View Full Version : 360 to offer DVD upscaling to 720p
dukmahsik
25-Oct-2005, 14:26
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/xbox360/morethangames.htm
"watch your movies in glorious 720p from the get go"
hmmm i wonder if it's true and has built in upscaler.
Scaler, yes. Encrypted digital output (HDMI/DVI with HDCP), no.
Interesting. . .
london-boy
25-Oct-2005, 14:30
Uhm it was always known... Both X360 and PS3 will upscale DVD movies to 720p/1080i. PS3 should have the edge with its HDMI connection though, in theory.
Not a perfect solution, in the end it's still DVDs, but it will help. Compared to Bluray/HDDVD movies they will look quite washed out though, even if they're upscaled.
PC-Engine
25-Oct-2005, 14:31
I think that's a typo not that it couldn't be achievable though.
Cobra101
25-Oct-2005, 14:32
Very interesting if true.
Probably true as I just bought a Sony DVP-NS3100ES upscale DVD player about 2 weeks ago.
london-boy
25-Oct-2005, 14:33
I think that's a typo not that it couldn't be achievable though.
?? What's the typo?
Titanio
25-Oct-2005, 14:35
Uhm it was always known... Both X360 and PS3 will upscale DVD movies to 720p/1080i. PS3 should have the edge with its HDMI connection though, in theory.
It is/was more than theory, because apparently the only way manufacturers are allowed to offer upscaled DVD is over HDMI or HDCP-compliant DVI. Of course, both systems are technically capable of upscaling the picture, but the outputs supposedly required for it (for "political", not technical reasons) aren't on both systems.
london-boy
25-Oct-2005, 14:37
It is/was more than theory, because apparently the only way manufacturers are allowed to offer upscaled DVD is over HDMI or HDCP-compliant DVI. Of course, both systems are technically capable of upscaling the picture, but the outputs supposedly required for it (for "political", not technical reasons) aren't on both systems.
Uhm nope. DVD players already upscale normal DVD movies through either component or HDMI/DVI or VGA.
HDCP material is only to protect HD material. Upscaled DVD movies are not HD material and therefore shouldn't have to worry about HDCP.
DVD players already upscale normal DVD movies through either component or HDMI/DVI or VGA.
Not to my knowledge.
london-boy
25-Oct-2005, 14:43
Not to my knowledge.
Surely through HDMI/DVI and not because of HDCP.
My understanding is that, while it is technically possible to upconvert DVD via DVI or Component, it is not legal to do so through an unprotected (non HDCP) output. Therefore, upcoverting via component is not "legal". Now some DVD players distributed from certain 3rd world countries are not so concerned with these legalities. MS, on the other hand, is going to have to play by the rules.
That's the way I understand it anyway.
london-boy
25-Oct-2005, 14:52
My understanding is that, while it is technically possible to upconvert DVD via DVI or Component, it is not legal to do so through an unprotected (non HDCP) output. Therefore, upcoverting via component is not "legal". Now some DVD players distributed from certain 3rd world countries are not so concerned with these legalities. MS, on the other hand, is going to have to play by the rules.
That's the way I understand it anyway.
Well, Denon and others are not third world countries bogus manufacturers and provide 625p over Component and 720p over HDMI/DVI, whatever the legalities are. Not sure about VGA.
I always thought the distinction was because of some limitation with the upscaler with analog outputs, but if you guys say it's because of HDCP, cool. Not one of the many upscaling DVD players mention HDCP as a requirement - so using DVI without HDCP (many sets are like that) is fine.
That's news to me. I haven't been in the market for a DVD player in a while, but last I checked Denon DVD players did upconversion only via HDMI/DVD (with HDCP).
Shifty Geezer
25-Oct-2005, 15:10
Sorry? It's illegal to upscale a conventional DVD onto a HD display? How the $*&@# is the illegal. What law disallows upscaling? How long will it be before I'm thrown into prison for enlarging a digital photo? :shock:
Shogmaster
25-Oct-2005, 15:30
If this "no upscaling to HD res without HDCP" non-sense was true, then why can every copy of Power DVD for Windows let you watch upscaled DVD via VGA and DVI? I've been watching DVD movies upscaled to my 1280x1024 monitor for the longest time without the G-men breaking down my doors.
london-boy
25-Oct-2005, 15:32
Yep. Doesn't make sense at all. HDCP is something that's encoded on the disc. Upscaling normal DVDs shouldn't magically give birth to HDCP issues.
