New Nad Master Series... - Page 3

New to AVS forum - found it while looking for more info on Masters Series - thanks for the links and thoughts, Gang.

Anybody know if ithe M15 does analog base management for SACD, etc?

About the release date. . . . I just contacted a local HT installer, who contacted his NAD rep. The latest info is that the Master Series should be out late December or early January. Seeing that CES is in Jan, I'm thinking NAD will wait til after the show to release it.

I can confirm, NAD will release following CES. :-D

Crap.

Why would NAD wait to release the Master Series when they spent serious money advertising them in September/October issues in Home Theater magazines?

It is far more plausible that they've had either technical problems or manufacturing glitches that is causing the delay. I doubt they could be so mismanaged as to have the marketing department in the dark in terms of release dates - especially purposely missing the holiday season makes no sense at all.

John,
nothing personal here, but I must ask you a question at this point.

Why on earth don't you sign your name as a NAD, NHT and whatever else DEALER ???

I honestly find it unbelievable that you don't. It only tells me that you are concerned of your own true identity...it really tells me you just market without disclosing. Strange at best ?

The vast majority of dealers hanging out on this and other forums do not hide who they are.




ww

There you go, Gio. I guess we'll just wait to see how many people bust my butt for "selling" or "trying to make money off of AVS." I'll tell you in advance that it's a no-win situation, but we'll do it your way for awhile.

I am also a NAD dealer and a soon to be masters dealer. First the master series is scheduled to ship in Dec. Second a nad dealer, particularly a master series dealer would be an idiot to disclose who they were and try to sell them on any forum or internet site as they whould have their dealership stripped away. Nad Master series is very protected and there will only be about 100 dealers in the country.

Also, nad dealers cannot get master series. They are completly different. I have different reps. Most nad dealers will not be able to pick up the master series line.

Just checking to see if anyone has any news on the release date. Is it still sometime in December? The press releases I've read said that MS was supposed to be out in Nov, and there are ads for the product line in many of the current AV mags. I'm getting very impatient.

I talked to Stephen at NAD and he said "last week of December" which really means early January. Still, considering that it was officially announced in September (leaked early), it's not really that far behind. Many companies announce things a year or more before they actually ship.

Thanks for the update Alimentall. I understand that products are announced often well before they are released, but in this case NAD is actively advertising in print and at the bottom of the ads it reads, "ask for an audition of the Master Series at your nearest NAD authorized custom retailer today."

Don't get me wrong, I'm not angry about the delay. Just anxious to get it.

Hello everybody
I have just received word from nad customer support that due to some delays we will have to wait until January for the first shipping of the M series

That's pretty much what has been expected.

On a good note, I was speaking with Greg about the M3 and he indicated that it is software upgradeable. I was asking for a feature that is not in there right now and he indicated that it may well be possible to add this feature in software. This would make the M3 one of only a couple software driven integrateds on the market. The only one I can think of that is similar to the M3 is the top-end Mark Levinson model at more than double the price. Looking the the M-L, it's just amazing how similar they are, except that the NAD, while a bit lighter, is actually more powerful. Check out the similarities:

John,

I just checked out your website and I'm impressed with your candor concerning a particular speaker brand - it's nice to see a dealer who is not afraid to tell it like it is

I have a few questions concerning the new universal disc player:

1. The info suggests it will play DVD's at 480i over HDMI - true?
2. Does it use the FLI-2310 series chip for upconversion?
3. Can it upconvert over component?
4. Will the unit be upgradeable? i.e. HDMI standards, etc.

Thanks

I'm very candorous
I believe this is part of the HDMI standard that it has to do this. I think.
Probably, but not sure. I zoomed in on the chip, but couldn't read the lettering.
Yes.
No. Unless there's something I'm misunderstanding, HDMI is a completely closed, non-upgradeable system so that no one can reprogram the chips or bypass/hack any of the HDCP protections. The Masters is V1.1, which is to say the HDMI is good for 2-channel audio and video switching. You'd want to use the analog outputs to attach to a pre/pro. It's pretty infuriating to me that HDMI is not a software upgradeable technology.

I don't know if it could be upgraded with a board swap however. Hardware upgradeability hasn't been thing for them in the past, but who knows? I've been pressing them on this, but they might not even know. The video board is on its own card, so it is possible that an M55v2 would simply be the same machine with a video board swap and *possibly* that could be reto-fitted in the field. Maybe. Don't quote me on that. Hopefully, that's the idea.

Come the first of the year, NAD will be shipping their T773 and T763 recievers with Video upconversion to component (a feature not presently available)...via a change of the video boards...so one could assume they could upgrade the boards in the M-series as well...as the future needs call for it.

That's interesting. I was told that upconversion required too many changes to the circuit boards, but this was awhile back and it would be implemented on T7x4 models. But it sounds like new receivers are mid to end 2006, that little feature will sure make those receivers more sellable.

Sorry to sound stupid, but isn't component video simply an input or an output? How is this 'upconversion'? Are they deinterlacing the component signal?

