[chadamir]

They're showing off new truetheater features at CES, no word on when any of us will see them but here they are:


CyberLink Showcases TrueTheater Technology for the Ultimate High-Definition Video Playback Experience at CES 2009

Taipei, TaiwanJanuary 6, 2009CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), innovative solution provider for the connected media lifestyle, will be featuring a sophisticated suite of enhancement technologies that heightens the home theater experience by dramatically improving the video and audio playback quality at the Las Vegas Hilton, Suite 2365, January 8-11.


The growing popularity for high-definition video and audio in the market has raised consumers' expectations towards the movie playback experience, said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. CyberLink has developed advanced technologies that will boost standard-definition DVD video and audio quality to achieve superior results, allowing users to enjoy high-definition right now."


CyberLink TrueTheater enhancement features include:

TrueTheater HD eliminates jagged edges from standard definition content played on high-resolution displays and removes distracting video artifacts. DVD content displayed on HD screens appears to have the detail of a higher-resolution image, making TrueTheater HD ideal for watching standard-resolution video on large displays and projectors.


TrueTheater Motion utilizes a frame-rate conversion process to ensure smoother scene movements and fluid screen action. With the technology, users can enjoy smoother playbackeven during scenes with rapid panning and zooming.


TrueTheater Stretch adjusts the viewing ratio of displayed video with minimal distortion using a non-linear stretching technique. It stretches the video image on the edges of the screen, leaving the center of the screen unaffected. With TrueTheater Stretch, users may watch any movie they like with the aspect ratio optimally suited to their display deviceeven if the original movie doesn't support it.


TrueTheater Lighting automatically adjusts video colors, contrast, and brightness to deliver improved detail and an enhanced viewing experience. Balancing overly dark and overexposed scenes, TrueTheater Lighting is ideal for correcting the loss of detail inherent with some LCD and CRT monitors. In addition to automatic and manual settings, a choice of pre-set color profiles allows even easier adjustments.


TrueTheater Surround employs CyberLink's channel-expansion technology to enable surround sound by converting 2-to 8-channel audio, allowing users to optimize audio playback by matching their equipment with their source content. TrueTheater Surround also simulates surround sound when multi-channel audio is played through headphones and stereo speakers, creating a wider sound image.


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Bolded stuff is new and not in powerdvd. Hope it will be good. Not sure what they'll be doing with the framerate stuff.

http://www.cyberlink.com/eng/press_room/view_1983.html

 

[rootdown]

Maybe TrueTheater™ Motion is a way to do creative frame interpolation on 24 fps material. If true, it could be possible to buy a lower end display device (I want a front projector

) which does not do frame interpolation but still have access to that feature through TrueTheater.

Now, if only front projectors would accept 120Hz input, that would be feasible...

 

[gorthocar]

I think that their marketing department is working overtime trying to get in all the buzz words and other attention getters into the press release. It looks like a lot more line items they can put in their product comparison spreadsheet that the competition won't have.

The sad but true thing is that you are starting with only so much information on a standard def DVD. No matter how many fancy algorithms they throw at it, it is still just an educated guess to fill in the blanks of a higher resolution upconversion, and it shouldn't be any competition to a well mastered Blu-ray. Some upconversions may look better than others; no doubt about that. It may be interesting to see what they are doing for some of those items, but other items scare the begesus out of me.


To me "Ultimate High-Definition Video Playback Experience" means starting with the best possible source, which currently is Blu-ray. Trying to squeeze the Ultimate out of a standard definition DVD that's been around for 10 years is like trying to get blood from a turnip.


Maybe they should focus some of their effort on polishing their BD playback. How many thousands of posts are there in the BD PDVD threads regarding various issues, patches, patch didn't work, etc? Hasn't the BD PDVD been out for 2 years now?