Poll: Who doesn't own The Rock and why?  

Torn between the Cinematrix PSM1 /PSM2 and the ROCK. What puts me off the Rock is the green tint which I'm not sure has been resolved yet (anyone?).
Paul

Me.

Price.

Jeff

1/ A bug-free easy to use no-firmware-download-needed radeon htpc from Digital Connection produces a better picture at a fraction of the price.
2/ I would not buy anything from Phil.

Paul,I do own a rock and when calibrated w/Avia running a Barco I see no green tint.Colors look quite natural.Did Tommyboy see A green push? Tom W
,

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Tom.W

Not yet at least. Waiting for a review of the new deinterlacing algorithm as well as new video card, as well as a review of the fixes to the Faroujda d-ila nr.

TAW's upgrade policy has been quite fair to date, I'm just too lazy to have to ship a machine back for upgrades so I'd prefer to wait a bit.

In the mean time I have a vp301 and have converted my mp3 music server pc to a radeon htpc, so I can afford to wait a bit longer before making my decision.

I also just noticed key digital's announcement of their "leeza" scaler:
http://www.copperbox.com/pdfs/kd-ht1080p.pdf

It has SDI input, integrated 8x2 a/v switcher, 3 HD inputs, and presumably same input capture card & clearmatrix deinterlacing algorithm as the Rock+. Pre order $4k.

That's the problem with processors, there's always something "better" just around the corner!

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Alex

Hi Tom,
Yep, Tommyboy2 saw the green push - its in his scaler review. Maybe its gone with newer firmware?

Work permit,
Yep its a nightmare this "bleeding edge" technology stuff! I wonder how good the Leeza Scaler will be!?
Paul

That's precisely why HTPC is the better way to go and you get a better picture to boot.

It wasn't a firmware issue it was the input card itself and it has been corrected. I think I should be receiving the Rock Plus today sometime.

Tom

Tom,
Thanks for the clarification! That just leaves me to make up my mind about what to get......!

I'll have to have a good think about this - no doubt your RockPlus review will add to my confusion! Its great to have a choice but this is getting out of hand - there are what, 3 or more new scalers due in the next few months (the Leeza, the DreamScaler, RockPlus, PSM2 etc). Arghhh, why is life so difficult!??

Regards,
Paul

Paul:

If its any help, I find new technology comes out in waves, and we seem to be in the middle of one of those waves. Things may stabilize in a couple of months.

The dreamscaler has been out for a while, reading the posts on this forum: http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/Forum23/HTML/000639.html
you can take it off your short list. The exciting thing about the leeza is that it seems to be a close sister to the rock+ with more input flexibility.

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Alex

Same as Paul Butler!



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-Mark
***** Digital Vortex *****
The Digital Electronic Site
www.digitalvortex.com

Paul,
Frank Doorhof is a real good guy to deal with. I bought and sent a 7700 for the psm-1 mod, which he duly completed and sent back to the UK. That was a long time ago. Since then, I have had many hours of happy viewing and feel, that for film based material anyway, it looks very nice indeed. Untill I see something 'significantly' better with comparable ease of use and for this sort of money, I'm staying put.

Eric

FYI,

Green push is an older input board behaviour. It has been removed from all recent units. Current ROCK's and all ROCK Pluses do not have the green push.

People with ROCK with the green push in a ROCK, but upgrading to ROCK Plus, will have the green push removed as well during the upgrade. (Note: The upgrade cost is discounted versus the price difference between ROCK and ROCK Plus, as a reward to ROCK customers.)

You can talk to tommyboy when he evaluates the ROCK Plus, about this green push.

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Thanks,
Mark Rejhon
www.marky.com/hometheater
Lead Software Engineer for The TAW ROCK

[This message has been edited by Mark Rejhon (edited 07-11-2001).]

I think it's kind of ridiculous to have a list of everybody who DOESN'T own a particular piece of equipment, but anyway...

I actually had two Rocks in my system. Both unfortunately were DOA. After the second one I figured I should give somebody else a chance http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

Anyway, what I saw of the demo unit has always impressed me, and if the first or the second one had worked, I would certainly be still using it right now. I think it's a great product and it's only because of the unfortunate early DOA problems that I'm among this comprehensive list of people who DON'T own The Rock http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Jim Ferguson (edited 07-11-2001).]

Let me add to my first post:

I also don't own a Faroujda NR, a Vigatec, or a porsche http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

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Alex

Hi Uncle Eric,
You're the man that first made me aware of the Cinematrix about a year ago on this very forum! For sheer value and quality the Cinematrix is hard to beat.

I've been chatting to Frank on the ITC forum (I'll post the link if the moderators will allow it?) about the mod (using a Toshiba SD500) but keep coming back to the Rock - no sooner have I convinced myself that I'll go for x then I talk myself out of it and decide to go for y! Nightmare! Work permit is right, you wait ages for something to come along and then BANG! you get a veritable posse of the latest
"must have" equipment galloping at ya!

