode Settings Explained (finally!)

Thanks.

Do you know how one should set Reality Creation? Is there a safe setting for all kinds of material? Should it be only on for old movies on Blu-ray and Streaming and also for general tv program?

I have Reality Creation on auto for Broadcast TV (Freeview in the UK) and also for Sports content when viewing from a Google Chromecast or NowTV Stick.

I may turn it into auto as well for when watching DVDs through my PS3, but I haven't done that for a while.

It's more useful with older, poorer quality source material. Having it on for 1080p/4k streaming service content/BluRays doesn't really do much.
 
The question is why would you leave some motion settings on for high definition content like Netflix or Sky?

I still don't understand why Sony doesn't give any information on settings and when you should employ different modes.

High definition does not mean that you get smooth motion - originally most motions and camera pans that get filmed are not very pretty. :) You can check that on your tv very easily, just play Stranger Things, season 3, episode 2 (The Mall Rats) - check out minute 25 till 26, you'll see Elfie and a friend enter a mall. On most settings, theccamera pan that shows the inside of the mall is a painful blurry judder fest. But not on all settings: Set Motionflow to 4, Film Mode to max and you'll get smooth motions. It's much more pleasing to the eye in my humble opinion.

I am convinced this setting will also make Lord Of The Rings more pleasing to eye - when the camera pans / rotates around hills / mountains, it's all blurry judder if you do not use Motionflow on 4 + Film mode.

Most footage is filmed with 24 fps and for decades, standards were not higher because the resolution and so on was not as advanced as today. But today, with big hi-res screens even at home, some rightfully ask, why should I watch judder that obscures details, if we can enjoy the benefits of proper interpolation that makes movements and camera pans way more realistic, way more enjoyable and that also enable you to see details during the motion / pan. The scene in the mall I mentioned above is good to play around with your settings to find the motion settings that you personally like best. :)

Thanks @mallet and @md, I now have Reality Creation on 19 since it improved the visibility of a rope someone uses in "Free Solo" and it also looks low enough to not make old looking footage like That '70s Show look too bad. :)
 
Motion on 4 will introduce the soap opera effect. I use Custom Smoothness on minimum and film mode high, I still have some judder on panning shots but I can live with it.
 
I cannot identify anything on the screen that reminds me of a soap opera. I would encourage to try this setting to look for oneself if one likes smooth motions or not.
I wonder if the soe is an internet hype and purely subjective, because on my tv things look fine. :) *shrug*
 
XF90 (X900F in the USA). Anything below Motionflow 4 is judder, Motionflow 4 with Film Mode on High looks just fine without too apparent artifacts. Motionflow 5 is not so good because artifacts can be too easy recognizable. I just try to spread the joy, maybe someone who reads this checks out a scene with the camera spinning around for multiple seconds (as in Stranger Things, season 3, episode 2, The Mall Rats, around minute 25, when Elfie and her friend leave the bus and enter the mall) and tries out Motionflow 4, Film Mode High and maybe likes what he / she sees. If not, one can always go back to one's old settings. :)

Once you have seen that scene with the settings I use (totally natural yet with way better movement when the cam spins around), I wonder which settings you like best. It is important to see for oneself. :)
 
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I agree with you, motionflow smoothness turned up high will smooth out judder but it results in a very unnatural picture and not what the director intended. In my experience you can't eliminate judder without introducing SOE.
 
Have you already tried these settings on this TV? It is the first I have that can do interpolation. Maybe some of the bad experiences with Interpolation have been with a different model that is not as good at it like this TV?I have read that this TV is very good at showing motions. From what I can see, Motionflow Custom 4, Film Mode high looks to me like the sweet spot between still natural, even a little tiny remaining bit of judder can be seen, but overall the judder is so low, that big pans and camera spins look great, not obscured through the original amount of judder. Of course many things are a matter of taste, i just like to encourage to try the settings on this TV and to see for oneself what it looks like. Maybe some who did not yet check it out with this TV might enjoy it. In the end, the only person who watches content on your TV is you, only what you like with your own eyes matters. Magazines and people can write a lot of things, but only one individually matters regarding one's own personal taste. Maybe you like these settings, maybe not. The Stranger Things scene is great to test out different settings, lots of seconds of footage of the cam spinning, capturing the mall and the people. :) To me, 5 is too high (artifacts), 3 is too much judder, 4 almost no artifacts (in everyday watching, not recognizable) and almost no judder so to me it's the sweet spot between true to the original (still natural, even with a little bit of remaining judder) and optimized (big pans and turns on no longer shrouded in obscurity due to the heavy judder of the original film roll).
 
