New DVDO iScan Duo [2.0 firmware released] - Page 99

While the DUO is old technology if one uses the CMS, the software vendors like ChromaPure keep increasing the value add to the device. ChromaPure, the D3 Pro meter and a DUO are and incredibly powerful combination considering the caliber of calibration achievable through the auto-calibration process. Wake me when some new technology offers anywhere near the capability for the price point.

Please name the newer stand alone VPs that utilize this newer technology. I must be missing something. The Lumagen models that many consider to be better are older still. (And substantially more expensive). Simplay and Lumagen are the primary players in this market.

I never stated that there were any. I was just commenting on the lack of new VP's using newer technology. While the DVDO Edge and iScan Duo are excellent for the money, it is not difficult to see where they fall down.

Picture calibration is only part of it, and was not what I was referring to.

My Duo does not fall down. It stands up straight and tall.

What new technology do you want?

New AVRs are coming with far reaching Video capabilities - may be better in some areas, lacking in others, and lastly, inferior in others. As usual, time will tell. May force prices to come down. Picked up my last one from the AV Science Special. Find it is better than my older version. So there must have been some HW updates that we don't know about.

can you point me to some examples? i haven't been following the technology
recently (or at least since trading in my vp50pro for the duo, which i am delighted with)

as a techie/geek, i like to follow the technical progress in this and other fields related to my hobbies.

thanks

I have connected a Iscan Duo HDMI1 out to a Denon 4806CI HDMI In port. I have also connected an Apple TV and a Roku to the Iscan Duo. In the settings, I have chosen Audio HDMI. For some reason, I am unable to hear any sound. Any suggestions?


never mind, I was able to figure this one out. Somewhere deep in the menu, I found out that the audio out was set at optical. I changed it to HDMI and also changed the audio out to video HDMI and viola!

Hello all, I am planning on getting an DVDO Iscan HD with a power supply, the thing is, it's missing a remote, so this raises a question, could I use any universal controller with the Iscan HD? Or could I use a DVDO Vp20/Vp30/Vp50 remote it it's place? Could anyone confirm if it works?

Thanks.

My Harmony 880 works well with the Duo.
The Duo codes have been on the Logitech Harmony database for some time now.

I would highly recommend Universl Remote MX-900
it requires programming and programming software but once you get over that hump, you will be amazed with it

MX-900 is from the Harmony series of remotes I assume? I hear the Harmony 300 is just as good since it's still supported and can be programmed through software via a PC, and it's alot cheaper as well, I just wanted to know if DVDO Iscan was supported.

Thanks.

No. it is from URC..It does require more programming, as far as I can tell. Also, you need the software which is usually targeted for dealer...However, much more powerful... some day, when my harmony One died (which BTW does control DUO no problem), I might get one... Or, I am thinking of getting irule/ipad combo..

Okay so I have had my DUO for about two months I guess. I had the setup working pretty good except I had all video devices plugged into my receiver first then to the Duo via one HDMI input then out to my projector.. Seemed to work fine.

So, since I'm never happy with fine, I decide to hook it up the preferred way and took all my video devices into the DUO first, then an HDMI audio out of the DUO to my receiver.... Man I have had nothing but problems... My receiver constantly is displaying HDCP error, I assume cause it is getting audio but no video.

The input switching of the DUO has me totally stumped. I have try the Auto sense, I have rearranged the priority of devices... but I still have problems...

Even though my cable box maybe off, if you go to that video input it still says press menu on your remote to view TV... Fios cable box, so apparently it is still on when it is off...

My new HTPC is pretty much on all the time so that input is active.

My PS3 would not come on last night and display a picture until I turned off the cable box. Then it magically appeared...

This setup has to be very common, but it is not a very easy setup to master. I am either missing something or I need to go back to hooking everything to the receiver and using one input on the DUO.

It is nice having separate picture controls when using separate inputs especially for the HTPC though.

Anybody have any tips for setting this stuff up?

I hooked up all my HDMI sources directly to the Duo, PS3, an Oppo DVD, Panny BD30, a local STB, and a Netgear media player, connect Duo audio out to my Onkyo 906, and video out 1 to PJ and 2 to plasma, fortunately for me all switching are essentially flawless from day 1. No special setting for me either except priority setting.

