小不啦嘰的7寸平板設備會成為你的下一臺電視？如果你想象中的“下一臺電視”是50寸的4K超高畫質(zhì)電視(UHDTV)，你可能會無法同意以上論點，但依我的淺見，它已經(jīng)發(fā)生了。 我說的“下一臺電視”，指的是像以前放在客廳里那種大家伙，并不是“次屏幕設備(second-screen device)”；例如市場研究機構(gòu)Gartner曾預測，平板設備將會成為推動“社交電視(social TV)體驗的重要力量”。 你肯定能花上幾個小時在平板設備上玩社交網(wǎng)絡，就像是坐在客廳的大屏幕電視前面那樣；我也是如此。不過我真的懷疑，我們之中有很多人早就會在沙發(fā)上或是床上抱著平板設備看電影或電視節(jié)目，而且頻率高于我們所愿意承認的。 “讓平板設備成為你家電視”的點子，成為許多廠商──包括軟硬件開發(fā)商──為消費者帶來的承諾；但是否成真，得取決于該業(yè)務是否能在2013年與之后的時間帶來利潤。 在我先前的文章中討論到，今日的移動設備顯示器畫質(zhì)遠超越串流到設備上的視頻內(nèi)容畫質(zhì)，而我們理應會更享受平板設備上的更高畫質(zhì)視頻，現(xiàn)實情況是我們看到的東西品質(zhì)很差；視頻的分辨率局限與缺陷，在新一代高分辨率移動設備顯示器上會被放大。 有部分芯片供應商正在著手開發(fā)專為平板設備設計的顯示處理器，不過就如其中一家芯片設計業(yè)者 Pixelworks 的總裁暨CEO Bruce Walicek在一場探討相關主題的分析師會議上所言，目前還沒有實際產(chǎn)品問世。 NXP Software也是致力于”填補內(nèi)容與屏幕分辨率差距”的一家公司，專為移動平臺打造視頻銳利化軟件算法(video sharpening software algorithms)

屏幕分辨率與尺寸對照
Source：NXP SoftwareCHGesmc

本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 第2頁：為移動設備帶來客廳高畫質(zhì)電視體驗 第3頁：移動顯示處理領域的大戰(zhàn)，現(xiàn)在才正要開打！

相關閱讀：
• 夏普與聯(lián)想合作開發(fā)智能電視
• 主打圖像處理，博通發(fā)布第四代VideoCore技術(shù)
• LG獲ARM Cortex-A50系列及下一代Mali GPU授權(quán)CHGesmc

{pagination} 最 近NXP Software 的應用程序產(chǎn)品與開發(fā)經(jīng)理Jeremy Thomas Davies接受EETimes美國版訪問時，提及該公司繼承自飛利浦實驗室(Philips Laboratories)的電視技術(shù)與各種視頻IP，以及其旨在“為移動設備帶來客廳高畫質(zhì)電視體驗”的三管齊下策略。 NXP Software計劃將其”視頻體驗模塊(video experience module)”提供給服務供應商、各OEM (包括芯片供貨商與平板設備制造商)，以及為消費者提供名為CineXPlayer的視頻銳利化應用程序。Davies表示，其視頻體驗模塊的設計目標， 就是提升視頻串流分辨率，并將類高畫質(zhì)電視的體驗帶至移動設備。 不同于那些專注于開發(fā)硬件解決方案(例如移動平臺專用視頻處理器)的廠商，NXP Software倚重的是軟件──該公司期望利用已經(jīng)整合在移動應用處理器內(nèi)的繪圖處理單元(GPU)，來執(zhí)行視頻體驗模塊算法。 Davies指出：“無論是采用Imagination 的GPU核心、或是ARM的Mali繪圖處理核心，今日的多核心應用處理器功能是如此強大，足以支持視頻銳利化與智能視頻縮放(intelligent video scaling)等功能?！? 不過NXP Software并未打算在單一解決方案中提供所有的視頻強化算法(也就是能處理各種視頻功能)；“我們有一個產(chǎn)品藍圖，”Davies：“而且我們計劃以階段性方式來教育客戶?！睋Q句話說，該公司并不是要一鼓作氣推出所有視頻技術(shù)，而是希望與市場趨勢并進。 其它視頻強化算法如抖動修正(correct judder)、動態(tài)模糊(motion blur)、對比(contrast)、人工錯色(color artifacts)等等，Davies表示都正在開發(fā)中。 NXP Software 相信該公司具備說服移動平臺供貨商取得其視頻體驗模塊授權(quán)的優(yōu)勢；因為Davies指出，兩年前，NXP Software開發(fā)了一款iPhone用的視頻銳利化消費性應用程序CineXPlayerHD，已經(jīng)獲得了上百萬使用者的青睞。 Davies也表示，消費者對最佳視頻品質(zhì)的看法是主觀的，因此從CineXPlayer應用程序收集到的群眾信息顯得非常有價值；NXP Software的工程團隊已經(jīng)從使用者對CineXPlayer的設定習慣，歸納出消費者對最佳畫質(zhì)的偏好模式。 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 第3頁：移動顯示處理領域的大戰(zhàn)，現(xiàn)在才正要開打！

