14 DAY TRIAL // Nvidia announced its intentions of boosting the quality of high-definition movies. This should be achieved by using a software-based technology which, Nvidia said, comes with the latest releases of its ForceWare drivers. The new drivers would improve the behavior of the graphics card when a movie is played. For now, it is not sure whether this improvement will manage to make the movies viewable at the quality they were meant to be, but it is a step forward for sure.
The latest driver from Nvidia is Forceware 174.16 which is a WHQL (tested and approved by Windows Labs). In the release highlights Nvidia specifies the fact that Pure Video HD feature was added for GeForce 9600 GT, but also GeForce 8, 7 and 6 users will enjoy this feature as well. The driver allows dynamic contrast enhancement, dynamic blue, green and skin tone enhancements and dual-stream decode acceleration. The declared purpose of the new software-based technology is to improve HD video playback on everyday PCs.
A strong response may come from movie directors whom do not agree with the idea of a software or a hardware provider to enhance video playback for different reasons. Also the end-users may disagree with this idea as well. The good part is that all the dynamic enhancements of contrast and color can be turned on or off from the driver, so, if one does not like the software to decide the way a movie should be seen, (s)he may disable the appropriate features.
Michael Bay, the director of Transformers movie, recently declared that he is the only one who can judge what suits best for his films or who knows exactly how the final product should look like: "I see every frame of my films over a hundred times before it is ever released. I know the lighting conditions I shot it and the result on the DI. I know the range. I know what the final product should look like." Nvidia should consider this as well.