Ed, Is it worth it? Should I stop now? LOL.


Lev, That's pretty funny. Good thing I'm not a fanboy. :)

I just wish I could have an all in one room. I'd save me a bundle of $. Just think of all the redundancy. Uugh.

I am packing up my HD to convert to HD+. THANKS

Now to find a 975 or 59avi.

mimason,

I have a Pioneer DV-59AVi demo unit for sale if you're interested??? PM me or email harperhometheater@comcast.net

Josh@DVDO,

Is it possible for you guys to put out a calculator/converter for the custom output resolution section on the HD+ or perhaps a VESA-to-HD+ resolution reference to accomplish 1:1 mapping.

I'm sure I'm not the only one hooking up the HD+ to VESA compliant, non 720P or 1080p, LCDs. I'm currently running on a Sony projector but would like output options on my WUXGA and UXGA monitors as well, and would rather not play trial-by-error.

Thanks.

Is it possible for you guys to put out a calculator/converter for the custom output resolution section on the HD+ or perhaps a VESA-to-HD+ resolution reference to accomplish 1:1 mapping.

I'm sure I'm not the only one hooking up the HD+ to VESA compliant, non 720P or 1080p, LCDs. I'm currently running on a Sony projector but would like output options on my WUXGA and UXGA monitors as well, and would rather not play trial-by-error.
Which VESA timing standard do the monitors you're referring to use?

- Dale Adams

Which VESA timing standard do the monitors you're referring to use?

- Dale Adams

Hi Dale,

I'm hoping to run these two VESA resolutions:

1600X1200 @ 60Hz (native on NEC 2080UX+ via DVI-D)
1920x1200 @ 60Hz (native on Dell 2405FPW via DVI=D or
RGB)

1600X1200 @ 60Hz
PowerStrip timing parameters:
1600x1200=1600,80,192,288,1200,1,3,46,161903,2048
Generic timing details for 1600x1200:
HFP=80 HSW=192 HBP=288 kHz=75 VFP=1 VSW=3 VBP=46
Hz=60
Linux modeline parameters:
"1600x1200" 161.903 1600 1680 1872 2160 1200 1201
1204 1250 +hsync +vsyn

1920x1200 @ 60Hz
PowerStrip timing parameters:
1920x1200=1920,40,32,56,1200,1,3,28,151125,2308
Generic timing details for 1920x1200:
HFP=40 HSW=32 HBP=56 kHz=74 VFP=1 VSW=3 VBP=28 Hz=60
Linux modeline parameters:
"1920x1200" 151.125 1920 1960 1992 2048 1200 1201 1204 1232 +hsync -vsync

And this Sony VPL-HS20 1368x768 @ 56hz via
DVI-D:

PowerStrip timing parameters:
1368x768=1368,56,144,216,768,1,11,23,80285,3094
Generic timing details for 1368x768:
HFP=56 HSW=144 HBP=216 kHz=45 VFP=1 VSW=11 VBP=23
Hz=56
Linux modeline parameters:
"1368x768" 80.285 1368 1424 1568 1784 768 769 780
803 -hsync -vsync

I'm currently running 720P on the Sony and would like
to go 1:1 native. Josh tried to resolve a res for me,
based on a Momitsu 880 DVD config I provided; I
didnt have powerstrip installed to do a proper dump at that
time. The config horizontally crops the image on
the Sony though and is unusable; the momitsu config was a bit
confusing I guess. Hopefully the above is better.

Thanks

Alex,

I was originally referring to which type of VESA spec the monitors used - Discrete Monitor Timings (DMT), Generalized Timing Format (GTF), or Coordinated Timing Format (CVT).

Assuming that the timing parameters you provide are correct for the three resolutions, then you already have all the information you need. The "Generic timing details" values provide this information and correspond directly to iScan output timing parameters (as shown in the Format entry under the Output Setup menu - this is all described on page 14 of the iScan HD+ user manual) as follows:

HFP is horizontal front porch
HSW is horizontal sync
HBP is horizontal back porch

VFP is vertical front porch
VSW is vertical sync
VBP is vertical back porch

The horizontal and vertical active video values are those specified in the format resolution name itself - e.g., 1600x1200 has a horizontal size of 1600 pixels and a vertical size of 1200 lines. Once you've entered all these values (and note that you have to be in Advanced user mode to do this), the horizontal and vertical totals should automatically update to the correct values. If the timing values are all correct you shouldn't need to adjust the horizontal or vertical shift values.

The only other value you need is the frame rate. For the 60 Hz frame rate formats you should be able to set the iScan output frame rate to the 60 Hz locked mode (assuming you're using a 60 Hz input). For the HS20 you'll need to set the iScan output to 56 Hz unlocked.

The easiest way to enter all these values is probably to start with a predefined output format which is closest to the one you want to define. From there, just change each timing parameter to match the ones you already have. You may have to use the iScan's front panel display to do this as your display may lose iScan's output image as you adjust the timing parameters. This is all described in the iScan user's manual. The last couple of iScan HD+ beta firmware releases will let you save each of these different output formats as a separate 'Display Profile' so that you won't have to reenter them each time you switch monitors.

- Dale Adams

Dale,

I'll give it a go ASAP.

Thanks

Any beta feedback?

Up to now I am using latest beta, but can't find how to manage to shift vertically image using a 16:9 display and a 2.35:1 IAR. I assume that this is something different from image pan (which works within the IAR).
As there is no manual addendum it is not immediate to me. :confused:
Is there any way to use some remote button to activate presets? I have used a Pronto macro, but there is a curtain button which shoud be available ;)

Josh-

Been working fine for me. The 480i over DVI from my HR10-250 looks great!

ninjarogue - The image shift that was added in 2.87 is to allow a user with a different screen and display aspect ratio to shift the picture. Both of these adjustments are in the output aspect ratio. At this point, you can not shift a 2.35:1 IAR with a 1.78:1 (16:9) OAR.

Any beta feedback?

I and JoshZ already reported this one (last week maybe it got lost?) :

--------
Hai,

I just also installed the new version, and indeed the image shift function is working fine but seems to be limited to 50pixels. As far as i can tellt his should be 88pixels on a 720 display. (on a 720 height 2.35 is 545 pixels = 175 pixels so thats 175/2=88 pixels up or down to shift it fully to the border). By allowing a 50pixels shift the problem is partly 'solved' for people who mask but not at all for people who have a hardmask at the 16:9 border.

I hope this can be fixed in the next beta since this is getting close now .

Daniel.
-------

Greetings,

Daniel.

Any beta feedback?

I posted this on the previous page, but will paste it in again as well:

I've just downloaded the new firmware. I'd like to shift a 2.35:1 image all the way to the bottom of a 16:9 screen. I set the iScan for 16:9 screen with 2.35:1 active and then used the Image Shift. A few initial observations:

- The Image Shift does not move the 2.35:1 portion all the way to the top or bottom of the screen. It only goes to a setting of 50 in either direction, which is short of touching the edge. Was this intentional?

- The direction of movement is counterintuitive. By pushing the Up button on the remote and going into positive numbers the image moves down, and vice versa. I expected that by pushing Up the picture would move up. Not a big deal, but it feels strange to use.

- The Image Shift resets to 0 if you change the active screen to 16:9 and back. My screen has a variable ratio configuration; sometimes it's 16:9 and other times it's 2.35:1. There does not appear to be a way to save the Image Shift settings. Perhaps the next firmware could allow presets for the Output aspect ratio as well as the Input aspect ratios?

Apart from the film mode menu being disabled when using interlaced DVI, the only other problem I have is that I want to be able to shift the SDI input image to the left, to center it. The only way I can find for doing this is to do a Horizontal Scan, but this does not work until I set Overscan to about 5 or 6, which of course has the undesired effect of clipping top & bottom as well. Any suggestions?

incidently, are colors more vibrant in this Beta as apposed to the older official release version or is it my imagination? (I'm using 625 PAL throughout)

One other thing, any chance of getting the direct codes for recalling the 4 descrete Preset settings asap, at the moment I have my pronto setup to rotate through them each time I want to to switch from centered 4:3 and centered 16:9, it does not look pretty.

Thanks.

Chris

Chris5:

With regard to shifting the SDI image to the left; can't you create a display profile, in which you use the output timing menu's "horizontal shift" adjustment to move the picture to the left? You may need to turn on the "advanced" mode for this (I can't remember), but once you have it setup the way you like, you can save this display profile and automatically associate it with the SDI input. I had the exact same issue and although I don't have the latest Beta (I have Beta Software 2.73), it works very well for me.

I hope that helps...

Speaking of SDI, but on a different subjetct; What is the status of fixing the "bug" in the HD+ concerning negative polarity on the SDI signal?
I.e. when using, for instance, a Sigma Design mpeg decoder which outputs negative polarity on the SDI, the image gets distorted in the HD+.
I've been told this is in the making, but haven't heard a timeplan yet from the DVDO support...

Thanks aBlueSky, I'll give it a go

In the case my source is 1080i on DVI, and I would need to scale it down to 768p or 720p, will HD+ scale and deinterlace or the opposite?
thank you

barco_boy - I've been wondering about the SDI fix as well (I have the Sigma Designs card with SDI out and an HD). They know about it and I would imagine it is an easy fix but low on their priority list. The latest iSCAN HD software release was last December (I am beginning to suspect that will be the last one we will ever see) and it sounds as if it hasn't been addressed in the HD+.

pumori:
I was wondering if you had heard anything, didn't know you have the HD and not the HD+. (I didn't actually buy the Xcard SDI extention because the lack of support from DVDO, I've connected my HTPC via DVI for now, but I do want a SDI connection.)

I've had a onesided mail conversation, though actually getting responses, from a guy at DVDO support, but the respone has been "We know about the issue and it is on our to-do list".
I was hoping Josh@DVDO could give an update here.... Hello Josh, Sweden calling... :)

Hello

I come d to buy a sony fwd 42pv1 which support 1080 / 24fps which parametre I owe use thank you.

DCKiller - I recommend the 852x480 (PLA1) setting on the iScan. Even though this display is capable of accepting 1080 24PsF, all signals will be scaled to 852x480, the native resolution of the display.

barco_boy - I'll see if we can include this feature in the next HD+ software.

barco_boy - I'll see if we can include this feature in the next HD+ software.
Can it be included for the HD (non-plus) as well?
When is the software expected to be released?

Thank you josh

I have to try 852X480 60 DVI PC my ecran is in mode dvi pc but a green and pink bar appears in the top of l ecran. My peripherique is a receiver sat which goes out of the 576i.

When I puts 852X480 or pla1 l ecran re-knows 648X480

Erik - There is no release date for this software as I am looking into whether or not we can include this feature before I announce that we will release it.

Josh:
That sounds good, hope it will happen (soon)... :) Connecting the HTPC to the HD+ is a messy solution, SDI from the Xcard would be clean and easy.

/Anders

barco-boy-
Sounds like I'll be upgrading to an HD+ if I want to use the SDI output from the Xcard!

pumori:
Or hope that DVDO is about to release a new SW release for the HD, though the last one was 6 months ago...
Ever considered my current method, using the DVI output of the GPU card? Requires that you use a player that uses video overlay and is messy, but the result is ok.
My chain is TVEdia -> Xcard via PDI to -> Holo3D -> GPU via DVI to -> HD+ via RGB to -> Barco 1208. Hmmm, overkill? :rolleyes:

Josh or Dale (or anyone else who can help me here)

I lost video after updating the firmware to the current version for my HD+. I have a Pioneer plasma, PDP-504 (costco) running DVI to HDMI on the plasma. Video was working fine prior to the upgrade, now I get nothing but a blinking blue light regardless of the active input on the HD+. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
JB

JB

You did check the obvious? Input, output, analog/digital, loose wires, wires connected to the wrong input/output (my personal favorite ;-)

Josh or Dale (or anyone else who can help me here)

I lost video after updating the firmware to the current version for my HD+. I have a Pioneer plasma, PDP-504 (costco) running DVI to HDMI on the plasma. Video was working fine prior to the upgrade, now I get nothing but a blinking blue light regardless of the active input on the HD+. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
JB

Same thing happened to me after the new firmware flash. I found that the flash had completely ereased all of my settings and I had to start the setup from scratch.

Reset the player by unplugging it for a minute or two. Go to output setup and reselect your output type (in your case DVIV). Then set your output resolution. All you have to do then is manually reenter your settings for the different inputs.

Thanks for the quick responses - I had to get the manual out and switch the output from analog to digital over the DVI. Apparently default is analog. Thanks again everyone.
JB :D

Hi,

I have been going through this thread like crazy, but i cannot find the answer to this question.

Can I connect DVD player to HD+ using component and use DVI output to connect HD+ to Sony HS50 projector (DVI->HDMI?) :confused:

Hi,

I have been going through this thread like crazy, but i cannot find the answer to this question.

Can I connect DVD player to HD+ using component and use DVI output to connect HD+ to Sony HS50 projector (DVI->HDMI?) :confused:


No, you can't. Component is "analog" and can only output as analog. DVI is digital. If you want to output DVI, then the input must be either DVI or SDI.

That said, I think they're other devices that transcode component to digital. Whether the cost can be justified by slight improvement in performance is questionable.

No, you can't. Component is "analog" and can only output as analog. DVI is digital. If you want to output DVI, then the input must be either DVI or SDI.

That said, I think they're other devices that transcode component to digital. Whether the cost can be justified by slight improvement in performance is questionable.

Thanks for the fast reply to my first post.

My DVD will output 480i or 576i and data table in DVON FAQ says that should come out from DVI. I must say that this is very misleading in this matter and I'm a bit disappointed.

I cannot insert the full URL because I need to post some more, but below rest of the path to the table in dvon web page. :D
faq/faq_ishd.html#faq_hd9

No, you can't. Component is "analog" and can only output as analog. DVI is digital. If you want to output DVI, then the input must be either DVI or SDI.
This is correct only if the analog component signal is HD. As long as you're using a 480i/p or 576i/p signal the iScan can process and output the signal on its DVI output.

- Dale Adams

This is correct only if the analog component signal is HD. As long as you're using a 480i/p or 576i/p signal the iScan can process and output the signal on its DVI output.

- Dale Adams

In that situation will the iScan de-interlace and upscale the 480i signal before puting out over DVI or does it merely passthru as is?

This is correct only if the analog component signal is HD. As long as you're using a 480i/p or 576i/p signal the iScan can process and output the signal on its DVI output.

- Dale Adams

Thank you Dale! I apologize for my fast judgement. ;) .

So HD+ can convert analog SD signal to DVI output, this is fantastic from my point of view.

I'm currently using HD+ that I received last week and I have downloaded the 2.87 beta sw in my unit and it seems to work pretty well.

I received one error notify when I was doing a lot of configuration, I could not recover from this error without unplugging the unit. I wrote the number down in case you would be interested (have to get the note from home). I think the error occurred when I was choosing audio input to match component input and I chose by mistake the same Aud3 for both component inputs, at least that is my guess what caused it.

Is this correct behaviour for the beta sw? I'm using 4:3 input aspect ratio, change vertical pan to -3. Then I change input aspect ratio to 16:9, change it again back to 4:3 and my pan setting is back to 0. Should HD+ store the vertical pan setting?

In that situation will the iScan de-interlace and upscale the 480i signal before puting out over DVI or does it merely passthru as is?
The former. The iScan wouldn't be too useful, otherwise. ;)

- Dale Adams

I received one error notify when I was doing a lot of configuration, I could not recover from this error without unplugging the unit. I wrote the number down in case you would be interested (have to get the note from home). I think the error occurred when I was choosing audio input to match component input and I chose by mistake the same Aud3 for both component inputs, at least that is my guess what caused it.
You should be able to set different video inputs to use the same audio input.

I don't know what the various error codes mean. You might want to try sending it vial email to help@DVDO.com and see what they say.

Is this correct behaviour for the beta sw? I'm using 4:3 input aspect ratio, change vertical pan to -3. Then I change input aspect ratio to 16:9, change it again back to 4:3 and my pan setting is back to 0. Should HD+ store the vertical pan setting?
This is another good question for DVDO tech support.

- Dale Adams

The former. The iScan wouldn't be too useful, otherwise. ;)

- Dale Adams
True, but that doesn't always mean that's what the vendor does :D !

Thanks

The former. The iScan wouldn't be too useful, otherwise. ;)

- Dale Adams

I asked Josh@DVDO this very question before buying the HD+. One of my DVD players is HDCP but my Sim2 300plus is DVI non-HDCP. I was hoping that the HD+ would intercept the DVI signal from my player and send it to the PJ. He said that it would not happen. To compensate, he recommended I run component to the HD+, let it do the upscale, then run DVI from there to the PJ. Since then, I've sent the PJ back for an upgrade to 300e.....so it's moot at this point. But to answer the question, you CAN do it.
Javry

Javry - I believe that is what Dale was saying above.

agreed

pumori:
Or hope that DVDO is about to release a new SW release for the HD, though the last one was 6 months ago...

same question from me. I am currently in doubt whether to buy either the HD or HD+. I do not expect that I need the additional features of the HD+ but when support for the HD+ is better then that might be a reason to decide for the HD+?

@melechmet (and others ;) )
does the Dell 2405 FPW monitor work well with the unit? Does de iScan produce a 1920 x 1200 output on the DVI output? An how about the AR on this 16:10 screen?

same question from me. I am currently in doubt whether to buy either the HD or HD+. I do not expect that I need the additional features of the HD+ but when support for the HD+ is better then that might be a reason to decide for the HD+?

You may not need the extra features of the HD+ (such as scaling HD content via DVI) now, but in the future you may wish you had them. If you want to future-proof your investment, the HD+ is the way to go.

You may not need the extra features of the HD+ (such as scaling HD content via DVI) now, but in the future you may wish you had them. If you want to future-proof your investment, the HD+ is the way to go.
Currently I would hookup 1 DVD to component in and 2 satellite receivers to svideo or component in on iScan. As a display I intent to use DVI out to a Dell 2405 FPW monitor.
HDTV does not exist in Europe and HD content is not widespread and I do not yet have any plans of buying HDCP compliant equipment in the near future. I do not really believe in buying future-proof for this kind of equipment and would be very suprised if there isn't a superior product available in 3 years time.
This said I still might buy the HD+ just to be on the safe side ;)

Given the development of some of the new deinterlacers, it would be a hard call to stay with a Silicon Image 504 (?) chip or wait for the next generation.

Given the development of some of the new deinterlacers, it would be a hard call to stay with a Silicon Image 504 (?) chip or wait for the next generation.

If you've been on the fence this long, waiting is probably the more prudent choice.

How long is the turnaround for the upgrade from the HD to the HD+? It would be hard to go a couple of weeks without it.

aaronwt - The best way to find out an answer to your question would be to call JVB Digital and ask them.

313.336.6259

Hi there,

I am new to the world of scalers. I recently bought a 42inch panasonic HD plasma and am getting poor picture quality from my Tivo.

Do the experts out there think that HD or Hd+ will help my picture out? DVD and hidef signals look great.

Also will the box do HDMI or DVI switching?

Thanks in advance for the quick and helpful response!

J

I am new to the world of scalers. I recently bought a 42inch panasonic HD plasma and am getting poor picture quality from my Tivo.

Do the experts out there think that HD or Hd+ will help my picture out? DVD and hidef signals look great.

It may help some, but garbage in/garbage out. If the signal is really poor, there's not much a scaler can do for it. You may see some incremental improvement, but a badly compressed TiVo signal will never look as good as a DVD or HD.

Also will the box do HDMI or DVI switching?

No, the iScan HD and HD+ each only have 1 DVI input.

Can the HD+ output component to the receiver and DVI to the TV?

Both outputs are not active at the same time on the HD+. For what application would you want to feed your A/V receiver component and your display DVI?

What I want to do is the following:

1. Hook up STB via HDMI/DVI
-SD broadcast to be upconverted to 1080i
-HD broadcast to be passed onto TV via 1080i

2. Hook up Denon 2901 DVD via HDMI/DVI
-I know there is only one DVI input, I thought a HDMI/DVI switchbox could help with this

3. Hook up Philips DVP42 DVD player via component and upscaled to native resolution for the TV or to 1080i whatever is better

4. Hook up slimline PS2 via component and upscale it to at least 480P.
-Right now with the PS2 going through the receivers component cables it wont let me do progressive scan games

5. Hook my Toshiba RS-TX20 Tivo/DVD recorder up via component and have it upscaled as far as possible

I want this all to be going to the TV via DVI/HDMI, but I wanted another channel going to the receiver so that I could switch throught that if I wanted to.

Thanks again for all of your expert opions.

J

Is there any difference between the HD and HD+ remote? I am having the board upgrade but did not send the remote .

griz - The remotes are exactly the same on the HD and HD+.

Josh,

Do you think the HD+ would be good for what I want to do?

Thanks!

J

J - The iScan HD+ would be a great for what you want to do, except I do not understand why you would want to switch the output from the iScan through your receiver. You could certainly switch your component video sources through your A/V receiver and use a single input on the iScan, or use 1 component input on the iScan for your PS2 and the other from your A/V receiver switching your 2 DVD players. By running your sources through the A/V receiver first, you will not be able to use the A/V Lipsync feature on the iScan. I recommend that you make the connections as follows:

Either,
HD STB (via HDMI/DVI)->HDMI/DVI Switcher->iScan HD+
Denon DVD-2910 (via HDMI/DVI)->HDMI/DVI Switcher->iScan HD+
Philips DVP42 (via component)->iScan HD+
Slimline PS2 (via component)->iScan HD+
Toshiba RS-TX20 (via S-Video)->iScan HD+
iScan HD+ (via DVI)->Your Display

Or,
HD STB (via HDMI/DVI)->HDMI/DVI Switcher->iScan HD+
Denon DVD-2910 (via HDMI/DVI)->HDMI/DVI Switcher->iScan HD+
Philips DVP42 (via component)->A/V Receiver->iScan HD+
Slimline PS2 (via component)->iScan HD+
Toshiba RS-TX20 (via component)->A/V Receiver->iScan HD+
iScan HD+->Your Display

If you told me which display you are using, I can recommend which output resolution to use for all your sources.

[QUOTE=Josh@dvdo]Now available on our website (http://www.dvdo.com/update/update_usb.html) is the new beta software (2.87).

This pre-release version of our software contains the following new features:

480i/576i DVI Support (RGB 4:4:4)
QUOTE]

Has anyone yet tested this against a SDI-input and if so how did it compare to the SDI-input ?

Anyone tested it yet ?

