Google has just announced their acquisition of Green Parrot Pictures, a video post-production company that’s developed some fancy algorithms for fixing blurry and jerky video footage through advanced motion-prediction systems. Already in use by some major motion studios in films like Lord of the Rings and X-Men, hopefully google will now be making this available to anyone uploading YouTube footage, raising the bar on their massive video library.
But some of YouTube’s most popular or moving videos are shot using low-quality mobile phones and video cameras. Take, for example, videos of recent protests in Libya. Although emotionally captivating, they can be jerky, blurry or unsteady. What if there was a technology that could improve the quality of such videos — sharpening the image, reducing visual noise and rendering a higher-quality, steadier video — all while your video is simply being uploaded to the site? You can imagine how excited we were when we discovered a small, ambitious company based in Ireland that can do exactly this.
Not sure what the terms of the acquisition are, or when we’ll be able to see some results, but hopefully soon!
YouTube Blog: Steady, as she goes: better video processing with Green Parrot Pictures.
