Anthem D2/D2v/AVM50/AVM50v/ARC1 tweaking guide - Page 9

Great for you....Anthem customer service is surely superior. They are shipping a new unit to my dealer, but I am keeping the existing one until the new one show up. Many manufacturers would simply have me ship the existing unit back for repair. Two thumbs up for Anthem customer service.

But, Elmac, between our two D2's, there are at least two units with faulty video switching, which probably should have been caught prior to shipment. I know that these are complicated electonic wonder-machines, but I suspect that all AV manufacturers can benefit from better testing and quality control procedures prior to shiping to the end customers.

It will now only be a few more days before I can recalibrate my entire video and audio system again. The D2 is worth this unplanned detour.

Kris what do you prefer using the D2 with a Pioneer 79 at 480i or if you have a Denon 5910 bypassing the Gennum chip and using Denon onboard HQV?

Yes it was a short detour for me and I wouldn't trade my D2 for anything right now
Good luck and let us know when the new unit will arrive

Pardon my ignorance, but I wanted to make sure I have this straight before I pull the trigger. My dealer only has a D1 to demo. I know that I like the sound that it produces.

I have purchased, but not yet installed (it arrived an hour ago), a Toshiba HD-XA1 player. I was resigned to playing the audio through the analog inputs of my B&K AVR307, replacing my DVD-A player. I planned to wait until HDMI matured and receivers and pre-amps upgraded to HDMA 1.3 and added the advanced audio codecs to their arsenals.

Now, I have read that the D2 "handles" everything except SACD through its HDMI 1.1 connection. Does "handle" mean that I will get the full benefit of DD+ and DTS-HD over eight channels and Dolby True HD over two? Maybe I don't need to wait...

Thanks for any help you can provide.

C.

I think current players output only 5.1 PCM streams via HDMI. I'm not sure if the receivers capable of HDMI 1.1 audio processing can actually handle more HDMI input channels than 5.1 or not. I would check into before I assumed anything one way or another, it's quite possible the current HDMI receivers/pre-pros only accept a 5.1 channels of PCM data via HDMI max. I'm 99% sure thats all the Toshiba A1 series will output (in PCM mode), regardless of whats on disc.

Page 8 of the D2 manual states that "HDMI also carries up to 8 channels of PCM".

chas... to all that have suffered through my numerous posts on this subject in the other forums I am sorry

HDMI 1.3 will in fact carry the DD+/DD THD/DTS MA bitstream IF the discs are authored as Basic... it is very doubtful that this will happen, as you need to use Advanced authoring to mix in commentary tracks and the like...

But even if this is the case, there really is no benefit to having the D2/ssp/receiver decode the format over the player.... I can't think of one reason... HDMI 1.3 will add a wider color space and the ability to shift sync of the audio and video to maintain sync when using a video processor for example... But using the player for decoding shifts the burden of only having to upgrade the player when 8 channel True HD or DTS MA decoders come out.

So yes, HDMI will do 1080p and 8 channels of 24/96 right now.. and I doubt we will see many, if any, 24/192 discs... And when HDMI 1.3 comes out, it's useless unless the content providers author in basic, which I don't see happening.. My .02

I think that the D2 is good to go for at least the next five years... If HDMI 1.3/2.0 offers anything compelling, I am sure they will ge it to us asap..

Thanks for a nice summary FilmMixer. Anthem is the only Co. that seems to have thought all of this out in advance and will not be playing catch up. The more I read and research it, the more I am leaning towards a purchase. I have a demo setup for Friday and if all goes well, I am going to be moving up from a Rotel RSP-1098 and Lumagen VisionPro HDP. I have no concerns about the audio end of it all, but want to make sure the VP functionality meets all of my needs. I have become quite used the functionality of the Lumagen, but from everything I am reading after the demo this should be a no brainer. Keep the comments coming and thanks to all for the info.

Does anybody know if the D2 automatically compensates for the video processing delay imposed by the scaler?

See page 29 of the D2 maual re: Lip Synch Delay. It does not appear to be automatically compensated for and the delay is less than one frame at 24 milliseconds. You can set it manually for each input source.

So Guys .. Question ...in section 4.1.4 and Section 2 in the manual it talks about Macrovision and HDCP.

I've currently got mine setup with component at the moment - but every movie I play comes across as 'Macrovision Copy protected'

So the Anthem states 480i on it's display - but does this mean that's the most I'm getting from the projector side? Or have I not set something up right?

Once I move to HDMI ... will I be able to scale to 720p with HDCP content?

THX Mode, the display on the front face of the D2 is the perceived output rate of the source, not the signal that is output from the D2. In other words, it is the Input rate coming from the DVD player/XBOX/HD-DVD/VCR, etc., it is not the output rate being sent from the D2 to the display. The output rate from the D2 to the display is dictated by the setting for Video Output in Menu 8 in the Setup menu, and can be confirmed by the "Info" tab on the Gennum menu (you can enter this menu by holding down the number 7 key).

Hope this helps.

The replacement D2 arrived today and it works like a charm. Now this Saturday I can finally recalibrate the video end of my system.

Hopefully I will be an owner this weekend. I am having trouble finding a dealer in my area that has one or that is worth dealing with. I have been in contact with Nick @ Anthem, who is extremely helpful, so with a little luck he will be able to get me hooked up with somebody tomorrow.

ManWithAPlan .. Thanks!

That was exactly what I was looking for.

../TC

Can anybody shed some more light on the VP functionality...I know it remembers settings per input, but does it remember Per Resolution/Per Input, in other words does it have separate memories per input for 480i, 480p, 720 & 1080i sources? How does it handle 4:3 material, non-linear stretch? Can I set an input up for instance my Cable HD STB on lets say input one: Can I setup 480i to be 4:3 input with non-linear stretch output with all assoicated settings, Brightness, Contrast, Size, Postion etc. and then setup 720p and 1080i sources as 16:9 and so on and when I switch channels/signals all settings are recalled? I can't imagine it not doing this, but just want to be sure. Any info will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

PS - Anyone using a Sony DVP-NS975V DVD Player via HDMI at 480i? Any issues?

A lot of questions are addressed in the user manual

Tom,

Unless I am blind, none of the questions I asked are covered in the manual, but I will check again. Thanks for the help.

Luckily for me, I don't care for non-linear stretch mode for 4:3 material. I have a DLP front projector, so I don't have to worry about burn-in; besides, I don't want to watch a distorted 4:3 picture. You do bring up an nteresting question, though. In a way, I wouldn't be too upset if it doesn't store per resolution/per input settings... If it did, I'll wind up wanting to tweak it for every possible resolution for every source... and I'll wind up spending all my time tweaking and little time enjoying music and movies. :-)

You can send an email to Anthem asking them this. Their tech-support (a.k.a. "Nick") is wonderful.

I'm assembling a 7.1 set-up with a second 2.0 zone in the backyard more or less to listen to whatever I might be watching or listening to inside while attending to the barbie. What amps are people running or might you suggest would complement this for the D2?

Klipsch THX ultra2 speakers in the HT, pieces o'crap outside, more than likely. The Klipsch aren't a done deal, but I'll need functional equivalents insofar as they will be installed in cabinetry.

Yes, the scaler does remember the stretch and resolution settings including non-linear stretch per each source/input.

Troy

Thanks Troy. The problem here is that the settings are remembered per input and not per resolution/input. Each input is global and this limits functionality severely. This mostly affects an input being used with a cable or sat stb that ouputs multiple resolutions (480i, 720p, 1080i) and possibly HD DVD and BluRay (720p, 1080i, 1080p). Brightness, Contrast etc. will all be different with each incoming signal. I want the ability to set these individually for each resolution on the input and have them automatically recalled when the signal is input. Individual calibration per input resolution is pretty basic stuff that I am surprised Anthem overlooked. Hopefully, this is something that will be addressed in a future update.

Thanks for the info Levesque, I was hoping you would chime in. I haven't had a chance to talk to Nick yet. I have only been using the D2 for a couple of days and I am ironing out all of the kinks and making notes of all the issues I am encountering so I can present them concisely.

I won't even talk about the sound, because there is nothing that can be said short of awesome. Out with the Rotel RSP-1098 and in with the D2. The Rotel sounds good, but the D2 sounds great.

Overall the image quality is excellent. It bests my Lumagen VisionPro HDP by a mile. I've noticed a few motion problems here and there, but overall I am very pleased. Feature wise and functionality, the D2 needs some help, and this is where the Lumagen shines. Hopefully with some feedback we can get some things implemented, starting with the per input/per resolution memories.

