My technology consultant friend, Jim Opfer, alerted me to FixMyMovie, the beta video enhancement site (see below) of MotionDSP, and has posted two “raw” and “enhanced” videos taken with his Research in Motion (RIM) BlackBerry Pearl 8120.
I’m a big fan of BlackBerrys, and RIM is nice enough to give me lots of their phones to test. I love the keyboard and e-mail push, and the two megapixel camera and music playing capabilities are good, too.
Also, the quality of viewing videos on the latest BlackBerrys, such as the 81xx series and the Curve 83xx series, is excellent — when the video is recorded by a good camcorder. I watch video podcasts, such as CrankyGeeks and CNET TV, and they look great.
However, as I’ve written, I am not a fan of the quality of the video recordings made with the 8120 (see above left), RIM’s first phone with recording capability. The quality is mediocre, to be kind and, well, often pretty awful.
Enhancing video quality
MotionDSP’s business is image enhancement software, specifically video enhancements. CNET News has published a good article on MotionDSP, and the company has a partnership with In-Q-Tel, an investment firm allied with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The ability to enhance videos and still photos from videos is, obviously, valuable to the CIA. In addition, news organizations and other sites that accept consumer videos could benefit from enhancing images, as MotionDSP noted in a press release.
Of course, video enhancement also is valuable for just plain folks who want to improve the quality of their images, which is what Jim is testing.
Jim posted the original and the FixMyMovie enhanced video taken at a man-made lake near his house. Click on the “compare” button that’s the second button to the right of the audio icon to view both versions simultaneously (in the embedded version below).
There is a definite difference between the original on the left and the enhanced on the right. The enhanced video is noticeably brighter, as is very evident for the grass in a still image I clipped (see below). However, there is only a very, very small improvement (maybe?) in the overall sharpness, and it doesn’t make a difference, at least to my eyes.
Second video enhancement test
However, Jim posted another raw and enhanced video in the rain of two cars in a carport and the enhanced video is not only brighter but it also looks sharper (see below).
Processing specifics
Jim says FixMyMovie took about 45 minutes to an hour to process the first video at the man-made lake and about 20 minutes to process the second video of the two cars. He says FixMyMovie sends an e-mail when the processing is completed.
Of course, the e-mail might not have been sent immediately after the processing occurred, and processing Jim’s videos might have not been immediate if they were in queues. In other words, I don’t know exactly how long it takes to process a video!
The videos are available for viewing on FixMyMovie’s Web site (in private or public mode) and also may be downloaded from the site in QuickTime and Windows Media formats, Jim says.
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