New Software Glitch Impacting Recent Roku Television Models

Motion smoothing is a controversal feature on TVs, as it generally makes shows and movies look worse and change how they were intended to be watched. It’s usually a setting you can turn on or off, but some Roku TV owners are reporting that the feature was turned back on for them automatically, and Roku is still trying to figure out why.

Roku TV owners, particularly those with TCL models running Roku OS 13, are reporting the sudden and unwanted activation of motion smoothing on their devices. The feature, also known as Action Smoothing, is intended to reduce motion blur in fast-paced content like sports but is often criticized for making movies look overly smooth and unrealistic. It’s present in a lot of TVs, and usually, you’re able to turn it off if you don’t like it, but here, it appears that you still need to deal with it whether you like it or not.

Roku TV owners have taken to Reddit and Roku’s community forums to express their frustration, noting the absence of any option to disable the feature in the TV’s settings menu. While some users with access to “Expert” picture settings still have control over the feature, others claim this is the first time they’ve even seen the option on their TVs. The issue may be linked to Roku’s new “Roku Smart Picture “ feature, which automatically adjusts picture settings based on content.

The good part is that this appears to be unintended behavior. A Roku community moderator has acknowledged the problem and stated the company is investigating, but for the moment, Roku has not yet provided a solution or official statement regarding the issue. Official advice on the issue also points users to the same settings to disable the feature, which might not work for you. Hopefully, however, we will see a software update that will fix this and make TVs behave properly. If the issue ends up being related to Roku Smart Picture, the feature could be pulled while it stays a bit longer in the oven.

Source: The Verge