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Display Monitor, July 10, 2006

Portrait Displays was demonstrating its already well-known DisplayTune, Pivot Pro, Liquid View and Liquid Surf software. The big news on the booth, however, was the company's new TV Tune technology. Integrated into the TV, the software is designed to solve problems with colour, greyscale and gamma distortion that can be caused by external devices such as DVD players/recorders, game consoles and media centre PCs.

At the core of the technology is the patent pending PixelLava command system under which data is sent from the external device to the television via encoded images. Inside the television the Scaler IC and the MCU decode these commands, based on the information from the Flash ROM embedded with the PixelLava command interpreter, and then make the appropriate adjustments on the screen. Portrait says that, as a result, the TV's picture matches the quality and the accuracy of the source. The simplicity with which the users can set up and calibrate their TVs makes it interesting for the TV makers. PixelLava is said to work with all known digital and analogue interfaces and reduces the need for qualified, but costly, technical staff to install and calibrate the TV. An important benefit of this technology is the ability to reduce the cognitive dissonance experienced by many consumers after they purchase a new TV and find out that the picture is not as good as they experienced in the retail environment.

TV Tune technology has other advantages as well. It can be used to update the television's firmware via a DVD or website. It can be used for servicing the television remotely in some cases. It also has built-in security features to deter thieves as well as certain rental control functions for commercial applications.

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Display Monitor, August 28, 2006

Scott Anderson is from Portrait Labs which specialises in using software to improve displays. When users get a TV home, often the image at home is not great because the TV is adjusted for the showroom rather than the home. Furthermore, the quality may be compromised by the devices used for input.

Anderson said that, in testing, Portrait found big variations between the different outputs of DVD players and game consoles. In other words, from the same DVD player, the response of the different outputs (component, composite, etc.) is quite different. There are, of coarse, other differences between different makes and models of player.

One way to solve the problem is to get a calibration DVD, but this takes time and costs money. The video processing ASICs don't do this adjustment as they just deal with internal processing. Portrait has an automated solution that uses a DVD with a known image and compares this with the image as presented at the frame buffer of the TV. If the Portrait software is embedded in the TV, then the distortion from the input can be eliminated. Portrait has firmware that can do this inside the TV.

The communication technique used between the TV and the input device can also be used for other purposes such as firmware upgrades. The upgrade can be simply sent to the consumer on a DVD. The consumer simply presses play on the DVD and the communication system can send the patch to the set.

This kind of approach, which is simple for the consumer and yet helps optimise the signal, is to be welcomed.

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