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FiringSquad: Do you have any opinion on Philips Trimension? Good? Bad?

Scott Vouri: The Trimension technology is good, but it is nearly impossible to attain the quality levels provided by a dedicated video processing core with a CPU. In addition, with the computational demands being placed on a CPU today by advanced applications, it is unwise to use bandwidth for video pixel processing.

[Alan's comments: Well I'm glad they're aware of the technology. Hopefully future versions of NVIDIA deinterlacing evaluate motion compensated deinterlacing strategies].

FiringSquad: How does the "LCD Sharpening" technology that overdrives the color signals compare to the technology used in Viewsonic’s overdrive technology?

Scott Vouri: While the two technologies utilize the same theory, there are subtle differences. The ViewSonic technology works by temporarily driving the requested pixel at a higher voltage than necessary to achieve a given color value. By driving at a higher value initially then settling back to the voltage level proscribed for the color requested, Viewsonic is able to compensate for the display response-time lag LCDs have versus CRTs. Our LCD Sharpening technology does not physically drive a higher voltage into the panel, but rather uses an algorithm to compute a temporary color value higher than the requested color value and based on a LCD panel’s response time that will achieve the desired color in a shorter time. PureVideo’s LCD Sharpening technology can work with any LCD panel is programmed appropriately.



FiringSquad: Is this enabled by default? How can a user disable/enable the feature or adjust the amount of overdrive?

Scott Vouri: Our LCD Sharpening technology is currently offered to OEMs so that it can be optimized for the particular LCD panel being used in a given application. Typically OEMs do not expose control of this feature to the end-user.

[Alan's comments: Am I the only one who thinks a user-configurable tool for tweaking LCD panel response would be very useful? I can't believe that OEMs have opted not expose control of this feature. A long time ago, video board manufacturers would actually tweak the drivers from the chipset manufacturer in order to improve performance. Nowadays, NVIDIA and ATI release drivers so frequently that it's difficult for a board manufacturer to keep up with the changes. Still, if any OEM is looking for a way to distinguish itself from the rest of the pack, enabling this feature would be an easy first step.]