相關閱讀：
• 夏普與聯(lián)想合作開發(fā)智能電視
• 主打圖像處理，博通發(fā)布第四代VideoCore技術(shù)
• LG獲ARM Cortex-A50系列及下一代Mali GPU授權(quán)CHGesmc

{pagination} NXP Software 的視頻體驗模塊能藉由分辨率強化，為屏幕提供高品質(zhì)放大功能，讓視頻品質(zhì)配合高畫質(zhì)屏幕，并縮減壓縮功能區(qū)塊；該模塊也藉由智能添加畫素細節(jié)，提供局部與銳利度強化，以及感知色彩與深度等效果的提升。 在過去至少二十年來，包括飛利浦在內(nèi)的所有領先消費性電子制造商致力于為新一代顯示器帶來高分辨率視頻；這些業(yè)者磨練其視頻技能并藉由差異化在其上蓬勃發(fā)展：“對我們來說，這有點像是歷史重演?！? 但現(xiàn)在媒介成了移動設備，所有視頻處理解決方案供貨商必須重新考量，到底多少程度的視頻處理是為了在視覺上取悅平板設備使用者而真正所需的；除了成本議題，對電池壽命所帶來的沖擊也需要一并考量。 不過所有的應用程序處理器大廠包括高通(Qualcomm)與博通(Broadcom)，在這方面應該也有自己的策略；看來移動顯示處理領域的大戰(zhàn)，現(xiàn)在才正要開打！ 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 編譯：Judith Cheng 參考英文原文：Media tablet is your next TV，by Junko Yoshida

相關閱讀：
• 夏普與聯(lián)想合作開發(fā)智能電視
• 主打圖像處理，博通發(fā)布第四代VideoCore技術(shù)
• LG獲ARM Cortex-A50系列及下一代Mali GPU授權(quán)CHGesmc

