Digging into the marvels of artificial intelligence (AI) technology as unraveled at CES 2018, Samsung Electronics is all set to bring a true-to-life television experience to its viewer base. Sharp picture quality of about 8K (7,680 * 4,320) resolution with optimized and enhanced sound amplifying versatile video content is just a television store away from the customers in the near future. The dynamic AI technology aligns its superior definition of image and sound quality with the distinct features of a particular content, which is a one-up over the typical upscaling technology for enhancing the overall image quality.
High-definition content with 8K through Machine Learning
It is common knowledge that computers or smartphones operate as per directive values entered by humans. But, the recently unveiled advanced 8K AI Technology runs on Machine Learning that involves AI to act on computers and other AI-enabled digital devices to operate without being explicitly programmed by learning certain patterns that provide optimized answers based on a set of examples.
Now, MLSR, Samsung’s Machine Learning Super Resolution, uses AI to compare low and high-quality versions of specific content, gauge their technological differences and form a vast database by processing and analyzing many pieces of video content to strike a correlation. Therefore, this analysis enables MSLR to accordingly select the optimum filters that support display components such as the level of blackness, brightness, spread, and errors from inputs and convert low-definition content to 8K resolution. The input content is called ‘real-time’ based on a frame and is improved by scenes, which allows upscale the image and sound quality for both live streaming or OTT (Over The Top) video sources.
Why opt for 8K picture quality through AI?
Human input is the key for other upscaling techniques to compare low-definition and high-definition scenes and find ways to enhance them. But, Samsung’s MLSR allows it to study millions of images without the need for human input, thereby leading to higher accuracy and efficiency than conventional technologies.
Television display includes three elements to enhance the picture quality of the screen, namely;
- ‘Detail Creation’ works on the sharpness of the details of the image, such as expression, and improves the texture of the areas with a low resolution that have turned fuzzy after compressing the file.
- ‘Edge Restoration’ defines the edges of people, texts, or objects in a video, reconfiguring the position of pixels on the borders to thin them down to enhance legibility and visibility. So, if a text context is positioned on edge, it can be easily and clearly read as the video will be readjusted around the text position to increase clarity. In another example, in a video showing the moon, Edge Restoration enhances the details of the moon’s shadow and also sharpens the background darkness for a clear distinction between the background and foreground.
- ‘Noise Reduction’, as the name suggests, removes static noises caused during high compression or recompression of files. Image compression is vital for the proper transmission of an image, but, in this process, various ‘noises’ such as a squared dot or jiggling point can be removed as per the image characteristics, to improve the texture of the transmitted image.
Deep-impacting Sound Effects through AI
For all the movie-buffs and TV enthusiasts, immersive sound quality is as indispensable as high picture quality for a lifelike television experience. And Samsung’s MLSR does just that: converting low-definition sound to high-definition sound and optimizing the content’s sound quality.
Conventional TVs offer many display mode settings such as movie mode and sports mode per the content genre. But, Samsung’s MLSR automatically analyzes the content by characterizing scenes to provide optimum sounds, redefining the audio experience for the user.
The dialogues of the characters would be well attuned to maximum clarity using AI. Samsung’s MLSR is well equipped to deal with any genre of content, including relay broadcasts, to deliver the optimum immersive sound quality for every genre of content being viewed. Not only this, Samsung developers plan to constantly work on adjusting, optimizing and upgrading the TV sound quality for its individual viewer, responding to differing volume patterns for every user and the changing viewing environments as per the time of the day and other factors.
The future: 8K technology
The consumer scenario for TVs, according to increasing consumer demand for high-definition TVs and content, has resulted in some terrestrial broadcasting stations trying to provide UHD delivery, and to this end, various IPTV and cable channels have kickstarted 4K UHD (3,840 × 2,160) services. But, even as the TV industry begins to launch 8K (7,680 × 4,320) TVs, the actual TV consumer scene is still stuck at a partially available 4K content in homes.
Samsung will begin incorporating AI technology to its 8K QLED TVs later this year. All the Samsung TV viewers will soon be able to experience UHD quality video close to 8K in resolution and optimized sound for all genres of content.
The section on QLED TV on Samsung’s website reads, ‘Feel the Picture; Feel the Love’. Being the forerunner of a glorious 8K era, Samsung epitomizes the tagline of its QLED TV ‘The Next Innovation in TV’, paving new horizons for the TV industry.