whats it all do?

[buns]

I am sorry to ask such an uneducated question.....but what does a video processor actually do and for what purpose should you use one?

Originally posted by buns:
<STRONG>I am sorry to ask such an uneducated question.....but what does a video processor actually do and for what purpose should you use one?</STRONG>

It's any device that accepts a video signal as input, changes it in any number of different ways and outputs the new 'improved' video signal.

But what are those 'different ways'? Well there are too many to mention them all here but just as an example the processor could:

...decode a composite video signal into its constituant parts
...reduce the amount of noise in the video signal
...improve the sharpness
...regulate the colour balance
...de-interlace the sequence of interlaced half frames into progressive (full) frames
...scale up the number of pixels making up the image to improve the quality on large displays or to fit the display technology in use
...increase the number of frames per second
...track the motion in an image to enable high quality frame rate conversion, de-interlacing, special effects or compression to enable broadcast video to fit on a DVD
...and many, many more functions besides!

Most people who visit these forums and dedicated Web sites are usually interested in those video processors (offen referred to as de-interlacers, line-doublers and scalers) that process standard video into progressive scan video and/or scale the pixel format to a higher density for use in home theatre/cinema entertainment systems.

so, a dvd hooked to a processor would give the same kinda output as a home theatre pc?

Mike

[buns]

thanks for that.....sounds like such devices might be something for use with my projector when i get it!

Originally posted by Metric:
<STRONG>so, a dvd hooked to a processor would give the same kinda output as a home theatre pc?

Mike</STRONG>

To do that you would need to find a video processor that will de-interlace, scale the image size and allow various frame rates. There aren't many 'affordable' devices that will fit that bill. But look through this forum for posts on a new product called The Rock, which is an interesting alternative to the HTPC route.