With the original firmware, I could set my HD+ thru the remote ZOOM button to stretch the vertical far more than on the subsequent (2.32) builds.
Is there ANY WAY I could magnify this besides setting the plasma's vertical size ?
You see, can't make a remote setting for that on the Plasma like I can on the HD+...
We have a lot of nasty Canal + movies here that show extreme letterboxing, and I would love to fill those upper and lower plasma "buckets" with something useful...
Cheers to all from Holland
Barend

Josh,

Is there an HDMI/DVI switcher that you recommend? Also, I use the Toshiba Tivo for a lot of my DVD viewing for whatever reason. Would it make sense to also get a component video switcher?

How do I run the audio from the iscan to the Denon AVR-3805?

The display that I am using is the Panasonic TH-42PX50U. I want to also make the output from the PS2 fill the whole screen, which it is not presently doing (making me fear burn in), is this possible too?

Finally, what would you say that the advantages of your system over a comparable Lumagen system would be?

Thanks again for your very helpful responses!

J

Check a place like www.gefen.com for good HDMI/DVI switchers. :)

For DVI, Zektor makes a good one. I've used one of their component switchers in the past and it operated flawlessly.

Zektor AVS Power Buy (www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5805207#post5805207)

Is there such a thing as a component and HDMI/DMI switch?

Thanks again for the help!

J

the only thing I can think of is the Iscan HD+
Javry

i just got the hd+ when i use the sdi, it blinks to a blue screen every 3-4 sec. could the board on the inside be messed up, or what else? the other inputs work fine.

-rob

I want to know where people recommend buying the HD+ from. Are there any power buys availiable? Also can I horizontally stretch and image about an inch on either side of my TH-42PX50U? If so can it just be for one input, or does it have to be strecthed for every input?

Thanks for the help!

J

Josh,

I just read on your website that you can not put HD cable in via HDMI/DVI and output DVI. Am I understanding this correctly?

Thanks!

J

rob - Who modified the DVD player with SDI output?

Jstevens - Where did you read that? That would be a typo. You CAN input an HDMI/DVI signal from any source including an HD Cable STB and output via DVI. You CAN'T input an HDMI/DVI (with HDCP) signal and output via the analog output.

I want to know where people recommend buying the HD+ from. Are there any power buys availiable? Also can I horizontally stretch and image about an inch on either side of my TH-42PX50U? If so can it just be for one input, or does it have to be strecthed for every input?

Thanks for the help!

J

You can get an ex-demo/display unit from DVDO themselves at $300 off of retail - that is what I did. It still comes with their full warranty and 30 day return policy. If you think that you will ever need SDI then adding the SDI upgrade is only $100 more. That is a steal.

http://www.dvdo.com/hot.php

Josh,

Will future DVDO products support the SDI module in the current HD and HD+? It would make my decision to upgrade to the next DVDO HDMI product much easier.

hey josh, the dvd player was a sdi modified that came with a hdleeza. it worked fine with that one. now using it with this it doesnt work, i just keep getting the blue screen. what do you think the problem is? is there a firmware update i should do?
-rob

Hello everyone,

I own now an iscan HD+ and would like to run it with my crt Nec XG135:
I choose 2 resolutions one for PAL , 1440*1152 at 50,11Hz and one for NTSC material at 1440*960 at 59,94 hz

I need to know how to manage the iscan to output an Pal resolution when there is a Pal dvd and Ntsc when it is an NTSC dvd with the diffrent resolutions???

Thanks for your help.
Bruno

I need to know how to manage the iscan to output an Pal resolution when there is a Pal dvd and Ntsc when it is an NTSC dvd with the diffrent resolutions???

The current firmware for the HD+ allows you to program separate output profiles. You can assign separate profiles to different video inputs, but I'm not sure if you can assign separate profiles to different resolutions over the same input.

The current firmware for the HD+ allows you to program separate output profiles. You can assign separate profiles to different video inputs, but I'm not sure if you can assign separate profiles to different resolutions over the same input.

I wish the iSCAN HD could do that. :( This would make my setup much simpler...

The current firmware for the HD+ allows you to program separate output profiles. You can assign separate profiles to different video inputs, but I'm not sure if you can assign separate profiles to different resolutions over the same input.

I agree this would be a good improvement when several video sources are connected via a switch to a single DVDO input (e.g. I have 7 component sources connected to the DVDO via a switch). I would like to have the ability to have different setting per source rather than input... (I have the same situation for the DVI input).

I really wish this could be addressed with a future software upgrade !?!? :)

I could do it with with my previous scaler, crystalio ;)

Can the Iscan HD+ downscale and upscale 1080i component and DVI/HDMI to any resolution?

Thanks.

J

Can the Iscan HD+ downscale and upscale 1080i component and DVI/HDMI to any resolution?

The HD+ (but not the HD) can scale 720p and 1080i to any resolution only if input by DVI. It cannot process HD signals input by component; it just passes them through unchanged.

Will future DVDO products support the SDI module in the current HD and HD+? It would make my decision to upgrade to the next DVDO HDMI product much easier.

bump.

Yes, no or I am not allowed to say will suffice.

Thanks

Does anyone know if I can use a Monster HDMI to DVI converter on the HD+ going to HDMI on my plasma? Also I have been offered a a good price by an authorized reseller. Do you think it is worth saving the couple hundred dollars or should I buy direct and have a peace of mind of return possibilites if the product is not what I am looking for.


Thanks again for all the help!

J

jstevens75

I'm using a DVI to HDMI cable between my HD+ and a front projector. Works fine.

bump.

Yes, no or I am not allowed to say will suffice.

Thanks

Yes, the SDI input module will be the same as the current SDI input module for our next, yet unannounced, product.

What different processes, are or can be done when inputing a 1080i dvi signal into a HD+?

steviec - The iScan HD+ uses 'Bob' to deinterlace 1080i.

Can someone please tell me if my local retail store guy has any validity to what he is saying:

I'm not sure why you'd be looking at a DVDO iScanHD+ as the LG plasma has their new XD engine which is intended to greatly enhance the performance of standard NTSC video sources, so, I'd have a look first before spending your money. The XD engine also has a preset calibration to D6500. The DVDO is a nice scaler but consider ALL non-native rate sources sent to the plasma are scaled internally as it's native rate is 1024 x 768 as compared to HD native rates of 1280 x 720P or 1920 x 1080i. IF you do desire the DVDO, it will add $**** to your installed price, and of course can always be added at a later time if you find it necessary.

What does all this really mean? He wont stop trying to sell LG plasmas...

Thanks for the help!

J

Every display manufacturer has their own scaling technology. It sounds like the reseller you spoke to "has been drinking the LG Kool-Aid", so to speak. The iScan HD+ can output a 1024x768 signal over DVI from all SD input signals and HD input signals that come in over DVI. This resolution is the native resolution of the plasma you are looking at so I am not quite sure why that was brought into question.

What video sources do you intend on connecting to your display in your system?

I intend on connecting a Comcast Dual Tuner Motorola HD Box

-PS2
-DVD Player via component that is 480P
-Tivo via component that is 480i for Tivo shows and 480P for DVD's.

Thanks!

J

Wouldn't you output 480i from the DVD player and let the iscan do the deinterlacing?

Suppose I could, makes sense especially if I am going to pump up the resolution to the max.

I have had the HD+ for several months now. Since I bought it, I have had trouble getting it to properly "handshake" with my TV (Panny plasma), which is connected to the HD+ with a DVI-->HDMI cable. When I turn on the TV, the light on the HD+ flashes and I get no picture. Typically, I have to turn the TV off and on several times before a proper connection is established, the light stops flashing and a picture finally comes through. I have tried turning things on in a different order (i.e., TV then HD+, content first, content last, etc etc) and nothing seems to make any difference. In addition, occasionally I will get no picture even when the light indicates a good handshake. The only solution I have found for this situation is to unplug the unit for a couple of seconds (although, ironically, when it is plugged back in, it picks up the handshake without fail). Does anyone else have these problems? What should I do?

What type of TV do you have?

Sorry, should have mentioned that -- it's a Panny TH-42PX20U/P and yes it is HDCP compliant.

Have you tried to email their support at support@dvdo.com?

Anyone have any issues with an Iscan HD+ sync'ing on the component input?

I'm using an Iscan HD+ that is receiving 480i/p from a SA8300HD box (via DVI) while simultaneously receiving 480i/p through an Algolith Mosquito via the component inputs. When using DVI everything works fine, but when I try to keep the Mosquito in the loop, the Iscan will lose sync and use "passthru" mode. This happens when the SA8300HD changes source type from 480i to 480p which it does automatically after channel 100 or thereabouts. I also see this problem when I switch back and forth rapidly between DVI and component inputs. Switching to DVI is nearly instantaneous while switching to component is both unreliable and slow (to resync). I'm using the latest beta software and the output is scaled to 1080p/60 for use with an HD2K. Any ideas?

I have heard that the final software update for the HD+ should eliminate the sync lag...Maybe somone can confirm this?

J

I just finished my first evening of veiwing with the iScanHD+ and I thought I'd share some observations.

1. I couldn't get the damn thing to work at all initially. Finally, in desperation I reset the unit to factory defaults and then reslected my input/output choices, and this fixed the problem.

2. The improvement in picture quality is not subtle. DVD images have a much smoother, more three-dimensional quality. For the first time digital images look really film-like to me. I'm using a Panasonic S97, which has a very good deinterlacer, but running a 480i image into the HD+ and then outputting 720p via DVI looks much better than anything the S97 alone was capable of.

The improvement in standard defintion images over the Comcast cable box is nothing short of transformative. The primary improvement is in the color reproduction. For those who want to watch standard definition TV using a large digital projection display device, this technology is a must.

3. I do have some complaints though, mostly practical. First, I cannot understand why Anchor Bay selected a RGB input and output for high definition analog signals instead of component. Virtually all display devices and high quality video sources have component connections. Neither my HD cable box nor HD front projector have RGB inputs and/or outputs. RGB is a connection for computer technology, not home theater. Second, the unit has no HDMI connections, which has become pretty common. Third, it is disappointing to find that the unit will not transcode an analog HD input into a digital HD output.

For all of these reasons, the iScan HD+ is much less useful as a home theater video switching device than it could be and I hoped it would be. It's usefulness is pretty much limited to DVD and standard def TV signals. In that role, however, it is a fabulous product.

Tom - I would like to reply to your complaints.

The HD15 connector on the iScan HD and HD+ can carry RGBHV or Component colorspace. Understood that the HD15 connector is not typical of most source devices, but it does allow someone to connect either an RGBHV or component source or display using a breakout cable. Our next video processor will use BNCs(x5) instead of an HD15 connector.

The iScan HD+ was released November 2004 at which time there were no video processors on the market with HDMI. Understood that HDMI is where the industry is moving and has already been stated, our next video processor will have 4 HDMI inputs and will transcode an analog HD signal to HDMI out.

The good news is that you can enjoy the HD+ now and trade up to our next video processor when it is announced.

I do have some complaints though, mostly practical. First, I cannot understand why Anchor Bay selected a RGB input and output for high definition analog signals instead of component. Virtually all display devices and high quality video sources have component connections. Neither my HD cable box nor HD front projector have RGB inputs and/or outputs. RGB is a connection for computer technology, not home theater.
There are no dedicated RGB input or output connectors. The iScan has 2 component inputs, an analog passthrough input, and an analog output. While the connectors used for the last 2 are DB-15 (VGA), they can be used for component signals as well as RGB. This should be clearly described in the iScan user's manual.

Note that a connector which can provide an RGBHV signal can also serve to provide a YPbPr signal. The reverse is not true, however, so if there were only a component output, those iScan users who wanted an RGBHV output (common with CRT projectors, for instance) would be out of luck.

