My VANTAGE HD has ARRIVED!!!!! - Page 2

Right - about to start setup of the unit. Had a very busy day yesterday and had to bite my enthusiasm for a while.

Have taken it out of the box and laid everything out - There is the unit, and a 5v external power supply such as a laptop would use, and a manual and warranty card.

The unit itself is metal but pretty light.

Have done a first pass on the manual - it seems the unit will allow you to associate the audio inputs with specific video inputs, which I need. Not sure yet whether it counts the two HDMI ports as separate audio inputs from the two digital.

The manual states that the unit does indeed perform HDMI "Pass thru requests" to the display device, so it would appear that this feature is implemented. You can set the menu to enable or disble this feature, depending on the capabilities of your display.

There is mention of Gamma remapping in the manual, but no walk through or images, so I'll have to wait for setup to see what is on offer. The research I did before purchase indicated that you can choose between various gamma modes, but could not enter your own custom Gamma curve. I'm assuming that this is still the case, but it's one of he areas I'll be checking out in more detail.

I have two units that I'll be testing the VHD with - one is my 32" Samsung LCD TV, which uses HDMI and has a 1366x768 panel. The other is my JVC DiLA HD2K which is 1920 x 1080. The audio for the HD2K will be handled by my Denon AVR-3805.

I'll be setting the VHD to the Samsung first, for two reasons. The VHD defaults to 640 x 480 display from the factory, and I'll need to set it up on something other than the HD2K anyway, which doesn't bother with that res. Second, I expect less issues getting the sound out on the Samsung, than playing with splitting between the HD2K and Denon.

Alright - I'll check back as I go along.....

I agree Bob - No one should jump to conclusions yet. I'll be trying both HDMI and DVI/HDMI with my two displays, so hopefully I'll be able to shine some light on the status. The issue really has been the HDMI standard itself, not the manufacturers.

And I probably will handle the audio separately also, as I am doing now with my Faroudja 1010 box - although I'm sure that I'll find one or two of my source players that will end up working perfectly through HDMI.

I'll update as I go along with the setup today.

*** UPDATE ***

Having now used the Vantage HD for a couple of weeks now, I can confirm that the HDMI inputs function just fine.

The problems that some have reported here do exist, but my experience is that they result from the implementation of HDMI on certain source players (like my Denon 3910) and are mostly related to the audio.

I have found no fault with the Vantage and I think that Calibre's statement on the matter was simply covering their bases and forewarning users of an issue they bump into but is not the Vantage's fault.

It also can operate in both "receiver" and "relayer" HDMI modes on each HDMI input.

OK - Had a bit of a delay, as girlfriend had tidied up my cables box and couldn't remember where she had stored it, so I had to run out and buy a couple more HDMI cables! Oh well :-)

Have connected the unit together with my Samsung LCD (1366 x 768) and connected my JVC D-Theater DVHS Deck HM DH5U (the newer HDMI model) and my trusty Denon 3910 (also via HDMI) - I may as well go for the top end and smoke any problems early so they don't dog me later.

BTW - the power supply for the Vantage HD is dual-voltage, which is good for me, as it is likely to travel from the UK with me later this year.

Powered up the Samsung LCD and the VHD - Success so far.

The VHD defaults to 640 x 480 on startup.

The Samsung recognizes and displays the VHD on both the HDMI ports and the respective PC RGBVH monitor ports at 640 x 480 - I like this about the VHD, it has PC compatible output also - Had I had any trouble getting menus up via HDMI, I would have been able to switch over to the PC port. I'm guessing that HDCP material will not be allowed to run out of the PC port though.

cont...

Cont...

Although I am based in UK - I have material from both NTSC and PAL sources.

So since I am using a European, PAL-based version of the Samsung (LE32R41BX), I will try all the settings at 59.94 Hz first and try to break it...

The menu of the VHD is quite simple, and I'm surprised at how easy it is to choose all the various settings.

It also has a nice feature- if I choose an incompatible video mode and the LCD doesn't like it and won't display it - all I doo is press two buttons on the front of the VHD together and it instantly changes back to the default settings of 640 x 480, so that I get back the TV and try another setting. Nice touch.

