An interesting point in the age of social media is that whoever is more aggressive and who speaks louder and louder will take the lead in public opinion. Xiaomi, an internet-born, naturally understands this. However, in the TV field, Xiaomi TV has always been in a situation where there is no direct opponent, so it has been relatively quiet.

Huawei and Honor’s entry last year seemed like a catalyst, so that the low-volume TV market began to have social vitality. The emergence of the smart screen was a deep-water bomb that forced Xiaomi to confront each other. In the process of your coming and going, many things or technical terms that were not well-known to everyone have been thrown out one by one, such as the previous speaker power dispute, and the MEMC that has not been supported before Xiaomi TV 5 Pro Function has also become a soft underbelly of Xiaomi in this fight.

Understanding what MEMC is and why it is useful

MEMC is shorthand. The original word is Motion Estimate and Motion Compensation, which means motion estimation and motion compensation.

To put it plainly, this is a very common video frame interpolation technology. In fact, there have been three different types of frame interpolation in TV frame compensation, which are inserting duplicate frames and inserting black frames. And interpolate the calculated frames.

The effect of inserting and copying frames is the worst, it just improves the frame rate of the original video, but it ’s smooth for the smoothness of the video.Slip did not help. The purpose of inserting black frames is to reduce the visual residual phenomenon to reduce the feeling of smear. Interpolating frames is the best one. As the chip’s computing power soars, the effect of this interpolating method is getting better and better, and the number of interpolating frames can also support more.

▲ Sony’s motionflow technology

The principle of interpolation calculation frame is to estimate the trajectory of a moving object in the picture through motion estimation, and then insert an intermediate frame between two adjacent frames through the frame interpolation technology, so that the number of frames of the original video can be realized. Times, the video at 30 frames rate becomes visually smoother and smoother at 60 frames.

In terms of the computing power of TV display chips, many TVs not only support “double-speed drive”, but now they can even insert video frames up to 200 frames. At the same time, combining multiple frame insertion methods can achieve the picture effect. The optimization, such as Sony’s MotionFlow technology, is to improve the smoothness of the picture and reduce the smear phenomenon through two methods of frame insertion and black sweep.

▲ Samsung’s frame interpolation technology is called Auto Motion Plus

Not only Sony, in fact, most TV brands have already implemented similar technology, but the functions are called differently, such as Samsung ’s Auto Motion Plus, LG ’s TruMotion, Toshiba ’s ClearFrame, etc. . Domestic TVs like Huawei’s smart screen, and Xiaomi’s latest Xiaomi TV 5 Pro also have MEMC technology.

Although everyone has similar technologies, the final effect may still be very different. For example, it is currently recognized that Sony ’s high-end TV should be the best for frame insertion, and why Sony ’s effect is good because of sports The estimation is more accurate, and the intermediate frame generated by calculation is more suitable.

In the material about the blue fairy, a piece of material is the comparison of Huawei Smart Screen and Sony XG8500 on the function of MEMC. Looking at the slow motion, the screen shake and fluency of the left smart screen are inferior to the right. The TV is obviously much smoother.

“People have nothing but me, and people have me.” As for how to achieve excellence, it depends on the accumulation and precipitation of technology.

In practical application scenarios, more application cases of MEMC in the field of television are sports programs, such as football or racing. Because the object moves faster and the lens swings larger, the biggest problem of this kind of program is that the picture is blurry and shaky. After compensation by MEMC, the smoothness of the picture will be improved qualitatively, and the shake feeling will also be improved. Will weaken.

MEMC is not only used on TV, but now also on mobile phones

Although MEMC has been used on TVs quite frequently, it has rarely been involved in the more mobile devices we come into contact with every day.

Frame inserting technology is not uncommon, but the premise is that it needs to have an independent display computing chip. For mobile phones in the Red Sea, where competition is fierce, an extra chip is a cost. At that time, carrying an independent display computing chip may only increase costs.

▲ Picture from: MobileMagazine

If the game phone is also classified as a mainstream phone, only Black Shark may be the one that did the MEMC compensation earlier. This feature is called the Super Theater Mode in Black Shark phones, which essentially uses the Pixelworks Iris. The display processing chip performs frame interpolation compensation, but this function has not appeared in more mainstream mobile phone manufacturers.

So, the screen technology communication conference of OnePlus a few days ago is worth mentioning. In addition to the 120Hz high refresh rate that we are already familiar with, we have officially announced the news of supporting the MEMC function, which can insert video at the highest frame. Play to 120 frames.

Which MEMC should be used on mobile phones is actually a question that can be discussed. It is worth mentioning that not all apps on mobile phones support high refresh rates, and many applications are limited to a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz. Rate, if it is possible to perform supplementary frames through the global frame interpolation method, this may be a curve to save the country by closing the software fluency.

The biggest use of MEMC on TV is sports events, but although there are many live broadcasts on mobile phones, there are relatively few people who actually use mobile phones to watch sports such as daily football games, so they are promoted by Black Shark The Super Cinema Frame Insertion function is more for the movie.

Does it feel better to see a 24 frame movie at 60 frame?

Going back to the title question, how do you see a 24-frame movie as 60-frame? The answer is all there.

Of course, with the existing technology, in fact, it is not a problem to directly shoot a 60-frame movie or a higher 120-frame movie, but in terms of production costs and viewing habits of movie audiences, it has continued to use 24 frames for many years. Standards remain the best choice for weighing pros and cons.

For example, in a movie, you often encounter scenes that require single-frame color grading or some complex special effects. A 24-frame movie needs only 24 frames of special effects per second, and 120 frames per second requires 120 frames of special effects. , Which is five times the workload of 24 frames, and the production cost will also rise sharply.

In addition, the projection side is also a problem. When the director shot a movie of 60 frames or even 120 frames, many theaters cannot play because the projector is still using the old equipment of the standard of 24 frames. Upgrading the technology equipment is not only for the theater. This is an additional expense, and it is more likely to face the problem of insufficient number of subsequent high frame rate movies.

The director Lee An, who is famous for making literary films, is a strange one. From “Billy Lynn’s Midfield Fight” to “Twin Killer”, he twice adopted 120 frames + 4K + 3D shooting technology, but was Limited to the subject matter and equipment, neither film was as big as the first “Avatar” filmed in 3D. It also cast a shadow on the prospect of ultra-high frame rate movies.

For the film itself, although it was basically 24 frames when it was finally suppressed, different directors may enrich their expressions by reducing the frame in different clips.