Second, the unit has no HDMI connections, which has become pretty common.
The iScan HD+ DVI input is compatible with the signal from an HDMI source, and the DVI output can be used to drive a device with an HDMI input. All you need is a cable with an HDMI connector on one end and a DVI connector on the other. Future iScan products will have HDMI connectors.

Third, it is disappointing to find that the unit will not transcode an analog HD input into a digital HD output.
That is definitely a limitation of the iScan HD+. I believe the information on the DVDO website makes this clear, however.

- Dale Adams

First, I cannot understand why Anchor Bay selected a RGB input and output for high definition analog signals instead of component. Virtually all display devices and high quality video sources have component connections.

Not my Runco 980 Ultra. and probably not many other CRT projectors. RGB is fine for me - if it only had component out, it would be absolutely useless for all of us viewing nice, large pictures. :p

Since, more is being said about DVDO's future yet to be announced proscessor, will transcoding of component HD to VGA also be possible. This would eliminate a lot of little black boxes that CRT PJ owners have to deal with.

Andy

The good news is that you can enjoy the HD+ now and trade up to our next video processor when it is announced.


Giddyup. Can't wait guys!!!

TM

Does the HD+ show anything on its LCD display when you are using it, or does it only display things when you are changing settings?

Thanks!

J

Does the HD+ show anything on its LCD display when you are using it, or does it only display things when you are changing settings?

Thanks!

J

You can change this inside the unit itself, i use it in delay mode where the display all led's turn of after a few second. Also several leds have multiple functions like the powerled turns blue when its processing signal, green when its passing a signal and red when it can't find a signal. They really made sure it can be used in a darkend room setup.

Daniel.

Daniel - a 'red' status LED actually denotes the power is turned off. When the status LED is 'green' and the 'red' LED next to the input is on, is when the iScan can't find a signal on the chosen input.

Hey Josh,
Cah you tantalize us with some hints on what else the upcoming processor will do better than the HD+ (beyond the 4x1 HDMI switching)?

Thanks,
TM

Also, when will it be released?

Would you believe in a long while?
The iscan hd+ is now so use it and upgrade when the new processor becomes available which I guess wont be till 2006.

Steviec,
Why would you guess that? They showed it (somewhat) at the last show, so it's likely they'll show it again in September and may release it in Q4. Besides, I AM using an HD+ now, so it's not quite clear why you should be bothered by our natural curiosity in the upcoming model.

TM

Anthony I am not bothered at all by the curiosity about a great new product, in fact its great!. I just think it is alittle premature.
Kind of like waiting for bluray dvd, exciting ,but no reason to put everything on hold and wait until it comes.

[QUOTE=steviec]Anthony I am not bothered at all by the curiosity about a great new product, in fact its great!. I just think it is alittle premature.
QUOTE]

Premature???????? This product was demonstrated at last year's Cedia show... that is almost a year ago, I would not call it premature to be asking about a product that was demonstrated over 10 months ago.

I must imagine that there is some kind of a technical hold up.... no idea what.

If I am wrong Dale and it is a marketing decision, please chime in and set me straight.

Personally I chided Dale before the first iScanHD came out that it did not have enough digital video in's... I have needed the four HDMI inputs of this next model for more than a year (I could dump my 4 port Gefen that way) so I have been waiting for quite a long time for this next product.

I have no idea what is holding it up, but I for one have needed a product like this next "unamed" unit for a couple of years.

IMHO the questions are not premature... they should be something like "what the heck is taking so long?"

Well, I think you have to take product cycles into account. IIRC, the HD was available in Q1/04, the HD+ was available Q1/05, and it's probably selling pretty well, even with rumors of a new unit coming, so I wouldn't expect to see anything new until Q4/05 at the earliest.

WOW! That Long! Well at least that gives me time to save up. I just need tyo deciede if I should upgrade my HD to the HD+. I'll probably wait and just put that toward the future box, although it sounds like the future DVDO scaler will be very expensive.

That is purely a guess on my part...I have no idea what the folks at DVDO are really doing...I would hate to see that "date" blasted all over the internet as the gospel..pure conjecture only... :)

That is purely a guess on my part...I have no idea what the folks at DVDO are really doing...I would hate to see that "date" blasted all over the internet as the gospel..pure conjecture only... :)

If you bother to um...PM certain people...;)...4th quarter 2005 is the idea I got as well. ;)

(I don't put any words in anyone's mouth and nothing is in concrete yet.)

I really can't comment further on future products but I will say that there will be a press release soon that will. (No, I can't comment on the exact date of the press release :) )

So you can't really comment on the comment that you can't comment on... :p :D

Exactly...

Well, I think you have to take product cycles into account. IIRC, the HD was available in Q1/04, the HD+ was available Q1/05, and it's probably selling pretty well, even with rumors of a new unit coming, so I wouldn't expect to see anything new until Q4/05 at the earliest.

I guess time just seems to fly faster these days........... I could have sworn that the HD+ was shipping last year at CEDIA... which I believe was in August. :cool:

Not that it makes any difference at all...... but when did the "+" start shipping Josh?

iScan HD+ was shown at CEDIA last year and started shipping at the end of November ('04).

iScan HD+ was shown at CEDIA last year and started shipping at the end of November ('04).

Thanks Josh......... time flies when your old!! :eek:

Using the Brightness and Contrast test pattern on the iScan HD+, exactly what should I look for when white level and black level are set properly?

Would it be advisable to use the curtain function when wanting to avoid burn in on my plamsa when something (Tivo, PS2, DVD) is paused?

Thanks!

J

Jstevens - You could use either the curtain function, or you could simply turn off your plasma.

TomHuffman - This is an excerpt from our soon to be released document which explains the test patterns in depth:

The ‘Brightness/Contrast’ test pattern will assist you in setting up both the brightness (black level) and contrast (white level) of your display. The ‘Brightness/Contrast’ test pattern is composed of 4 quarter-screen blocks. Two of the blocks have a background level of standard black and the other two blocks have a background level of standard white. Embedded in the black blocks are 3 bars. One is 4 IRE below black (BTB), one is 1 IRE above black, and the third is 2 IRE above black. Embedded in the white blocks are 3 bars. One is 1 IRE above white (WTW), one is 1 IRE below white, and the third is 2 IRE below white. The bottom two blocks differ slightly from these levels. For the bottom two blocks, the BTB is at the lowest possible luma level and the WTW bar is at the highest possible luma level. When the brightness and contrast are adjusted correctly, you should be able to see the 1 IRE and 2 IRE above black bars on the black background and the 1 IRE and 2 IRE below white bars should be visible on the white background. When the brightness is adjusted correctly, black objects should appear ‘black’ with the details still intact and lighter areas should be ‘light’, not gray, with the details still intact. When the contrast is adjusted correctly, white objects will appear ‘white’ with the details still intact. Because the contrast settings can affect brightness settings we recommend that you check the brightness setting after making this adjustment.

Note: If you have a CRT based display, following the instructions above may yield a contrast setting too high. If the contrast is set too high, you will get blooming and loss of details in the highlighted areas. It is more helpful to use the two vertical lines in the test pattern. Adjust the contrast up and down and you will notice that these lines will bend as you increase the contrast. To properly adjust contrast on a CRT based display, decrease the contrast until the vertical lines start to straighten out. If possible, the two lines should be straight. On some CRT, the lines may not straighten even if you turn the contrast to its minimum. If this is the case, slowly increase the contrast to a point just before the vertical lines have extreme bending. You have now properly set up the contrast of your display. Continue to set up brightness as detailed above.

This document is available here: http://www.dvdo.com/faq/faq_pro_man.html#AVIA

StevieC,
Lots of folks have already chimed in, but the issue is that I'm not putting *anything* 'on hold' at all. Like I said - I have an HD+ now and am really interested in learning anything possible about the upcoming processor.
TM

PS - Josh thanks for the tip about the press release :)

I'm also going to be very interested in the upcoming press release. DVDO makes a rock solid product and if they can wrangle an HQV chipset into their next scaler, it could be unbeatable.

On another topic, are there any plans to provide 1080p upconversion and transcoding to DVI from 1080i sources on the component inputs?

Its more for the wife, for whatever reason, she doesnt want to turn it off...So I thought curtain would be great to keep from burn-in....

Thanks!

J

From what I have heard the new Iscan product will function at least as well anything that has the HQV solution. It has to to remain competitive.
Something like this takes alot of work and I hope DVDO will take all the time they need to develope this great new processor.

From what I have heard the new Iscan product will function at least as well anything that has the HQV solution. It has to to remain competitive.

...at a given price... AFAIK, the Algolith stuff is around $5000 for the set, and that's gol darn 'spensive... :eek: :p

Version 2.91 software is available at http://www.dvdo.com/update/update_usb.html. This is not Beta software, this is production software.

Is this the same as the 2.87 beta?

keenan - Nope, there are several bug fixes and the range of Image Shift and Zoom are increased.

Great...thanks.. :)

I was wondering if anyone can tell me how to correct a problem I am getting with the HD+ on my plasma display.

The problem is as follows:

When there is a color that takes up a majority of screen real estate that color can get blotchy and a bit too light. I have seen it happen my blacks turning grey and blotchy, but also with tan turning blotchy. I think there might be some settings within my TV and the IScan that can correct this small problem.

Thanks in advance for all your helpful suggestions!

J

keenan - Nope, there are several bug fixes and the range of Image Shift and Zoom are increased.


You now nailed the imageshift problem perfectly as far as my fast testing indicates. I would add a 2.35 -> 16:9 in your documentation because i guess these days more displays are 16:9 than 4:3.

For others you can now 'shift a 2.35' image in the 16:9 screen you can either 'match' your above or (more sense) below border of your screen. This has 2 good effects you loose the gray area below the 2.35 image and your picture ends up lower
for 2.35 pictures (following the eyes at 2/3 the screen rule better).

Thanks for adding this, i am correct to expect that this will be on your 'checklist' for 3.0 (or whatever the software will be called for the next hardware) so if we order that i will not loose this again :).

Thanks to all who worked on this it was something ive been missing for a long time (when you start using projectors over sdi / dvi / hdmi in pixel perfect mode you mostly loose alot of your setting options inside the projector/plasma).

Greetings,

Daniel.

keenan - Nope, there are several bug fixes and the range of Image Shift and Zoom are increased.


when will the HD version be out??

wwyjoe don't hold your breath, I finally sent my HD to be upgraded so I can use the new software.

Version 2.91 software is available at http://www.dvdo.com/update/update_usb.html. This is not Beta software, this is production software.

Josh, I alreay have the beta installed. Will installing this version erase all of my settings?

Josh, I alreay have the beta installed. Will installing this version erase all of my settings?
Yes, anytime you do a FW upgrade it will reset to the default settings.

Exile - If you are upgrading from version 2.30 or 2.32, you will lose your settings. If you are updating from 2.87 you should retain all settings.

This worksheet will help you record your settings if you are updating from 2.30 or 2.32.

I also have this in an Excel form, for those that are interested drop me an email or PM.

That's good to know, I wasn't aware of that.. :)

I have just installed the 2.91 software on my HD+ and my first attempts at setting it up with my Pan TH-65PHD7UY result in the following:

1. The 480i over DVI seems to work intermittently. I have a Comcast Motorola DCT 6412 STB set to out 4:3 over 480i and HD over 1080i. Sometimes the SD channels show up and sometimes they don't. If I directly go from an HD to a SD channel it usually doesn't show up. If I 'step down' through the channels, starting with a HD channel, it usually does show up.