Heh, yeah, I upscale DVDs on my HTPC all the time and send them over a non-HTCP protected connection; though maybe I can slide though on a technicality since it is all getting downconverted back to 480 lines on my ED display. :D
Seriously though, I'm curious to see if MS really pulls this off in spite of the MPAA, and how good of a job it does with the upconversion if they do.
Yep. Doesn't make sense at all. HDCP is something that's encoded on the disc. Upscaling normal DVDs shouldn't magically give birth to HDCP issues.
The MPAA often doesn't make sense.
london-boy
25-Oct-2005, 15:38
The MPAA often doesn't make sense.
Yeah but not THIS much.:wink:
Yeah, this is about as stupid as it gets from what I have seen. But, the fact remains that almost any DVD player sold today has this limitation, though if you dig around the net a bit you will see talks of a few that can be hacked to bypass the HTCP requirment.
The Toshiba 350E player allows playback in 720p and 1080i without HDCP from what I know.
One of my DVD players upscales to a variety of resolutions through none HDCP connections, so I guess it isn't a legal issue.
There may however be some "agreement" in place between the various manufacturers.
london-boy
25-Oct-2005, 16:42
See. I'm always right :twisted:
Guden Oden
25-Oct-2005, 16:47
Either the player upscales the video or the TV does; in any case the end result is the same, and for the DVD pirate the plain un-upscaled version would be preferred as it results in a smaller datastream to capture and a smaller transcoded end result as well.
With that in mind, every DVD player ought to upscale as a prerequisite with no option to disable! :twisted: (Of course, assuming DVD pirates do their dastardly deed by capturing analog video, which they do not, thus rendering this whole issue completely moot...)
Shifty Geezer
25-Oct-2005, 16:58
See. I'm always right :twisted:Is that so... What are the UK national lottery numbers going to be drawn tomorrow then? :mrgreen:
expletive
25-Oct-2005, 16:59
Well, Denon and others are not third world countries bogus manufacturers and provide 625p over Component and 720p over HDMI/DVI, whatever the legalities are. Not sure about VGA.
I always thought the distinction was because of some limitation with the upscaler with analog outputs, but if you guys say it's because of HDCP, cool. Not one of the many upscaling DVD players mention HDCP as a requirement - so using DVI without HDCP (many sets are like that) is fine.
From a U.S. standpoint it is not legal for a stand-alone DVD player to output upconverted HD resolutions over component. The last mainstream player i knew of that could do this was the Zenith 318 and they have since changed the firmware to only allow it over DVI.
It is a stupid law because youre not getting TRUE HD content, only a digital representation.
As far as HTPCs go, i'm not 100% sure on this but you wont be able to send a non HDCP signal out over DVI to an HDCP enabled display. So while you can spit out that signal non-hdcp devices wont accept it.
EDIT: Actually i think one of the earlier players from V Inc was also able to out HD resolutions out of component and HDCP but did not have hdcp enabled.
Dr Evil
25-Oct-2005, 17:11
HDCP is something that's encoded on the disc.
I don't think there is anything encoded on the disc, but I'm not 100% sure...
Isn't HDCP basically just encryption sended by source and the display must be compliant in order to get the picture.
Dr Evil
25-Oct-2005, 17:14
As far as HTPCs go, i'm not 100% sure on this but you wont be able to send a non HDCP signal out over DVI to an HDCP enabled display. So while you can spit out that signal non-hdcp devices wont accept it.
The display won't look for HDCP if it's not being sent, so it should work just fine.
Titanio
25-Oct-2005, 17:19
One of my DVD players upscales to a variety of resolutions through none HDCP connections, so I guess it isn't a legal issue.
There may however be some "agreement" in place between the various manufacturers.
Sime time ago, a couple of manufacturers put out DVD players that upscaled over component inputs, but IIRC that didn't last long, and was before all of this came to the fore. I don't think any manufacturers have recently brought out players that can do so?
expletive
25-Oct-2005, 17:20
I don't think there is anything encoded on the disc, but I'm not 100% sure...
Isn't HDCP basically just encryption sended by source and the display must be compliant in order to get the picture.
Definitely not on the disc.
After i thought about it though youre right about the HDCP encryption on either side. The source looks to check if the display is. If the source is not nothing else has to be.
