Real-time video effects on a PlayStation2

The Sony PlayStation2 (PS2), with its powerful rendering and vector processing capabilities, built-in MPEG decoder, and large capacity hard disc drive (HDD), possesses fundamental assets that make it an ideal platform for processing video. Research carried out at Sony BPRL, where we have extensive experience of video effects processing, has shown that this inexpensive games console can, in fact, create, in real-time, the type of video effects, some of which normally require investment in dedicated hardware (or endless patience as a PC renders them slowly). The paper gives an introduction to the architecture of the PlayStation2, and how it can be used for processing video efficiently in this way. It also covers the main video effects developed, and how they are implemented. These effects include wipes, 3D linear and nonlinear effects (such as pageturn and ripple), colour effects and ´old film´ effects.