Re: Toshiba CEO talks about life after HD DVD

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Anyways, this technology is not al that dissimilar to what HDTV already is. Not quite 1080p, but comparable to a native 1080i/720p signal. The scaler onboard the DVD player will bring it up to 1080p.

I don't have the technical expertise to shoot this down completely, but I'm a serious doubter. This also feels like the equivalent of computer-generated rotoscoping. It might look like something appealing on its own, but it won't accurately recreate the original visuals. If you're a purist or true movie-lover, you won't buy SDVDs instead of true HD-mastered versions, but the average viewer might think it's great.

If this comes out, I'll look forward to the comparisons between the true 1080p mastered films and the super resolution output of a SDVD, and I'll be shocked if it really compares. Especially in long shots where every pixel is especially important for providing further details/textures/depth.

> sbmess

You have witnessed the effect of super resolution already. All the satellite captured pics of earth and planets, they are created through super resolution. It is just that Toshiba's version is fast enough to do this in real-time thanks to CELL.

And no, Super Upconversion(Toshiba branded Real-Time Super Resolution) is not about guessing, but computationally fusing nine 480p frames to create single 960p native output. As for why Toshiba didn't speak of this HD disc killer technology until now, they were going to use it only on its own and Sharp's HDTV sets in order not to interfere with HD-DVD, but this is the first time Toshiba CEO confirmed of his intention to bring ths technology to DVD players to deter consumers from going Blu-Ray and stay on DVD instead.

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This also feels like the equivalent of computer-generated rotoscoping. It might look like something appealing on its own, but it won't accurately recreate the original visuals.

The good news is that it works and you can even read the illegible small letters on DVD video after Super Upconverted.

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If you're a purist or true movie-lover, you won't buy SDVDs instead of true HD-mastered versions, but the average viewer might think it's great.

Toshiba's aim is not to stop a small minority of videophils from going Blu-Ray, but the mass of J6Ps from going Blu-Ray by giving DVDs enough PQ boost to keep them on DVD.

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If this comes out, I'll look forward to the comparisons between the true 1080p mastered films and the super resolution output of a SDVD, and I'll be shocked if it really compares.

Again, the goal of Super Upconversion DVD player is not to convince you, but to convince 90% of population known as J6P that the difference is so small that it is not worth paying twice the price for Blu-Ray players and movies.

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Again, the goal of Super Upconversion DVD player is not to convince you, but to convince 90% of population known as J6P that the difference is so small that it is not worth paying twice the price for Blu-Ray players and movies.

Agreed! No doubt about that.

I'm very skeptical that this will accurately compare to the 1080p mastered release, but of course I will check it out when it comes to market. After hearing Toshiba tout their "near-HD" upconversion previously and completely disagreeing with the statement after seeing the results (definitely not "near-HD" compared to Blu-ray/HD-DVD), I will definitely be a skeptic until I see otherwise!

(edited to correct a "url" to a "quote")!

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[Post edited by sbmess on Mar 3, 2008 - CST 4:33 PM]

Can someone tell Raynor to upload a "Super Upconversion" of that THONG! I can't see the brand name. Yes, I do care about them Little Things...

What if you use the super upconvert technology on a Blu-ray or HD DVD source??

phroar!!!!!

Very interesting idea this super conversion.
I can see how it 'could' be done. If you watch a moving image of poor quality (eg. vhs or security cameras) the perceived resolution is much greater than when the image stops. As soon as it stops the image is terrible. This (temporal) pereception, if able to be done for images that are still or slow moving would be a huge improvement. 9 frames may be enough for slow or still images to get some improvement. Moving images would get a HUGE improvement.
I look forward to seeing it.
After watching HD now for many years I balk at watching SD or vhs anymore.

A few weeks ago when the news of Toshiba dropping HD-DVD came out, i expressed that i hoped that they focused in developing and perfecting upconversion DVD players, and here we are... thank you Toshiba! I look forward to these new Super UPconversion DVD players, i'm surely buying one!

This is a smart move from Toshiba, indeed with HD-DVD they may have lost a battle against Blu-Ray, but these Super UPconversion DVD players could make them achieve victory. It's easier and more affordable for most people, to buy a new HDTV set, a Super UPconversion DVD player and use their current DVD movie collection, than to buy a new Blu-Ray player and repurchase/replace their current DVD movie collection with Blu-Ray movies... Toshiba knows this and now doubt they're taking advantage of it.

Many reviewers and experts have agreed that if a DVD movie offers a high quality transfer, enhanced for viewing on HDTV, that was digitally restored and remastered, like most of the current DVD titles availible, no doubt you can achieve outstanding results when upconverting DVD movies on LCD/Plasma TV screens, one can only imagine, at least for now, how a Super UPconverted DVD movie will look like.

Take in consideration that 8 out of 10 don't buy DVD movies, but rather rent them, borrow them, make copies or download them, at least that's what the movie studios have been saying for years, let's take their word on that, and say that from every 1000 people who own a DVD player, 800 don't buy DVD movies, mainly because they aren't willing to spend US$15 on a movie, and preffer to get them almost for free, therefore those people aren't going to invest in Blu-Ray movies, specially when they cost twice of a DVD movie.

Therefore 2 out of 10 have and still buy DVD movies legally, let's say that represents 200 out of every 1000 people, if you take in consideration that in USA during 2007, 4 million Blu-Ray movies and 2.7 million HD-DVD movies were sold, but 1.6 billion DVD movies were sold in the same year, which tells us that from every 1000 people, only 1 at most bought Blu-Ray or HD-DVD movies.

I bring this into the subject, because Toshiba's goal is to satisfy the needs of 999 of every 1000 people around the world, providing Super UPconversion DVD players so that DVD users, regardless if they buy DVD movies, rent them, borrow them, make copies or download them, they can achieve outstanding results that could surpass what a current upconversion DVD player does.

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[Post edited by genbar dardren on Mar 4, 2008 - CST 2:32 AM]