OK - the VHD has TWO different 1366 x 768 modes, as the manual says that some units prefer one over the other.

So, still at 59.94, I choose mode (1) - no dice, the Samsung doesn't like it through HDMI. No probs, I'll try mode (2), again the Samsung says "Unsupported Mode" - no panic, since I expected this from the Samsung since it is PAL based. I was hoping it would support NTSC, as I intend to use it for both.

But before I move to 50 Hz, let me try those two modes through the PC ports. Ok, same message on mode (1) - but AHAH, mode (2) DOES work, although there black bands down the sides.

It is possible that the menus on the VHD are 4:3 aspect ratio, so I'll try playing a DVD at this point to find out...

*** UPDATE ***

The problems I had connecting the Vantage HD to the Samsung LCD later turned out to be that the Samsung did not support HDMI input at its native panel resolution. I had naively assumed that the Samsung should OBVIOUSLY be able to do this - but, of course that was not the case.

Once I used HDMI 720p and 1080i from the Vantage, the Samsung was just fine at both 50 and 60 Hertz.

The Samsung was a little dicey on analog inputs, but VHD was flawless.

OWCH... That wasn't fun..

OK, before I go any further, this is probably an HDMI standards and compatinility thing. The Denon is over a year old, so is likely thinking something different in terms of HDMI than the VHD.

Whatever it is, the Denon locks up good and proper as soon as I plug HDMI into the VHD. And I'm talking locked-up, meaning I have to plug it out of the wall to get it back.. Another person on this site reported the same thing with another high-end Denon unit, so I'm curious...

Anyway, I'm clever, so I take the DVI port from the Denon, using a DVI-HDMI adapter cable and plug it into the HDV - I figure this way, the Denon will not try to communicate HDMI buddy-buddy messages with the VHD, and therefore won't get confused and lock up.

Well, I'm correct on that point, but no picture - let me check to ensure that I have DVI out selected on the Denon...

OK.. I have used the front-panel Select/Format buttons on the Denon to go through DVI and chosen 480/576/p as well as 720p and 1080i and there is no good outcome - the picture does come up for a couple of seconds while I make each mode switch, and is moving properly and looks good, then frustratingly disappears moments later, not to reappear until I make another mode switch - then disappears again.

Welcome to the bleeding edge.. (NOTE - this turned out to be HDCP issue, and was overcome by changing the HDMI input mode for that input, in the Vantage menu, to accomodate the Denon's HDMI implementation)

(NOTE - I later got the Denon working with the VHD, however, I had to set the CHD HDMI config as "repeater". Also the Samsung needed to receive video at 1280 x 720 - 720p. Also, do not have analog and HDMI plugged into the VHD from the same source unit - either the source unit or the VHD doesn't like this very much and the picture will come on briefly, but then disapper. This was true also of DVI and analog - watch out for it).

Anyway, S-Video seems to work just fine - and I've set the S-Video to use the TOS-Link 1 input on the VHD. All great, except I'm using the PC link to the Samsung LCD and there is no Audio from the VHD to the LCD. heh heh..

The Vantage HD does have a TOS-Link out as well, so I could perfectly well connect the Samsung from this - EXCEPT, I have now discovered for the first time that the Samsung does not have an Optical or coax audio input!! Holy moley - I had no idea that modern sets like this were shipping without at least ONE TOS-Link input on the back.

So end of story - if you set VHD to output 1280 x 720 (720p) to the Samsung, all will work well. However, do not have both analog and digital lines plugged into the VHD at the same time from a Denon 3910 player.

Cont....

OK - component works great.

The Denon 3910 does not put out an interlaced SD signal over HDMI so I am stuck with 480p/576p over HDMI or interlaced over component.

My initial impression is that the picture looks richer and the colors better/truer over HDMI, but take the with a pinch of salt, as the analog may need a lot of fine tuning on my Denon.

As it stand tho, I'm not sure there's really going to be a huge difference between the Denon deinterlacing to 480p/576p or having the VHD do it.

