thecoalman - 11:37 am on Jan 30, 2008 (gmt 0)

Interesting but as with any filter it can destroy details as well, check the full size image out with the balloons that say "Happy Birthday"

You'll notice the painting in the back, the trees appear to have texture in the original but that no longer exists in the after shot. Same with string from balloons and the back of the chair in the corner, both are visble in the original but all but disspear in the after. In that particular example I could probably do better with a couple of simple filters for vdub.

Those samples don't appear to be bringing out really fine "detail" but instead sacrificing it to remove the macroblocking and emphasize instead medium detail.

Do they look better? Certainly but I guess it depends on your perspective but there are already tools available to achieve similar results. Some of the free filters available for virtualdub such as MSU deblocker can certainly achieve similar results.