I have three sources feeding the D2 and out to an NEC 61XM2/S 61" Plasma HDMI > DVI @ NR 1360 x 768 RGB:

First Problem - When I power up, the D2's output is corrupted, everything is green, changing of inputs does not solve or change anything, shutting the display off and re-synching doesn't do anyting, entering the D2 setup menu shows a green background instead of blue. If I change the resolution to 480p, 720p or 1080i, then everything synchs up and goes back to the correct RGB color output. I then have to change the timings again back to 1360 x768 and everything is fine. After doing this I have no further problems until I turn everything off and back on again. I already inverted the synch as this required for + + output that the display requires, so it is not that. There are no problems with the cable as I was using it without issues with the Lumagen and going directly out of the cable box works without problem either. Not sure what is going on here, but will report this to Anthem.

1) Time Warner Cable SA-8300HD Cable Box via Component - I first tried the HDMI output and it worked no problem, I had to turn the repeater off for it to work properly due to a known problem with the HDMI implementation in the SA8300's. The PQ was excellent.

I discovered a problem when I went to listen to music. I turned the D2 on, switched to the CD input, this is where I have my Sonos ZP 80 hooked up to, and the cable box started clicking on and off trying to synch even though I had not turned it on or the video input for it. It seems as if the HDMI port is always active looking for a signal. There was no way to stop it from doing this without rebooting the cable box. This is a real problem as it does this everytime I turn the D2 on. In the meantime, I switched to component until I can report this and get some further info. You would be hard pressed to tell the difference between component and hdmi. The image looks outstanding from both. So I am willing to live with this until there is a fix for this.

2) Toshiba HD-D1 HD via HDMI - well this is what started my interest in the D2 for its Video and Audio capabilities. I had a problem here also in that the D1 would not let me change resolution to 1080i and the picture was not right it was colored magenta. The problem here was the crappy cable Toshiba shipped with the player. After changing the cable, I have had little or no problems with the exception of once when starting up, the color went to this weird magenta color, but switching inputs and coming back seem to fix it. Image and sound quality are excellent, but have not had enough time to fully play here as I have been swapping things in and out and experimenting.

3) Sony DVP-CX777ES DVD via Component, formerly SDI into the Lumagen. I am waiting on a Sony DVP-NS975V to show up to try HDMI @ 480i as the 975 outputs 480i YCbCr 4:2:2. If that doesn't work out, I may try the Pioneer 79, but prefer not spending large dollars on SDDVD right now and would prefer to also pick up a BluRay payer when released. The image quality produced via 480i Component out to the D2 bests my Lumagen VisionPro HDP which I was feeding via SDI. This is not evident in test pattern viewing, but movie viewing is a different story. I can't wait to try HDMI here. Hopefully the Sony 975 will work out and I can save a few dollars, otherwise I will be compelled to try the Pioneer 79.

I'm sorry I can't give any further in depth review right now, but I am trying to figure out all the little things to make this work correctly. I hope Anthem can help on these issues. I'll report as new info is available and hopefully items solved.

Would you mind giving us a few more details about this? I'm very interested in your findings. E.g.:

- is film mode also better, or just video mode?
- is scaling better?
- is cadence detection better?

Did you find anything (I'm talking image quality, not features) where you prefer the Lumagen? Any other details worth mentioning?

Thank you!

Thanks for sharing your experience with us Phil; please keep us posted

I sent it off to Nick at the same time I posted and spoke with him briefly. He is going to check some things out for me and get back to me.


To be honest I just haven't had the time to do very much critical viewing. Mostly setup and making sure everything works and taking notes on any problems.

The Lumagen as expected is a much more flexible product and offers a whole lot more in the way of user functions and customization. The D2 is in its initial release and as I stated already needs a lot of help in this department. This will get better as more people get the unit and make feature requests.

It boils down to this for me, the image output from the D2 is better in every way to my eyes. It is sharper, more detailed, less noise, smoother with no banding or solarization. There is definitely less noise and artifacts in the picture. I've done a basic calibration for the sources and not much else. Some things may change as I go along and I will report. I have noticed no problems with film processing at all just a much sharper, more detailed noise free picture. On the video end of it, I have watched some HD Basketball and HD Baseball (baseball both in 1080i and 720p). I've noticed a couple of noise blocks during fast motion with Basketball, but no more so than with the Lumagen. The only other thing I visibly noticed was some moire on an announcers herringbone sport jacket. Other than that, the picture is rock solid. 720p sports ala ESPN seem to have more detail and depth also. SD is SD and no matter what you do looks bad compared to HD. That said, SD is improved also, less artifacts and definitely less jaggies. I mostly watch HD and very little SD, so do not put too much into my opinion here.

That's all I can say for now until the issues I reported above are worked out. If all goes well by the end of the week, I will put the Lumagen VisionPro HDP and the Rotel RSP-1098 up for sale and look towards the future.

Thanks.