Articles and whitepapers

Product Article: The Vantage-HD Digital Image Processor for Home Theatre Systems (2/10/2007)

By Tim Brooksbank, Calibre UK

So many home theatre viewers find that their new projector, plasma or LCD does not provide the expected increase in image quality, and may even appear more noisy or less clear than their old standard-definition (SD) system or CRT set. Few people realise when they purchase their first high-definition TV set, that the majority of TV programming is still delivered as standard definition. Even true HDTV transmissions, Blu-ray and HD-DVD sources are often still interlaced or have significant noise, or may contain artefacts due to the original recording medium.

To make matters worse, in order to fill a high-resolution HDTV screen, the SD image has to be enlarged, which enlarges all of the flaws in the original image too! Since the video processing built into most home theatre displays and progressive-scan DVD players has limited processing ability and runs basic algorithms, to achieve the picture quality these new displays are truly capable of requires state-of-the-art processing, such as that provided by premium outboard video processors.

Vantage-HD

The Vantage-HD from Calibre UK gets to the very heart of these problem through a combination of expert video engineering design together with the power of its 1-Teraflop Silicon Optix Realta HQV (Hollywood Quality Video) DSP processor.

The Silicon Optix Realta HQV processor.

Vantage-HD is a digital image processor which provides HD and SD per-pixel multiple low-angle aperture-adjusted motion-adaptive de-interlacing and automatic film pull-down correction for 3:2, 2:2 and non-standard and broken cadences. Studio-grade image processing algorithms from Teranex support scaling, film and video noise reduction, MPEG artefact reduction and automatic audio timeline correction to maintain lip-sync.

The Vantage-HD digital image processor from Calibre UK.

The Vantage-HD processor has three output modes to optimise picture quality for plasma, LCD or projection displays, with image corner warp for extreme keystone correction. Its special algorithms for plasma image enhancements significantly reduce plasma noise and improve greyscale reproduction. Image quality on large-screen LCDs is also much improved. For projectors, Vantage-HD features the sharpest, most flexible keystone correction on the market, and there is also an image warping option available for complex geometric correction.

To achieve superior image quality from interlaced video sources, the Vantage-HD uses a true pixel-based motion-adaptive approach. Unlike conventional frame-based image processing, the Vantage-HD's software simultaneously analyses four video fields. This method avoids artefacts in moving objects and preserves full resolution of non-moving portions of the screen even if neighbouring pixels are in motion. This per-pixel motion-adaptive approach also enables superior noise reduction compared to conventional video noise reduction filters.

Switching and HDMI

The processor also features digital and analogue audio inputs that can be matched to the signal inputs, allowing audio and video signals to be switched via the same device. Indeed it is a very flexible video and audio router with multiple HDMI and analogue input channels, digital, analogue and optical audio support and optional HD-SDI compatibility.

Rear view of the Vantage-HD.

A new expansion board adds two more HDMI inputs for future-proof compatibility with 1080p HD sources such as Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Theses HDMI inputs are compatible with the HDMI 1.3 standard to support 10-bit 'Deep Colour' video sources, plus Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio codecs. The expansion board also enables picture-in-picture (PIP) on the Vantage's HDMI inputs.

Vantage HD2

Like the original Vantage-HD processor, the new Vantage-HD2 1080p video processor/scaler incorporates the Silicon Optix Realta HQV video processing chip and its most sophisticated Teranex video processing algorithms. It features 30-bit 4:4:4 scaler data bus-width, 12-bit component video analogue/digital converters plus a studio-quality, 10-bit video decoder with super-adaptive comb filter and 4x ITU656 oversampling.

The Vantage-HD2 processor handles film-based material with full and automatic detection of all pull-down cadences including broken cadences and non-standard cadences typically found in animation sequences, as well as the common 3:2 and 2:2 formats, all with automatic scene-change detection to ensure clean cuts between scenes, and the ability to process mixed scenes where film and video are overlaid.

The Vantage-HD2 has two HDMI inputs supporting up to 1080p (with support for up 7.1 digital audio and backwards capability with DVI), two composite video and two component analogue video (YPbPr or RGBS SD, ED or HD signals) compatible with 480i (NTSC), 576i (PAL/SECAM), 480p, 576p, 720p and 1080i as well as 1080psf. The processor also automatically adjusts the audio time-line to suit its internal video processing delay, and this operates on all audio channels, be they digital coaxial, digital fibre-optic, analogue or HDMI.

Conclusion

To avoid disappointed customers and consistently provide the best picture quality no matter what the source, installers should be including high-performance processors, such as those offered by HQV-based systems, at the heart of their home theatre solutions. While many HQV-based scalers appear to be the same product however, Calibre UK has invested more than twenty man-years of additional custom hardware and software engineering to ensure the Vantage-HD provides image quality and performance levels that exceed that of other HQV solutions. It provides more user configurability and controllability, more video input channels and far more native display resolutions for home theatre display devices, as well as superior image performance.

In terms of audio support, Vantage-HD surpasses standard Realta HQV implementations by providing a proper audio routing system to enable each S/PDIF coaxial, optical or analogue audio channel to be paired with any video channel, and it is even possible to reallocate a separate audio channel to run with HDMI video in case you don't want to run HDMI audio. The system's firmware is updateable from the website via USB, and an innovative passive cooling system eliminates system fan noise - meaning the system can be located anywhere while remaining discreet. Vantage-HD has been refined for the home theatre market, and offers by far the most competitive HQV solution in terms of price versus performance.

Tim Brooksbank is the CEO of Calibre UK Ltd, designer and manufacturer of high-performance video displays and video processing technologies.

www.calibreuk.com