Anthem D2/D2v/AVM50/AVM50v/ARC1 tweaking guide - Page 2

Yea, that is pretty cool but I probably won't have more than two DVD players
and a set top box at a time. With 4 HDMI inputs, I would even have room for
a PS3 :-)

Wow....this may be EXACTLY what I need. I've been looking to get a new Anthem surround processor as well as an external scaler. Any idea on the price of one of these beauties?

$6700 US MSRP less whatever your authorized dealer will give you as a discount.

Hmmm. Seems like there's some neglect on the audio side:

1) No USB or Ethernet input for direct conection to media servers.
2) Any room correction?
3) Can DVD-A and SACD pass over HMDI 1.1? What happens when future versions of this interface are released?
4) No satellite radio option.

Ouch! I was ready to order one until I read that...

Wow, they are charging a SERIOUS premium on these things.

I am trying to understand the differences between the AVM 50 and the D2
since I believe the m.s.r.p. on the AVM 50 is $4700 and they seem to offer
the same video processing. I wonder if the audio quality is much different
between the two...

I use an anamorphic lens so I need something that allows custom aspect ratio.
Would this give me this feature. Also very important to me and many others. I wont touch it unless, does this have chroma delay adjustment.

Thank you. Looks interesting.

Yes, it allows for Custom Aspect Ratio's in addition to the obvious 4x3 and 16x9. And yes, it allows for unique Chroma Adjustments. Again, each of these settings, as with all the Gennum settings, are unique per input. So, the Chroma Adjustment for my VCR is different than the Chroma Adjustment for my DVD player, etc. etc.

Hope this helps.

This is sounding very good. I was going to buy the Lexicon but I may look into this instead.
One last question, how does the sharpness control work. Will it go into the minus to help with DVDs with that dreaded EE

I certainly don't want to start a philosophic argument here, but I think you are expecting qualities you might find in a Receiver in the Anthem D2. The D2 is a Pre/Pro, and as such, it remains very agnostic when it comes to Audio and Video inputs. They leave it up to you to choose what sources you need. This is a design philosophy that is at the heart of the difference between a Receiver and a Pre/Pro.

But, I'll try to provide a use case below that might be relevant to you.

In my case, I have both a music server that I rely on extensively, and a Sirius satellite tuner. I connect both as input sources to my D2. I don't know any music server worth its salt that does not have RCA outputs at the least, and most have Digital Outs as well. I have an Olive Symphony, which has a built-in 4-port switch, which is VERY handy, as I network my Tivo and my XBOX 360 to the Symphony's switch in my audio rack. So, in my case, I send Digital Audio to the D2 from the Symphony, and let the D2's excellent DAC take care of it. This also allows me to use one of the two Digital Outs on the D2 for recording to CD or sending to a digital input on my PC (through a wall jack panel behind my audio rack), without converting to Analog and then back to Digital. The signal stays Digital the entire way. This is important for some of the recording I do.

As for HDMI 1.1 on the D2, yes it handles DVD-Audio signal over HDMI to the D2. HDMI 1.1 can handle up to 8 channels of hi-res audio. HDMI 1.1 does not allow for the sending of SACD signals over HDMI, so that is where you still need to utilize the D2's 6 channel analog input.

Lastly, as for Room Correction, Anthem is working on an upgrade to the D2 that will provide extensive Room Correction capability. This will become available as a software upgrade at a later date.

Hey, ManWithAPlan... I have the Olive Musica. Haven't heard of other people that are hip to it. I have a few operational beefs with it, but overall I think it's pretty cool. How do you get digital audio into the D2 again?

EXCELLENT!

Yeah, I absolutely love the Olive products. I run a Digital Out from the Symphony via Digital COAX to one of the Digital Inputs on the D2. If you try to maintain the highest audio quality possible for your music files, I HIGHLY recommend using a Digital Out from the Symphony. The sound was good before, but was noticably more dynamic when using a Digital Out, and letting the D2's DAC deal with it. I believe there is a Stereophile article on the Symphony that agrees with what my ears are telling me as well. They compared the RCA analog outs on it to the Digital, and came away with some telling measurements.

Now, I also have to run Analog outs from every source to the D2 as well (including from the Symphony), so that I can independently switch them in Zone 2 and Zone 3 and Rec Zone. If you are not using other zones with the D2, then this would not be necessary. Or, if you didn't care about *independently* switching sources in other zones and Rec, then you could just use the Copy function, which will Copy whatever source is active in Zone 1 to whatever other zones you need.

That's my very lengthy way of saying, yeah, the Olive thing kicks ass! Oh, and they are very Mac friendly, all former Mac developers, so that works well for me, as my entire digital music collection resides on a server running Mac OSX.

I don't understand why that might be a problem? You're saying that if I input a progressive signal into the D2, then the Gennum chip's de-interlacing function cannot be used - but why does that matter, since the signal doesn't need to be deinterlaced (it only needs to be scaled).

