Hi everyone, I'm new here...well sort of. I have been reading these forums for quite some time but have never registered or posted until now.

I hope I'm in the right place as I have questions about scalers, in particular the DVDO and Gefen models.

I have a unique situation in that I live in an apartment and have DirecTv. We only have a 3lnb dish on the building and I'm told that the owners will not pay for the equipment to upgrade to a 5lnb dish with all the switches and splitters necessary to send the signal out to all the apartments.

Most of you know what SD signals look like on an HDTV, crummy right? So I have been reading about scalers and it seems this is goung to be my only option in order to get a decent picture.

I guess what I'm asking is, what do you suggest for a scaler that will give the best results at a resonable price. For instance the GefenTV HTS Pro that is supposed to be released in Oct. sonds good and pre-order prices are low. But I have also seen the DVDO VP30 at a place called Second Act for $699 refurbished, but with a 1 yr warranty from DVDO.

I also visit DBSTalk alot and a guy there who is simpethetic to my delimna offered to sell me a DVDO mm101a for $300. He syas it's one of the first ones but still one of the better ones, but I'm a little sceptical because I always like newer gear.

Right now I have a Samsung 46" lcd, DirecTV HR21, Yamaha 5950 avr.

I was also wondering about the Yamaha RX 1800 and its ability to scale and what chip it may have for scaling.

So please, all gurus and those willing to help a total newbie, please advise me to what I should buy. I will listen because I know you guys are smart and very knowledgeable about this stuff from the reading I've done here before.

All help is greatly appreciated, and thanks sooooo much.

the dudeman

i hate to say this, but...

i don't think there's a scalar in the world that is going to give you a good sd picture on your hdtv if the signal is as bad as you say it is... :(

i hate to say this, but...

i don't think there's a scalar in the world that is going to give you a good sd picture on your hdtv if the signal is as bad as you say it is... :(

Hey thanks for the reply. Well some channels are better than others but they are all 480i except for the handful of HD channels I do get. Some channels actually look pretty good.

I'm not really looking for HD quality because I know that's out of the question. Just an improvement. And from I have read some of these scalers are supposed to scale 480i up to 1080i or P.

The DVDO VP20 or 30 both say they do it but are like $1400. I would like to find something for less but may have to bite the bullet.

thanks again

dudeman

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the dudeman