2. Setting the Output format to 1366x 768 PLA3 (the native rate of my TV) results in a blank screen. 480 p/i, 720p 1080i60 are all OK. Previous postings had suggested certain values for H-Size, H-Front etc. However, when I go to those settings 'N/A' is displayed, and I cannot adjust them.

I haven't tried previous software versions, as I only got both boxes just the other day so I thought that I would start off with the latest release.

Exile - We have done thorough testing with 480i over DVI and this is the first time I have heard of any issue. I will do some testing tomorrow to see if I can duplicate your problem. What color is the status LED on the front panel of the iScan when you do not have a picture on screen? Can the 'Info' screen from the iScan still be displayed when you do not have a picture?

Has anyone else had this issue?

The reason that you are getting 'N/A' when you try to adjust output format is that you are in the 'Normal' user mode. If you change to 'Advanced' user moder you should be able to adjust the output format.

Configuration(CNFG)->User Mode(USRM)->Advanced(ADV)

Exile - We have done thorough testing with 480i over DVI and this is the first time I have heard of any issue. I will do some testing tomorrow to see if I can duplicate your problem. What color is the status LED on the front panel of the iScan when you do not have a picture on screen? Can the 'Info' screen from the iScan still be displayed when you do not have a picture?

Has anyone else had this issue?

The reason that you are getting 'N/A' when you try to adjust output format is that you are in the 'Normal' user mode. If you change to 'Advanced' user moder you should be able to adjust the output format.

Configuration(CNFG)->User Mode(USRM)->Advanced(ADV)

Josh, I have just tried it again and all of the SD channels work fine!! Put it down to user error. Today is the first time that I have used the box so I am sure that I just made a mistake somewhere.

Regarding the problem in setting 1366 x 768, I'll post that question in the plasma forum.

Thanks.

Exile - Good to hear that everything is working okay.

These are the settings that should work for your Panasonic plasma:

H-Size: 1366
H-Front: 34
H-Sync: 112
H-Back: 282
H-Total: 1794

V-Size: 768
V-Front: 3
V-Sync: 4
V-Back: 31
V-Total: 806

Exile - Good to hear that everything is working okay.

These are the settings that should work for your Panasonic plasma:

H-Size: 1366
H-Front: 34
H-Sync: 112
H-Back: 282
H-Total: 1794

V-Size: 768
V-Front: 3
V-Sync: 4
V-Back: 31
V-Total: 806

Outstanding!! Many thanks, I'll try them tonight.

I have an iScanHD+ and a Pan TH-65PHD7UY, some adjustment settings can be made on both devices, eg color, brightness etc.

Is it prefereble to make these adjustments on one device rather than another? I am assumming that the iScan is the best place as that is where most of the picture processing is taking place. What do you think?

In order to upgrade I would have to disconnect and bring my iscan to my office to use a PC. The upgrade program doesn't work with MAC- correct?

So before I go through the hassle-
Besides 480i is there any actual image improvement?
I already have a SDI mod.

Also I have never been able to get the iscan to work with my Samsung HP5071's native 1366X768. I have to use 720p. Will the upgrade solve this issue? In other words- more accurate scaling for specific settings.

Thanks.

Josh@dvdo:

On the off chance that you didn't already know it, your active participation on this forum increases considerably the value of DVDO products. This is a great example of a company serving its own self interest by providing excellent service to its customers.

Exile - The document that I referred to in your other post explains this in detail. The display is where you make coarse adjustments and the iScan is where you make fine adjustments to each source.

bokes - The upgrade software is not compatible with a Mac. The new software features are:

480i/576i DVI Support (RGB 4:4:4)
Full Input Aspect Ratio Control
Full Output Aspect Ratio Control
Image Shift
Increased Range on Frame-Rate Conversion
Display Profiles
Improved Saved Input Settings

Improved Saved Input Settings

Josh, can you clarify what this point means?

Is the iSCAN HD going to get these new features?

How well does the ISCAN HD do on the HQV benchmark DVD?

How well does the ISCAN HD do on the HQV benchmark DVD?

The Silicon Image deinterlacing has a known weakpoint in video-based material. It scores lower than Faroudja in many of the tests on that disc.

The Silicon Image deinterlacing has a known weakpoint in video-based material. It scores lower than Faroudja in many of the tests on that disc.


Been down this road before. If you are mainly watching DVDs that are film based (i.e.movies) then the Silicon Image deinterlacer is preferred. If you watch mostly video content, then faroudja deinterlacer. You like forum hype, the realta. oops. :rolleyes:

Josh,

I also have a Panasonic that I cant get into native res. My model # is the TH-42PX50U. I believe the native resolution is 1024 x 768 pixels and the screen size is 42 inches.

Any suggestions? I have it running at 1080i-60 right now.

Thanks!

J

Jstevens - The Panasonic consumer plasmas will not accept native over HDMI, they will however accept 480p, 720p and 1080i. I would expect 720p or 1080i to look best, but I think that your eye would be the best judge.

Improved Saved Input Settings - There are separate picture controls per input per source. For example, if you have an HD-TiVo that you use at 480i for SD content and 720p and/or 1080i for HD content you have the ability to adjust each resolution separately, thus you can optomize for SD content and HD content on the same input.

Does that make sense?

jsstevens75 this is the same problem i am having. I tried the manual adjustments, but it locks up the screen goes blank and I cant do it.

Exile - Good to hear that everything is working okay.

These are the settings that should work for your Panasonic plasma:

H-Size: 1366
H-Front: 34
H-Sync: 112
H-Back: 282
H-Total: 1794

V-Size: 768
V-Front: 3
V-Sync: 4
V-Back: 31
V-Total: 806

I am trying to drive my 65 Pan at its native rate of 1366x768. I have tried these settings that Josh posted, and with some slight adjustment they work OK for a minute or two, then a white fizzy band appears along the top and down one side ( I am sure that there is a more technical description than this). I go back in, adjust some of the hor and vert setting by a few numbers, it looks fine and then a few minutes later back come the fuzzy lines.

I have tried many different combinations but as I have no idea what they mean, front and back porch for example, it is sheer random trial and error on my part with, unsurprisingly, no success so far.

Does anyone have this setup and can share with me their configuration. Many thanks.

The Silicon Image deinterlacing has a known weakpoint in video-based material. It scores lower than Faroudja in many of the tests on that disc.
Weaker in video-based material? So then what about film-based material?

If you are mainly watching DVDs that are film based (i.e.movies) then the Silicon Image deinterlacer is preferred. If you watch mostly video content, then faroudja deinterlacer.

Could you explain that conclusion of yours to me?
I mean what is there to deinterlace except of things like bad flags or cadence interruptions?

To be more to the point, what is the point of the DVDO if it is weak in deinterlacing?

Can the HD+ expand a letterboxed 16:9 image which has been encapsulated inside a 4:3 frame on DVD? That is, a widescreen film that is not anamorphically encoded on the disc. If so, how is the quality/scaling?

I'm questioning going with the HD+ box versus building out an HTPC for the same cost. I really don't want to mess with an HTPC though. Are there any out and away benefits from running the HD+ as opposed to an HTPC, aside from the input switching and deinterlacing of other video sources aside from DVD?

Weaker in video-based material? So then what about film-based material?


Could you explain that conclusion of yours to me?
I mean what is there to deinterlace except of things like bad flags or cadence interruptions?

To be more to the point, what is the point of the DVDO if it is weak in deinterlacing?

First off, the DVDO is not weak in deinterlacing. The Silicon Image 504 chip is a great deinterlacing chip, but it's video mode deinterlacing is not as good as the faroudja chips. It is great for film mode deinterlacing.

All deinterlacers have two modes, Film and Video. Film mode is preferred because you obtain full resolution. However, sometimes the deinterlacer must use Video mode deinterlacing, this is an issue because half of the resolution is lost. Both the faroudja and silicon deinterlacers have motion adaptive video modes, which are a benefit in video mode and recover some of the lost resolution, but the faroudja chip also has DCDI to improve the quality of video mode deinterlacing. The silicon image chip has nothing of this sort.

The DCDI portion of the faroudja chips is only used during video mode deinterlacing and helps to smooth out "jaggies" often seen in video mode deinterlacing as a result of the less resolution. The silicon image has no such feature and thus it's video mode deinterlacing is not as smooth as the faroudja.

First off, the DVDO is not weak in deinterlacing. The Silicon Image 504 chip is a great deinterlacing chip, but it's video mode deinterlacing is not as good as the faroudja chips. It is great for film mode deinterlacing.

Film mode deinterlacing?
You mean just weaving the two interlaced fields together from the 3:2 cadence? There is not much to that is there?
Perhaps I don't understand the finer mechanisms here? :confused:

All deinterlacers have two modes, Film and Video. Film mode is preferred because you obtain full resolution. However, sometimes the deinterlacer must use Video mode deinterlacing, this is an issue because half of the resolution is lost.

Yes, I am aware of that. :)

Both the doing so faroudja and silicon deinterlacers have motion adaptive video modes, which are a benefit in video mode and recover some of the lost resolution, but the faroudja chip also has DCDI to improve the quality of video mode deinterlacing. The silicon image chip has nothing of this sort.
The DCDI portion of the faroudja chips is only used during video mode deinterlacing and helps to smooth out "jaggies" often seen in video mode deinterlacing as a result of the less resolution. The silicon image has no such feature and thus it's video mode deinterlacing is not as smooth as the faroudja.
But wait, as long as the 3:2 pulldown cadence can be followed the weaving should be a no brainer, and certainly one does not need anything of the price of a DVDO device to do just that. But once something goes wrong, and again we are talking about film mode here, would we not have to resort to the, what you call, weaker video more deinterlacing?
So in other words, for film, is the DVDO simply an 3:2 cadence reader and as soon as something is wrong it is doing inferior video mode deinterlacing?
Hence my original question as to what this "great film mode" deinterlacer really means?
See what I am getting at?

Film mode deinterlacing?
You mean just weaving the two interlaced fields together from the 3:2 cadence? There is not much to that is there?
Perhaps I don't understand the finer mechanisms here? :confused:
You'd be amazed how many cadence breaks there are with film telecines. If you don't want to be dropping back into video mode regularly (which you certainly don't want to do with a deinterlacer than lacks any diagonal processing ;) ), you need a chip with good bad edit correction.

2:2 cadences are also quite hit-and-miss, so for those of us in PAL land, good film deinterlacing is important, unless you happen to enjoy combing.

You'd be amazed how many cadence breaks there are with film telecines. If you don't want to be dropping back into video mode regularly (which you certainly don't want to do with a deinterlacer than lacks any diagonal processing ;) ), you need a chip with good bad edit correction.

2:2 cadences are also quite hit-and-miss, so for those of us in PAL land, good film deinterlacing is important, unless you happen to enjoy combing.
I know that, I see those breaks all the time on my HTPC, but perhaps you miss my point.

Let me try again, if I get it correctly you claim that DVDO is very good at deinterlacing for film and not so good for video. Now when the cadence breaks it is all video right? Do you understand what I am getting at, what "great at film" part do I miss, you either have cadence reading or when it breaks video deinterlacing right?

Do you understand what I am getting at, what "great at film" part do I miss, you either have cadence reading or when it breaks video deinterlacing right?
The quality of a film deinterlacer is determined by:

*How well it addapts to breaks in the cadence (ideally never dropping into video mode no matter how screwed up the cadence is)
*How well it handles unusual cadences (most chips can handle 3:2, but very few can handle say 3:2:2:2 or 8:7 and the like)
*How well it handles two or more objects on the screen running at different cadences (like added titles or CG effects)
*How quickly it locks onto the cadence.
*How well it avoids combing when the source material stops being film (like with video credits for example)

Would these devices fix the video game (xbox) lag out there on the Samsungs?