Or does the Gennum chip do something fancy with the deinterlacing that a source most likely can't do??

Thanks for the review!

Duh... of course. Stupid question.

Unfortunately not. HDMI V1.1 supports CD, DVD and DVD-A. V1.2 adds DSD for SACD and V1.3 (once the spec is released) will support TrueHD and DTD-HD. Whether and how the D2 will support this upgrade would be interesting to determine.

Otherwise, what a great sounding product. I've been looking out for it for some months. While high-quality displays ought to have high-quality video processing, the reality is that they don't, and the D2 makes much more sense than upscaling DVD players or receivers with video switching and perhaps procesing added as an afterthought.

It sound like there aren't any user-configurable output resolutions, though. Lumagen, Crystalio and DVDO owners swear by them, so it will be interesting to hear how many different displays can be pixel-matched to the D2.

Nick

Hi Levesque!
Do you have any timeframe for the upgrade process for D1 & AVM30?
Thanks.

I am have currently ordered the avm 50 for my new home theater. could someone help me understand a couple things. the anthem website is useless as they don't even list their own new products yet alone describe them!

1. What is the main difference between the avm 50 and d2? in particular the video processing.

2. I also don't understand the whole 480i input from dvd. if the unit breaks down everything to 1080p and then sends out whatever i want why does it matter what comes in?

3. lastly why should i spend 2k over avm 50? this may be answered by question #1 but several of you felt it was worth the difference. why?

thanks in advance

frank

I guess my question is how good is the noise reduction on HD material, particularly from cable. How does it compare to the Mesquito?

How about those of us with a D1 and an HD ready monitor without HDMI? Is there any benifit to upgrading my D1 until I can get an HDMI input monitor? All I will have is component in. How about it Levesque?
NETHNOMAS

I certainly believe it is worth it, regardless of whether you have an HDMI-compatible set. The D2's Gennum chip can provide processed video over either HDMI or Component Video. The Gennum chip will provide processing for any input that is Component, SVideo, or HDMI, with unique video settings per input.

In fact, if using HDMI for your Main Zone, you can choose to use Component output as well, and if you do, you have the choice of setting the Component out to be a copy of Zone 1, that is another processed output, or unprocessed, or a dedicated independent output for Zone 2. I have chosen to use it for that last option. The only thing I miss in Zone 2 is the OSD in that room. I don't get the OSD in Zone 2 because I'm using Component and not S-Video. For some reason, the only way you can have OSD in both Zones1 and Zone2 is if you use SVideo in Zone 2.

Of course, the OSD for the Main Zone is still awesome, and very informative. I'm just bein picky now :-)

It's like picking which DAC to use when talking about audio. Getting 480i over HDMI from a DVD player is about as close to getting the raw data off of the disc as you can get. Doing this allows you to use the scaler to do the heavy lifting... If the scaler is better at doing the deinterlacing / scaling, all the better... there are only one or 2 DVD players that will do a 1080p output that will be close to what this scaler is capable of.. and those players are very expensive. I have a Denon 5910ci which feeds my Ruby 1080p.. but it might need to find a new home if I go down this route : )

Is the above true even if you are using an HDMI source? If so they are violating HDCP unless they only output 480P over component. Not that this wouldn't be a very desirable feature

This is my first post here.I just got the D2!!.I have not yet set it up.I guess I am a little bit intimidated by the whole thing.I am glad there a forum where I can learn.I bought mine in Montreal QC but live in the States.Frank at Codell Audio did show me the basics but once I started reading the manual I am getting nervous about setting this thing up!I am going to be using an Optoma H 79 and a 110"screen.I have Martin Logans for speakers and was wondering if anybody has tried the D1/D2 with electrostatics and if there are any special settings.Once it is setup I will have a lot of naive questions and will appreciate all the help I can get.

Levesque,
Merci!!

I purchased a D2 knowing that in the future I would own an HDTV. As such, my 32" Sony SDTV is a bit limited with having only 1 component input. So, I decided to use the D2 as my video switcher and allow it to do the video stuff from my over-the-air antenna/reciever. Sounded logical. Use the Gennum to input HDTV from the antenna, and output 480i to my TV. Unfortunately, wheather I use my OTA reciever, satellite box, or DVD, the picture is noticably WORSE on the Main 1 Processed output (component). The picture is essentually the same (same as the source would be if directly connected to the TV) if I use the Zone 2 UNPROCESSED output (again, component).

Those with a D2, and especially those who know more about this scaler stuff, could you please experiment with the output of the D2 with a SDTV? I can only hope I'm doing this wrong.

Before you ask...

Yes, I setup the D2 for 480i/60hz output.
Yes, I setup the D2 for Component output preference.
Yes, I'm using "high quality" (~$150) cables.

I've not yet emailed Anthem with the hopes we can figure this out ourselves and give Anthem more time to deal with bigger problems.

-Oscilated