De-interlacing (cont’d)

There is another

True per-pixel motion-adapative deinterlacing would imply per-pixel spatial and per-pixel temporal de-interlacing. So, not only would each pixel be analyzed but you would also need to determine whether that specific pixel had been in motion (as opposed to that region). This should in theory provide the maximum detail/resolution and such a product exists; it’s called Hollywood Quality Video (HQV) technology from Silicon Optix and Teranex.

HQV uses algorithms from their Teranex division, which produces the $100,000 deinterlacer/scalers used in major TV production (i.e. NBC, CBS, and FOX) and Teranex itself is a commercial spin-off of Lockheed-Martin’s video processing array technology. That is, the Lockheed-Martin tech that was developed to figure out if this a single moving pixel was random noise, or in fact an enemy missile launch! HQV is a per-pixel motion-adaptive HD deinterlacing solution. Like the PureVideo in the 7800GTX, it intelligently converts 1920x1080i to 1920x1080p at 60Hz without having to go through an intermediate equivalent of 1920x540. However, the HQV detects motion at a true per-pixel level, meaning that it doesn’t “throw away” any pixels that can be used to improve image quality. It essentially extracts all of the original picture quality that is achievable with today’s hardware.



So, to summarize most conventional de-interlacers (including “high-end” products found in $5000 TVs) will only show 1.035 megapixels of the 2.07 megapixels found in the original 1920x1080 interlaced source at any given time. NVIDIA and Gennum products show you more, and HQV shows you even more than that. Don’t feel bad about a display only showing 1.035 megapixels though – that’s already 3x better than the best picture DVD could ever hope to display.

For now, it looks like NVIDIA 7800GTX PureVideo represents the best on the PC when it comes to HD, and although $600 can buy you an entire Media Center PC for standard definition, if you want the maximum quality from HDTV, the 7800GTX with the HD PureVideo support is likely the GPU to get. We’re not ready to make the full recommendation until we have more time with the GPU and can verify its performance. Likewise, should NVIDIA trickle down the HD PureVideo technology down to slower performing cards, it may be possible to get the same video performance at a lower price with passive cooling. It’s possible that in the future that graphics manufacturers such as ATI, Intel, or NVIDIA will license HQV’s algorithms for their next-generation GPUs.

We really use every component we talk about, and so yeah, I’ve put in my preorder for an Algolith Dragonfly HQV based de-interlacer in my HT system but it’s not going to be counted toward the system price.

NVIDIA GeForce 7800GTX
http://www.nvidia.com
$600

NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder (Standard version for SPDIF audio out only)
http://www.nvidia.com
$20

Algolith Dragonfly
http://www.algolith.com/index.php?id=dragonfly&L=0
$3500 – not counted toward system price

Running Total: $620