Video Signal Processing

Soundworks Audiovisual is continuously investing in technological equipment to meet  customer and market needs. Video signal processing is an essential part of video broadcast and production as it resolves compatibility issues such as source output with various visual equipment inputs and resolution compatibility. Video signal processing is a particular case of signal processing, which often employs video filters and where the input and output signals are video files or video streams. Video processing techniques are used in television sets, VCR's, DVDs, video codecs, video players, video scalers and other devices. For example—commonly only design and video processing is different in TV sets of different manufactures. Video processors are often combined with video scalers to create a video processor that improves the apparent definition of video signals. They perform the following tasks:

• de-interlacing
• aspect ratio control
• digital zoom and pan
• brightness/contrast/hue/saturation/sharpness/gamma adjustments
• frame rate conversion and inverse - telecine
• color point conversion (601 to 709 or 709 to 601)
• color space conversion (YP_BP_R/YC_BC_R to RGB or RGB to YP_BP_R/YC_BC_R)
• mosquito noise reduction
• block noise reduction
• detail enhancement
• edge enhancement
• motion compensation
• primary and secondary color calibration (including hue/saturation/luminance controls independently for each)

These can either be in chip form, or as a stand alone unit to be placed between a source device (like a DVD player or set-top-box) and a display with less-capable processing. The most widely recognized video processor companies in the market are:

• Genesis Microchip (with the FLI chipset – was Genesis Microchip, STMicroelectronics completes acquisition of Genesis Microchip on January 25, 2008)
• Sigma Designs (with the VXP chipset – was Gennum, Sigma Designs purchased the Image Processing group from Gennum on February 8, 2008)
• Integrated Device Technology (with the HQV chipset and Teranex system products – was Silicon Optix, IDT purchased SO on October 21, 2008)
• Silicon Image (with the VRS chipset and DVDO system products - was Anchor Bay Technologies, Silicon Image purchased ABT on February 10, 2011)

All of these companies' chips are in devices ranging from DVD upconverting players (for Standard Definition) to HD DVD/Blu-ray Disc players and set-top boxes, to displays like plasmas, DLP (both front and rear projection), LCD (both flat-panels and projectors), and LCOS/"SXRD". Their chips are also becoming more available in stand alone devices (see "External links" below for links to a few of these). Some of the brands we use:           A video scaler is a system which converts video signals from one display resolution to another; typically, scalers are used to convert a signal from a lower resolution (such as 480p standard definition) to a higher resolution (such as 1080i high definition), a process known as "up conversion" or "upscaling" (by contrast, converting from high to low resolution is known as "down conversion" or "downscaling"). Video scalers are typically found inside consumer electronics devices such as televisions, video game consoles, and DVD or Blu-ray disc players, but can also be found in other AV equipment (such as video editing and television broadcasting equipment). Video scalers can also be a completely separate devices, often providing simple video switching capabilities. These units are commonly found as part of home theatre or projected presentation systems. They are often combined with other video processing devices or algorithms to create a video processor that improves the apparent definition of video signals. Video scalers are primarily a digital device; however, they can be combined with an analog-to-digital converter (ADC, or digitizer) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to support analog inputs and outputs. The "native resolution" of a display is how many physical pixels make up each row and column of the visible area on the display's output surface.^[1] There are many different video signals in use which are not the same resolution (neither are all of the displays), thus some form of resolution adaptation is required to properly frame a video signal to a display device. For example, within the United States, there are PAL, NTSC, ATSC, and VESA video standards each with several different resolution video formats. Multiple common resolutions are also used for high-definition television; 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. While scaling a video signal does allow it to match the size of a particular display, the process can result in an increased number of visual artifacts in the signal, such as ringing and posterization. Kramer electronics, Extron electronics, Analogway processors, sca