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It's a matter of taste, some people like the SOE, whatever floats your boat. I have an XE9005 with Smoothness on Min. Streamed content seems to be more prone to judder than broadcast TV, maybe an expert can explain why this is?
 
I think some people can’t see / notice soap opera effect and some possibly even prefer / like it

For me it’s amazing just how obvious it becomes when increasing from 3 to 4
 
On the other hand, it's also possible that some users have become hyper sensitive to it due to past models, that were not yet as good at interpolation (or because they care for what Tom Cruise said ;)).

I guess IF there is a "soap opera effect on the XF90 (X900F) set at Motionflow Custom 4, Film Modus High, I am glad I don't notice it and can enjoy smooth motions. :)

I know that from 4 on, there is a slight risk of minor artifacts that can make the head of a person that passes by look a little bit of blurry around the edges, but it's not often. A big pan / camera turn with judder filling the entire 65" screen bothers me much more. But sure if I could, I would love to eliminate all artifacts and all judder. I did not find a perfect setting for me, just close enough. It's my first TV with interpolation, so I am just happy to have it and hope that the manufacturers continue to work on these features and continue to implement them so we all can choose which settings we like.

The guy in the following video thinks that the SOE is no longer an issue. From what I read and saw, I assume it's almost gone, but not completely, good enough for some, still not good for others.
 
On the other hand, it's also possible that some users have become hyper sensitive to it due to past models, that were not yet as good at interpolation (or because they care for what Tom Cruise said ;)).

I guess IF there is a "soap opera effect on the XF90 (X900F) set at Motionflow Custom 4, Film Modus High, I am glad I don't notice it and can enjoy smooth motions. :)

I know that from 4 on, there is a slight risk of minor artifacts that can make the head of a person that passes by look a little bit of blurry around the edges, but it's not often. A big pan / camera turn with judder filling the entire 65" screen bothers me much more. But sure if I could, I would love to eliminate all artifacts and all judder. I did not find a perfect setting for me, just close enough. It's my first TV with interpolation, so I am just happy to have it and hope that the manufacturers continue to work on these features and continue to implement them so we all can choose which settings we like.

The guy in the following video thinks that the SOE is no longer an issue. From what I read and saw, I assume it's almost gone, but not completely, good enough for some, still not good for others.


Out of interest, are using Clearness at level 1 so that the X-motion clarity technology is engaged?

Personally I can see SOE quite obviously at smoothness 2 on Filmic content. On 4 would to my eyes be crazy. Even with sport I cannot have smoothness higher than 3 otherwise to many artifacts are introduced.

However to each their own. Film Mode should be on High for al sources though.
 
I’ve just set up a KD-65XG70 today and when I first started watching on Sky Q the image was moving too fast, motion enhanced is turned off and film mode is off , not sure if that makes any difference.

One thing that I think might have improved it was I set the correct setting on The Sky Q menu to view in UHD , was set to 1080P , picture seems to be moving more normal now, any other tips would be great to what should be switched on or off in the menu for this TV or Sky Q for the best viewing . Thanks
 
Out of interest, are using Clearness at level 1 so that the X-motion clarity technology is engaged?

Personally I can see SOE quite obviously at smoothness 2 on Filmic content. On 4 would to my eyes be crazy. Even with sport I cannot have smoothness higher than 3 otherwise to many artifacts are introduced.

However to each their own. Film Mode should be on High for al sources though.

I don't use Clearness because I want the tv to be as bright as it can / should.
I'm curious too, does Motion Clearness impact the SOE that you see? What happens when turned on / off?
 
Just bump the backlight / brightness a couple of notches to compensate for the bli / drop in brightness when setting cleanness to one

Its pretty much the setting to have enabled and a lot of work and effort has gone into the start of this thread explaining this and answering all questions
 
I don't use Clearness because I want the tv to be as bright as it can / should.
I'm curious too, does Motion Clearness impact the SOE that you see? What happens when turned on / off?

Clearness should be at 1 in order to engage X-motion clarity. This technology is really good at improving motion resolution without introducing soap opera effect. If you're not using it I would highly advise using it. It's one of the main reasons I got this TV.

With SDR you can adjust for the slight drop in backlight by increasing brightness a few notches. For HDR, I find it more than bright enough on clearness 1 so no issue for me there.

