History
Faroudja Inc. was founded by Yves and Isabel Faroudja in 1971, specializing in video quality improvement, particularly for VCRs, and soon became an acknowledged leader in this field. By 1973, their patents were licensed by various household names in the consumer electronics and broadcast industries.
Faroudja was notable for co-development of the Hi-8 and S-VHS standards in 1987-1988.
In the 1980s, the company developed technologies for the deinterlacing of NTSC signals, including motion adaptive processing algorithms. In 1989 Faroudja invented and patented film mode detection, also known as inverse 3:2 pulldown detection. Faroudja was the only company in the world that had the ability to detect the original frames of film within the video stream and reconstruct an accurate image, free of motion artifacts containing full vertical resolution.
In 1991 the company created the first professional grade line doubler (480p) (deinterlacer) which incorporated this technology, for use with large CRT projectors used in Hollywood screening rooms and large high end home theaters, the LD100. The highly acclaimed Line Doubler takes standard definition signals and converts them to higher resolutions with improved image quality, free of the usual NTSC artifacts (cross-color and cross luminance).
At the same time, Faroudja started manufacturing products based on the same technologies, including adaptive comb filters and video quality improvement products for use with high-end home theaters. This technology was a key factor in the growth of the home theater industry. Faroudja’s adaptive comb filter technology was recognized with an Emmy Award in 1991.
Improvements in digital display device technologies drove the requirement for more advanced video processing and scaling. This included the introduction of a new product type called the VP400 Line Quadrupler (480i upconverted to 960p). In 2000 Faroudja introduced the industry’s first line doubler for HDTV (1080i upconverted to 1080p, the DVP5000). The LD100, the VP400, the DVP5000, DVP3000 and Native Rate Series have made Faroudja the benchmark by which all other video processing is compared. For his lifetime’s work, Yves Faroudja was awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Emmy, presented in 1998.
The Digital Format Translator (DFT) was introduced in 2001 as a standard definition to high definition converter (480i upconverted to 720p or 1080i) for broadcast TV stations. This processor won Faroudja Labs a third Emmy award that year for the efforts in HDTV processing.
Faroudja also started to offer highly accurate, calibrated projectors and plasmas bundled with the video processors offering videophiles complete video systems.
As TVs began to make the transition from analog CRTs to digital fixed-pixel display resolution, Faroudja Labs made the transition from manufacturing complete systems to designing integrated circuits for use in TV and other video products.
In 2000, Faroudja was acquired by Sage, Inc. which in turn was acquired by Genesis Microchip in 2002. Faroudja’s growth in integrated circuits expanded with design-wins in various consumer electronics products such as DVD players, projectors, AV Receivers and TVs. These companies often promoted the DCDi by Faroudja logo, displaying it on products for differentiation and to identify advanced video processing.
Beginning in 2005, a strategic alliance was established with Meridian Audio to manufacture and distribute the Faroudja video processor systems. Today, Meridian markets various video processors exclusively under the Meridian name.
Efforts by Faroudja generated more than 65 patents and provided technology licenses to consumer electronics companies, and helped receive three Emmy Awards: one for advanced encoding techniques, a lifetime achievement for Yves Faroudja and a third for HDTV upconversion used in network broadcast applications.
Faroudja in home theaters
Faroudja is often mentioned in high-end home theater magazines, with product reviews and articles covering state-of-the-art installations that included Faroudja processors or products that used Faroudja chips. Electronic House magazine has many of these articles in their archives. Just click on the magazine cover to go to their website, then enter Faroudja in their search box.
Electronic House magazine cover courtesy of Electronic House Magzine and EH Publishing - www.electronichouse.com.
Below, you can see some award-winning installations featuring Faroudja-based equipment.
Installation photos courtesy of Bliss Home Theaters and Automation - www.blisshta.com
Current technology and branding
In 2008, Genesis Microchip, and its Faroudja technology, was acquired by STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor company with revenues over $10.3 billion in 2010.
ST is continuing to build on the strong foundation of technology development and quality the Faroudja brand represents. At the 2010 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) ST introduced the new Faroudja logo adding the Video-Audio-Audience tag line. ST has an extensive list of audio IP for TV applications. Home theater, by definition, is the combining of video and audio elements to recreate the theater experience. ST and Faroudja can now offer superior home theater results for next-generation TVs. The Audience element is also key. The video and audio IP from Faroudja combine advanced engineering with the understanding of how the audience sees light and hears sound in the home environment and combines these elements for a more satisfying TV experience.
Faroudja Video Optimized is a calibration and logo branding program available to TV and set-top box manufacturers who use STMicroelectronics system-on-chip (SoC) solutions with integrated Faroudja video processing algorithms. The program helps properly initialize the video signal processing and optimize the LCD panel to produce an accurate picture. The program includes programming and calibration tools. Calibration steps include adjusting contrast, brightness, gamma levels, color temperature, sharpness, noise reduction filters and backlight levels, as well as Faroudja Adaptive Contrast Control (ACC2) and Active Color Management (ACM3D), to insure extended dynamic range and accuracy in shadow details, as well as natural tone (color quality). The calibrated settings are stored in a video mode called “Faroudja Movie” , optimized for high-end TVs and Blu-ray HD sources.
DCDi by Faroudja (directional correlational de-interlacing) technology is an advanced deinterlacing algorithm for upconverting and deinterlacing standard definition NTSC content for display on high-definition flat panel TVs. DCDi by Faroudja corrects several deinterlacing issues, including visible jagged edges in an image, cross-color artifacts and includes film mode processing.
Faroudja DCDi Cinema was developed around higher performance 10-bit processing with extended picture enhancement controls, an active color management system and 3D Noise Reduction. In addition, Response Time Correction (RTC) technology is included to compensate for the motion blur prevalent in LCD flat panels.
Faroudja DCDi Edge was introduced for low-cost image improvement applications in a memory-less display; it utilizes spatial processing to eliminate the visible jagged edges.
ST’s latest generation of video processing ICs incorporate many new advances in video and audio processing, building on the legacy of video excellent the Faroudja brand represents. See the product links on www.st.com and look for the Faroudja logo on products on the retailer's shelves.
STMicroelectronics products with Faroudja technology:
