Pixel Magic "Elixio" announced

[VirusKiller]

Just received the following in a marketing email from the Pixel Magic folk:

Originally Posted by Pixel Magic Systems

We are pleased to annouce that we will demonstrate two new product lines at 2007 CES in Las Vegas tomorrow. "Elixio" HD video enhancement box for home theater customers and Digital Signage solutions for corporate customers

"Elixio" HD Video Enhancement box
Features:
*Up to 4 HDMI inputs; works as an HDMI Switch *3D Mosquito Noise Reduction (MNR) *Block Artifact Reduction (BAR) *3D dynamic noise reduction *Per Pixel Detail Enhancement (DE) *Splitscreen for instant A/B comparison *Automatic power on/off mode to work as an install-and-forget appliance *Fanless operation for silent running *Operates as a standalone device or in conjunction with other processors such as Crystalio II

"Elixio" MSRP from US$999

[madshi]

I'm wondering what technology is used inside. Is the latest Gennum chip being used? Or is it Algolith's Flea just in another package? Or is it something totally different?

[Neil Davidson]

I can assure everyone that this unit does not have anything to do with the Algolith Flea!

Noise Reduction is currently the hot issue in video processing as the various players try to find new ways to differentiate themselves from the myriad of "scalers" that are now competing in the market.

The noise reduction in the Crystalio is not a patch on the Algolith Flea or Mosquito in the side by side comparisions I have done and it would appear that PMS agree hence the release of this external unit.

I do have a professional interest in and possible bias towards the Algolith products, but the reviews the Flea and Mosquito have gained over the last couple of years speak for themselves and to date nothing has been able to touch the noise reduction performance of these units. As other units come to market, I am sure that there will be more discussion on the benefits of dedicated noise reduction and I am really looking forward to it!

Neil

[madshi]

Originally Posted by ceenhad

I can assure everyone that this unit does not have anything to do with the Algolith Flea!

Good information - thanks!

So my personal best guess is that the device is using the new Gennum chipset, which implements all the noise reduction features the Elixio claims to offer. I've been told that the new Gennum algs should compare well to the Algolith algs. However, the person who told me that is certainly biased... So I'm very much looking forward to any non-biased comparison reviews between the Flea and the Elixio. From what I heard beating Algolith's algs will be a hard task for the competition...

[tryingtimes]

I haven't been a fan of NR and DE until now - even FFDShow didn't impress me. But I'm still interested in this product - I guess mainly because of the BAR - that's one thing that does really annoy me and seems possible to ease without losing anything.
The before and after images on Algolith's site do look impressive for BAR, but Mosquito was too expensive by far for me.

It's interesting that Neil mentions Algolith, because I hadn't realised there was any UK retailers for their products - we haven't had a single UK Dragonfly review on here.

Neil can you comment on the differences between Mosquito/Flea and also can you explain whether these products are only useful on poor SKY broadcasts etc, or whether you find improvements even to HD DVD and reference DVDs?

[madshi]

Originally Posted by tryingtimes

Neil can you comment on the differences between Mosquito/Flea

I've recently asked Algolith about that and this is what I've been told:

(1) Mosquito and Flea are running the same algorithms (no difference in image quality).
(2) Mosquito has more input/outputs.
(3) Mosquito can be remote controlled.
(4) Obviously, the case format/design is very different.
(5) The Flea has one set of settings for SD/HD for each input. The Mosquito can store several profiles on top of that.
(6) Mosquito is more expensive (doh!).

What I've heard earlier but what I'm not sure about is that the Mosquito might have more processing power left for future algorithms, which however is not used yet. Maybe Neil can say something about this.

[Neil Davidson]

Hi Guys,

We are getting in to some interesting discussion here so I had best lay my cards on the table right from the start. I have other business interests than AV Doctor and one of those is distribution of AV Products. In that light our company is the European Distributor for Algoliths home cinema range. You can get the full details on the Algolith homepage.

Ok differences between Mosquito and Flea. First of all I should clarify that there are two versions of each product! Mosquito and Mosquito HDMI, Flea and Flea HDMI. I am sure that you are quite happy to read the product specs so no need to list all the physical differences here! The main physical difference of course is that the Mosquito offers far more inputs than the Flea.

Originally Posted by madshi

(1) Mosquito and Flea are running the same algorithms (no difference in image quality).
(2) Mosquito has more input/outputs.
(3) Mosquito can be remote controlled.
(4) Obviously, the case format/design is very different.
(5) The Flea has one set of settings for SD/HD for each input. The Mosquito can store several profiles on top of that.
(6) Mosquito is more expensive (doh!).

From a processing perspective, both use exactly the same advanced and proprietary algorithms which were originally developed for the broadcast and post production market.

The Mosquito allows you to save up to 10 profiles which can be recalled at any time - ie these are not input dependant. This is useful as it allows to have a profile for Sky HD and Sky SD or a profile for high bit rate channels and a profile for the low bit rate channels. These can be easily selected using the remote at any time.

