From the Editor
Executive Editor Jeremy Glowacki
2 Residential Tech Today | Jan/Feb 2020
I knew this would happen. I waited forever to finally upgrade my family TV, and now there’s a
setting on many of this year’s models that I really wish I could have. Called “Filmmaker Mode,”
the setting effectively disables post processing such as motion smoothing and aims to give
consumers the opportunity to view content in the way that the filmmakers intended, including
with the original aspect ratio, color, and frame rates.
The reason I hesitated for so long to replace my plasma TV (yes, it’s ancient; and it’s still an
excellent option for a bedroom TV) was that I always hated the hyper-real, “soap opera effect”
video images that I’d often see on so many newer TVs in the homes of family and friends (and
even at trade shows from time to time). I knew that these newer TVs provided multiple
viewing modes, such as “dynamic,” “cinema,” or “sports” for more accurate reproduction of
what was on the screen, but until recently I really didn’t feel like those models were in my price
range.
Fortunately, I’m pretty happy with the TV that I ended up buying prior to this past Black
Friday. While standard viewing modes tend to sharpen the image to the point of hyper realism
for what should be more muted cinematic scenes and even watching live sports on the more
dynamic settings often overwhelm me with migraine-inducing brightness and colors that seem
too dynamic to be authentic, I’m able to survive by watching most content on a cinema mode.
Filmmaker Mode goes a step further by essentially overriding a TV’s processing (such as
motion smoothing and detail enhancement) to ensure that the correct aspect ratio, color, and
frame rate, as determined by the creator(s), is preserved and presented to the viewer.
Its development was announced last August by leading directors, including Martin Scorsese,
Ava DuVernay, Ryan Coogler, Patty Jenkins, and Rian Johnson, who had teamed up with the
UHD Alliance, a coalition whose members include Hollywood studios and consumer
electronics manufacturers.
At CES 2020 in Las Vegas, the UHD Alliance announced that Samsung, Philips/TP Vision,
and Kaleidescape have joined the effort and will offer Filmmaker Mode-enabled products this
year. Additionally, LG, Panasonic, and Vizio – the trio of set makers that previously announced
their intent to support Filmmaker Mode – revealed plans for supported 2020 TV models.
LG confirmed that it will include Filmmaker Mode in all of its 2020 4K and 8K TVs.
Panasonic announced a lineup of its 2020 OLED TVs with Filmmaker Mode.
Also at CES, the UHDA announced that the Directors Guild of America, the American
Society of Cinematographers, the International Cinematographers Guild, and Martin
Scorsese’s The Film Foundation all endorsed Filmmaker Mode as their preferred method of
viewing in the home. Roughly 140 filmmakers, including directors and cinematographers,
provided input to its development.
Now, instead of picking a mode that may not work for all programming that you’re watching
or having to jump in and out of a menu to change modes, you can select Filmmaker Mode
once and watch a film or TV episode presented in its “ideal” form. Sounds amazing. I’m
definitely making sure it’s on my next TV
“ Filmmaker Mode
goes a step further
by essentially
overriding a TV’s
processing to
ensure that the
correct aspect
ratio, color, and
frame rate, as
determined by
the creator(s), is
preserved and
presented to the
viewer.”