Patent ID: 8374493

Claim:
A playback apparatus comprising: a resolution converter to increase the number of either or both horizontal pixels and vertical pixels in a frame image of an input video signal to produce an enhanced video signal; a spatial frequency converter to increase the spatial frequency of small-amplitude components detected in a particular spatial frequency domain of the video signal either before or after a process performed by the resolution converter, without increasing the number of the small-amplitude components in the particular spatial frequency domain forming a film grain in the frame image; and a film grain detection circuit connected to the spatial frequency converter and receiving the video signal to detect locations of film grains in the video signal from a film developed with a silver salt as a small-amplitude component in a particular spatial frequency domain of the video signal to enable the spatial frequency converter to not change a peak value of the small-amplitude component, at the locations of the detected film grains, when increasing the spatial frequency thereof whereas the resolution converter will not enlarge the film grains when the resolution conversion is increased.