Wobulation: solid pic or shaky science?
If you haven't heard of "wobulation"
just yet, chances are you will before the year is up. No, it's not the
theme to another "Dance Dance Revolution" video-game, it's a method
used to trick the human eye into viewing a higher resolution. Take a
look at the simulated example on the right. The bottom picture
illustrates the "screen door" effect of a high-def set. The top picture
represents the same image using "wobulation."So what the heck is it and where did it come from? Ironically, the idea came from HP's inkjet technologies. HP determined that printer output resolutions could be increased by adding ink droplets over top of each other. Will Allen of HP's Digital Technology and Products group applied the concept to light and "BAM!", wobulation was born.
There are more interesting details on wobulation at Physorg.com, but I'm more interested in you think of the technology. I haven't seen an example of it yet, and the "purist" in me says that 720p is 720p, not something more. However, if the picture quality can be increased by projecting two overlapping light-points, it might have some merit. What do you think?
Filed under: DLP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Zach @ Oct 19th 2005 2:35AM
Why not? It's great to see new technologies for higher definition. The competition that it could potentially create would mean that all HDTVs would drop in price. It seems to me that this technology could get high definition with a low number of pixels.
Andy @ Oct 20th 2005 1:39AM
It sounds like interlacing in the projection stage. If all they're doing is shifting the pixels a bit, and refreshing the image, the result would be roughly the affect of a blur filter. It might make the screen door appear to go away, but all it would really do is make each pixel a little less discreet. Sounds like a bad plan to me. Work on making the spaces between pixels go away, and you solve the jaggies problem AND have a clearer picture.
Rolf @ Oct 20th 2005 5:51PM
I just stumbled accrossed this odd term. Not hearing it before caught me by suprise. I'd have to agree with andy's comment. Considering the jumps in clarity in the last few years, this seems pale really in comparison, and reminds me of the early days of monitors doing interlacing to update the screen.