Guden Oden
25-Oct-2005, 17:31
From a U.S. standpoint it is not legal for a stand-alone DVD player to output upconverted HD resolutions over component.
Oh really? And which law would be violated from doing that?
ninelven
25-Oct-2005, 17:42
I don't know if its a law or not, but I do know this: to my knowledge, only a handful of these players have actually existed for sale in the U.S. and all of them have been replaced by revised models which only allow upscaling through an HDCP connection. I think that speaks for itself.
pakotlar
25-Oct-2005, 17:50
I'm not sure why there is so much interest in this issue. Upscaling is in no way illegal without HDCP. To the poster that said that upscaling was disallowed via component inputs but enabled for DVI input, what sense would that make? The whole point of HDCP is to restrict the viewing of HD content on non-HDCP devices. DVI has no protocol for HDCP. Yes there are DVI-HDCP enabled connections, but they are not one and the same. FYI, my OPPO upconverts to 720p via DVI, component, whatever. No HDCP to speak of. End of discussion :)
edit: Seems I was wrong about the component upconverting, but this article seems to indicate it is a limit of the hardware and not any protocols (which would make sense, as non HDCP DVI will receive the same restriction as component legally): http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/oppoDV971Hdvdplayer1.php
PS: It should come as no surprise that the Xbox360 will upconvert. The scalers required are very cheap. I have a Toshiba upconverting dvd player downstairs that does 720p/1080i and costs $100. Maybe cheaper units are out there. Imo the question isn't whether the Xbox360 will upconvert, but rather how good its scaler will be. The Toshiba scaler is weak sauce, but if the xbox360 mpeg-2 playback is Xenox-assisted, it should be pretty good.
PPS: Just in case the OPPO gets the label of a "3rd world bootleg America Pw3nz0rz you" manufacturer, check out some reviews of them online: http://reviews.designtechnica.com/review3132.html
http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/oppoDV971Hdvdplayer1.php
I really recommend the player to anyone in the market. For $200 a pretty damn good DVI-HDMI cable is included.
first of all upscaling over component for DVDs is out there now, although not widely.
secondly, what's the difference if my CRT HDTV upconverts all 480p signals to 1080i for me (besides the quality of the scalers)?
edit: Seems I was wrong about the component upconverting, but this article seems to indicate it is a limit of the hardware and not any protocols (which would make sense, as non HDCP DVI will receive the same restriction as component legally): http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/oppoDV971Hdvdplayer1.php
Man, I already pointed out that a few of the many that don't support the feature can be hacked to support it. I don't mean hardware hacked either, but simply by the serivce menu or flashing the firmware. Check around if you like, the vast majorty of upconverting DVD players don't let you use the feature over component. You will find people on forums all over the net bitching about this fact.
Imo the question isn't whether the Xbox360 will upconvert, but rather how good its scaler will be. The Toshiba scaler is weak sauce, but if the xbox360 mpeg-2 playback is Xenox-assisted, it should be pretty good.
This is pretty much where I stand on the issue. Upconverting is really only useful imo, if it's replacing a poorer quality scaler some where else in your HT chain.
That is, if the XBox360 scaler is better than the one in your TV, then great. But if it's not (and many quality flat TV panels have good scalers nowadays) then it's pretty useless.
For what it's worth, just throwing it out there... xbox.com is operated and maintained by a third party company which often gets information wrong.
expletive
25-Oct-2005, 18:39
This is pretty much where I stand on the issue. Upconverting is really only useful imo, if it's replacing a poorer quality scaler some where else in your HT chain.
That is, if the XBox360 scaler is better than the one in your TV, then great. But if it's not (and many quality flat TV panels have good scalers nowadays) then it's pretty useless.
There's also a chance the scaling will be done in software on the xenon. Really doesnt matter though becuase then it only becomes a question about how good is the software scaling. :)
I think we will find, in the end, that the 360 will output DVDs at 480p.
Inane_Dork
25-Oct-2005, 18:40
As a consumer, why should I care whether it upconverts the signal or not? Is anything gained by that?
Yes, a well upconverted image will be filtered to provided better image quality on anything better than an SDTV than what you would get compared to running the lower resolution source directly to the display. Granted, the 360 might do a crappy job at scaling, in which case you would be better off letting the display do the work. However, the 360 does have more than enough power to do a great job, and if they make use of that then it could be a very nice feature for the console.