Clearness 1 actually makes 24p content appear more similar to the way films are viewed in the cinema.

Anyhow to each his own.

Glad you're enjoying the TV!
 
I’ve just set up a KD-65XG70 today and when I first started watching on Sky Q the image was moving too fast, motion enhanced is turned off and film mode is off , not sure if that makes any difference.

One thing that I think might have improved it was I set the correct setting on The Sky Q menu to view in UHD , was set to 1080P , picture seems to be moving more normal now, any other tips would be great to what should be switched on or off in the menu for this TV or Sky Q for the best viewing . Thanks

Personally on SkyQ, I would have the output set to 1080i because this is the format which all HD channels are broadcast in on Sky Satellites. If you choose to watch a UHD broadcast Is oils then manually change the output of the box to 2160p, but then when not viewing UHD revert back to 1080i. The reason being the deinterlacer and upscaling ability of the TV is better than the SkyQ box.

In terms of motion settings on the TV, for general viewing e.g. TV shows and films, I would set Motionflow to custom, Smoothness to 0, Clearness 1 and then film mode at High it Auto. However when viewing sport I would recommend increasing smoothness 2 or 3.

Hope this helps.
 
Personally on SkyQ, I would have the output set to 1080i because this is the format which all HD channels are broadcast in on Sky Satellites. If you choose to watch a UHD broadcast Is oils then manually change the output of the box to 2160p, but then when not viewing UHD revert back to 1080i. The reason being the deinterlacer and upscaling ability of the TV is better than the SkyQ box.

In terms of motion settings on the TV, for general viewing e.g. TV shows and films, I would set Motionflow to custom, Smoothness to 0, Clearness 1 and then film mode at High it Auto. However when viewing sport I would recommend increasing smoothness 2 or 3.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for this, I changed the Sky Q box to 1080i cause as you said that’s what it mainly broadcasts in, I will change it if I watch anything in UHD.

I changed the other settings to what you said, what does the clearness setting do ? I couldn’t make out any different really when I changed that, also in film mode there doesn’t seem to be an option to change it too high ? Would this make a difference if I was watching a 4K film on my Apple TV 4K or would that be different? I bought faster HDMI, Ethernet cables and plugs for the 4K side of things cause my equipment was all before 4K came in.

Thanks again.
 
I don't use Clearness because I want the tv to be as bright as it can / should.
I'm curious too, does Motion Clearness impact the SOE that you see? What happens when turned on / off?

Are you sure that Clearness on it's lowest setting lowers the brightness? What set do you own? On my AF9 it only drops if I set it at 2, which I believe is Black Frame Insertion. Not sure what 1 is but it doesn't change the brightness.
 
Are you sure that Clearness on it's lowest setting lowers the brightness? What set do you own? On my AF9 it only drops if I set it at 2, which I believe is Black Frame Insertion. Not sure what 1 is but it doesn't change the brightness.
1 as explained is X-Motion Clearness (= BFI on a zonal basis rather than the entire screen). The OLED models don't have that.
X-Motion Clearness is 'perfect' (especially for HDR) because it gives you the 1080 lines of motion resolution with a very minimal drop in brightness, unlike the traditional BFI (from 2 onwards).
 
Thanks for the advice. I already have brightness set to maximum and gamma set to 1 in order to be able to watch movies with very dark scenes while the daylight is coming through the windows. I will give clarity on 1 a try.

A question to everyone who uses clarity and who watches TV also with daylight coming in through the windows, what settings do you have
- for brightness, gamma, life color (in order to have bright scenes as bright as they should be and to make up for the slight loss of brightness that occurs while using clarity)
- and for motionflow (in order to have no judder, blur, artifacts and SOE)?

And: Does Clarity mean flicker because of black frames that get inserted? If so, there can be at risk of headaches, according to rtings.
 
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Thanks for the advice. I already have brightness set to maximum and gamma set to 1 in order to be able to watch movies with very dark scenes while the daylight is coming through the windows. I will give clarity on 1 a try.

A question to everyone who uses clarity and who watches TV also with daylight coming in through the windows, what settings do you have
- for brightness, gamma, life color (in order to have bright scenes as bright as they should be and to make up for the slight loss of brightness that occurs while using clarity)
- and for motionflow (in order to have no judder, blur, artifacts and SOE)?

And: Does Clarity mean flicker because of black frames that get inserted? If so, there can be at risk of headaches, according to rtings.

