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Dramatically Improving Your Display’s Picture Quality

At CEDIA 2023, a well-attended trade show for custom integrators and electronics retailers, a video processing product made by madVR Labs called the Envy MK 2 took home the Best New Hardware, Global award. At Gramophone, we’ve had the Envy MK 2 processor on display in our three Maryland Showrooms for some time now.  We’re not surprised that madVR Envy MK 2 brought home the hardware because we’ve been very impressed by the performance of this amazing device.  What actually is it, how does it work, and why might you want to own one?  

The madVR Envy MK 2 can transform your video content - movies, TV shows, sports events - from “really good” picture quality, to “holy smokes - that looks like a movie theater picture” visual experience. The folks at madVR are based in Rockville, MD, near our Gaithersburg location. This is a patent-pending video processor that installs easily in your home theater system. Envy MK 2 is placed between your video display - usually a projector, but it works great with almost any good quality flat-panel display, too - and your A/V receiver or processor.  Connect your AVR’s HDMI output to the Envy MK 2’s input. The Envy MK 2 HDMI output then goes to your video display’s HDMI input. Done! 

As the folks at madVR say, “The award-winning madVR Envy uses our patent-pending video processing to deliver the ultimate picture quality in your dedicated home theater”. The product excels in video performance enhancement, which can be remembered with the mnemonic MUSIC HD:  

M stands for “Motion AI” as the world’s first AI-based motion interpolation video processor. This technology reduces the “judder” and blurry effects that can come from trying to reproduce scenes with a lot of motion, and events (like for example a basketball game) in which there is a lot of motion.

U stands for “Upscaling”, one of the most exciting features of this product. Do you have movies on DVD or BluRay in 1080p (or streamed from a service) that were not filmed in High Definition?  Do you ever watch live sporting events on satellite TV or cable TV, the majority of which are not broadcast in 4K video? The up-scaling to either 4K (or 8K, as the Envy MK 2 is capable of that as well) means that all kinds of content that was never filmed in HD looks like it was - which is to say, terrific! madVR has written proprietary AI algorithms to both upscale and sharpen the picture image. Some of your favorite movies will amaze you, as they have never looked so clear and crisp. You’ll be hosting the playoff game parties, too, as your favorite sporting events will look really good. 

S stands for Subtitle Management: if your screen is wider than the standard 16:9 format - a “Scope” screen of, for example, with 2:35:1 aspect ratio dimensions, which work great with classic films - you may have noticed that when watching a Scope film, the subtitles display above or below the screen so that they wind up on the black masking. They may even appear on the ceiling or the wall below your screen’s masking. When paying thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars for a large screen and a quality projector to fill it, this seems silly. madVR Envy MK 2 solves this issue. You can watch in a full-screen format, with subtitles appearing in a slim black bar, which disappears when the subtitles have been displayed for an appropriate period of time.

I stands for Incredible Non-Linear Stretch: are you tired of looking at those darn black bars on your screen? As movies and TV shows have been filmed/broadcast in various formats over the years, black bars at the sides and top of the screen can really distract us from the best viewing experience.  The Envy uses a patent-pending process to stretch the image with vertical compression and horizontal extension. Your video content fills the screen, every time.  Bye-bye, black bars! 

C stands for Calibration: using the madVR MK 2, a skilled calibration professional, like those at Gramophone, can dial in your projector’s color balance and brightness with incredible precision. You can achieve that truly cinematic picture quality that you’ve been looking for.

HD stands for HDR Dynamic Tone Mapping: madVR developed a patent-pending technology to analyze every frame in real time, pixel by pixel. The picture quality is exceptional. Once you experience madVR - you’re likely to want one!