Hello from Thailand

i got the speical deal with Crystallio II3800pro at the moment i use Lumagen HDQ

Here we have
Crystallio II3800pro
iscan VP50pro
lumagen RadinceXD i may to ship from us or uk

and i think the best is choise for Scaler at the moment Crystallio II 3800pro coz i heard lumagen RadinceXD is just the data and complicated to use... and do not support HD SDI

my system
benq w10000 just up grade from PE7700 one week now
stweart 92" grayHnak 16:9
HD dvd a1+ HD SDI later and HD a35
BD player thinking about Panasonic or pioneer + HD SDI later
Lumagen HDQ just up garde From HDP noSDI one week now
sd dvd pioneer 969(avi59 usa version) +SDI modify coax WBT jack.

sound system
onkyo 803 + M&K xenon 25 but will move up to M&K 150 thx mkII Ultra( shipping on the way)

i think to get all HD SDI because i hate that i have to pass all my HDMI to AMP to get HD sound and so many bug also i DID try HDMI from a1> onkyo 803 > lumagen upscale 1080p /1080p24fps to W10000 dropsyc noticable

any suggest is it worth to upgarde to CrystallioII 3800pro and the picture quality will be outstanding and much better than HDQ ??
or i should wait for the completed version of top lumagen Radicne XD i do love lumagen but support HD SDI coz i am sure that HD SDI in put is much better than HDMI input

and also i worry coz i am going to use 3 SDI = 2 HD SDI( BD player & HD DVD player ) and 1 sdi (pioneer )

sorry with my poor english
Tony Lee

Hi Tony,

Can you tell us who told you that a Radiance is complicated to use?

Hi Gordon
thank you and very nice to see you in here as well and very sweet and kind of you to quest and suggest me

Which my dealer told me and i will try to explain as i can in english to you,
he said the Radiance XD doesnt have HD sdi coz all my plan i want to use HD SDI for picture coz i am sick of one HDMI output from any kind of player and dropsync... bug etc...
it will be nice if player got 2 hdmi 1 for pic output and 1 for audio:D
also Radiance is like kind what do they call like "data type " i am so so sorry i dont know really to explain ..also i will call him to ask what's really mean that .. :o:o:o and i pay for ISF team to set up the pic for me.. :confused: but in my feeling and option i still love lumagen product i wish i could be a your customer maybe i should safe my money and wait till the real nicer than C2 from Lumagen out nearly future .....
Mr Gordon as your suggest from avfroums i need the feature of analog out put to my PDP so. i moved to HDQ now and i get nearly same price that i paid to upgarde to add the SDI Chipset so i went with HDQ and love it also i got some extra so think i want to upgarde and ready for HD SDI nearly future
however when i look at HD BD player is sitll far far away to complete if i pick up one and modify HD SDI coz right now i know that only
xe1 a1 xa1 10ak pioneer BD1HD can do HD SDI that mean picture is top of the line but i will not get DTS HD MA or whatever with some sound feature right ???
i wonder too WILL C2 satify me enough if i have to trade HDQ( brand new) + $2200 for C2 :(:(:( ???

Maybe i should wait till the right HD BD player to do HD SDI maybe at the time lumagen has the nice one..

any suggest ??

My own opinion is that the Radiance is the best choice given your system, unless the HD SDI is a show-stopper for you.

I am a current owner of the CII 3800 and a former owner of various DVDO processors.

Regarding the CII: I have been utterly and completely disappointed by the CII. More than a year after introduction, the firmware remains so unstable as to make the CII virtually unusable, at least in my system. From time to time I get "blue screen flashes", audio dropouts, system lockups, and no picture at all. You can read much more about these problems, which other users have reported as well, on PMS's forums. And that's not even mentioning the integrated media player, which is completely worthless.

Regarding DVDO: In the past, I have had trouble with HDMI synching on DVDO products. I've also had some audio dropout problems. Generally, I was unsatisfied with the processing as well, but I have not seen the latest VP50Pro, which may do everything you require and possibly quite well.

If it were my cash, I'd send it to Lumagen.