Exile,

I also tried to use these settings on my 50phd7uy and i couldn't get them to take. The screen would go blank and the DVDO unit would lock so I couldn't change the values. I have been running it with 1080i-60. One thing I noticed is with my cable box and the 4:3 output override. If I have it at 480P the DVDO will process the signal, but if its 480I, it does not and says no signal.

I am going to do a hard rest and will post the results. Worse case is its going back if it doesn't help me. So far 0-2 with one strike left.

Exile,

I also tried to use these settings on my 50phd7uy and i couldn't get them to take. The screen would go blank and the DVDO unit would lock so I couldn't change the values. I have been running it with 1080i-60. One thing I noticed is with my cable box and the 4:3 output override. If I have it at 480P the DVDO will process the signal, but if its 480I, it does not and says no signal.

I am going to do a hard rest and will post the results. Worse case is its going back if it doesn't help me. So far 0-2 with one strike left.

I don't know if this applies to you but I had a similar problem with the screen going blank after selecting 1366x768. I had to make the changes by using the front display panel on the iScan, not on the TV. Also, I hadn't realized ( until Josh pointed it out to me in a few postings back) that you have to change to advanced mode to get into these timing settings.

Good luck!

Been down this road before. If you are mainly watching DVDs that are film based (i.e.movies) then the Silicon Image deinterlacer is preferred. If you watch mostly video content, then faroudja deinterlacer. You like forum hype, the realta. oops. :rolleyes:

Yes, I agree, but the question specifically asked was how the iScan fares on the HQV Benchmark DVD, which is filled with cadence tests for video-based and mixed-source signals. On those tests, it doesn't do so well with many of them and outright fails a few.

I have both Silicon Image and Faroudja deinterlacing in various components in my rack. In actual practice, the two chips are very close in quality and I almost never see the types of artifacts that the Benchmark DVD brings out in real movie or TV show content.

Improved Saved Input Settings - There are separate picture controls per input per source. For example, if you have an HD-TiVo that you use at 480i for SD content and 720p and/or 1080i for HD content you have the ability to adjust each resolution separately, thus you can optomize for SD content and HD content on the same input.

Thanks for the clarification, Josh. I just wanted to make sure that nothing had changed since the last beta, and it appears that it's the same.

I would just like to suggest that DVDO also offer the ability to save picture presets that can be manually selected similar to the Video Profiles. For example, I have a DVD player and an Xbox connected to a component video switcher. Both come into the iScan at 480p over the same Comp 1 input. Because they have the same resolution, the iScan can't distinguish between them and defaults to one set of saved settings. But the DVD player and Xbox have very different picture attributes and need separate calibration. Currently, I have to manually change all of the color, brightness, and contrast settings each time I use the Xbox vs. the DVD player.

I don't know if this applies to you but I had a similar problem with the screen going blank after selecting 1366x768. I had to make the changes by using the front display panel on the iScan, not on the TV. Also, I hadn't realized ( until Josh pointed it out to me in a few postings back) that you have to change to advanced mode to get into these timing settings.

Good luck!

Exhile,

Where do you stand now with your display? Were you able to get the DVDO to display the native resolution? If did know about the advanced, that when I tried to inout the values and it locked up.

If you were able to get it to display, exactly how did you do it and now that its working, are you happy with the results

Exhile,

Where do you stand now with your display? Were you able to get the DVDO to display the native resolution? If did know about the advanced, that when I tried to inout the values and it locked up.

If you were able to get it to display, exactly how did you do it and now that its working, are you happy with the results

I get a picture but not perfect, see my post #917 above.

There was nothing magic to get a working picture, I just followed the instructions. I started by selecting PLA3 (1366x768), at which point the screen went blank, and I then ammended the settings, using Josh's had post, through the iScan display panel, and the picture came back. However as I posted I cannot get it stable.

As posted previously I am having no success in achieving a stable native rate of 1366x768 from my HD+ into my Pan TH-65PHD7UY over DVI.

I can get it when running over VGA. However, that means I have to feed my Comcast/Motorola over component into the HD+, instead of DVI, because of the HDCP issue. When the iScan receives a HD signal over analog it will only pass it through so it will not deinterlace, leaving that to the TV. I get just a good a picture by running a direct DVI link from the Motorola into the Panny.

This all leaves me wondering what benefit the iScan is adding to the setup, and I have about 5 days left if I want to return it.

Am I missing something? Is the problem likely to be with the plasma or the iScan, and therefore would switching to a Lumagen help or make no difference?

I am in the same boat. I am heading home to do a hard reset and I am also changing out the DVI cable between the comcast box and the DVDO. I have heard of some DVI cables not being compatable. For example, the cable had the middle pins missing and I am not sure if those pins are essential to the operation. I got this cable from a Dell digital lcd monitor. I will try this and see what happens

I have had the same problem since I bought the iscan about 6 months.
I have a Samsung HP5071 plasma with native 1366x768.

I've been told it has something to do with the internal scaler on the Samsung trying to scale the iscan's scaled image and it's like two betas in a bowl. There is no way to turn off the Samsung's internal scaler- so I use 720p.

720p works great, but I did notice a slightly better image when I dialed in 1366x768- (that's the point of having the iscan- right?) Unfortunately it becomes unstable and I get the thin , white, dashing flicker lines up and down the screen.

OK.. Well, I tried to start over by doing a hard rest..NO GO! I can't even get my DVD player to play through this thing!

WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING WRONG!!! Is this unit a lemon??

ok.. I called Tech Support and I got the DVD player working. One cable wrong. Could have sworn I had it right. Anyway.. He did say that he has people using this plasma with the DVI blade with the HD+. He is going to call me back.. We shall see

ok.. I called Tech Support and I got the DVD player working. One cable wrong. Could have sworn I had it right. Anyway.. He did say that he has people using this plasma with the DVI blade with the HD+. He is going to call me back.. We shall see

Whose technical support? DVDO, Panasonic or DVD manufacturer?

OK.. Part Three... DVDO Tech Support called me back and he said to use the front display of the DVDO to change the display settings from the advanced mode. Because the Panni will not resolve the standard 1366x768 you have to use the front panel to change the other values and so far the display is stable. The only thing I see is on standard def there is a small line on the bottom that will need to be tweaked.

So what I did was go to the menu and choose 1366x768, the screen will go blank. Then from the front panel, I went to output setup, format. The code for 1366x768 on the front panel is "PLA3" then just choose each setting and change it to what Josh posted in this thread.

Everything working well. Now was it all worth it?...We shall see.

OK.. Part Three... DVDO Tech Support called me back and he said to use the front display of the DVDO to change the display settings from the advanced mode. Because the Panni will not resolve the standard 1366x768 you have to use the front panel to change the other values and so far the display is stable. The only thing I see is on standard def there is a small line on the bottom that will need to be tweaked.

So what I did was go to the menu and choose 1366x768, the screen will go blank. Then from the front panel, I went to output setup, format. The code for 1366x768 on the front panel is "PLA3" then just choose each setting and change it to what Josh posted in this thread.

Everything working well. Now was it all worth it?...We shall see.

That's what I had done. However, after a few minutes fuzzy white lines would appear at the bottom and right hand side of the screen. I would go back in, make a few adjustments so that everything was fine again, but a few minutes later white fuzzy lines again! You may have already said so, but what size is your plasma? Mine is 65, I don't know if that makes any difference,

Story so far,

I have a Comcast/Motorola 6412STB feeding a DVI signal to a HD+ which outputs DVI to a Pan TH-65PHD7UY. I have been unsuccessful in maintaining a stable picture when driving the plasma at 1366x768. Everything looks good but after a few minutes fuzzy white lines appear along the side and bottom of the screen. I re-adjust but after a few minutes the lines return.
Now read on.....

By using the "picture position" settings on the plasma ( Hor and vert size and position) I can make the fuzzy white lines disappear. Apart from losing some pixels around the edge, I guess the equivalent of overscanning, the picture looks fine. I am assuming that in doing so I am not actually changing the resolution of the incoming signal which probably would result in the Panny scaler takeing over.
If this stays stable, and it has for about an hour now, I am inclined to leave it as it is. I still don't know if the problem is with the plasma or the HD+.

I have about 6 days left of the 30 day return period, so if this doesn't work I will have to return the iScan. Other posters claim success with the Lumagen.

Exile, have you turned "wobble" off in the screen saver menu on the Panasonic?

Exile, have you turned "wobble" off in the screen saver menu on the Panasonic?

No I hadn't. I just tried it and it didn't help (Adjusting a TV at 5:30am on a Saturday! This thing is starting to take over my life). I still had to use the picture adjustment on the plasma in order to 'fill' the screen.

Thanks for the suggestion - all are welcome.

Now the wobble is off, your white lines won't re-appear one you've adjusted.

I like my picture to be in perfect position with the Panny picture adjustment settings to all be at zero (this way I can press N and it goes back to perfect). To do this:

Set the picture position settings to zero.
Go into the service menu and adjust the picture position there.
Turn the Panny off to save the settings.

Andrew

Now the wobble is off, your white lines won't re-appear one you've adjusted.

I like my picture to be in perfect position with the Panny picture adjustment settings to all be at zero (this way I can press N and it goes back to perfect). To do this:

Set the picture position settings to zero.
Go into the service menu and adjust the picture position there.
Turn the Panny off to save the settings.

Andrew

SUCCESS! You're a genius, many thanks. I hadn't explored the service menus before, but after poking around a bit I found the settings that you referred to. Do you know if there is a posted document that explains all of the service menu options?

Thanks again.

I just ran the update and set my AR to 1:85.
The image off a 1:85 dvd did not reach the top of the screen.
I adjusted the offset and pulled it up.
At setting 9 the top of the image touched the top of the display.
Curious- I kept going and I was able to "scroll" all the way to setting 17 before the bottom of the image was visible at the bottom of the screen.
I am not using overscan or any other position control.

Why is there so much Picture image left off the top and bottom of the display?

I currently set it at a happy medium with the image cut off at the top and bottom of the display. It looks O.K.- but certain Close-ups seem too cropped. This can't be right.

All was near perfect in respect to this issue before I ran the update.
Am I missing something with the new AR setting options?

bokes,

what display are you using and how did you get it to that aspect ratio?

I wanted to be sure I understand this right before I order my board upgrade:

I currently have the HD. I have an XBOX coming in on the component at 480i.
My only output from the HD is DVI into a 720p projector.

Which I switch the XBOX to output 720p, my screen goes blank, and the HD shows that it is in passthrough mode.

If I understand correctly, because the signal coming into the component input is HDCP 720p, the HD tries to pass it through to the analog output, to which nothing is connected...and my DVI input on the projector, therefore, receives no signal.

To confirm, if I had the HD+, the 720p component input would now be processed and output to the DVI at 720p (or whatever I set it to). Is this correct?

Thanks,

-Jay

Which I switch the XBOX to output 720p, my screen goes blank, and the HD shows that it is in passthrough mode.

If I understand correctly, because the signal coming into the component input is HDCP 720p, the HD tries to pass it through to the analog output, to which nothing is connected...and my DVI input on the projector, therefore, receives no signal.

Correct.

To confirm, if I had the HD+, the 720p component input would now be processed and output to the DVI at 720p (or whatever I set it to). Is this correct?

