Another month, another upscaling technology. Tapping into
NVIDIA's versatile CUDA architecture,
ArcSoft has just announced its SimHD upscaling tech, which scales SD and DVD content to "near high-definition quality." The app integrates with the company's heralded TotalMedia Theater, though you'll need an NVIDIA GPU in order to really take advantage. We're told that it's compatible with millions of NVIDIA GPUs from the GeForce 8 Series onwards, including GeForce and Quadro lines. The pain for better looking pixels? $19.95 and a 5MB download, which may or may not end up costing more than the code itself if
you use Time Warner Cable.
posted Apr 2nd 2009 4:38AM
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ArcticFox @ Apr 2nd 2009 7:06AM
April Fools much?
plonk420 @ Apr 2nd 2009 10:12AM
i'll take FFDShow with every nerd's favorite scaling methods... be it sexy Lanczos (with an adjustable number of taps) or mathematician-approved Bicubic (with adjustable A values)... and even separate Luma and Chroma sharpening, if you so desire! you can even use it on the video another decoder has output and convert or force colorspaces! oh the things you can do...
EatingPie @ Apr 2nd 2009 10:42AM
All the time, I see people on the Internet ragging on the idea of believing in God... and yet, these same people think you can take 480p content and magically create 1080i/p out of it.
Ever hear "you can't make something from nothing"?
-Pie
koehler83 @ Apr 2nd 2009 12:44PM
I hear ya man.. So many stupid people don't know what High Def means.
Upscaling will NEVER equal native HD.. not even in 3009. If the pixels weren't captured, they don't exist.
Stereodude @ Apr 2nd 2009 3:31PM
Apparently they're so confident in the wonderfulness of this they couldn't even be bothered to put up real full size image comparisons. Instead they show tiny pictures that appear to have the saturation boosted and compare it to improper implementations (like the racetrack bleachers).
Brilliant!
Lazarus Dark @ Apr 2nd 2009 6:55PM
I got got SimHD this morning (already had TMT3 for a couple days now).
I have been using the Nvidia DVD Decoder with WMP10/11 for a couple years now and no other software compares in my opinion. SimHD I wouldn't say looks better, but it looks different. While the Nvidia DVD decoder looks soft and natural, SimHD looks harsh and the colors are sortof hyper-real. SimHD does look sharper and more detailed, and in fact I might even say it looks close to some of the crappier Bluray transfers; it has kindof a film-grain look (as opposed to the swirls and artifacts I'm used to with scaling) like Bluray movies from the 60's/70's or like a cheap art house theater where the film print has been circulating the country for several months. In A/B comparison, Nvidia DVD decoder looks blurry and soft and lacking detail, SimHD looks sharp and detailed, but this really brings out a harsh grainy look.
So, it's kindof a tossup for me. Either one is watchable, and I could get used to SimHD, but I can't say it's better, just different.