Dear, Mr Gordon
i have talked to my dealer in thailand about using Lumagen Radaince xd it is NOT complicated to use sorry with my communication here this is all my misunderstand about Lumagen Radaince xd but the main point i would love to have HD SDI if Lumagen Radaince xd support HD SDI i really want this option nearly future!!
Do you think Radaince will have 2x or maybe HD SDI in put ??? my dealer use to ask with the Lumagen company they dont have plan at all to build the HD SDI version in Lumagen product even 1Q or 2Q next year but they are going prefrom the lower product line than Radaince ... is that true ???
i will not set up all by myself i will let the isf guy do all for me .... coz i dont have the software color test etc that they use to dot by dot... i know it is no one perfect in the market of VP now evne C2
any suggest my dear Gordon will help me if you have or anyone here ... maybe i will consider asking my boyfriend who lives in York to buy lumagen Radaince xd from you after he return from the cruise ship in Feb .. coz i still think about that should i wait to see what is going with Lumagen or i should get C2 next month.. ??

sorry with my poor english again..

stlblufan,
Can you elaborate more on your experiences with DVDO and CII? I own and have owned a long line of DVDO product and at one time a Faroudja product, and I have not seen much improvement in my video quality. All in all, I see them as switchers more than VPs. I have not owned a lumagen and I am currently waiting for my VPpro to show up, but I am seriously contemplating selling it and buying a Radiance instead.
Thanks.

Strange, my C2 has been absolutely dead rock solid without a single hiccup.

It is SO easy to use. At the current firmware revision, it is a mature product. I wouldn't want to go through a year of buying a Radiance and waiting for the bugs to be ironed out.

As for audio, the issue is overcome by routing your HDMI straight into your AVR. Sure, you lose lipsynch delay on the VP, but so far I haven't noticed it.

There are a lot of happy C2 owners out there. Sure there are some small issues with the media player but as a VP, its an outstanding machine.

Whoever finds theirs is crashing/unstable should approach PMS's technical support and work it through with them

All the best

I don't want to get in to a battle about what the CII is or isn't, but I do know that I am not the only one to continue to have problems with the device, even with the latest firmware release (2.08a). A quick look at the forum on PMS's site shows eight pages of comments relating to issues with this firmware -- the last two pages are all people asking when PMS will address those issues with a firmware update.

As for my own experience, as I mentioned above, I have had many problems, none of which are (according to PMS) related to a fault in my unit alone (i.e., no reason to RMA the unit). Among these problems: (i) when switching inputs, more often than not, the CII blanks the picture on the new input -- the only resolution is to reboot the unit; (ii) constant screen flashes / cadence breaks on nearly any input -- imagine watching a football game and suddenly having the screen blank out for two to three seconds; (iii) intermittent blue screen flashes (I haven't been able to pinpoint a cause for this, I can't reproduce the problem at the same spot on given source material); and (iv) massive tearing.

I'm not here to bash the CII, just to give my experience. Please read the reports of other users on the PMS forum for corroboration of my experience.

I have read the reports. There are still many happy C2 owners who aren't getting the problems that you are describing. I am unsure as to what's causing your problems and I am sorry that they are causing you such grief. I am only relating to myself and several of my clients who all have the C2 and absolutely love it.

Equally, please read the thread here about C2 experiences - there are a lot of happy campers. I also in these threads a wishlist in which PMS succesfully implement most of the suggestions.

Every product has issues - the Lumagen threads have just as many problems.

I would persist with trying to resolve your issues with PMS support as clearly you have a defective unit or there is something specific to your installation that may be contributing.

My unit hasn't failed a single time in the 6 months I have had it. It has been flawless. That's what leads me to think there is something wrong with yours. I'm sorry and I hope that you manage to resolve it somehow.

Kind regards

I just posted this in the C2 forums, I hope there's something in there that can help

"Gentlemen, I note that my C2 has run flawlessly without any issues despite being worked very hard. Over 6 months, starting with the 2.06 firmware and now with 2.08.

One time, using my HTPC I noticed a lot of tearing (many here have been discussing this issue). I found out it was actually my video card - not the C2. I ran in VMR 9 renderless exclusive and the tearing vanished. Try using different sources with different displays to see if you can replicate any issues. Furthermore, using EVR I get no tearing either.