Sime time ago, a couple of manufacturers put out DVD players that upscaled over component inputs, but IIRC that didn't last long, and was before all of this came to the fore. I don't think any manufacturers have recently brought out players that can do so?
I bought this one a Momitsu V330N about 2 months ago.
I use it primarilly as a network player, but it also upconverts DVD through component.
Huh, looks like those are hard to find:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Momitsu+V330N+&btnG=Search
ImaginaryIndustryInsider
25-Oct-2005, 20:31
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/xbox360/morethangames.htm
"watch your movies in glorious 720p from the get go"
hmmm i wonder if it's true and has built in upscaler.
I clicked on the link, the quote says:
"Watch your DVD movies in glorious 480p from the get go."
I guess they changed it?
Titanio
25-Oct-2005, 20:35
I bought this one a Momitsu V330N about 2 months ago.
I use it primarilly as a network player, but it also upconverts DVD through component.
When was the model first released though? I know when I was looking for one about 18 months ago, Momitsu came up again and again, but I can't remember if that was the model (probably not, but I wonder if it came out around the same time..I remember being told at the time not to expect any more such players because of the MPAA's distaste for it).
Anyway, mystery solved, MS has corrected the page as pointed out above.
dukmahsik
25-Oct-2005, 20:36
I clicked on the link, the quote says:
"Watch your DVD movies in glorious 480p from the get go."
I guess they changed it?
haha i guess they did!
Yep, looks like the 360s DVD playing ablites aren't going to be worth talking about much at all.
Huh, looks like those are hard to find:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Momitsu+V330N+&btnG=Search
Wrong model number should have been 880 - http://www.momitsu.com/dvd_880n.html
scooby_dooby
25-Oct-2005, 22:32
Don't most TV's upscale anyways? My TV upscales everything to 1080i, so why would MS's(or an DVD players) upscaling be any better than my Hitachi built-in scaler?
Don't most TV's upscale anyways? My TV upscales everything to 1080i, so why would MS's(or an DVD players) upscaling be any better than my Hitachi built-in scaler?
Because the DVD player can scale while in the digital domain. If you are feeding your TV the signal via component, the digital source on thd DVD is being converted to analog and the TV's scaler is converting back to digital for the upconversion. Each D -> A , A -> D conversion loses data! C'mon, I thought this was a technical forum! :wink:
scooby_dooby
25-Oct-2005, 22:47
True, the real question is could you see the difference with your own eyes.
BTW, anyone who really wants 720p dvd player can pick up a modded xbox, install XBMC and have all your dvd's upscaled to 720p.
I don't notice a difference between 480pD > 720pD > 1080iA and 480p>1080iA
When I get home I'm gonna do a splitscreen comparison, one feed from my XBOX at 720p upscaled, and the other from my standalone DVD player @ 480p, both upscaled to 1080i, and I'll see if there's any real difference.
Titanio
25-Oct-2005, 22:53
True, the real question is could you see the difference with your own eyes.
BTW, anyone who really wants 720p dvd player can pick up a modded xbox, install XBMC and have all your dvd's upscaled to 720p.
I don't notice a difference between 480pD > 720pD > 1080iA and 480p>1080iA
I think it depends on the source and perhaps what you are viewing on, but my experience with ffdshow on PC has been very very good. I remember taking screengrabs for a HT forum to illustrate the difference just of upscaling, with for example The Lord of the Rings. Asides from just generally being sharper, upscaling yielded much finer detail in certain scenes, things like hair and even the weave on clothes etc. Some DVDs there's little difference, and in fact things can be made worse if it's a very noisy transfer. But all-in-all, I think it's very nice to be able to do it.
I was goinig to say who cares you can't pull detail out of thin air if it's not there at 480p it's not going to e there at any resolution, it's just not possible. It could upconvert it 99999x99999 and it won't do 99% any good while this may be nice for some projector users(super big screens 70in and up) it's pretty pointless for the every day HDTV user in my experience. Yss I have a DVD player that will output at 108i and 720p.(sam HD930)
Have you not used those features on your DVD player or is it just not very good at it? The mouse-over pic on this page is a good example of what can be done with a decent software scaler and a bit of filtering:
http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=ffdshowdvd_1
scooby_dooby
26-Oct-2005, 00:45
i'm not convinced by screenshots on a PC, that doesn't really tell you whether the final image on your HDTV is going to look any better. The problem with that comparison is the 480p "before" image hasn't been upscaled to 1080i.
