The Internet is Freaking Out About Tom Cruise’s Motion Smoothing PSA

On Tuesday afternoon, Tom Cruise took a break from filming Top Gun: Maverick to give fans a quick technical lesson about their TVs. In a video with Mission: Impossible – Fallout director Chris McQuarrie, Cruise taught viewers about “video interpolation,” which many fans may know as the easier-to-spell term “motion smoothing.” Cruise and McQuarrie spoke of the dangers of motion smoothing, particularly for fans interested in seeing movies as the filmmakers intended, and provided a quick lesson about how to change the settings on your TV to disable the built-in feature. The brief PSA wasn’t the most exciting thing Cruise has ever done (TBH, it could have used an explosion or two), but it  proved popular among filmmakers, who showered Cruise and McQuarrie with praise for bringing the issue to mainstream audiences.

Cruise’s video was inspired by the Mission: Impossible – Fallout home release (it became available on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray Tuesday). “We’re very proud to present Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and we want you to enjoy it to the fullest possible effect, just as you would in a theater,” McQuarrie told fans who plan on watching the film at home now that it’s available on DVD. “To that end, we’d like a moment of your time to talk about video interpolation,” said Cruise.

Video interpo-what? McQuarrie went on to explain that video interpolation, or “motion smoothing,” is a digital effect that is meant to “reduce motion blur in sporting events and other high-def programming.” Unfortunately, this setting has some undesirable side-effects, like making “most movies look like they were shot on high-speed video rather than film,” otherwise known as “the Soap Opera effect,” said Cruise. The duo went on to explain that most modern HD TVs come pre-programmed with this effect, so in order to watch movies and shows “as the filmmakers intended,” you have to turn off the motion smoothing setting. By searching your specific brand of TV online, you can find out how to turn off motion smoothing and enhance your movie experience. “On behalf of everyone who works so hard to bring you the very best motion picture experience, thank you very much for listening,” concluded Cruise.

So that‘s why your parents’ TV looks like garbage. Maybe Tom Cruise teach them how to switch the input from “cable” to “HDMI” next.

Immediately after Cruise and McQuarrie’s PSA went live, filmmakers like Rian Johnson, Mindy Kaling, and Ben Stiller, as well as regular internet people, began chiming in to thank them for sharing.

Watch the PSA in the video above, and be sure not to miss Cruise’s next film, Mission: Impossible – Best Buy, when it hits theaters in 2019.

Where to stream Mission: Impossible - Fallout