I have also found my Toshiba HD-DVD player to be ridden with bugs (latest firmware) and it causes issues with many of my displays. It particularly dislikes my C2 yet my PS3 works perfectly. (even with forced /24)

All I am saying is that sometimes the issues aren't actually with the VP - the sources and displays can contribute immensely and we should always keep an open mind.

Kind regards"

this is all good information for me to think about get one of these Co2 or other
thank you so much for sharing idea any suggest please do i am very openmind with this

I owned a C2-3800 and now a Radiance.
The road with the C2 was a bumpy one at some times and PMS took too long to fix certain things, so i sold the unit.

With HDMI the Radiance is more stable than the C2 ever was (with the software i did run -up to 2.02 i think) Things might have improved with later firmware versions.

Showstoppers were for me:
1080i60 to 1080p24 (should be solved by now i think)
no multi channel sound via HDMI

Jacovn thank you for your sharing
what kind of display do you use fpj DLP LCOs LCD or CRT ?
also i heard before about unstable compare to Radiance xd but my point is i am going to use HDMI for awhile till Feb and i am going to use HD SDI and HDMI from player will go direct to audio system ..that why make me buzzy to pick one but i know Co2 comes along with HD SDI but only x2 input that i dont have to think about it when i sent my HD DVD and BD player to modify only my sd DVD avi 969 +sdi (59 USA version) anony me coz i need to use for some thai movies or chinese movie which cold not play on R1 player..

I use curerently a JVC HD-1 and had a Barco G808s before. With the CRT i used a Moome converter. That might have been also some cause of problems with the C2, at least it was not working 100% with some software releases.

You could use the 2nd HDMI output of the Radiance and feed that to your audio system.
This will never work with the C2 for more than 2 channels. The Audio delay should compensate for the delay for video processing. If you do not do that your audio system must add the delay.

Perhaps Lumagen will have its HD-SDI to HDMI converter ready in the timeframe you mention. You could hook up 3 of them, and have 3 HDMI inputs left free.

hi

I am a happy C2 owner ( albeit the the internal media player is only nice for SD dvd's) and it did take a year to iron out 94+ % of the bugs which pops op in various system ( rare) combinations. Indeed the PMS forums do express ppl with problems as if you have a problem you WILL contact the manufacturer, don't you think? But the happy ppl without problems are the silent ones..

However if you count the number of names who have problems you will not more find than 20 ppl and not more than 8 who have a problem repeatedly. I think 95% of the C2 owners are happy campers.

And i am almost sure that newer generation scalers will give you the same 1 yr " cleansing problems out of the firmware" time. It is very hard for manufacturers to anticipate the "myriad" of combinations customers may have at home and guarantee a problem free working machine

I agree that the happy owners are the silent ones, and I also agree that it takes some time to iron out the issues that any new technology is bound to have. All I was trying to do was give my opinion based on my own experience with my CII, which still has a myriad of problems even with the latest firmware update. PMS has been non-responsive to my inquiries, and each successive firmware upgrade over the past year has failed to resolve the "black screen" bug, blue flashes and cadence breaks. Maybe I own the only unit in the whole world with this problem. Maybe all of the rest of the CIIs out there are performing flawlessly. Unfortunately, I only have my experience to go by, and thus my opinion, as expressed above, stands.

hi

I feel w. you
Especially as the unit is expensive
More than 1 however send the unit back to them and got it repaired
Could you not mail them privately for such a solution?
I agree that the shipping cost to them will be paid by sender
but then the unit is worth it

thank you for all sharing idea and i do want to use HD SDI i think Co2 will more option down deep more than VP 50pro at the moment to calibate and i pay for the isf guy to calibrate the system at home so .. yes in thailand only 10 or less than 10 people use Co2 coz the price i bring question up coz i love lumagen but i am sure we will not see HD SDI from them before CES2008 so need to jump on coz i get the upgrade in once got the good deal for all.. so.. i will move from my HDQ to Co2 and wait a few month to get BD player + HD SDI and HD DVD + HD SDI ...
thank you again

After using firmware 2.08 and my new Pioneer 95FD the crystalio II has performed flawlessly with 1080p/24 coming in and then sending it back out to my sony Black Pearl. The picture has been judder free and sharp as well as smooth. I could not ask for more. Being able to change firmwares with the usb flashdrive in minutes is one of the best features.... ;)