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Google has used AI to revamp one of the most beloved films of all time for a 360-degree Sin City screen with the highest resolution in the world. The rerolled version of The Wizard of Oz will debut this August at The Sphere, the Las Vegas entertainment venue with a famously globular LED screen. Whether a technical marvel, dystopian nightmare fuel or some combination, the project will surely continue The Sphere's penchant for extravagant spectacles that persuade tourists to plunk down hundreds of dollars to sit for a few hours in one of its 17,600 seats. Sphere Entertainment, the company behind the venue, worked on the project with Google, Magnopus and Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns The Wizard of Oz rights. Google describes it as an "epic undertaking of creativity and technology," humbly likening it to the cinematic boundaries broken by the acclaimed Technicolor original. "We're taking a beloved movie, but we are re-creating it," Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian told The Wall Street Journal. "The only other way you could do it is to go back [in time] and film it with the cameras that the Sphere uses." The 1939 original.Warner Bros. Discovery Google used generative AI models from its Gemini family on the project, most notably Veo 2 and Imagen 3. The company not only had to magnify the original 35mm film for a 160,000-square-foot screen composed of 16,000 LEDs but also had to account for camera cuts that removed characters from the frame. For example, in a Kansas scene between Dorothy, Auntie Em and Miss Gulch, Uncle Henry (who was also in the room but off-camera) will be visible on the much wider screen. It did so primarily through an AI super-resolution tool (generating new pixels to fit the much higher-res screen), AI outpainting (generating new parts of a scene stretching beyond the original celluloid) and performance generation (incorporating composites of the actors into these expanded environments). To help fine-tune the AI models, Google didn't limit the models' training to the original footage. It also fed them supplementary material like the shooting script, production illustrations, photographs, set plans and scores teaching them about characters' and environmental details and production elements like camera focal lengths. The company also consulted with professional filmmakers for character actions, expressions and performance. "Now, Dorothy's freckles snap into focus, and Toto can scamper more seamlessly through more scenes," Google claimed. The companies behind the project (perhaps contradictorily) claim that, despite AI touching "over 90 percent of the movie," it "respects the original in every way." Google says no new dialogue lines were added, and there isn't a note of new music sung. If the glimpse shown in the preview below (via tabGeeks) is any indication, Dorothy has all the overly smoothed-out hallmarks we've come to expect from AI-upscaled faces. But we'll leave final judgment for the sun-drenched Sin City tourists who spend their hard-earned (or hard-won) cash on following the Gemini-infused road beginning on August 28. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/google-used-ai-to-reconceptualize-the-wizard-of-oz-for-the-las-vegas-sphere-194504769.html?src=rss
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Samsung has finally detailed the prices of the new TVs it announced at CES 2025. The company is selling updated version of The Frame TV, multiple ranges of OLED TVs with faster processors and The Frame Pro, a high-end version of its popular TV / digital picture frame. The major upgrade The Frame Pro offers over the original The Frame is a 4K Neo QLED display and the Wireless One Connect Box. Samsung's Neo QLED displays use MiniLEDs to offer improved brightness and local dimming. To better sell the illusion that The Frame Pro is a picture frame, the Wireless One Connect Box lets you hide the cables you'd normally plug into your TV in a cabinet, and wirelessly transmit their inputs directly to your display. For those upgrades, plus the included NQ4 AI Gen3 Processor, The Frame Pro is $2,199 for a 65-inch model, $3,199 for a 75-inch model and $4,299 for the 85-inch model. Samsung says an 83-inch model will be available at a later date. Samsung The changes to The Frame are more modest. The TV now sports a refresh rate of up to 144Hz and also comes with the NQ4 AI Gen3 processor. The chip powers video upscaling on top of AI-powered features like "Click to Search," the ability to look up an actor's bio while watching something, and "Live Translate," the ability to generate real-time captions of whatever you're watching in another language. If you want The Frame, you'll pay $899 for the 43-inch model, $1,099 for the 50-inch model, $1,299 for the 55-inch model and $1,799 for the 65-inch model. The updates to Samsung's more traditional OLED TVs vary depending on the series and size you purchase, but all of the new TVs support Samsung's AI-powered features. The S95F comes with the NQ4 AI Gen3, a new glare-free display, Samsung's "brightest-ever OLED screen" and the Motion Xcelerator 165Hz feature for smooth gameplay during demanding video games. The S90F gets the same chip and Motion Xcelerator 144Hz (for a slightly lower refresh rate) and the S85F uses the NQ4 AI Gen2 processor and Motion Xcelerator 120Hz. The S95F starts at $2,299, with sizes that range from 55 inches to 75 inches. The S90F starts at $1,299 for the 42-inch model and can go up to 83 inches. The S85F, meanwhile, starts at $1,499 for the 55-inch model and also goes up to 83 inches. All of Samsung's new TVs are available to order today, and the company is guaranteeing seven years of software updates to the TVs' One UI Tizen operating system when you purchase.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsung-is-not-selling-the-frame-pro-for-cheap-185607096.html?src=rss
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Sony is beefing up the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for Extra and Premium subscribers with a bevy of new additions for April. The headliner here is Hogwarts Legacy. This is one of the biggest blockbusters of the past couple of years, even in the face of J.K. Rowling doing her darndest to destroy her personal Hogwarts legacy with anti-trans nonsense. For the uninitiated, its an open-world action RPG set at Harry Potters favorite wizarding school. However, the game takes place in the 1890s, over a hundred years before Potter and his buds careened around the campus. The game hits the service on April 15. Also on the docket this month is the puzzler Blue Prince. This is actually a day-one launch for the platform. The reviews of this one have been particularly effusive, with most people praising the clever puzzles, the atmospheric game world and the addition of roguelike mechanics. Itll be available for download on April 10. The second installment of Dont Nods Lost Records: Bloom & Rage will also be available on April 15 for subscribers as a day-one launch. This follow-up concludes the time-twisting narrative adventure thats set in both 1995 and 2022. This is generally considered a spiritual successor to the iconic Life is Strange. Other games dropping this month include EA Sports PGA Tour and the restaurant management sim PlateUp! PS4 players are also getting a little treat, as Battlefield 1 will be available from April 15.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/hogwarts-legacy-and-blue-prince-come-to-playstation-plus-game-catalog-in-april-175501864.html?src=rss
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