Posted on 08/18/2008 11:17:13 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Toshiba America Consumer Products has announced a new technology to upconvert standard DVDs to high-definition quality, according to the company.
The XDE (eXtended Detail Enhancement) upconfirts from 480i/p to 1080p and also offers several picture enhancement modes that allow for greater detail, more vivid colors and stronger contrast, according to the Fort Wayne, N.J.-based subsidiary of Toshiba.
"Consumers have embraced the DVD format like no other technology and invested in large libraries of their favorite movies. As the market moves towards high definition, XDE lets them experience their existing DVD library and the tens of thousands of DVD titles in a whole new way," said Louis Masses, director of product planning, in a statement. "XDE offers consumers a simple solution to add on to their HDTV purchase. XDE works with existing DVDs to deliver a near HD experience with enhanced detail and richer colors. Toshiba is delivering to consumers what they want " a high quality experience at an affordable price."
The move comes just a few months after Toshiba, along with other manufacturers, threw in the towel with its HD-DVD format against Blu-ray technology, backed by Sony and others.
(Excerpt) Read more at crn.com ...
fyi
So how does this work? If the DVD doesn’t contain sufficient information for a 1080p picture to begin with, how can you give it that information?
Forget HD DVD: Toshiba focuses on plain old DVD
The word is upscaling
Not sure what all is done via electronics....
What Is Meant By An HD-compatible DVD player?
************************EXCERPT************************
The Upscaling Process
Upscaling is a process that mathematically matches the pixel count of the output of the DVD signal to the physical pixel count on an HDTV, which is typically 1280x720 (720p) or 1920x1080 (1080i).
720p represents 1,280 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 720 pixels down the screen vertically. This arrangement yields 720 horizontal lines on the screen, which are, in turn, displayed progressively, or each line displayed following another.
1080i represents 1,920 pixels displayed across a screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down a screen vertically. This arrangement yields 1,080 horizontal lines, which are, in turn, displayed alternately. In other words, all the odd lines are displayed, followed by all the even lines.
The Practical Effect Of DVD Upscaling
Visually, there is very little difference to the eye of the average consumer between 720p and 1080i. However, 720p can deliver a slightly smoother-looking image, due to the fact that lines and pixels are displayed in a consecutive pattern, rather than in an alternate pattern.
The upscaling process does a good job of matching the upscaled pixel output of a DVD player to the native pixel display resolution of an HDTV capable television, resulting in better detail and color consistency.
However, upscaling, as it is currently implemented, cannot convert standard DVD images into true high-definition images. In fact, although upscaling works well with fixed pixel displays, such as Plasma and LCD televisions, results are not always consistent on CRT-based high definition televisions.
Good point.
It doesn’t give the DVD any new information, but if it works like the upscaling chip in Toshiba’s HD-A30 HD-DVD player, these will make DVDs look spectacular on a big HDTV.
There is not enough information to enlarge a picture
They may have a nice way to SIMULATE a higher resolution but you cannot extract anything more than what is there.
I'm really impressed with its upscaling ability for regular DVDs.
I'm not sure if it has this new XDE?
BUMP!
My PS3 and my Denon 3808ci already do it for me...
Anyone know about this?
Interpolation algorithms.
IE the format has 1/2 as many lines as the display, you can interpolate the pixes on the 2 lines there, and fill the line in between with a pixel color matching the 2 if they are the same, or between the 2 if they are different etc.
Incredibly dumbed down, but this stuff has been available for years, if you bought a large projection TV long before HD formats existed, you could get a line doubler to increase crispness that worked on the same principles.
I’m sure they are using far more complex algorithms than I’ve described, but the general principle is the same.
Actually this works very well. An A/B comparison will make you a believer. It aint blue-ray, but is is significantly better than the 480p picture.
Sure wish I had gotten a projector with an HDMI cable. If these don’t have that limitation I’ll be purchasing one very soon.
For a plasma/lcd/dlp TV with a native resolution of 1080P, the upscaling from 480i to 1080P has to be done somewhere in order for the picture to be displayed. The TV either has to upconvert from the 480i or 480P signal(regular dvd) to 1080P, or the DVD player can do it. Generally speaking, a good progressive scan DVD player delivered a better 480P picture compared to letting the TV do the 480i-to-480P conversion (this back when progressive scan for regular DVDs was cutting edge technology). Basically the idea is that you can have more advanced processing in a dedicated upscaling player than would be available in most TVs, where upscaling is just one of thousand different processes that the maker has to cram into the TV.
The company OPPO has made a lot of money building dedicated upscaling DVD players, and Toshiba is hoping the booming 1080P market for LCD & plasmas will provide a niche for their DVD players.
It ain't perfect, and it ain't real HD, but a proper upscaler can do a very credible job in upconverting SD DVDs to HD.
How does it work? Images are created using tiny areas called Pixels (Picture Elements.) If one pixel is white, and the next pixel to the right is black, you can make an educated guess that if there were a pixel between the two, it would be gray.
Add in pixels above and below the target pixel, as well as the pixels near the target that occured earlier and later in time, and you can get a pretty good estimation of what that pixel shold have been had the source been of a higher reslolution.
The more computational power the upconverter has, the more sophisticated the pixel estimation can be.
As you undoubtedly know, 1920 X 1080 (square pixel) is full raster 1080 (i or p), but there are a couple of thin raster sizes as well.
There is 1280 X 1080 and 1440 X 1080, both of which use rectangular (anamorphic) pixels that are converted to 1920 lines of square pixels when displayed. While stored on disc or tape, the thin raster frame sizes allow the format to use less total pixels, reducing storage size and bandwidth requirements.
FWIW.
According to this article: http://newsblaze.com/story/2008081801030400006.pnw/topstory.html
“To display upconverted 720p, 1080i or 1080p video content, a 720p, 1080i or 1080p capable HDTV or HD Monitor (as applicable) with an HDCP capable HDMI or DVI input is required.”
This makes the product just another upconverting DVD player with its own “flavor” of upconverting.
Irrelevant product.
This is really pointless for MOST people now. If someone has a thousand regular DVDs in their collection, then maybe it is worth getting.
But the studios et al are going to push Blu Ray and when you have an HD TV, you’ll just get a Blu Ray player. If you only own a few DVDs and mostly rent, there is no reason to buy this piece of equipment...you get a Blu Ray.
It reminds me of the little DVD players that had a cassette attachment to use in your car because you didn’t have a CD player.
It is a neat gadget for about 3 years, then it will be pointless.
Again, unless you just have a MASSIVE DVD collection and don’t want to rebuy. But how many people is that? Not many relatively speaking.
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