Please don't tell me that you have brightness set to maximum for SDR content? :(

If you go here => Sony KD XF9005 Owners and Discussion Thread you will find a post of mine where I have explicitly talked through all my settings and the slight differences I have based on certain content.

I prefer to watch Films and TV shows 'as the director intended' so I don't use any smoothness interpolation for these sources. I only use smoothness for sport or naturally higher fps content e.g. when Dynasties was broadcast in HLG UHD 50fps on iPlayer (but that is personal preference).

Brightness does need to be at max for HDR content, but for SDR if you have brightness at max (and you're not on cinema pro picture mode with x-tended dynamic range on low/medium in order to create the 'upconvert to HDR' effect), then the image you are seeing is really not representative of what it 'should' look like :O.

Hope this helps.
 
It's on max across all platforms. Most content is Netflix, sometimes a movie from another source. And sometimes a PS4 game.

I don't want to change settings every time I watch something different. I want settings that work for as many cases as possible. I have settings for Game Mode, for Dolby Vision and for everything else.

Brightness is important to me to see everything including very dark scenes on a bright day. Shortly after after having bought the TV, I watched "The Nun" on Sky Select. Due to the natural daylight and the screen's reflexions, some scenes were too dark to watch at day. I therefore have gamma set to 1 in order to not miss anything in the future.

At least for now, I don't have the impression that brightness is a bad thing. My taste is not the common one that uses Cinema Mode and color temperature expert many times (and recognizes and hates SOE) - I mostly use picture mode Standard (not for games or DV, of course) with color temperature warm most of the times (this picture mode and color temperature look more interesting to me, especially compared to Cinema Pro, color temperature expert), for some movies and Dolby Vision, I use color temperature expert, through.
 
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It's on max across all platforms. Most content is Netflix, sometimes a movie from another source. And sometimes a PS4 game.

I don't want to change settings every time I watch something different. I want settings that work for as many cases as possible. I have settings for Game Mode, for Dolby Vision and for everything else.

Brightness is important to me to see everything including very dark scenes on a bright day. Shortly after after having bought the TV, I watched "The Nun" on Sky Select. Due to the natural daylight and the screen's reflexions, some scenes were too dark to watch at day. I therefore have gamma set to 1 in order to not miss anything in the future.

At least for now, I don't have the impression that brightness is a bad thing. My taste is not the common one that uses Cinema Mode and color temperature expert many times (and recognizes and hates SOE) - I mostly use picture mode Standard (not for games or DV, of course) with color temperature warm most of the times (this picture mode and color temperature look more interesting to me, especially compared to Cinema Pro, color temperature expert), for some movies and Dolby Vision, I use color temperature expert, through.

You are in luck!

This TV is clever enough to know when you are viewing SDR content, and when you are viewing HDR content.

What I mean is that for example, on Netflix, if you are watching SDR content then you brightness settings wants to be way down at around 15-20 (personal preference) and x-tended dynamic range OFF. However if you then watch HDR content (not DV) then the TV will retain the SAME SETTINGS except the Brightness will be turned up to MAX and X-tended dynamic range will be turned to HIGH AUTOMATICALLY upon detection of HDR content.

If the content is Dolby Vision you will notice that the picture mode auto changes to Dolby Vision HDR.

If you look through my settings you will find that I use Cinema Home for SDR content due to the gamma curve having the most accurate tracking (as confirmed by @007L2Kill ) but I have my color temp at warm.

Of course it is down to personal preference but I really would not recommend watching SDR content with full brightness. The only time you may want to do this is, I said before, if you want to put the TV into 'upconvert all content to HDR' mode which would be best achieved by using Cinema Pro mode with brightness set to Max and X-tended dynamic range set to Low/medium.

If you have been using the Standard picture mode, then surely you have nothing to lose by trying out my settings (or a tweaked version depending on your pane/preference) on the Cinema Home and/or Pro modes. If you don't like it you can just go back to your current Standard picture mode options.

Let me know how it goes.
 
1 as explained is X-Motion Clearness (= BFI on a zonal basis rather than the entire screen). The OLED models don't have that.
X-Motion Clearness is 'perfect' (especially for HDR) because it gives you the 1080 lines of motion resolution with a very minimal drop in brightness, unlike the traditional BFI (from 2 onwards).

Does Clearness = 1 do nothing on OLEDs then? Or just increase motion resolution without dropping brightness?
 

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