deinterlacing
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PS3 2.40 / 2.41 update adds Blu-ray upscaling, audio playback tweaks
The latest PlayStation 3 2.4x firmware update added more than just the long-awaited in-game XMB access. Upscaling from Blu-ray discs is now supported, allowing the system to deinterlace 1080i to 1080p on its own, if you have a homemade BDAV formatted disc recorded in less-than-full HD. Retail Blu-ray flicks are BDMV formatted, so for certain discs not in 1080p (mostly concerts), they'll still be played only in their native resolution. Also included is upscaling, frame noise reduction and block noise reduction for video played off the PS3 HDD or external storage media, and DTS-ES and DTS 96/24 compatibility on Blu-ray discs. AVSForum posters are also reporting some DTS-HD 7.1 discs now map to their speakers properly, but as we've seen, your experience may vary.Read - PS3 2.41 System UpdateRead - PS3 Firmware 2.4x- Master Thread
Gefen TV Scaler Pro: Realta HQV 1080p upconversion for $699
How can Gefen improve its GefenTV line of equipment? Adding Silicon Optix's Realta HQV processor and pricing it at $699 would appear to be a good start. Originally shown at CES, the Home Theater Scaler Pro takes any source via its dual HDMI 1.3, component, S-video or composite inputs and upscales to 1080p with the same video processing usually reserved for high end equipment like Denon and Marantz's Blu-ray players. True 1080i-to-1080p deinterlacing and per pixel detail enhancement mean your SD sources will look as good as possible -- and not depend on your 1080p HDTV's scaling ability or possible lack thereof -- whenever this box hits shelves.
Silicon Optix releases HQV test discs for Blu-ray & HD DVD
Silicon Optix has finally released their HQV test disc for HD DVD and Blu-ray players -- the one that showed how much resolution many HDTVs aren't displaying -- to consumers. Unlike the Digital Video Essentials HD DVD released earlier this year, calibration is not what this tool is designed for, it's mastered in 1080i/60 to test the deinterlacing capabilities of your setup, and reveal if picture quality is being lost by the player, scaler or display during upconversion to 1080p. Five tests for HD Noise Reduction, video and film resolution loss, and "jaggies" let you know if your equipment is actually making the low-res content you view worse. Thanks to the included testing scorecard, even an HD novice will soon be obsessing over waving flag animations on AVS Forum with the best of them.Update: And if the $20 price tag is a bit rich for your blood (you know, after shelling out for the 1080p HDTV, Blu-ray or HD DVD player and assorted cabling), take $5 off thanks to the guys at AVS Forum.
Silicon Optix Reon-VX powers 1080p in Toshiba's HD-XA2 HD DVD player
While Toshiba's latest HD DVD player, the HD-XA2, should finally be shipping today, Silicon Optix has dropped more details on its Reon-VX chip that enables 1080p output. As mentioned previously, instead of outputting 1080i, the HQV chip deinterlaces the 1080i signal within the player itself using per-pixel motion-adaptive deinterlacing to ensure that what gets to the screen is free of jaggies and artifacting. A digital 1080i signal to a 1080p display should be able to be deinterlaced within the TV with no loss of picture quality, but since not all TVs are capable of the task without losing some visual information in the process, this solution should provide the highest, most consistent picture quality available. This same deinterlacing technology -- combined with the enhanced 297MHz video DAC and additional picture quality settings -- is used to enhance SD material, such as SD extras and regular DVDs. All this sounds great in theory, but we have to get the actual hardware in our hands to see if it stands up to the 1080p24 capable Sony BDP-S1 and Pioneer BDP-HD1.
IFA 2006: ATI announces Xilleon 260 for 1080p HDTVs
ATI has been putting chips in HDTVs and set-top boxes for a while now, and at IFA recently they announced their latest, the Xilleon 260. This system-on-a-chip processor is a single chip solution that will power "full HD" or 1080p HDTVs for worldwide markets. It handles HD deinterlacing, 3D comb filter, dynamic contrast, noise reduction, sharpness, and color control as well as audio.Previous versions have been in HDTVs from many leading manufacturers including samsung and JVC, although it's not immediately clear if these do motion-adaptive deinterlacing for non-1080p content. We'll be eagerly awaiting the first TVs to include these processors to see what the quality is like.