Jim Ferguson,
Yes, on the face of it, it does seem a bit ridiculous but I think its just as interesting (and important) to see why someone DIDN'T buy a particular product as well as why they DID! There are some interesting comments coming out here.

Paul

If you chose something else recently as an alternative, why?

Not yet - in the near future.

If you've been tempted to buy one but haven't, why not?

Phil.


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ABC = Another Boring Channel. Watch CBS on Monday Nights!

I haven't bought one, though not for lack of trying.... I decided not to out of fear that the company is flaky.

- Marc

Mike, hi.
I tried HTPC using the Radeon and was very, very pleased with the results, however its a bit fiddly and I'd prefer a simpler, no thats too ambiguous, make that a cleaner solution but with similar quality. This is why I got interested in the Cinematrix PSM1 which costs roughly the same as a mid to high end HTPC - approx $1100 in Europe including the DVD player.

The Rock (or indeed any similarly specced scaler) would be ideal for both DVDs and other sources but its whether I really need it for other sources thats giving me grief! At approx 3-5 times the cost of the Cinematrix and with a good possibility that I may not use it for anything other than DVDs I'm loathe to spend that amount of money. BUT I like the idea of the Rock (or similar), it appeals to me and if it cost (a lot!) less I would buy one now - as it is, I need to have a good think about what I need it for.

The one-stop box solution (i.e. the Cinematrix) is my preferred option. Cinematrix are producing a new DVD player, the Delphi, which has the PSM 2 already built-in. It looks VERY nice but we will have to wait and see what Frank Dorhoff says about it once he gets his hands on one in the next few weeks.

However, in the end I suspect I'll go with whichever one is within my budget and gives the best bang for the buck - with the latest upcoming price increase on the Rock its beginning to look more like the Cinematrix but I'll not be buying for a month or two yet so I'll keep my eyes open and may well wait to see what else pops out of the woodwork come September!
Regards,
Paul

If I remember right, Alan was very impressed with the prior version of Key Digital's scaler, that was ultimately pulled from the market.
I own a CrystalImage and have not pushed the button on a new scaler, including the Rock, until things settle down in a month or two.

Any chance of Tommyboy getting his hands on a Leeza and adding it to his review? To me, it sounds like a Vigatec competitor more than a Rock-like unit, with SDI and 1080p scaling (although it doesn't say that it scales 1080i to 1080p, however).

Very interesting!

Cheers

I was thinking more rock-like in performance, because as I understand it the rock uses a custom input card designed with key digital, and the rock's new deinterlacing algorithm was developed by key digital as well. This leaves the output card as the only other thing in the signal path.

TAW has said they are going to use a new custome video card in their upgraded emerald. This new Leeza unit may be planned to use the same card, may be using the geforce card, or may have a different card altogether. Don't forget, its at preorder status.

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Alex

Me.

$$$.



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Lex MC1/Sunfire CG/Hales Rev3's x3/M&K SS150 tripoles/Quadscan/Plus UP1100/Homemade screen

time line is always a factor;
consider this circular history;
I got a pioneer 505hd plasma in april, 01 because, among other reasons, Faroudja used it to demo their Native Rate scaler and that seemed like a very positive endorsement. The plasma is great, btw.
I then found out that the NR release would be delayed for "a while" and after a few weeks, inquired about the Rock and plasma, was advised by Phil to get one on order (no suprise there), waited another two or three weeks for the pre-production release, got the thing, found s-video problems, sent it back for a new input board, it was returned, even worse performance, Phil announced defeat and took it back and returned my $. I still had no scaler and the NR still wasn't out, and postings about it were getting uptight. Ordered the vig, got one in another 2 or 3 weeks. It worked great, but vig has yet to release the updated firmware to match the plas native rate. then the NR came out, it showed a few problems, blah, blah blah. Now i am going to go with the NR in its soon to be fixed version.

wacky.

jlm

Reply from PAP
um.... is this a joke? MC-1 ? and CinemaGrand ?
I wish I had the $$$ to buy an MC-1!

[This message has been edited by schick (edited 07-12-2001).]

I actually put an order in for THE ROCK and then was faxed an invoice that I was required to sign. The terms on the invoice made me uncomfortable so I decided to wait it out a bit.

Chuck

The Rock is just a very low spec turnkey PC running a mixture of shrink wrap, open source and proprietary software designed to be used as a scaler. Why don't I own one? because compared to Kryton it is a mere toy.

Jeff

I thought kryton made waterproofing sealants. Is this a european scaler, or are you saying TAW is all wet?

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Alex

http://y42.photos.yahoo.com/bc/yerke...or.jpg&.src=ph

My design.

Jeff