I suggest you plug 1 source in at a time to see if problem persists. I had a cable box developing issue, I took it off and the setup has been flawless since. I switched that cable box around different input and it made no difference so it was an easy decision.

For me, I had a Dish receiver that also display the splash screen, so it is always ON.
When you have a device that is always-on, first, it is not possible to do "auto-standby". So, if this is what you need, you can forget about it.
Also to note is that, you are probably better off not using input priority. For me, since I have a Harmony Remote, I basically just select individual input with a dedicated button.
If you really want to do input priority, you need to make sure your always-on device is the LOWEST priority. In your case, you might want to have

1) PS3
2) Cable Box
3) HTPC

basically, any always-on device had to be at a lower priority than any device that could be turn off. If you have always-on device mixing in between those, then they might never be selected.

Again, I think you would want to have DUO to take all the input, but you can just use button to select (and not use input priority or auto-sensing or auto-anything), because you have an always-on device.

Hope that helps.

Thanks guys...

I think that helps shed a little more light on the situation. For simplicity reasons, I was hoping to get away with being able to do things automatically... If it was just me that used the system I wouldn't care. I have a Harmony 890 remote, and I did set it up to switch to the proper inputs when needed. I also know that the Harmony remote will sometimes turn on a device but sometimes miss switching to the proper input. That would leave my wife calling me on the telephone when she is trying to get a movie going for the kids... saying why isn't this stupid thing working....

I will mess around with it some more over the weekend, and see how reliable the dedicated switching is using the Harmony remote. I'm gonna turn off the Auto-sense, and the prioritizing.

Thanks again.

If you have 2 always-on device, I do not see how you can use input priority.. at least not between those 2 devices. So, switching to each input with Harmony is the way to go.

I had a Harmony One, and I also had your problem that sometimes it does not "switch"... maybe the IR is not receiving properly, or some delay in receiving command or whatever. The "help" button usually fix problems if certain device is not turned ON, so I will say train your wife to first press that and see if that fix the issue. Another thing I do is I program a sequence with one of my button (usually the "+" sign, as I rarely use it), and I basically put all the "input select" commands for that button. For example, I will make that button send "DUO Input #3, AVR Input #1, TV input #1 etc" if I am watching TV, and maybe "DUO Input #2, AVR Input #1, TV input #1" if I am using PS3 etc. Since I have 2 output, I will also put that command into that + button so when I press that button, I make sure all the equipment have the right input/output. Usually, that fix 99% of all the problems.
Hope that help.

That's a good trick with the Harmony remote. I will have to dig into that a bit further. You say you can program the + button to do different things based on the activity you are in?
You said since you have 2 output.... I'm not sure I follow you there? can you elaborate on that more? Is that just the two you have setup? TV and PS3 I wasnt sure what you meant.. Thanks for the insite!

Yes. In each activity, I just go to Sequence and add the appropriate control. It is NOT automatic, but to the user, everytime they press the + button, it will select the right input/output.

I have 2 output device.. One plasma, and one Projector. that's what I mean. So, I basically doubled my activities, and have one for plasma and one for projector. (Harmony force me to pick an output device when I create an activity, which is pretty dump.. If they allow me to create an activity without a display, then I can just easily create a power button for my plasma and projector, and just press that after I start up my activity... vs. I need to create 2 identical activites and there is no copy function!!).

For example, if I am in "watch TV Plasma", my + button will look like
DUO HDMI Input1, Plasma Input1, AVR Input3

And if i am in "watch TV Projector", my + button will be programmed to
DUO HDMI Input1, Projector Input1, AVR Input3

another thing that I program to the + button is the 24p support. Since my plasma does not support it, I program my + button to turn it OFF.

It is a bit troublesome to program the + button as the macro sequence in Harmony cannot be re-used across activities...However, it is quite a time-saver whenever my DUO cannot switch properly.

Thanks those are great ideas. I'm sure I can implement something like that in my setup for sure.

Recently purchased duo and overall extremely satisfied. But it seems on occasion it freezes up screen goes black for a few seconds and then comes back on. Anyone else have this issue or any ideas what could be causing this ?

Not sure of the effect I had but the Hardware to electrical input lead needs to be pressed firmly home.