No, neither the HD nor the HD+ can process analog component HD resolution input signals. The HD+ can only process 720p and 1080i input by DVI (which the X-Box does not offer).

I recommend running the component outputs of the X-Box through a splitter so that it can be connected to both the iScan (for 480i and 480p games) and directly to a second set of inputs on your display (for 720p and 1080i games) at the same time.

It looks like the X-Box 360 will also not offer DVI or HDMI outputs out of the box, though there is a possibility that an external adaptor (similar to the component HD kit for the current X-Box) may be available at some future time.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!

****, **** and ****.


OK, end of grumbling.

Josh, I've reported the RS232 problem several times. In 2 emails, and twice on this forum.

Post in March (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5380094#post5380094) and post in June. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5747925#post5747925)

Nothing has changed since March and this firmware is still unusable here. For all firmware up to and including 2.32, RS232 code 4E/1 and 4E/3 told the HD+ to do the same as a press of the 4:3 and 16:9 buttons on the remote. For all firmware after 2.32, this has broken, and our AR control hardware is useless.

The solution is simple. There are 3 choices:

1. Make the HD+ respond to these codes the same way as 2.32 did. So 4E/1 sets FAR and AIAR to 4:3 (etc). This gets us back to where we were.

2. Make the HD+ respond to these codes by setting PRST1 and PRST2. This way we can enjoy the use of all the new features.

3. Do nothing. This way we are stuck with 2.32 and cannot not enjoy any of the fixes and features.

Please can you let me (all of us) know whether this will be fixed or not. If not, please just let us know - it will save me downloading new f/w and losing all my settings every so often.

Thanks,

Andrew Potts

I just ran the update and set my AR to 1:85.
The image off a 1:85 dvd did not reach the top of the screen.
I adjusted the offset and pulled it up.
At setting 9 the top of the image touched the top of the display.
Curious- I kept going and I was able to "scroll" all the way to setting 17 before the bottom of the image was visible at the bottom of the screen.
I am not using overscan or any other position control.

Why is there so much Picture image left off the top and bottom of the display?

Is your screen actually 1.85:1, or is it 16:9 (1.78:1)? If the screen is 16:9, you should set the iScan for 16:9. Otherwise, it is trying to fit the picture to a smaller active picture area than you actually have available.

I am using a Samsung 50 inch Plasma display.

I set the 1:85 aspect ratio in what appears to be a new setting feature in the latest upgrade.
I believe it is called Active AR.
There is a list of AR's available to choose.

Should I be set to another AR setting?
Is the setting for the display itself or the DVD aspect ratio?
The reason I set it to 1:85 because that's what the DVD claimed it was.
thanks

josh- just viewed your post. Yes I believe the display is 16X9. I'll make the switch.
thanks again

No, neither the HD nor the HD+ can process analog component HD resolution input signals. The HD+ can only process 720p and 1080i input by DVI (which the X-Box does not offer).

I recommend running the component outputs of the X-Box through a splitter so that it can be connected to both the iScan (for 480i and 480p games) and directly to a second set of inputs on your display (for 720p and 1080i games) at the same time.

Josh,

I'm surprised... My HD currently will take any input and output it via DVI. You're saying the exception is HD resolution on component. This seems more of a software limitation than a hardware one... Is this a permanent problem, or are there plans to address this?

Also, if I were to run an analog cable to the projector (which is impossible in my current setup, it is a permanent installation and would require a huge construction effort), why not plug that into the iScan and plug the xbox into the iScan?

What a shame! I wonder if there is a device that will do the conversion for me so I can use the cable, maybe another scaler.

-Jay

This may sound silly, but the HD+ that I just bought has a serial cable in the box. is that the unit I would use to update the firmware?

ver 2.91 has just crashed with error:

ERR-EC00-761-025B

HD+ with SDI card and a PARC209 connected via RS232.

Reboot (power cycle) does not clear it. Only way out is a reflash back to 2.32 :(

Andrew

ccapozzoli - Yes the serial cable included with the HD+ can be used to do a software update.

Pottsy - I am communicating with Multi-region.co.uk to find out what options are available to correct the PARC aspect ratio control issue. I will find out what the error codes means and I will post that info here, hopefully with a solution at the same time.

This seems more of a software limitation than a hardware one... Is this a permanent problem, or are there plans to address this?


This is purely a hardward limitation. This will be addressed in a future product(s) and iScan owners can always use their current iScan as a trade-in credit towards this product.

Josh, thanks. Wouldn't it be easier to correct the HD+ by firmware? The PARC209 would have to be sent back for an eprom re-flash.

Got my HD+ working again by flashing back to 2.32. FYI, this error also occured with the Beta software.

Changing the serial protocol such that it works with the PARC209 will effect everyone else that is not using the PARC209.

I am a bit of a novice and was wondering how the I-Scan HD+ will help picture quality using the folowing equipment..

Hitachi 50vs810 (LCD Rear Projection TV)
Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300-HD (Cable Box)

The Hitachi has Component and HDMI inputs...... and the Cable Box has Component and HDMI outs...

Hi Josh@dvdo
Why DVDO uses USB with rare chipset for flashing the firmware? Why not to use pure RS232? :confused:

O.k.
I have the display setting set at 16x9
If I am playing widescreen DVD's (enhanced for widescreen) with a 1:85 OAR.
I set the active input to 1:85? or 1.78?

Regardless- I tried both and I still have to offset the vertical setting and I end up with picture image bleeding off the top and bottom of the display.

The way I understand the new instructions- the iscan should provide boarders at the top and bottom?

What are the correct settings for a 16x9 display with the standard widescreen dvd ?

Thanks.

Josh or any other expert,

When would I want to use y/c delay? I am using a delay of +2 on my Tivo/DVD component input. Just playing around to see what it does. It looks a little better. Could that be true? Probably just my imagination right?

Thanks for the help in clearing this up!

J

I have the display setting set at 16x9
If I am playing widescreen DVD's (enhanced for widescreen) with a 1:85 OAR.
I set the active input to 1:85? or 1.78?

The OAR of the movie may be 1.85:1, but the disc itself is outputting 1.78:1 (16:9). The pixels at the very top and bottom of the frame are producing the slight letterbox bars.

If your screen is 16:9, you should just set it at 16:9 for any anamorphic DVD. The other "Active Input" settings are designed for use by those who have constant-height front projection screens at different aspect ratios.

Ok, I'm looking at getting an iScan HD+ as part of a semi-constant height setup. I've got a pretty wide variety of sources (HD Tivo, DVHS deck, HTPC, Laserdisc) that I want to scale and maintain CH. However, that's only on one of my displays ;). The other one is a 16x9 RPTV that I obviously don't want to do CH on. So a couple questions:

1) I understand with the new beta you can maintain a constant height across every source. Is this true, and relatively easy to do?

2) When I swap displays, is there an easy setting to disable the CH settings? I swap back and forth quite a bit, so this needs to be a process that isn't going to take me 10 minutes every time.

3) Is there a pure passthrough mode? I'd like to compare my HTPC scaling to the iScan, and possibly just passthrough the signal from my HTPC. I like the software scaling it provides.

Thanks,
MP

1) I understand with the new beta you can maintain a constant height across every source. Is this true, and relatively easy to do?

Yes, and yes.

2) When I swap displays, is there an easy setting to disable the CH settings? I swap back and forth quite a bit, so this needs to be a process that isn't going to take me 10 minutes every time.

The HD+ allows you set set Display Profiles for up to 4 displays. You can simply toggle through the profiles in the menus using a few button pushes on the remote, or you can set the iScan to default to certain profiles using certain inputs (e.g. everything coming in on Component 1 gets one profile, everything coming in on Component 2 gets another). I don't find the latter particularly useful, unfortunately, but it's easy enough to change profiles using the remote.

So essentially with a single DVI input and 3 DVI sources, I would need to use an external switcher (I have the Geffen 4x1 switch). Switch the Geffen to the input I want, and then apply the display profile I'm looking for? As for turning the stretch on and off for CH, is it a simple push-button operation? So for instance I'm watching my HD Tivo on my TV and want to switch to the HTPC on my projector. I swap the Geffen input, change the display profile, and I'm good to go?

So essentially with a single DVI input and 3 DVI sources, I would need to use an external switcher (I have the Geffen 4x1 switch). Switch the Geffen to the input I want, and then apply the display profile I'm looking for?

Yes, that sounds right.

As for turning the stretch on and off for CH, is it a simple push-button operation? So for instance I'm watching my HD Tivo on my TV and want to switch to the HTPC on my projector. I swap the Geffen input, change the display profile, and I'm good to go?

It's not a single button-push, but it's not overly complicated either. To change profiles, you pull up the iScan's menu then navigate to Output -> Profiles and then choose your preset.

If you're using Profile 1 on your TV and then switch to the projector, but the projector by chance won't sync with Profile 1's resolution (essentially meaning that you can't see the onscreen menu), you can still navigate to the right menu selection using the scaler's LED display on the front panel.

Has there ever, or, does anybody know a way to utilize the numeric keypad on the remote to assign profiles to the keys to make it a one button operation to switch profiles...?

keenan - The numeric keypad can not be utilized in the manner that you are talking about. We should have a list of all of the discrete codes, including display profiles, that can be cut-and-pasted into ProntoEdit or any other universal remote programming software with in the next couple of weeks. Only the '1' and the '3' are used to navigate forwards and backwards through the internal test patterns.

Excellent, glad to hear Josh. Makes my decision even easier for WAF!

Josh Z, thanks for answering my questions. I think I'm going to cave ;). I really want to see some of my HD titles in 2.35:1 with a Panamorph...

Josh....thanks, that would be great... :)

In this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=553529) in the Powerbuy forum, there is disucssion of a DVI switcher that, although HDCP-compliant, will not work when placed in the middle of an HDMI -> HDMI signal chain. It will work with DVI -> DVI and HDMI -> DVI (or vice versa), but when hooking up an HDMI source to an HDMI display, it will not properly pass the HDCP.

I just wanted to confirm whether the iScan HD+ is compatible with HDMI-HDCP?

Josh, the iScan HD+ takes a DVI input doesn't it? So it wouldn't ever be HDMI-HDMI, because the conversion to DVI breaks that chain.

Josh, the iScan HD+ takes a DVI input doesn't it? So it wouldn't ever be HDMI-HDMI, because the conversion to DVI breaks that chain.

The switch box in question in the other thread is also DVI.

Like that switcher, the HD+ passes the HDCP encryption through from the source to the display. The problem with the switcher is that it is only compatible with DVI-HDCP. If either end of the signal chain is DVI, it will work, because the HDCP defaults to the DVI type in that case. But if both ends of the chain are HDMI, it won't work because it can't pass the HDMI-HDCP, so you don't get a 'handshake'.

So I'm wondering if the HD+ will properly pass the HDMI-HDCP through from an HDMI source to an HDMI display.

What is the maximum resolution accepted by the iScan? I want to output to a LCD monitor however it only has 1 DVI input. Inputting 1920x1200 60hz into the iScan was less than promising. Is there any way to do a simple pass-thru of the DVI signal from the computer in this case? Would changing the input resolution to 1920x1080 be doable instead? I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate all the settings... there sure are a lot of tweakable options!