Thanks.

Meaning converting composite and S-video in to component out for wiring simplification. It's not really improving the signal, just converting it.

Thanks for the clarification.

proper term is transcoding

Dizzman,

Yes - if all one is doing is converting between one of the different formats; RGB, Component,
S-Video... without changing the resolution; that's "transcoding" as you point out.

"Up / down" are used when the resolution changes - i.e. the signal is being scaled as done in
a scaler.

OK, I just have to say it. I chuckle every time I see "Nad Master".

Not to get picky, but it's Nad Masters, not Nad Master. Think of a group of mean women, not just one.

John,

Dizzman Is CORRECT - and you are WRONG!!

Transcoders do EXACTLY what Dizzman states - convert one type of analog signal to another
type of the analog signal w/o changing the resolution. [There are also transcoders that operate
in the digital domain - so the use of the term "transcoder" doesn't imply analog or digital data]

Extron Electronics provides a definition:

http://www.extron.com/search.asp?search=transcoder

"Transcoder - An electronic device designed to convert one signal type to another, and
vice-versa. For example, the Extron YCS Transcoder both decodes composite video into
S-video, and encodes S-video into composite video."

For example Extron's YCS Transcoder can convert between S-Video and Composite:

http://www.extron.com/product/product.asp?id=ycstrans

The Extron TSC 100 Transcoder converts between PAL <--> NTSC:

http://www.extron.com/product/product.asp?id=tsc100

SyncBlaster's RGB2C Transcoder converts RGB to Component:

http://www.syncblaster.com/Syncblaster_RGB2C.html

RAM Electronics KD-VTCA3 Transcoder converts VGA[sic] to Component:

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/kd-vtca2.htm


Note that the signals that are converted by these transcoders are analog - which
is contrary to your contention that use of a transcoder implies a digital data format.


Again, INCORRECT - the definition above from Extron's Glossary uses the terms
encoding and decoding to describe the process.

Learning to use the proper technical terms allows one to be more precise and accurate in
expressing technical content - and lessens the chances of misunderstandings.

Well, if John says so... then it must be correct.

Never mind the folks who wrote the book.

Trans---- means to go from format to format. it is independant of up or down scaling. Conversion can involve both, but trans by itself is only from one format to another.

There are all sorts of trans jokes running through my head... but i will be strong!

John,

Again you just can't admit that you are WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!

You fail to discern the contradiction in your own statement. You state above that the signal
types you enumerate above are all basically the "same" - but you want to use a term like
"up convert". What's "up" about converting signals that are the "same"?

Let me explain the terms that you throw around with abandon without understanding the
meaning. The most basic analog signal is RGBHV. There are five signal lines which carry
the Red, Green, Blue intensities plus the Horizontal and Vertical scanning signals. One can
multiplex the HV scanning signals on the color signal if desired [ usually the Green, if memory
serves], and you have RGB.

Component is just another form of RGB in which the signals are linear combinations of RGB.
The signals in component are Y, Pr, Pb where:
Y = R + G + B
Pr = R - Y
Pb = B - Y

By adding and subtracting the signals Y, Pr, Pb; one can get a different linear combination of
signals that is equal to the original RGB:
R = Pr + Y
B = Pb + Y
G = Y - R - B

There's no "up" or "down" in this conversion - it's simply another linear combination.
[ It basically a question of how many "soda straws" you want to funnel your data through -
the more bandwidth, the merrier].

In S-Video, the luminance Y is on one signal lead, and the color information is multiplexed
onto another signal lead. That's why S-Video is frequently labelled Y/C [Luminance / Color ]

In composite, all the luminance and color information is composited into a single signal.

There's nothing "up/down" in this process which is why up convert is not the preference.

Also - "transcoder" is NOT a marketing term. Scientists and engineers use the term "transcoder"
ALL the time - it's not marketing hype.

I gave you examples of products from 3 manufacturers - so that you would see that the
terminology is not unique to Extron. If you "Google" the term "transcoder" - you will find many
more!!! [ You should get into the habit of using Google - you'd save yourself a lot of embarassment.]

John, you should take Dizzman's advice and go read some books on elementary electronics
and you can try to "correct" people when you are educated in the field.

John,

Unfortunately for you; just "knowIng" scientists doesn't confer on you any degree of expertise!!

You can know many, many scientists personally, and that doesn't confer on you any
credibility to know what "science" is, or what it is to be "scientific".

Credibility by association is NONSENSE!!!!

So as far as your credibility for assessing what is "scientific"; you have NONE, ZIP, BLOTTO!!

Go get yourself a degree in one of the sciences; then you can speak with some modicum of
authority.


For you - capitalization seems appropriate - there are different degrees to being wrong.
You're not "wrong" - you are WRONG!!!


You are the one that first jumped in to "correct" Dizzman with INCORRECT information.

Besides, I thought you were going to take your Non-Ultra High-End NHT Xd and hang out
someplace more "appropriate".