Creative Xdock HD upconverts iPod content to 720p / 1080i

We've no qualms with seeing yet another iPod dock that upscales material to HD, but it seems Creative got a bit too rambunctious when penning its press release for the Xdock HD. Contrary to its claims, the aforementioned device actually isn't the first to do what it does. 'Course, it may have a point with the whole "upscaling your audio to X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity," so we'll just consider it a wash. Nevertheless, this bugger connects to your home theater system via HDMI, component or composite and relies on analog / optical outputs for audio. It also outputs an HD interface, comes with a remote and has the ability to "distribute music throughout your home to X-Fi Wireless Receivers up to 100 feet away without requiring a wireless network." Unfortunately, the Xdock HD (bundled with one X-Fi Wireless Receiver) will set you back nearly four bills, but you can look for it later this Spring if it tickles your fancy.

[Via PCMag]

[Miles @ Jan 7th 2008 9:08PM]

iPod is a truly amazing device

[kojo87 @ Jan 7th 2008 9:32PM]

that was one of the least contributive posts i've seen.

i find it strange that Creative is making iPod accessories. you'd think they'd be focusing on their own stuff. interesting. is Creative backing down in the PMP market?

[Paris @ Jan 7th 2008 10:46PM]

"iPod is a truly amazing device"

quote from 2001?

[JohnTitor @ Jan 7th 2008 9:27PM]

how about one for the ZEN?

[FrankTheCrank @ Jan 7th 2008 9:29PM]

Am I the only person who thinks upscaling is crap?

Can you imagine how crappy looking an upscaled iPod video will look?

Upscaling doesn't add more detail to the original image.

[neal Heneghan @ Jan 8th 2008 9:27AM]

I would imagine that it plays HD .mov or mpegs files off your ipods HDD?

[linuxamp @ Jan 7th 2008 10:50PM]

While upscaling is not as good as native high resolution it has an advantage.

Think of this, if you have a huge TV and you play 480p, your TV will have to stretch 480p across the entire screen. How will it do that? Unless your TV has upscaling, it will simply stretch each pixel. Now if you could instead use some high tech DSP to process the upscaling intelligently so that the TV doesn't have to then you'd get a cleaner end result.

Sometimes you'll even have more than one upscaler. For instance if your DVD player and TV both offer upscaling you could try to upscale in either device and see which signal processor is better.

[aguiluz @ Jan 7th 2008 9:42PM]

Won't upscaling give you jaggies?

[Wolfticket @ Jan 7th 2008 10:35PM]

Not if you use precautions.

[Dan @ Jan 7th 2008 11:02PM]

You mean 'protection,' right?

[Brian @ Jan 7th 2008 11:36PM]

There are multiple methods of upscaling. The goal is to go from an image with some number of pixels to one with more pixels. The simplest way to do this is the "nearest neighbor" method, where for each pixel in the bigger image, you pick the same color as the closest pixel in the original. This results in the "jaggies" if you stretch the image too much. Bilinear interpolation gets a little smarter; if a pixel in the new image falls between two pixels in the original image, it takes the weighted average (depending on which pixels it's closer to) in order to calculate the color. This keeps the image smooth (no jaggies) but what were sharp edges in the original image become a little soft, which can look blurry. Bicubic interpolation is the same basic idea, but it keeps edges sharper by giving a closer pixel much more weight in determining a new pixel's color. There are other, more complex ways of doing this, too, each with advantages and disadvantages.

Technically any of these is "upscaling" but presumably a dedicated upscaler will use bilinear or better, which will look nicer than the nearest-neighbor scaler that's built into a lot of cheap-to-midrange HDTVs.

[Wolfticket @ Jan 8th 2008 6:48AM]

@Dan

No.

[Constable Odo @ Jan 7th 2008 10:50PM]

It'll tickle your fancy, and cripple your wallet.

[Ian @ Jan 8th 2008 1:22AM]

nodef low bitrate crap scaled to 720p is still nodef low bitrate crap.

[ipk2638 @ Jan 8th 2008 7:55PM]

@ kojo87

Yes indeed, Creative is making iPod accessories. Cut a long story short, Creative patented the iPod interface and sued Apple for patent infringement and both companies settled off-court and Apple. In their settlement, Apple had to pay Creative 100 million dollars in licensing fees and Creative had to join the "Made for iPod" camapain.

[jojo from tucson @ Feb 10th 2008 2:29PM]

"Am I the only person who thinks upscaling is crap? Can you imagine how crappy looking an upscaled iPod video will look?" Frankly, Frank, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Of course not every video will look great, but if the file was created with a good quality compression utility, the output is excellent. I saw it at MacWorld on Tuesday. One person even had them connect his iPod to prove there was no smoke and mirrors.

Also tne assertion that this is the first to do what it does is valid. Who wants to watch an HD movie in flat, compressed stereo?