I have just got my new HD+ that I connect this evening (I-m on CET) to my JVC 36P38 36" CRT HDTV using a HD15 to 3-RCA cable (it has no digital inputs) fed by a Sony DVD also using its component output.
This TV supports 1080i@50Hz and 60HZ (no 720p) and I would like to configure the iScan so when I play a NTSC in the Sony the iScan will output 1080i@60 and when I play a PAL DVD it ouputs 1080i@50, is this possible? if so, how do I do it?
Later on I also plan to connect also my HTPC using the NVidia 7800 GTX's DVI ouput, could I do the same as with the component ouput? so when I select 1080i@50 in the drivers the iScan also ouputs 50Hz on YPbPr and likewise for 60Hz?
Thanks in advance.

P.S. I already have updated the firmware to 6.7-2.91.

When I switch from 16:9 to 4:3, the side bars start out grey, then fade to black. Is there a way to keep it at grey?

I think I'm reading it different than you Josh, so I'm not sure which one of us is correct. My interpretation of the remarks was that if at any point in the process your signal moves from HDMI to DVI (which it does in this case) then you're fine. It's only when you never move into DVI, but instead maintain a straight HDMI-HDMI all thr way through.

When I switch from 16:9 to 4:3, the side bars start out grey, then fade to black. Is there a way to keep it at grey?

Go to the "input adjust" menu and you will find the "border level" adjustment. This will allow you to keep the bars grey.

Cheers!

Josh, I am considering the purchase of a DVDO iScan HD+ video scaler. My question is: do you believe the scaler offers added picture quality benefit(s) over the built in scalers of today's (2005 year model) RPTV's (such as the new 1080p Samsung 68 series, and JVC D-ILA G786/886 720p sets)? This is an area of confusion to me. It seems all the manufacturers boast scaling w/ motion compensation features to display 480i, 480p, etc. as best as they can be seen on the newer 720p and 1080p RPTV's. Are the OEM built-in scalers different/inferior to the external DVDO iScan HD+?

I think I'm reading it different than you Josh, so I'm not sure which one of us is correct. My interpretation of the remarks was that if at any point in the process your signal moves from HDMI to DVI (which it does in this case) then you're fine. It's only when you never move into DVI, but instead maintain a straight HDMI-HDMI all thr way through.

Again, this topic came up during discussion of a DVI switch box. HDMI adapted to DVI for the switcher and then adapted back to HDMI doesn't work with that box.

This TV supports 1080i@50Hz and 60HZ (no 720p) and I would like to configure the iScan so when I play a NTSC in the Sony the iScan will output 1080i@60 and when I play a PAL DVD it ouputs 1080i@50, is this possible? if so, how do I do it?

Got to:

Output Setup -> Framerate

There you can set separate frame rate defaults for 50hz input signals (PAL) and 60hz input signals (NTSC).

Hey guys looking for an option for dvd playback on my sharp aquos LCD (LC-37D7U). Native rez is 1366x768. With most stand alone players I have tried picture is only okay nothing like it was on a crt. Since most up converting players only ouput 720p and 1080i my TV then rescales it to its custom rez so they are useless. Is the iscan HD+ a good fix for this, will it really make DVD's that much clearer? If so whats a good place to pick one up with a good return policy. Thanks.

Hey guys looking for an option for dvd playback on my sharp aquos LCD (LC-37D7U). Native rez is 1366x768. With most stand alone players I have tried picture is only okay nothing like it was on a crt. Since most up converting players only ouput 720p and 1080i my TV then rescales it to its custom rez so they are useless. Is the iscan HD+ a good fix for this, will it really make DVD's that much clearer? If so whats a good place to pick one up with a good return policy. Thanks.

Mike-

The first question you have to ask is will your Aquos accept it's native resolution on its digital (DVI or HDMI) input. I personally don't know the answer to that, but someone in one of the display forums might.

The HD+ can output a variety of custom timings including 1366x768. You can set it to allow custom resultions to achieve 1:1 pixel mapping on the display. The idea behind this is to get the display to stop using its (inferior) internal scaler and use the HD+ instead. Many people with LCD and Plasma displays have achieved better PQ this way. I noticed an improvement on all my sources when I added the HD+.

DVDO has a no questions asked 30 day return policy. Try it, if you don't like it you can send it back. I have personally found their customer service to be top notch.

Hmm I will have to check it out. I am stuck between going this route or just buying a high end dvd player like the onyxo SP1000.

I ask again my question,
I noticed that the fluidity with my iscan HD+ is not perfect with my pal dvd I use 1440*1152 with 50.11 framerate, could it be the fact that the framerate 50.11 hz is not locked, if yes how can we do to lock it.
Second question, how can you turn the flim bias off, as it is always on my menu not activ, i can not enter into this menu.
Third, I ask the question befor, As I live in Pal country, I wish I can use different resolution depending if it is pal or NTSC feed of course on the same input. I could do it with my last scaler, crystalio, when it was 50hz feed, than a Pal resolution like mine mine 1440*1152, 50.11hz and when it is a NTSC feed, the resolution 1140*960 , 59.94 comes. That could be a wonderful upgrade if so..

Thanks

Bruno

Is there a way to change the framerate to eliminate pal speedup? In other words, would a 2 hour movie, which is now played in 1:55 on a pal disc, slow down and play in 2 hours if you set the framerate to 50 hz, etc.?

Hey guys looking for an option for dvd playback on my sharp aquos LCD (LC-37D7U). Native rez is 1366x768.
I know that the 37G4U will accept native rate, and you can get 1:1 pixel mapping using an iScan HD+. I've never had a chance to try a 37G7U, though.

- Dale Adams

Is there a way to change the framerate to eliminate pal speedup? In other words, would a 2 hour movie, which is now played in 1:55 on a pal disc, slow down and play in 2 hours if you set the framerate to 50 hz, etc.?
No. The iScan will add or drop frames when changing the frame rate, and the overall playing time would remain 1:55.

In order to fix the PAL speedup you'd either have to have a very large buffer of some sort (e.g., a hard disk) which could hold several minutes of video (i.e., the difference between the sped up and normal rate), or a control link to the video source so that it could be stopped and started as needed. You'd also have to correct any sound track speedup when it exists, or stretch out the audio track duration for those sources that were pitch-shifted prior to mastering. All of these are requirements that the iScan doesn't have the hardware to meet.

- Dale Adams

Dale do you happen to know if the 1366x768 is a preset or do you have to put it in yourself with the refresh rates. If do you know, can you tell me what those numbers are or where I can find them?

I ask again my question,
I noticed that the fluidity with my iscan HD+ is not perfect with my pal dvd I use 1440*1152 with 50.11 framerate, could it be the fact that the framerate 50.11 hz is not locked, if yes how can we do to lock it.
50.11 Hz is a very odd frame rate. What is the reason you have it set to that rate? The iScan will lock to the source rate and produce 1 frame out for every field in, which is the default operating mode. This is set in the Output Setup menu with the 50 Hz locked setting.

Second question, how can you turn the flim bias off, as it is always on my menu not activ, i can not enter into this menu.
The only way the film bias setting should be unavailable is if you're feeding a progressive source to the iScan (e.g., 576p). It should always be available with an SD interlaced source. If you are sending the iScan PAL signal and the menu option is still not active, you may have to perform a factory reset.

Third, I ask the question befor, As I live in Pal country, I wish I can use different resolution depending if it is pal or NTSC feed of course on the same input. I could do it with my last scaler, crystalio, when it was 50hz feed, than a Pal resolution like mine mine 1440*1152, 50.11hz and when it is a NTSC feed, the resolution 1140*960 , 59.94 comes. That could be a wonderful upgrade if so.
The latest firmware release for the iScan HD+ will let you do this. You can define different 'display profiles', and then different ones to 50 Hz sources and 60 Hz sources. If you don't already have the latest software revision, you can download from the DVDO website.

- Dale Adams

Dale do you happen to know if the 1366x768 is a preset or do you have to put it in yourself with the refresh rates. If do you know, can you tell me what those numbers are or where I can find them?
There is a 1366x768 preset that's close. The only timing parameter I had to change was to increase the vertical front porch (VFP) to 4. I also had to adjust the display's phase control when viewing the iScan's 1-pixel checkerboard test pattern to eliminate any streaking noise (which is fairly obvious when you see it).

- Dale Adams

Thanks Dale. I figured that was the case. I was just curious.

Thanks Dale :) , I ll let you know if it works ;)last question, does it detects when a 50hz is feed than the resolution for PAL is launched and when a 60hz is feed then a NTSC resolution ...

last question, does it detects when a 50hz is feed than the resolution for PAL is launched and when a 60hz is feed then a NTSC resolution ...
It can do that if you set it up correctly. The new software allows you do associate a display profile with a 50 Hz source and a different display profile with a 60 Hz source. If you set up one display profile for the 50 Hz resolution and timing you want, and a different display profile for 60 Hz format you want, and then assign them to 50 Hz and 60 Hz inputs, respectively, the iScan should switch output formats when the input format changes.

- Dale Adams

Question:

-I intend to get a commercial PLASMA (the new 8th generation PANASONIC TH-50PHD8UK). This screen comes with an HD-15 connection and RGB BNC connections so I will most likely connect it to the iScan HD+ using the HD-15 port.

-If I connect a satellite receiver with DVI into the iScan HD+ and the signal is HDCP protected, I assume from everything I've read on this forum that I will get a BLACK SCREEN on my plasma....

-The satellite receiver also has YPbPr outputs. If I use those, I assume that my screen will work just fine.

QUESTION: Am I trading off quality by using the YPbPr outputs instead of the DVI output?

Lastly (sorry) is the purpose of adding SDI and getting the DENON SDI DVD player (which I am also considering) to get the best possible quality signal or is it simply to bypass all this HDCP non-sense on DVDs (because that DVD player also has a DVI output and some Ypbpr outputs)?

Thanks a million.

PS: I also have other "niche" electronic toys and some of them have "developper" websites with un-official patches that would say bypass the HDCP issue. Is'nt there such a website for the iScan HD+? I don't mean to offend anyone by asking this, but seriously: We're not trying anything other than getting TV without getting a 2nd mortgage on the house :)

Again, this topic came up during discussion of a DVI switch box. HDMI adapted to DVI for the switcher and then adapted back to HDMI doesn't work with that box.

This reminds me of an experience I had years ago with SCSI hard disks. You could connect a wide SCSI disk to a narrow SCSI controller with an adapter or vice versa. But you couldn't connect a wide SCSI disk to a wide SCSI controller using a narrow SCSI cable and two adapters. The reason was that the disk and controller would talk to each other and discover that they were both wide SCSI, so they assumed they could talk to each other using the wide SCSI protocol. If either end was narrow SCSI they would have fallen back to the narrow SCSI protocol and it would have worked fine.

I'm guessing it's the same way with HDMI. The two HDMI devices at each end negotiate and assume that they have an HDMI signal path the whole way, when in fact there's a DVI device in the middle.

--
Steve

I just updated the HD+ to the latest firmware. One thing I noticed is the DVI PC has a much better contrast ratio or say it another way much better blacks. When I chose the DVI V, the picture got washed out very grey. Another example is the black side bars are black with the DVI PC vs the DVI V which is grey.

What is the reason for this? The picture is ALOT better using DVI PC.

Can someone please tell me how to set a custom resolution on the iScan HD+? I would like to set 1920x1080p at 59Hz. I have a new Samsung 68 Series TV and would like to get a 1080p signal through the iScan on the VGA input. Thanks for your time and help.

Best Regards,
Adam

Why do you need a custom resolution? 1080P 60hz(59.94hz) is already one of the resolution choices. I plan on using my iscanHD with my 68 series also.(I'll just wait for their future scaler with HDMI inputs instead of upgrading to the HD+) Hopefully I'll be able to test it out this weekend, If I can be home Friday for delivery.