Turn motion smoothing off or on with Samsung's Picture Clarity setting

Picture Clarity is Samsung’s motion smoothing setting

On Samsung TVs, the setting that processes fast motion is called Picture Clarity. Samsung describes it as optimizing pictures that contain a lot of motion. If films or shows look unnaturally smooth (sometimes called the “soap opera effect”), Picture Clarity is the setting to check.

You can toggle it quickly from the Home menu’s quick settings, or open Picture Clarity Settings for the detailed options.

Toggle Picture Clarity quickly

On 2022–2026 TVs:

1. Press Home. On 2023 and newer TVs, press the left directional button to open the menu; on 2022 TVs, select Menu.
2. Move the focus to Settings. Quick-setting options appear below it.
3. Move to Picture Clarity and press Select to turn it on or off.

On 2020–2021 TVs, press Home and move to Settings on the left of the Home screen. The quick-setting icons appear above it; select Picture Clarity.

Watch the same scene before and after the change. If the motion now looks the way you want, you’re done.

Fine-tune it in Expert Settings

To see your model’s detailed motion options instead of a simple on/off, open Picture Clarity Settings:

• 2023–2026: Home → left directional button → Settings → All Settings → Picture → Expert Settings → Picture Clarity Settings
• 2022: Home → Menu → Settings → All Settings → Picture → Expert Settings → Picture Clarity Settings
• 2020–2021: Home → Settings → Picture → Expert Settings → Picture Clarity Settings

On 2020–2024 TVs you can also jump there from the quick setting: highlight Picture Clarity, press the up directional button (2020–2021) or the down directional button (2022–2024), then choose Picture Clarity Settings. The 2025–2026 manuals don’t describe this shortcut.

The options inside differ by model, and Samsung’s manuals don’t list them for every TV. Some models have LED Clear Motion or Clear motion. Samsung notes that turning these on can make the screen darker, and newer manuals add that it may flicker.

Expert Settings also has Apply Picture Settings, which applies your picture settings to the current input or to all inputs. If one HDMI device still looks different after the change, check that option.

If you’re playing games

For games, Samsung has a separate group of settings: Game Motion Plus Settings, listed with the Game Mode options (on 2025 TVs, under All Settings → Advanced Features → Game Mode Settings). Supported models offer Game Motion Plus, Blur Reduction and Judder Reduction there. Change motion for games in that menu, not in Picture Clarity. The 2021 and 2022 manuals warn that raising these values can increase input lag.

If video looks blurry or juddery instead

Samsung’s troubleshooting section recommends the opposite fix for blurred or juddering video: open Picture Clarity Settings and adjust it. If the picture looks wrong in other ways, Reset Picture in Expert Settings returns the current picture settings to their defaults. It’s much smaller than a factory reset.

Common questions

Is there a setting called Auto Motion Plus?

Not in the 2020–2026 US e-manuals we checked. They call the motion option Picture Clarity, and Picture Clarity Settings for the detailed version.

Does turning off Picture Clarity affect other settings?

The manuals don’t say it does. LED Clear Motion and Clear motion do affect brightness, so recheck brightness after you change them.