If you were to start a NEW grading service...

[obcmac]

Originally Posted by BobbyVCP

This is already in development. A machine that can precisely measure a card front and back as well as width. It will be able to analyze the cuts to see it it is factory or hand cut. It will use a new software that is currently used in the film industry that is for sequencing movie frames. It will be able to take existing graded images and compare them against each other to assign a numerical grade.

I'm excited about this too. I don't think you can reliably tell if a card has been trimmed (well). What you can know however is the precise dimension of the card in question and compare that to the average dimension of an unaltered source. Then you wouldn't see nrmt 7's, you'd see cards that were .97 instead of 1.0. One guy's trimmed is another's nrmt...it's still subjective...but a short card is a short card.

[BobbyVCP]

Our main IT person at VCP is working on the project. His group of friends all have engineering degrees from MIT, Harvard, etc...They created this software for the film industry and it is amazing how accurate the results. We are in the process of applying it to VCP images in order to help identify cards listed in auctions for processing into our database. The testing is very promising and has yielded 100% accuracy so far. So taking it a step further he is working with his mechanical engineer to create a machine that will scan all sides of a card 6 in all. It will be able to analyze the images against existing images in our database. Once the card is identified it will have a list of parameters that it will have to uphold in the processing. I am sure the tolerance levels will be adjustable. It is just the start of things and hope to have a working model by this summer. This machine is not only for the TPG but any dealer that deals in volume. Because once the card is identified it will interact with the VCP database and give you values of the cards.