We need to see a comparison of a 480p analogue source upscaled to 1080i, compared to a 480p digital source upconverted to 720p analogue source, then upconverted AGAIN to 1080i.
I would bet there is no noticeable difference since they both end up at 1080i(or whatever your HD set is) anyways.
i'm not convinced by screenshots on a PC, that doesn't really tell you whether the final image on your HDTV is going to look any better. The problem with that comparison is the 480p "before" image hasn't been upscaled to 1080i.
We need to see a comparison of a 480p analogue source upscaled to 1080i, compared to a 480p digital source upconverted to 720p analogue source, then upconverted AGAIN to 1080i.
I would bet there is no noticeable difference since they both end up at 1080i(or whatever your HD set is) anyways.
that's what I'm thinking.
It's going to look about the same (to me) when my TV is done with it (at 1080i) whether it was 480p or 720p from the DVD player.
I"m sorry but upscaling 480p VIDEO to anythng will not add detail it just doesn't work like that, like I said it will help if you ahvea a super big screen but thats about it. You can't add detail that isn't there if that were the case we wouldn't need HDDVD plpayers.
i'm not convinced by screenshots on a PC, that doesn't really tell you whether the final image on your HDTV is going to look any better. The problem with that comparison is the 480p "before" image hasn't been upscaled to 1080i.
We need to see a comparison of a 480p analogue source upscaled to 1080i, compared to a 480p digital source upconverted to 720p analogue source, then upconverted AGAIN to 1080i.
I would bet there is no noticeable difference since they both end up at 1080i(or whatever your HD set is) anyways.
My TV upconverts (or downconverts depending on your viewpoint) 720P to 1080i.
And I can tell you there is a significant visual difference between the scaler in the TV and the one in the DVD player.
Running the DVD player at 720P scaled to 1080i in the TV vs 1080i on the DVD player, displayed natively on the TV provides an overall lower quality image.
High quality upscaling is actually a somewhat difficult problem.
But as with many things depends how picky you are. Very expensive TV sets will likely have better scalers than the one in my DVD player, and I might actually be better feeding it 480P (native DVD resolution).
DemoCoder
26-Oct-2005, 02:03
My DVD refuses to scale over composite, my RX-Z9 receiver refuses to scale any composite input that has Macrovision or CGMS set.
I think the legality of the feature is a gray area, and some CE vendors are not taking any chances.
Remember, the DVD Forum struggled over the issue of even ALLOWING DVI output for 480i/p on DVD players.
Mefisutoferesu
26-Oct-2005, 02:07
Last I recall CSS regs. forbid upscaling through anything non-digital, so that does make sense.
robofunk
26-Oct-2005, 02:49
I think someone from the TeamXbox forum emailed MS about 720p upscalling and MS said it was a typo.
Anyway regarding upscalling, some HTPC people swear by software scallers. Lanczos is a favorite algorithm for people trying to extract more detail from a DVD or Divx source (lanczos is only an option in ffdshow I think so maybe only with divx/xvid/...). I'm not saying it's not snake oil in a sense but it can increase preceived quality if only a little. I'd also much rather have software doing the scalling then hardware of anykind, strange that 720p scalled looks better then 1080i on my Sony CRT HDTV though, must be because I'm not using HDMI.
i'm not convinced by screenshots on a PC, that doesn't really tell you whether the final image on your HDTV is going to look any better.
You can always follow the guide and see for yourself. You don't need ZoomPlayer either, Media Player Classic will do just fine.
The problem with that comparison is the 480p "before" image hasn't been upscaled to 1080i.
We need to see a comparison of a 480p analogue source upscaled to 1080i, compared to a 480p digital source upconverted to 720p analogue source, then upconverted AGAIN to 1080i.
I would bet there is no noticeable difference since they both end up at 1080i(or whatever your HD set is) anyways.
DVDs aren't 480p and that image wasn't upscaled to 1080i, but it does give you an idea of what can be done with upscaling and flitering. you can use ffdshow for yourself to tweek to whatever resolutions you want to experement with all the options to see what can be accomplished; granted I have already done all that and figured I'd let you in on what I have seen, but if you don't want to belive me then the tools are right there for you to check it out on your own.
