Shadowy details

Movies recorded on DVD, the new high-capacity digital disc, look far better
than those on analogue VCRs. Now Sharp of Japan says its improved DVD player
produces even better-looking images, by grading contrast so that shadowy scenes
manage to show some detail, rather than pure black. Sharp’s new £500
player also smoothes the rectangular pixels that make up the picture. This gives
a more acceptable image when finely detailed moving objects momentarily break up
into a mosaic of blocks because they require more coding bits than are
available.