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Why is Netflix smoother than DVD/Blurays?
(sh.itjust.works)
What brand of TV is it?
Anyway, could be a number of things:
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Your HTPC/PS5 are dropping frames because the Blu Ray bitrate is so high, + overhead from the player. TBH Netflix does a really good job with their apps.
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Your TV/PC aren’t switching the refresh rate properly. But the Netflix app should do this transparently.
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The blu rays were interlaced, telecined, or some hellish combo of both. Correcting that is very technical, but Netflix is quite good at it.
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Your TV is removing judder from the source (a common built-in feature these days), but that doesn’t work with your HTPC/Playstation.
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Your TV actually is interpolating frames on the Netflix app. While this is a more controversial opinion of mine, the “soap opera effect” is history: modern TVs have huge chips dedicated to doing it, and it looks really good (to my eyes).
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And if that’s the case, well… 30p or 60p just looks better than a “cinematic” 24p, once you’re used to it. There are issues framing scenes without 60p in mind, yes, but beyond that you cannot unsee the smoothness once your eyes/brain get used to it. I've personally rediscovered this trying to film family video in 24p.
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As far as I’m aware, Netflix doesn’t do interpolation on their end. But it’s not impossible.
If you want another controversial opinion of mine: don’t use HTPCs or anything in 2026. Stream stuff to your TV directly with Plex, Jellyfin, the built in player; take your pick. It’s just a better, more directly coupled pipeline to your TV, especially when you try to get HDR looking right.
And I’ve found my TV will directly decode anything under the sun. Weird media formats used to be an issue, but not anymore, apparently.
