Most of the video we watch nowadays is compressed. That is, the digital data that makes up the picture is repacked—and some discarded entirely—in order for it to fit onto a DVD or into the available bandwidth of a TV channel. Much can go wrong in the compression process. Sometimes, the result is a slew of artifacts—various video errors and defects that can seriously injure the images you see on your video display.

If you have a big-screen TV with either digital cable or a satellite receiver, you have probably noticed that on non-high-definition TV channels, picture quality varies wildly from channel to channel, and even from program to program. This de-gradation occurs largely because of compression artifacts. I gave up watching standard-definition channels on my big screen years ago. If I want to watch regular TV, I choose my den’s 20-inch set, which shrinks compression artifacts to the point of near oblivion.
 
One firm has devoted itself to the reduction of these artifacts: Algolith, a Montreal-based company that specializes in the development of digital video signal-processing algorithms used in professional video production. Now Algolith has focused on the consumer market with a product called the Mosquito, a video processing box designed to reduce compression artifacts.This is a serious piece of video processing hardware—it processes more than 300 billion calculations per second. Such speed is required to ensure the quality of the picture processing, and also to prevent the lip-sync problems that occur when substantial delay occurs in the video processing.

The artifacts in question include small, random “speckles” at edge transitions; these are commonly called mosquito noise because they look like mosquitoes buzzing around actors’ heads. Another artifact I call “splotchies,” chunks of blockiness that appear, disappear, then re-appear randomly.  The Mos-quito has tools to deal with all of these artifacts.

It also has a detail en-hancer, a far more sophisticated tool than the crude sharpness control residing in most TVs. The Mosquito detail enhancer processes edge transitions on a 3-by-3-pixel block basis, with detail enhanced in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions. It sharpens the picture without producing thin white halos along edges, as a typical sharpness control does.

So that you can see what the processor is doing, the Mosquito has a split-screen mode. It slices incoming video in half; the left program half appears on screen in unprocessed mode, while the same left program half appears at screen right with the Mosquito processing added.  This creates a real-time before-and-after comparison, which makes the effects of the video processing easy to see.

Once I have the Mos-quito installed in my system, my first stop is the Discovery Wings channel, where I view a program about World War II fighter planes. It features footage captured by onboard black-and-white film cameras. I activate the Mosquito’s split-screen feature. On the left (unpro-cessed) side, the clouds look splotchy, but on the right (processed) side, the same clouds appear splotch-free. On the left, the plane’s wing edge is fuzzy—the aforementioned mosquito artifacts. On the right, the mosquitoes are exterminated, and the image looks a tad sharper as well.

Amazingly, the Mosquito does not affect film grain. It seems to know the difference between film grain and compression artifacts, and to understand that film grain is part of the presentation. Another plane comes into view briefly, and on the right side the Mosquito’s detail enhancer lets me see that the first digit in the tail number is a 3, not an 8—something I could not be sure of from the unprocessed image on the left side.
 
Over to a nature channel for an underwater expedition. Dark scenes normally cause problems in the video compression process, as subtle luminance transitions at low light levels tend to produce visible blockiness in the image. The Mosquito is just as effective here:  The unprocessed left half of its split screen shows blockiness galore, while the right side’s processed view shows the murky darkness of the depths as intended, with all traces of blockiness banished. Results on an auto-racing channel are just as impressive. Even when I watch a fast-moving NASCAR race, the Mosquito eliminates blockiness in the infield grass and the asphalt track, and clarifies the drivers’ names and sponsor decals on the sides of the race cars.

The Mosquito produces no visible improvements on the high-definition TV (HDTV) channels I watch, though. The picture appears clean and sharp before and after processing, no matter if the HDTV material is sourced from film or video. Seems that the Mosquito adheres to the Hippocratic “First, do no harm” ethos of digital video surgery.  The quality of typical HDTV productions these days is exceedingly high; it is likely the Mosquito finds few problems that need correcting in these programs.

I also watch a number of DVDs using the Mosquito; here, its improvements are subtle. As with HDTV production, the quality of DVD authoring these days is so high, the Mosquito has few problems to deal with. Still, I find that with a few DVDs that have a slightly soft look, the Mosquito’s detail en-hancer does indeed sharpen things up without any deleterious side effects. And on one DVD movie with lots of dark underwater scenes, some occasional block artifacts are indeed suppressed by the Mosquito.
 
If you have invested in a large video display and are annoyed by the frizzies, splotchies and fuzzies that are a by-product of our 500-channel digital TV world, the Algolith Mosquito might just be the exterminator you need.

DESCRIPTION
Video noise reduction processor. Connects between video source (DVD player, satellite receiver or cable box) and TV or projector.

SIGNAL COMPATABILITY
Accepts interlaced/progressive standard-definition and high-definition video.

CONNECTIONS
Two component video inputs, one component video output, USB port for firmware/software upgrade.

DIMENSIONS
1.5 x 17 x 12 inches (hwd)

PRICE/CONTACT
PRICE: $4,995
CONTACT: 514.335.9867
www.algolith.com