So as I really got th VHD to deinterlace 1080i, I'll probably stick with progressive standard def from the Denon for now and save the effort for the 1080i sources.

cont...

I couldn't resist trying a PAL DVD before moving on to the DVHS...

One thing I like about about the Vantage HD is that is shows you a realtime message on screen showing you the input and output frequencies each time one of them changes.

This display goes away after a couple of seconds - I believe the time it shows is configurable in the Vantage...

GOOD NEWS for one fellow who asked what the frame-rate conversion is like - Well, in playing NTSC DVDs (source into the Vantage at 50Hz) the Vantage can output 59.94 Hz and it is dead smooth - I really had expected some judder! Really impressive on this point.

Now I haven't tested a native 50Hz source like a home video camera, but a PAL movie DVD.

I'm not an expert, but for it to be this smooth, is it converting back to 24 fps and then upconverting to 50Hz??

cont...

Now I really wish I could get the Samsung to accept a signal from the VHD at the LCD panel's native res of 1366 x 768, as that would make the most of the LCD.

However the Samsung will not accept any other modes, it seems.

I'm not sure that the Samsung can actually accept any signal at all at this Rez - I'll have a look through the Samsung manual later on to see what I can do.

(Note - if any one has an answer to this please let me know, by all means)

ANYWAY - onwards and upwards ---

I didn't buy the Vantage HD to run the Samsung anyway - I bought it for the JVC HD2K downstairs, so let's get on with it!

I'm going to take a complete gamble and just set the VHD to the 1080p mode and plug it in to the HD2K - cross my fingers and see if it work without a whole load of drama.

Wishfull thinking I know :-) - but lets see...

*** UPDATE ***

The Vantage HD worked perfectly and locked in to the HD2K from these settings, but, as you'll see below, I was tired and forgot to set the HD2K to 50 Hz when I initially connected it downstairs. Then I had to wait for the end of a show my girlfriend was watching when it dawned on me!

Cont...

I have revised the review here and above, as I finally figured out the problems I was having were related to the resolution I was feeding the Samsung and also a couple of settings in the VHD and also that something would go wrong if analog and Digital signals were fed at the same time from the same source.

So ignore most of below...

I gave the DVHS a quick whirl while the VHD was still connecting to the Samsung to make sure I knew the best ways to get the inputs working before I moved everything to the JVC.

Guess what - when I output at default resolution of 640 x 480, everything is fine, but when I move up to higher rez's the same issue recurs as when I used the HDMI from the Denon - it shows the picture great for a couple of seconds and then the screen goes blank.

( Note - this was due to two sources at once issue and I overcame it later - I believe it is something to do with HDCP acting up. On pluggin the HDMI in only, it was just fine)

Component from the DVHS deck is fine - Samsung works best with this at 1280 x 720 output from VHD to Samsung via the HDMI connector. The audio is taken from the DVHS to the VHD using TOS-Link, and comes through on the Samsung perfectly.

THIS IS GOOD - first real success with the unit. OK - so 1280 x 720 is not the best I should get from the Samsung, but it's still not bad.

The deinterlacing looks pretty good - picture quality is better than I've seen on the Samsung box yet - looks far better than putting the DVHS straight into the Samsung, so the VHD is clearly doing a better job than the scaler built into the Samsung.

I'm not going to comment much on picture quality until I have the basic problems licked and get everything pixel for pixel on the HD2K. I figure I'll do all the tuning and testing later.

OK - WHOAA!

YES - I think I've cracked the Samsung - HDMI is now working perfectly from the DVHS, with Audio and everything. Magic number is the 1280 x 720 (720p) output from the Vantage HD to the Samsung.

Lovin' it...

OK - we are truly ready for the HD2K..

Cont...

Yes - you are right - I meant a PAL DVD - I'll correct the text - thanks!

Yes, I'm not a big expert , but I have seen video material converted from NTSC to PAL and seen lots of juddering- I haven't tested that way yet, but I CAN say that the PAL to NTSC frame rate conversion looks very nice.