According to the latest news, LG has announced that LG’s 2020 and 2021 4K and 8K TVs can now turn on Filmmaker Mode automatically while watching Amazon’s Prime content through the Amazon Prime Video streaming service. LG launched Filmmaker mode in 2019 as a convenient way to turn off picture processing features like motion smoothing and image sharpening to create a horrid unnatural look often referred to as the “soap opera effect.”
The company is calling Amazon Prime Video’s ability to automatically trigger Filmmaker Mode an “industry first.” With this, LG is delivering a promise it made when it first introduced the setting to its TVs at CES 2020. At that time, the company said it would be offering an API to streaming apps to enable the mode automatically. Previously, it was possible to manually turn on the mode via a TV’s settings menu. Automatic switching is more convenient if you often switch between content. Even though the switching process is largely automatic, LG’s press release says a pop-up will give viewers the option of confirming or declining Filmmaker Mode whenever compatible content is detected.
Technically, a lot of this hassle could have been avoided if TV manufacturers didn’t insist on having features like motion smoothing. LG’s press release insists these post-processing features are “ideal for most forms of content” like sports and TV shows. LG said from the starting of this week, it will be rolling out compatible webOS 5 and webOS 6 TVs after updating the software that will enable Prime Video’s automatic Filmmaker mode switching.
