I received a message from Aaron Smith at DVDO regarding the status of 1080P inputs on the VP30. He said the firmware should be released sometime this month.

I received a message from Aaron Smith at DVDO regarding the status of 1080P inputs on the VP30. He said the firmware should be released sometime this month.

This VP30 sounds like a pretty incredible machine. Can you tell me is it better than the Lumagen VisionHDP? My primary interest is sd dvd viewing, and also sd satalite, vhs and hd dvd via toshiba A2.

Is the issue with the audio serious? has it been fixed? I heard there were some problems.

Which should I buy?

Suppose they were the same price?

THanks
RIch

What is the status of the 1080p inputs on the VP30?

The VP30 (and VP20, for that matter) will never be able to process a 1080p input. This upcoming release will allow you to passthrough all resolutions up to, and including, 1080p.

Hi Josh,

I'm presuming this forthcoming update for the VP30 is to allow those owners of HD format players to still utilize the VP30 as an a/v switcher. How does this new software update handle the new HD audio formats (DTS-HD, TrueHD, etc.). Will the VP30 pass through those as well? My suspicion is that it will not, but I'd just like to be certain.

Thanks!

Would the VP30 allow a 1080p input in pass-through mode and still do vertical stretch or is it too much for it?

Would the VP30 allow a 1080p input in pass-through mode and still do vertical stretch or is it too much for it?A vertical stretch requires scaling the image. That's more than a simple pass-through.

- Dale Adams

Errr.. I'll wait for the next genereration then :)

Can Josh please confirm that the 1080P pass-through update for VP30 will come out as production software status including the finalized v1.11 beta? If DVDO could manage it as a single major update rather than several minor updates would be great. Save the inconvenience of having to take the VP out of the rack to a remote location to do the update, unless of course you can support updates via MacOSX (I think I know the answer to that!).
Also would be sweet if you can have the "info" function show the de-interlacing mode in use.

Errr.. I'll wait for the next genereration then

It's called the VP50 and it's been available for 6 months.

unless of course you can support updates via MacOSX (I think I know the answer to that!).

All you need is a terminal application capable of doing a raw binary transfer (ie. non XModem, etc.). I have used minicom on Linux, and another poster here detailed a procedure using lpr with the VP30 setup as a serial printer on the Mac.

I recently bought the VP30 and didn't realize this limitation. Can someone please answer the following questions for me on the VP30?

1.) What will the VP30 do when I buy my PS3 and attach it? Will the PS3 scale down to 720p before sending to the VP30? I'm using a 720p projector and want to alter the aspect ratio when playing Blu-Ray discs for my 2.35:1 constant height setup.

2.) I am experiencing audio dropouts intermittently on all content. There's a beta firmware to solve this. The Anchor Bay web site says I have to use some special USB-Serial cable. Their site goes on to say that the one cable they recommend may render the VP30 useless and they're working on a fix. If they're working on a fix, why even make the update available since there's such high probablity someone will toast their unit? I bought the Best Buy, Dynex brand USB to 8-pin serial cable. The manufacturer isn't listed anywhere. I'm nervous about trying this. Anyone know if this will work?

3.) I do not have a decoder for the new HD audio formats. Are they scalable to standard DTS or Dolby Digital?

1. Will the PS3 scale down to 720p before sending to the VP30?

2. The Anchor Bay web site says I have to use some special USB-Serial cable.

3. I do not have a decoder for the new HD audio formats. Are they scalable to standard DTS or Dolby Digital?

Welcome to ClubVP30!

1. You should get a good result sending 1080i to the VP30. But in any event try comparing the PS3 doing the 720P against the VP30 and go with what looks best. I don't think this will be an issue for you.

2. I reckon the way to go here is install an RS232 serial port in your PC and use Barry Gordon's DVDO utility program to do the updates. Then you shouldn't have any issues at all.

3. As far as I know the HD audio formats are backwards compatible so the VP30 should pass the audio with the correct AV sync applied. But I'll leave a definitive response to that with far more capable members than me.

I have 1080p display & trying to figure out as to what is my best bet. Correct me if I am wrong. I am thinking that sending 480p or 720p to VP30/20 & letting it scale to 1080p will not involve any loss of resolution as it only involves scaling whereas sending it 1080i & scaling it to 1080p will result in loss of resolution due to field scaling & improper deinterlacing.

I have 1080p display & trying to figure out as to what is my best bet. Correct me if I am wrong. I am thinking that sending 480p or 720p to VP30/20 & letting it scale to 1080p will not involve any loss of resolution as it only involves scaling whereas sending it 1080i & scaling it to 1080p will result in loss of resolution due to field scaling & improper deinterlacing.

Correct.

I have 1080p display & trying to figure out as to what is my best bet. Correct me if I am wrong. I am thinking that sending 480p or 720p to VP30/20 & letting it scale to 1080p will not involve any loss of resolution as it only involves scaling whereas sending it 1080i & scaling it to 1080p will result in loss of resolution due to field scaling & improper deinterlacing.

Vinodk,

It depends entirely on the source. Ideally, you want to send the raw source to the VP30, since its processing is superior. If you have DVDs, you'd want to send 480i, and let the VP30 deinterlace and then scale. If you're watching HDTV in 1080i, then you'd want to send the VP30 the 1080i and let it deinterlace (if the VP30 does that; that may only be a feature of the VP50). If you're watching 720p HDTV, then that's what you should send.

The bad scenario is, for example, if you have a progressive scan, upscaling dvd player that can output 720p and 1080i for DVDs. You do not want to use either of these modes. Instead you want 480i, over HDMI if you can (Oppo 970HD, for example), or over component if you can't over HDMI. If you're watching 1080i HDTV, don't have your cable box convert to 720p before sending to the VP30; you'd be double-scaling and using inferior deinterlacing.

Thanks. Unfortunately my dvd player only outputs 480p & above therefore I figured that in this situation probably sending 480p or 720p to VP20 is better than sending 1080i & let it scale to 1080p without loss of resolution.

If your player can't output 480i (and you should double-check that; just about everything can output 480i over component; 480i over HDMI is more difficult to find), then send 480p. You're letting the player deinterlace, at that point, but you're letting the VP do the scaling. If you send 720p, then you're not going to get much better performance than if you had the DVD player hooked up directly to the TV sending 720p.

I have a DirecTV/Tivo HD model HR10-250.

If I set the output of the HR10-250 to 480i, doesn't it take incoming 1080i and 720p HD signals and downconvert them before sending them to the VP30? I could use the VP30's great de-interlacing for non-HD sources, but it's a drag having to change the output mode on the HR10-250 everyime I switch between HD and SD material.

Is there any wy around this?

If you go into the settings menu, there is a setting for "native" which simply displays the native resolution of the incoming signal. That way you can have the processor upconvert 480 signals and not worry about downgrading 1080i and 720p signals.

There isn't a "native" setting for me. I'm using DirecTV SW version 6.3a. I did find that I can switch between 480i and 720p using the remote if I enable toggling between the two. Looks like I'll have to do that.

It's a little buried and hard to find -- if it was there it would be in settings and then either display or tv type.

A question if i may for Josh?

Will the VP30 get the EDID edit function to force fixed progessive sources to output 480i/576i eg. SkyHD dox via HDMI

A question if i may for Josh?

Will the VP30 get the EDID edit function to force fixed progessive sources to output 480i/576i eg. SkyHD dox via HDMI


I sure hope so. I have a Denon 3910 and it only outputs Progressive on HDMI. It appears that Denon has no intention of changing that, even with a firmware update.