Picture quality of a Pioneer cld-99 laserdisc player

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The Onkyo NR809's video processing, with the combination of the HQV Vida 1900 for de-interlacing and the Qdeo for scaling, IMHO is actually pretty awesome and is on par (i.e. excellent) with the DVDO series. At least on paper.

You are also fortunate that you are using the CLD-99 which also is considered an excellent source unit via its s-video output. So once again the combination the NR809 combined with the CLD-99 seems like a good one. On paper.

The potential, and probably unlikely, weak link that I can think of would be the Onkyo's analog video section. Since I'm not familiar with the Onkyo the question would become, "How good is Onkyo's implementation of s-video input processing on the NR809?" And this question would probably be best asked in the receiver sub forum.

But if you are happy with the picture, and it sounds like you are, I'm gonna suspect that everything is just fine and this is probably as good as it gets from your "stone age" connection. Assuming the s-video input is free of issues on the NR809 then I doubt you would see a noticeable difference using a dedicated DVDO unit. If you did use a DVDO unit, you would want to use it as the "switch" and run all sources to it with a single HDMI (for video) to your TV and another HDMI (for audio) to the receiver.

And as always with today's electronics also verify that you are running the latest firmware for the Onkyo. It looks like they just issued another update this week and several of the earlier updates involved video performance.

As a side note I'm using a new Yamaha RX-A2010 receiver and was pleased enough with its HQV Vida 1900 that I was able to retire a DVDO Edge from my setup.
Edited by bluechunks - 7/7/12 at 4:07pm

I would run CLD-99 svideo into onkyo reciver. have it de-interlace and scale to 1080p. then use tvs aspect ratio to zoom into letterboxed LDs.

although cld99s comb filter is outdated, it still exceeds the capalities of the non adaptive 3d (fixed) comb filters in the onkyo and sharp tv. use lesser aggresive settings on the 3d comb filter it checkboard effect bothers you.

onkyos qdeo chip is superb for de-interlacing and scaling. its capabilities are not fully implemented on this reciever. its aspect management is very poor with 2 options only straight and smart zoom which stretches the image. you need your tv to zoom into the image keep correct aspect ratio on your tv. set your reciever to output straight/untouched aspect ratio.

onkyo has noise reduction ability however these are geared towards digitaly compressed sources. LD is analog and uncompressed. noise reduction on Ld blurrs the image. make sure to turn off all noise enhancement, reduction process off on tv and reciever.

if spending another $200-300 not a big issue, get yourself a DVDO Vp30 or Vp50. this video processors take full advantage of their engine. you will be amazed how much control you have over the picture. you can force rgb or 422 color space into your tv. zoom into letterboxed content with superb accuracy, lock onto film source with super fast cadence detection just name a few things you cant do without a vp. if you get vp, it will process 1080i cable/sat signal better as well. it will fix chroma bug on cable/sat box which your tv and reciever would not touch.

also a vp can revert dvds and ld back to 24 frame. it can lock to film source and rebuilt into 1080p 24 frame. i bought a vp30 for $250 it was well worth it. i also bought a toshiba hd-a3 hd-dvd player for $20 which can output 480i over hdmi so my vp does all processing. it also de-interlaces and scales sd content on cable(bypasses 1080i for reciever to handle as it doesnt deinterlace 1080i correctly) vp 50 does 1080i as well for alittle more.

I originally hooked up my CLD-99 to my 65" Panasonic PZ850U through my Onkyo 5507 pre-pro via s-video and was quite happy with the results. But bought a DVDO Edge and went through it via s-video and saw a marked improvement in the PQ of my discs. Not stunning, but enough to justify the purchase. I also run my TW cable through it and it, too, looks much better. The Edge is very tweak able and playing with the settings was very easy and helped me get the PQ I was looking for in my HT. My display was ISF calibrated if that matters.