http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/ Engadget Comments for Thomson's new Film Grain Technology for HD DVD endorsed by SMPTE [Update 2] http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/
Most people actually LIKE original movie grain and the last thing they would want is some questionable technology removing it and then mimicing it on playback.]]>Jul 6th 2006 7:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/
The more I hear about HDDVD and Blu-Ray, the more negative it gets. ]]>Jul 6th 2006 11:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/
But to each his own. It should be left up to common sense when to apply the filter, and when to leave the film untouched. ]]>Jul 6th 2006 12:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/Jul 6th 2006 1:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/Jul 6th 2006 1:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/
To say this is a pretty broad statement... The grain in film itself is an artifiact of higher speed exposure films. While sometimes it is there intentionaly for artistic impact (like in "Sin City" for example), for the most part it exists due to the limitations of film media.

A lot of movies have a lot of "artificial" frames ie. special effects. I view this tech as just another version of this...and it sounds the studios will have the option of using this or not on specific titles where appropriate.

And it's bound to be short lived any way given all the digital filming that's happening these days and the eventual obsolescence of film...The existance of 'film grain' will eventually be replaced by 'noise'.

-h
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BUT it is hard to compress grain, you loose real detail because the codecs can't easily decern grain from detail. You also waste storage because you must store A LOT more info to preserve detail and grain alike.

Grain is not like detail, artificial grain will look the same to your eye, it is esentially a form of visual white-noise. Who cares is it is the identical grain each time played or to the original film. The original grain was also randomly created and is an artifact mostly of trying to make film faster and more light senstive, but one we've become use to.

Grain lowers detail in stills, but it averages out over the course of a few frames and our eyes extract the relevent details. With this technology when you pause, you probably would have the option of stripping the grain for added detail.

Though it is an artistic decision in some cases to have grain (sometimes it's a cost of film and cost of lighting necessity) some discs and machines might allow a grain override for people that prefer less grain.

Again, don't fear artificial grain, its all random anyway. This will increase actual detail and save storage both. A Win-Win.



]]>Jul 6th 2006 2:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/Jul 6th 2006 5:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/
If you are going to have grain on the output stage why remove the original grain in the first place? And if you adding artificial grain later, how do you know where to put it unless you are keeping record of where you removed it in the first place. I'm sure that isn't trivial to do.

How many want a heart, kidney, lung, or liver transplant knowing you will wind up with the same freaking organ you wanted to get rid of!?!]]>Jul 6th 2006 6:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/Jul 6th 2006 7:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/thomsons-new-film-grain-technology-approved-for-hd-dvd-finally/Jul 9th 2006 7:32PM