The Flea does not currently support profiles so you just set the device to taste on each input and forget about it.

Both products can be remote controlled but only the Mosquito is supplied with remote.

Neither device has a fan and so is completely silent in use.

There is still room for development on each device and as they are based around FPGAs downloadable updates have and will be made available. Upgrade is via USB rather than serial port.

The noise reduction capabilities of these units is far in advance of that in the HQV which is the acknowledged leading processer for noise reduction. The HQV part is used in the DragnFly so yes I have done side by side comparisons! The HQV part also uses some Algolith developed tech which is now more than three years old!

The goal of Algolith is to stay at least three years ahead of the competiton and from what I know, that shouldn't be a problem!

As for SD / HD. Have you looked at the noise present in a SKY HD presentation? For those the difference is still marked! When you get to very well encoded HD DVD or BlueRay the difference is not as pronounced but certainly still appreciable.

HTH

Neil

[tryingtimes]

Thanks Neil
I guess we'll have to await reports on Elixio from CES from those who've seen Algolith's devices already.

As for SD / HD. Have you looked at the noise present in a SKY HD presentation? For those the difference is still marked!

I absolutely agree - no question - when I mentioned poor SKY, I was meaning HD too - worse than pretty much any other HD source I've seen (I haven't seen TVDrive or HD Freeview) and the reason why I haven't given Murdoch yet another tenner a month

Interesting that you would still use the NR/DE on DVD/HD - I don't use the VXP algs at all currently because I can always see the trade-off - that just leaves me staring at softness instead of noise - when all I want to do is watch the programme/film.
There are those (Stacey Spears included) who say this is true even of Algolith's. I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder.

I'll obviously have to get a demo of both units.
Is your other 'interest' Enlighten Solutions Limited? In which case it's just up the road from me - do they have demo facilities? If not then I can't see any other companies mentioned in the UK on the Algolith website.

[Neil Davidson]

LOL - No Enlighten is not my business! The owner does beautiful high end custom install work and we used a DragonFly and Mosquito on one of his jobs just before Christmas with great results.

Noise reduction is incredibly hard to do well. Often then result is a smeared soft mess. The key with Algolith is that you can tune all of the parameters to match the source. For example (typical values for good DVD like DVE):

3D = 2 -> Removes dynamic noise but going higher than 3 naturally causes smearing
2D = 5 -> Removes mosquito. You can go a lot higher but softens image
MNR/DNR = MNR = MPEG Noise Reduction is Algoliths NR.
BAR = 3 = Block artefact reduction can go a lot higher but again trades off some softness
DE = 2 = Many people like to put this much higher, 4 or 5, is common as it does a great job of combating the softness without adding halos.

To get an idea of the improvement available try the shuttle launch scene at the start of DVE if you have it. When the shuttle is blasting through the sky the background has all kinds of effects going on that the Algoliths remove. Alternatively try the Germania scene at the start of Gladiator. The sky has tons of noise in it which is cleared up with no loss of detail in the armour, trees etc. There are lenty of other examples out there.

Neil

[madshi]

Neil, can you comment on MNR vs. DNR. I never understood that concept. I mean wouldn't we want to have BOTH? Why do we have to choose either MNR or DNR? I do see a lot of random noise (not compression noise!) in digital broadcasting, too. Isn't that what DNR is meant for?

[Neil Davidson]

Hi,

The MNR, DNR option is really there as a demonstration tool similar to split screen and processing on/off.

DNR is billed as removing analogue noise but really it is an example of traditional processing without using mapped regions. It really is poor compared to MNR and in general use would never be selected.

MNR applies all of Algoliths block mapping and edge detection algorithms to have the greatest chance of removing noise in a DCT compressed image.

The 3D setting is used in conjunction with the MNR option to remove dynamic noise through analysis of multiple frames. The 2D setting also has an effect on dynamic noise but works on a frame by frame basis. 2D is also used to control mosquito noise removal.


Neil

[madshi]

Ah, thanks. But doesn't the Algolith manual actually recommend to activate DNR for analog sources? Why not using MNR for those sources, too? That confuses me a bit.

[Neil Davidson]

A pure analogue source has not been through any form of DCT compression. It has no block regions that can be used as the basis of the analysis which means that the MNR algorithms have nothing to key on to which makes the DNR option a better choice.

Unless you are using LaserDisc or have a collection of VHS Videos the automatic choice would always by MNR.

Neil

[madshi]

I think my point is this: You're saying that DNR is really only there to demonstrate how bad it is. If it's this way then why does Algolith recommend to use it for analog sources? That's what confusing me...

But in the end it probably doesn't really matter. You're saying that MNR gets rid of the random noise, too, that basically answers my original question.

[tryingtimes]

I think most of you are on the AVS thread anyway - but in case you missed it the brochure is out.
http://www.pixelmagicforum.com/forum...ead.php?t=2262