{pagination} Media tablet is your next TV Junko Yoshida That idea of “the media tablet as your next TV” is the premise on which a number of companies — software and hardware developers included — are depending to capitalize their business in 2013 and beyond. PARIS — Is the media tablet your next TV? If your definition of “next-TV” is a 50-inch screen 4K UHDTV, you may disagree with the contention that you’re going to end up watching a seven-inch screen that fits in a purse. But in my humble opinion, that little tablet has already taken over. When I say “next-TV,” I mean TV as a boob tube, not a “second-screen device.” Gartner, Inc., for example, predicts that the tablet will become “the principal force behind social TV experiences.” You can certainly while away the hours doing all sorts of social stuff on your tablet, just as you watch a big-screen TV in the living room. No question. I do that, too. But I do suspect many of us also cuddle up with our tablet in a sofa or in a bed, simply to watch a movie or a TV show in selfish solitude — probably more often than we’d care to admit. That idea of “the media tablet as your next TV” is the premise on which a number of companies — software and hardware developers included — are depending to capitalize their business in 2013 and beyond. As discussed in a previous article entitled “Retina Display badly needs video processing,” the quality of mobile displays today is by far outpacing the quality of content streamed to mobile screens. Even though we should be enjoying on our tablet far better video, the reality is that we are watching is pretty crappy. Resolution limitations and flaws in video only get magnified in the newfangled high-resolution mobile displays. Some chip companies are pondering a display processor specifically designed for tablets. Although no such chip has emerged on the market, Bruce Walicek, president and CEO at Pixelworks, discussed — in a recent quarterly financial analysts’ call — how display processing technology is becoming even more important on mobile devices. References in Screen Resolutions and Sizes source: NXP Software NXP Software is similarly keen on filling in the “experience gap between content and screen.” The company is pitching its video sharpening software algorithms to mobile platforms. NXP Software Citing the Dutch giant’s famed TV heritage and a variety of video IPs accumulated at Philips Laboratories, Jeremy Thomas Davies, NXP Software’s product and development manager of applications, recently talked to EE Times about his company’s three-pronged strategy to “bring the living room HD TV experience to mobile.” The company hopes to offer its “video experience module” to a) service providers; b) OEMs (chip suppliers and tablet vendors), and c) directly to consumers as a video sharpening app called CineXPlayer. The video experience module is designed to “upscale video stream resolution and bring HDTV-like experience to mobile,” claimed Davies. Unlike those eyeing to develop hardware-based solutions (i.e. a special video or display processor for mobile platforms), NXP Software, as its company suggests, is a strong believer in software. The company is hoping to leverage the GPU – already integrated in mobile apps processors – to run NXP Software’s video experience module algorithms. “Look, whether they are using Imagination’s GPU core or ARM’s Mali, today’s multi-core apps processors are so powerful and they are more than capable” of sharpening video and intelligent video scaling, said Davies. The company, however, doesn’t plan to offer all the video enhancement algorithms (designed to deal with various video artifacts) in one package. “We have a road map,” said Davies, “and we plan to roll them out in phases as we educate our customers.” In other words, rather than pushing every video hat trick in one go, “we need to bring the market with us,” he said. Other video enhancement algorithms to correct judder, motion blur, contrast, and color artifacts, for example, are “cooking in the pipeline,” Davies said. NXP Software believes it’s well positioned to talk mobile platform vendors into licensing its video experience modules. Since it rolled out two years ago a consumer app, called CineXPlayerHD, designed to sharpen video on iPhone, NXP Software has been collecting insights from a million CineXPlayer users, according to Davies. Noting how each consumer perceives best video quality is subjective, Davies pointed out CineXPlayer’s crowd-sourced information is extremely valuable. NXP Software’s engineering team has been extracting patterns from how consumers used a variable slider in the CineXPlayer to set what they believed as optimal video viewing. The company’s video experience module offers high-quality up-scaling to screen by resolution enhancement, matching video quality to the HD screen and compression blocks reduction. It also provides details and sharpness enhancement by intelligently added pixel detail, increasing perceived color and depth and others. Bringing high-resolution video specifically tailored to a new display is an exercise all the leading consumer TV manufacturers, including Philips, went through in the last two decades. They honed their video skills and thrived on them as their differentiator. NXP Software’s Davies noted, “For us, this feels like a history repeating itself.” But when the medium is mobile, every vendor of display processing solutions must newly ponder how much video processing is actually needed to visibly please tablet users. The issue of cost is also compounded by the impact on battery. While every leading apps processor company, Qualcomm and Broadom included, is believed to have its own strategy, the battle of mobile display processing has only begun now.