Which plasma for "soap opera effect" ?

I have Panasonic 42UT30 plasma and my parents have Philips 42PFL5605 LCD. Both televisions have frame interpolation option (called IFC in Panasonic and Natural Motion / Clear LCD in Philips). Its efficiency is similar on both televisions - it is working good most of the time, but is sometimes whether producing artifacts or failing to calculate intermediate frames (when difference between two frames is too big). I'm using it most of the time to eliminate pulldown judder, because both televisions are reproducing film material in 60 Hz mode using 3:2 pulldown if built-in media player is used. Motion resolution is also improved (when it works properly) in both plasma and (especially) LCD. So I got used to soap opera effect, but problem is that IFC/Natural flow isn't perfect and probably will never be in any TV

I am hoping the new vt50 pannys can provide a smooth soe or they are off my list

The new 2012 LG - XXPM6700 is a good option. I just received these TV's early last week. After adjusting some of the display settings I was surprised with the TV's performance. The color and motion control are exceptional for the price point.

I find panasonics motion interpolation to be very good i had the 42"g30 and when using the IFC on medium it was as smooth as silk... and i never experienced any glitching or artifacts, i also owned a philips lcd tv aswell with 100hz and Hd natural motion and i found that to be on a par with the panasonic when it came to motion interpolation.

Just upgraded my Dad from an old dlp rp to a Panasonic 50st50 and out of the box it used the mid setting for the "video smoothing" feature (or whatever it is called... I can't remember) but I do remember it working very well (if you like that look)... it reminded me a lot of the LCD sets when they have it enabled. I personally despise the look so after playing around with it a bit I turned it off.

This might be the most hilarious thread I've ever seen... SOE is the side effect of the frame interpolation process NOT the intended result! Although seeing as how even Panasonic is including this useless feature on their sets says a lot more about the tv marketplace than I'd like to know.

It's because it is improving motion resolution, which is a part of their marketing. Yes, some reviews are stating that motion resolution is close or even full 1080 lines with IFC off on plasmas - when measured using some test clips. However, it is very obvious that it is better when it is ON. And it is better because it is eliminating multiple edges of moving objects, caused by the fact that when tracking a moving object on the screen with our eyes, each frame is shown several times, while your eyes are moving, so it is actually an illusion. This effect is mentioned in some reviews as '50 Hz bug', but it is a bit wider problem (also in LCD and even CRT), just writers of reviews didn't get deep enough into this ... so IFC is certainly useful, but also has some unwanted effects, and it will never work perfectly in any TV

can you enable this feature while watching TV? sports, in particular.

does it make the motion look better than say when it is off? (for TV, not movies)

Good question. I did some experiments on both televisions with high speed camera.

On mentioned Philips LCD, with both options on (Natural motion and clear LCD), framerate is upsampled to 100 fps (for PAL - 50i) or 120 fps (for NTSC - 60i), so sports looks considerably better. However, interpolation isn't always successful. Smooth / slow moving objects (background) are almost always interpolated ok and movement is smooth. On quick moving objects (like the ball) interpolation is sometimes successful, sometimes not and it is sometimes visible as jerky movement or blurred object (once you know what to look for). Of course, it's much easier to see those imperfections on slow-motion recording of the TV screen and then you start noticing them during normal watching of the TV.

On Panasonic, I actually tested only middle setting of IFC (maximum is too aggressive for my taste) and for 50i / 60i video material, it actually does nothing (although enabled), because refresh rate of the TV is already 50 / 60 Hz. However, motion resolution of plasma is good enough for sports, so I wouldn't use IFC even if it was working for video

What i can't stand is when people say what is the best way to watch tv... imo life doesn't pass me by in a judder or blur, when i'm walking down the street the cars or busses driving by don't judder pass me or when talking to people their faces don't blur.

So how i see it is that their is a feature on these tvs which reduce these effects some brands are better than others at implimenting it and i for one happens to like smooth motion. At the end of the day there is a simple solution to anybody who doesn't like the feature turn it off simple as that really.

Some people can't stand judder, want everything to be fluent. For them Motion Interpolation might be an option. Motion Interpolation can be turned on/off but it might be one of several smoothing options. Actually Motion Interpolation doesn't make everything fluent. It creates the illusion of fluentness imo.

I am in a market for a reasonable 42 inc full HD with interpolation available. I kinda like the SOE on HD content.

Will plasma and LCD produce the same SOE effect? Can someone suggest some 42 in model for plasma which includes this?

i believe the panasonic ut50 has it?