DemoCoder
26-Oct-2005, 04:24
All this does for me is contribute more evidence that MS's lack of digital out (DVI/HDMI) is a problem. For a console designed for the "HD era", it's a huge missing feature. I hope they quickly come out with another SKU that contains HDMI capable output (I wouldn't hold my breath for some kind of "adapter", HDMI support requires not only digital framebuffer out via TMDS but also HDCP)
Sort of a reverse of what Nintendo did for the cube. Nintendo released another SKU removing progressive out. MS should release a future SKU adding digital-out.
Dr Evil
26-Oct-2005, 04:53
I"m sorry but upscaling 480p VIDEO to anythng will not add detail it just doesn't work like that, like I said it will help if you ahvea a super big screen but thats about it. You can't add detail that isn't there
True, but for example using ffdshow will make huge difference in picture quality whether you recognize it or not.
Agisthos
26-Oct-2005, 05:23
Regarding upscalers, most tv's and dvd players that do this add nothing to the image quality and in fact sometimes make it worse.
But just recently a new upscaling technology has been introduced by Silicon Optix called the 'Realta HQV' chip. The only product to use it at the moment is the Denon 5910 dvd player and a few very epensive projectors.
From the few reviews I have seen apparently it is spectacular, and upscales normal dvd to look like HD resolution in 720p. It does this by using their patented alogorithms which not only add detail to the image but also remove grain and grit from the picture making even older movies look good.
Agisthos
26-Oct-2005, 05:25
"The Realta HQV video engine provides true 10-bit video processing, full four-field motion adaptive video de-interlacing for both standard definition and high definition signals, temporal-recursive noise reduction, automatic multi-cadence detection, and pixel-based detail enhancement.
It also utilizes the same video processing power—1 trillion operations per second— as the $60k Teranex Xantus platform that is widely utilized in Hollywood post production and television broadcast markets. In addition to its flagship video processing, Realta delivers advanced image scaling using the world’s first 1024-tap adaptive scaler. HQV (Hollywood Quality Video) processing is a no-compromise video processing solution designed for the most demanding digital cinema applications."
I want the Realta HQV in my Xbox 360. ;)
scooby_dooby
26-Oct-2005, 06:47
You can always follow the guide and see for yourself. You don't need ZoomPlayer either, Media Player Classic will do just fine.
DVDs aren't 480p and that image wasn't upscaled to 1080i, but it does give you an idea of what can be done with upscaling and flitering. you can use ffdshow for yourself to tweek to whatever resolutions you want to experement with all the options to see what can be accomplished; granted I have already done all that and figured I'd let you in on what I have seen, but if you don't want to belive me then the tools are right there for you to check it out on your own.
i have ffdshow but have only ever used it as a codec for Xvid, i'll give it a shot
Shifty Geezer
26-Oct-2005, 09:37
"The Realta HQV video engine provides true 10-bit video processing, full four-field motion adaptive video de-interlacing for both standard definition and high definition signals, temporal-recursive noise reduction, automatic multi-cadence detection, and pixel-based detail enhancement. I was gonna suggest a software upscaler on PS3 could be even more useful as it can be upgraded, but then they said...
It also utilizes the same video processing power—1 trillion operations per second— So unless some amazing efficiency is used maybe the hardware solution will remain supreme?
However, a $3000 DVD player can afford to have 'excessive' hardware!
Agisthos
28-Oct-2005, 09:42
I was gonna suggest a software upscaler on PS3 could be even more useful as it can be upgraded, but then they said...
So unless some amazing efficiency is used maybe the hardware solution will remain supreme?
However, a $3000 DVD player can afford to have 'excessive' hardware!
The "1 trillion operations per second" figure is probably just theoretical marketing speak.
I can't see why Sony or MS couldn't just license a technology like this and use if for their dvd playback via software like you suggest.
expletive
28-Oct-2005, 20:30
The "1 trillion operations per second" figure is probably just theoretical marketing speak.
I can't see why Sony or MS couldn't just license a technology like this and use if for their dvd playback via software like you suggest.
The cost for licensing these software algorithms for each console (i.e. per unit costs) would be astronomical. Youre tlaking about technology that onl y a small percentage would know or care about. The Denon player uses a subset of the HQV technology, full hardware/software solutions of it are running in the neighborhood of $6k and up.
The companies' whose core business is audio/video processing are currently the best at it but their relatively high R&D costs drive the prices of the products up to where only the serious enthusiast can afford them.
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