Alert readers will recall that Steve and I turned Neogenesis in to Madame the Publisher on January 28, thereby entering that magical and too-fleeting time known as, I Never Have to Write Again.
During that time, we went to Minneapolis as Writer Guests of Honor at MarsCon 2017, turned “Cutting Corners” in to Baen.com; reworked “Dawn’s Early Light,” for All Hail Our Robot Conquerors!; fixed up an outtake from Neogenesis into short story “Street Cred” (now available as eChapbook Change Management: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 23). We also sold a reprint story, and have a big, crunchy interview to finish this week. I want to write one more short, for eChapbook Number 24, but I can’t quite get a handle on it, and the window is getting narrower, as I start laying the groundwork (which involves a lot of staring at nothing, and flipping through the notes in the story file) for Fifth of Five.
In addition to Not Ever Writing Again, Life has continued to happen, including doctor appointments, and the coming home to roost of the bills from Steve’s Marvelous Medical Adventure back in November. Bread has been baked, laundry washed, worn, and washed again; cats have been brushed; clocks — most notably including the clock in the car, and the clock on the coffeemaker — have been set one hour ahead.
We viewed two movies — our first on the new television set — “Arrival,” and “The Fifth Element.” I find myself a little. . .put off by the picture, which lacks what I think of as “movie texture,” and feels very much like “soap opera texture.” Well. I guess I’ll get used to it.
Today. . .today, includes some Life: grocery shopping; a go at the gym, now that the knee’s been cleared; and back home to do some laundry, which is getting done as can be this week; and getting down with the big, crunchy interview.
So! That’s what’s been going on, here. How’s by you?
The newer television sets include frame replication to make sports in particular look better with less motion artifacts.
If you do a web search for “how to remove the soap opera effect” and add the brand (maybe model number as well) to a web search you will find the instructions for how to turn off “motion smoothing”
here are a couple of generic articles about the disease and the cure:
http://hometheaterreview.com/what-is-soap-opera-effect-and-how-to-make-it-go-away/
http://lifehacker.com/disable-motion-smoothing-to-get-rid-of-soap-opera-effe-1526424116
Thank you!
You may indeed be aware of this, and I apologize if this is overly remedial, but as I was unaware at first I thought I would share. I just got a new TV and had the same thought. I was not happy with the texture and brightness by default. Then I discovered the TV had Picture Modes. And while it was defaulting to Cinema, which seemed to be fine, I was much happier with the picture when I switched it to Game. It was brighter and the colors much more crisp in my opinion. Just food for thought if you were not aware, and your TV supports this.
I never thought to look. Obviously, more exploration is necessary.
And if you were using a Blu-ray player, those often have picture quality settings ALSO. Those plus the TV make it quite confusing sometimes.