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I've enable the setting to automatically match the source frame rate on my firestick. Watching a movie from prime it doesn't switch to 24p. The TV is definitely receiving a 60hz signal so janky motion ensues.
It's possible the prime stream wasn't actually a 24p stream, but I picked a few modern movies to test and none switched to 24p.
Had anyway else got this working, or have any examples on prime where they know the source stream is 24p? Is there a way to find out what the Amazon prime source stream frame rate is?
Are you sure that's the problem? p24 looks horrible and jerky. That's one of the reasons why i50 is the broadcast standard.
But HD movies are mastered in 24p. Converting that to 50 or 60hz is a simple maths problem. That's why it's better to stick with the native framerate or multiples thereof.
Hmmm. It says on various articles that all video on Prime is 24p, so should be working. Have you checked what refresh rate your TV is actually using when playing something?
'For the frame rate matching feature to work, the app used to play the video must support it. At this time, all videos through Amazon Prime Video will correctly take advantage of this new feature, but most apps, such as Netflix, have not yet been updated to use the feature. With the frame rate matching feature enabled, videos played in unsupported apps will simply play at a refresh rate of 59.94 Hz, just as they have always played.'
Yep, TV normally automatically detects framerate. For example, if I play a Blu-ray it shows as 1080 / 24.
With the firestick it's showing as 1080 / 60.
It is all going through an av receiver, which isn't a problem for everything else. I might try it straight into the tv, just to eliminate that. But I'm fairly confident that's not the issue.
But HD movies are mastered in 24p. Converting that to 50 or 60hz is a simple maths problem. That’s why it’s better to stick with the native framerate or multiples thereof.
Depends what your TV does with the 24 frames, and what's in them. But 24p without any other processing can look horrible. At the cinema films are shown with the shutter at 48hz to reduce the effect a bit.
Well, blow me down. Direct connection to the TV and it switches to 24p.
The firestick must be doing some detection to see what is supported and not getting the answer it needs from the AV receiver, even though it very much supports that resolution.
But with films, the cinematography is done with 24p in mind, which is why films look like they do. Guess why people want to see it in 24p rather than letting a TV or STB muck around with it.
I never got that thing with projectors showing the same frame twice, how that is any different?
Time to get the manual out for the AV receiver then, see if you can force 24p?
@sam_underhill I almost got a Fire Stick the other day on Prime Day to try 24p - is this the 4K stick only? Have you got a Netflix account and can see if they've updated their app too?
Just monkeying about with arc and I'll have the firestick direct into the tv. As there's no lossless audio with steamed content, that'll do for now.
@jamze sorry, I don't have Netflix, last I read they still didn't support frame rate switching. Must just be a matter of time though?
I never got that thing with projectors showing the same frame twice, how that is any different?
Because it minimises the 'gap' between frames, whilst retaining 24fps motion.
Its more of a throwback to mechanical projectors.
People confuse stutter and flicker.
Stutter is inherent in 24fps, but that's the standard and what we work with. Flicker is a product of display technology in how it translates the frame rate to display.
I never got that thing with projectors showing the same frame twice, how that is any different?
The gist of it is, you can still see the changing frames at 24 fps, by putting a second shutter in there your eye/brain is tricked into ignoring it and the image stops flickering.
Hence my earlier comment that if whatever you're using is displaying a 'raw' p24 picture it can look pretty bad. Also depends on how it was filmed, something intended for cinema the DoP will be making sure everything is done properly, which means that the camera is setup to not shutter so any movement is blurred which is part of the film 'look'. If something was made for TV then even though it may have been filmed in P frames and then converted to interlaced for broadcast they may not have filmed with progressive viewing in mind.
As said, 24 fps raw has a judder or stutter, hence cinemas have long used a double shutter per frame, effectively generating 48 fps with each frame shown twice, and the eye accepts that as smoother.
Modern digital formats allow for pure 24 fps (or 24p format), but the same problem exists, however there's no shutter on an LCD so digital processing typically sorts it out. Problem is the digital processing can make a mess of things or make things overly smooth so some turn it off, but then you get the judder.
With my Samsung telly I can set it on minimal processing (there are various options and I turn most off and one setting, I forget which, I turn to the lowest), and for 24p sources it then looks fine without having that too smooth TV look. For TV it's not really required though I tend to leave it on. Only issue is the processing sometimes gets tripped up when there's a cut to a new scene which starts with motion and there's a tiny stutter as the motion kicks in. Most obvious with scrolling credits.
That said, sounds like OP was actually getting pulldown judder which is a different thing, as it uses alternate frames repeated to make 24 fps fit 60 Hz. Horrible things occur in panning shots with that.