I am about to purchase one of the new Sanyo Z2000 front projectors, and am thinking about getting an Oppo with it. Hopefully, most of my video sources will be either DVD or HDTV 1080i, so it is these two I need upconverted to the projector's native 1080p.

Yes, I learned from reading posts here that the Faroudja inside the oppo is outdated, but I am looking for solutions that cost around $500, not solutions that cost $3,000. In fact, my entire setup should cost around $3,000.

How good are the scalers inside the latest bunch of front projectors? It is hard to find much information from the vendors of these mid-piced projectors on this front. I presume an Oppo is still better, so it is $200 well spent for their faroudja chip, isn't it?

I recall that DVDO long ago had $500 solutions. Nowadays, some receivers, DVD players, and projectors have apparently decent scaling solutions in this range. Still, I find it a bit surprising that no general purpose scalers are available in the $300 to $500 price range. Heck, if the Oppo is better than the projector, I might have even wished to run my other sources through the Oppo's $200 built-in scaler. Irony? I also presume this isn't possible.

are their home theater computer solutions available that are good? if need be, and if they are good, we could probably put together $500 computer solution. Of course, if the Sony PS3 could act as a scaler, this would be real nice, but again, just a pipe dream.

I hope I am not intruding too badly on this otherwise far more videophile forum.

/iaw

Wait a couple of months for the new Oppo 983 as it will have state of the art SD scaling and de-interlacing for your DVD collection. It will run under $400.

A 1080i source is not upconverted to 1080p; it is de-interlaced to it. Your projector should do that without any problems on its own.

Faroudja tech is old hat, so to speak, and really is low end nowadays.



Good luck.:)

Gefen offers a few models in the 4-5 hundred dollar range. Take a look at the Gefen Home Theater Scaler and the Home Theater Scaler Plus. This technology changes fast so even last years solutions are usually far superior to anything available a few years ago.

Ed

Thanks. Are the low-end Gefen models much better than the Oppo 980 tech? Comparable to the Oppo 983 tech?

thanks also for pointing me to the next Oppo DVD player.

/iaw

Comparisons are difficult and very subjective. What matters most is the original content. A very noisy source is almost impossible to make look "good" on a large screen. Keep in mind that SD NTSC was developed when screens were 9". HD on the other hand looks so good that you almost don't need scalers.

Does anyone have a Gefen Home Theater Scaler or plus?

Has anyone heard of a Reaon VX based sub $500 scaler (other than those on receivers)?

Dont even get fooled to buy the Gefen scalers. The PS3 does far better scaling and so will an Oppo. Yes I am now a disappointed HTS owner.

SpeedyHTPC,

I'm sure you realize that the results can vary a lot depending on a lot of variables. Can I ask a few questions?

What source were you trying to scale and at what resolution?

What resolution were you trying to output and on what output?

What display were you using?

Ed

if anyone refers to this old threat---it appears to me that it would make sense to purchase a video device that already has an HQV built in---like the new Mitsu HC6000. some of the scalers using the HQV chip in the Mitsu seem to cost almost as much as the entire projector. of course, this is not an option for everyone, but if it is, it would make sense.

I purchased a used Extron scaler at videogon and it scales up to 1080p and it was dirt cheap,
The gefen scalers are also very good and the dvdo iscan hd can be found used for around $400.00 used , so there are many choices so take your time and research.

SpeedyHTPC,

I'm sure you realize that the results can vary a lot depending on a lot of variables. Can I ask a few questions?

What source were you trying to scale and at what resolution?

What resolution were you trying to output and on what output?

What display were you using?

Ed

A Wii at 480i and p to 720p.
BenQ PE7800. its a 1024x576 but sure shows signals that are clean very well.

Resolutions isn't a problem here. It is the gefen adding noise and raising the black level other than that, it provides color adjustments and a rough sharpener. All of which isn't what I wanted it for. For $500 I wanted some nice scaling, this unit is a bit disappointing.

A Wii at 480i and p to 720p.
BenQ PE7800. its a 1024x576 but sure shows signals that are clean very well.

Resolutions isn't a problem here. It is the gefen adding noise and raising the black level other than that, it provides color adjustments and a rough sharpener. All of which isn't what I wanted it for. For $500 I wanted some nice scaling, this unit is a bit disappointing.

SpeedyHTPC,

That explains your problem. If you look in the HTS manual on page 7 you will see that 1024 x 576 is NOT a supported output resolution. So what does this mean - this means that the HTS is scaling your input to something (you didn't say what) and then passing it off to your BenQ to have it re-scale the image to the somewhat strange 1024 x 576 resolution. So you see - resolution is the problem. What you are seeing is the image being scaled once by the HTS and a second time by the scaler on your projector to its native resolution.

Again - your internal scaler is re-scaling the image and apparently doing a bad job of it.

You might experiment with sending your projector resolutions that it does a better job of re-scaling but the Gefen HTS does not seem to support your projectors native resolution.

Ed

You dont have to take my word or hundreds of other users that bought the HTS. Like I said, If I were to feed my PJ direct input of the Wii, I do not see these issues that I raised.

I actually dont disagree that the PE7800 isn't crappy but I do know its not the scaler in the PJ. In fact if you want to say this PJ is crappy, you can say the same for all BenQs since I saw zero difference between this PJ and the famed 8700.

what experience do YOU have with the HTS?

I think eduski's point is that, by adding the HTS to the chain, you are now just scaling the image twice: once to 720p (by the HTS), and then again to your display's native res (by the projector). This can only degrade the PQ. That's why the Wii looks better going straight into your projector.

An external scaler is of limited value unless it can achieve 1:1 pixel mapping with your display.

where do you search for used/refurbished video processors. I have tried to goole them out with no luck.

I am looking for a decent 480i/480p upconversion to 1080i

Keep checking the AVS marketplace here on this forum.

Ebay, Videogon, maybe Craigslist if you're lucky. But I say don't bother with a $500 scaler. Put a little more money into the projector itself or wait for the 983 or wait for some half-decent scalers (VP30, HDQ, etc.) to drop even further in price.

I have the HTS. I wouldn't use it on my main display, my VP50pro is for that. I do use the HTS with my 37' 1080P Westinghouse so I can input 1080P60 into the set. That model Westinghouse has problems deinterlacing 1080i and produce smearing. With the Gefen HTS I can avoid it. The picture from the HTS is good enough for this small set but I wouldn't use it with a set over 50". It was 25% below retail so i got a decent price on it. My main complaint is Gefen didn't have the foresight to have the ability for user upgradeable firmware so the only way to upgrade it is to send the unit to GEFEN for an update.

where do you search for used/refurbished video processors. I have tried to goole them out with no luck.

I am looking for a decent 480i/480p upconversion to 1080i

I have a Faroudja NRS (1280*720p output) that will scale 480i that I can sell cheap. PM if you're interested.