This can easily be detached by even vibration if not secured.

I had something similar... I think it was mostly when switching from source to source but my receiver wasn't set to pass through video processing and I guess they were fighting each other from time to time.

Have you update the firmware to the latest and greatest? I have found that if I am having problems with something, hitting the info button while it is happening will sometimes help point me in the right direction.

Is the resolution output set to the native output of your screen or at least on Auto?

Is it only on a particular source or input or is the problem there no matter what device is selected?

That's my 2 cents..

I have completely by passed my receiver for video control use it just for audio now. Seems to be limited to just when I am watching tv from cable box I have a feeling it has something to do with the native output o the cable box. The one question I would have would it be better to leave input settings of color space , colorimetry , and chroma set to auto or to fixed position. The freezing seems to happen with mixed media. I am no expert by any means but seems to happen more when watching news verses a movie.
Thanks.

Switching from source to source or having one source change signal type always triggers a resync that gives a black screen for a 1~2 seconds for me.

Nothing abnormal I would say.

I got my DVDO Duo a couple of days ago. I'm really impressed with its performance. Not unexpectedly, it has been a bit of a drill to get everything set up properly. I learned through experience that anytime I add something new to my system there are unintended effects not necessarily related to the component I just installed.

Since I have the Oppo 93 and Marantz AV7005 in my system I have three scalers. The best results so far are with letting the Duo perform all the scaling. The Oppo is set to Pure Direct and outputs via HDMI2 (learned that here). Video processing is disabled in the AV7005. I also learned here that the issue I was experiencing of the Duo not "remembering" the aspect ratio of my laserdisc on the composite and s-video inputs is not unique to my unit.

I am impressed with the image quality the Duo produces from my laserdiscs. It is much better than the output from the video processor in the AV7005, even though both are Anchor Bay chipsets. I view the laserdiscs on my Samsung 67A750 DLP rear projector and a good disc will compare reasonably well with DVD as long as I display them in 4:3 aspect ratio and don't zoom to full screen. This is why I bought the Duo and it makes my laserdisc collection very watchable. Performance on blu-ray, sat TV, and DVD is excellent. I have not discerned any difference with DVDs from the Oppo's Qdeo scaler. Not to say that there isn't any, but that I've not yet seen it.

The only issue I have at the moment with the Duo is often I get some form of what seems like interference on the composite/s-video inputs I use for laserdisc. It takes various forms with each startup. Sometimes I get a lot of video noise including wavy lines of blue dots on both inputs. A power down to standby and then back up will usually clear it up. When I get this it is with two different LD players.

The more troublesome issue is more subtle. The s-video image will show posterization and it often it takes several attempts powering up and down both the LD player and the Duo to get normal performance. Once I do, normal (very good) performance remains until the next time I shut down the system. Then I start over again. One thing I've experienced is that every time I add a component I have to check for ground loops. Is it possible to have a ground loop that shows as video interference rather than the common 60 cycle hum?

What is the best way to contact DVDO technical support? I left a message yesterday at the 888-651-1765 number listed on the DVDO website, but have not heard back. Is there another option?

Also, how do I perform a hard reset on the Duo. Is it the same as the VP50?

I got a call from Ken Nguyen at Silicon Image about the issue I was experiencing with the Duo. He believes it is a hardware fault and the unit should go back for exchange. Ken was very helpful and I was impressed with his support. I also told him about the aspect problem with 4:3 material on the composite/s-video inputs and he was able to duplicate the problem. He believes it is a bug that can be fixed in a future firmware update.

Glad to hear that Ken is still with the company. He has helped me in a couple of DVDO issues over the years..... SJ

I have a few questions for you guys...
Just had the Edge I bought s/h from Liechtenstein flashed to the latest firmware and now trying to replace my VP50 (which was constantly giving black screens on 24p).
Well, that worked OK on the Edge with 1:1 setting.
But:

1) Am I correct there's no contrast, brightness etc. hex code that allows me to change a setting without going through the menu?
Actually, I don't know how the handle these -50...+50 options shown in the wonderful IR Generator proggie; no up or down to press so what's the use?

2) Vert/hor stretch, same story; The VP50 allowed me to save 10 settings for pan/zoom combinations.
Could not find any of these...