If your TV created the soap opera effect and this new method does not (does it?), then the new method is clearly better and maybe it did require this complex AI after all to make that happen.
The soap opera effect comes from high FPS playback vs. the aqcuired taste of the 24fps cinematic framerate which is independent of the topic of slow motion and is technically not a flaw, it's an aesthetic preference.
Actually, I don't think it's inherent to high FPS playback. It's also that the capture is more fine-grained. I imagine you could capture 300fps, such that each frame is captured over 30ms and play that back at 300fps and retain the cinematic feeling that you are used to. I don't know if doing that would actually bring any of the benefits that normal higher fps capture brings.
The soap opera effect is due to very high frame rates breaking the fourth wall and making it clear that the thing you are watching is horribly faked. You can notice that the effect is not nearly so severe on non-staged content (sports, wildlife, news)
Ok, got it. So even the best quality slo-mo interpolation would create tbr soap opera effect.