Why Can’t TVs Correct Shaky Footage?

Reader Tod writes to ask:

I see a lot of TV shows and movies where the image shakes and bobs around because they didn’t use a tripod. Do you know if any manufacturer makes a TV with an image stabilizer, like they have in video cameras?

The answer: No. I’ve never heard of a TV that can reduce the shakes.

Which is weird. Because plenty of desktop software programs can stabilize shaky footage these days. It’s built into video-editing programs like iMovie, Final Cut, and Adobe Premiere, for example.

This feature works amazingly well, as you can see in the video above. So the big question is this: Since post-production stabilization features exist, and they’re easy to use, why are TV shows and YouTube videos still filled with shaky footage? Doesn’t every TV production company have Final Cut or Premiere? Why don’t they use the tools they already have?

I can think of a few reasons why nobody has added this feature to the TV sets themselves. It’s hard to do, technically — the TV would have to identify and correct a shaky scene in real time, as it plays.

Or maybe it would violate the intentions of directors who want shaky scenes for effect. That’s right: They’re doing it on purpose.

But at the very least, somebody should try!

You can email David Pogue here.