Algolith Dragonfly owners thread - Page 2  

Did you take any photos? Also, you do know that this may invalidate the warranty right?

Here is a list of the latest DF glitches:

- Elevated black level. I can verify the elevated black level issue with HDMI. I can't find a way to fix it either. Even turning brightness all the way down doesn't correct the problem...weird.

- Component to HDMI transcoding. I can verify Mauricef's finding that component to HDMI transcoding works on the DF. This is great news as it was a feature that wasn't expected on the product launch.

- Component input problems Component input (and HDMI out) seems to have it's own set of problems. For example at times the gamma settings will be inexplicably greyed out while at other times they work fine. Setting a gama of 1 seems to be the only setting that is really workable with my HD2K. Unfortunately, when it works the picture is softer and not as detailed with component. I also get a weird glitch sometimes where the luminance is all messed up (bright objects such as white text have a shimmer and halo effect). I also see the bottom left corner ficker problem even with component, but I don't see the combing problem.

- HD combing problem workaround!. I found a workaround to the combing problem in HD (doesn't work for 480i though). With the picture being displayed go into the picture->advanced->cnr settings and set CNR to something high like 15 and then enable CNR. CNR is disabled on HD but doing what I describe resets or reinitalizes the picture settings and the combing problem goes away and the image snaps into perfection. Take note that the combing problem is fairly subtle on HD content and with video it acts to soften the image a little. By using the HDNET resolution test pattern though the problem is obvious. Horizontal lines for example look like they have a shadow and any text "-" becomes a "=". Also note that you can't freeze the source while doing this because the source will do field combining while the image is frozen and the only combing you'll see is from the source itself rather than the DF. The HDNET resolution test pattern is ideal because it stays up for several minutes allowing you to futze with the settings to see the difference.

- 480i combing . The combing with 480i is much worse than with 1080i. Text such as channel guide overlays are almost unreadable. The trick described above doesn't do anything for 480i sources and I haven't found a way to get 480i to be even watcheable yet. My SA8300HD supports multiple output formats and I prefer using 480i for SD content and 1080i for HD. I could force it to output everything as 1080i but then it mitigates some of the advantage of using the HQV in the first place.

- Sync issues. When the resolution changes for a fixed source device it's iffy if the DF will lock onto the new source. Sometimes all I get is a blue screen even after waiting 20 seconds or more.

- HDMI issues . Yup, HDMi is a mess on this unit. Switching between HDMI inputs on the DF wreaks havoc with the source players. On my SA8300HD breaking the connection to switch to another HDMI source will cause the 8300HD to go back to channel 0 or often times it will just reboot. For the HD-A1 if I break the HDMI connection the player will stop (talk about a pain when A/B testing). I haven't seen HDMI issues this bad with other VP's.

Is the heatsink bolted or glued on? I have a spare Zalman reserator liquid cooling unit for PC's that I'm tempted to use on the DF to make it fanless and perfectly quiet :)

Yup, I found that 7.5 IRE works best for all of my sources but the elevated black level is still there.

It's video levels. I'll try the BCE settings, thanks for the tip.

Yes exactly. I think there are some HQV settings that aren't getting initialized properly when the unit syncs to a source.

This is the combing problem that I mentioned. If you look at rounded edges you'll see "jaggies" all over the place and any decent test pattern or fine text will show the problem clearly. If you do the fix described earlier in this thread (enabling CNR) you'll see the picture pause briefly while it gets reinitialized and the image will snap into razor sharpness. It has to be done each time that the unit syncs to a source though because it's an initialization problem and the setting won't "stick". So far though this workaround has been 100% effective for me.

If you have a copy of Serenity on HD-DVD you can see it very clearly when the HD-DVD menus are up. The text on the menu (Pause, scene, extra, etc.) will look jaggie and after the CNR adjustment the menus will look great.

I've seen this with the component input at times too. The image jumps vertically up and down a row or so.

I saw this with the analog Mosquito too. The initial unit that was shipped to me had seriouis problems and eventually I RMA returned it and told them not to worry about sending me a unit until the HDMI Mosquito was ready. They eventually sorted out the problems though and the new HDMI Mosquito is rock solid. I'm cautiously hopeful that the DF will be the same way (buggy at first but then sorted out and solid after a few SW updates). The fact that they are releasing SW soon is a hopeful sign.

Incidentally I've found ways to get the unit fairly functional so that I can demo it with friends. The failure to sync can be worked around by changing the input to another device (I pick S-Video) and then come back to HDMI. The picture resyncs and can be displayed. After that I do the CNR fix to workaround the combing problem and then it's rock solid and looks great so I can watch material for extended periods. The HDMI problems can also be worked around by starting up the HDMI device while the DF is up. I still haven't found a way to workaround the 480i issue which is useless as is. Bottom line for me right now is that the DF can be used to achieve an amazing HD picture but the SD has problems and overall, the unit isn't very robust as far as changing resolutions and sources. But I kind of expected this from a preliminary release.

Hi Emmanuel,

The version is 1.07.

Unfortunately I can't find a field control setting on the DF. 480i via HDMI on my SA8300HD always comes up with severe combing and I haven't found a way yet to get around it. I'll try 480i on the Pioneer DV-59Avi and see if it does the same thing.

wjchan,

I futzed with the BCE settings and they didn't seem to do anything on the DF. It's probably disabled on this release of the firmware. Unfortunately the black level is still elevated and I haven't found a workaround :(

Yup 1080p from the source all the way through to the native display device is here to stay but for now anyway it is an expensive but rewarding setup.

Unfortunately I can't test 720p for you because I don't have a native 720p device. Hopefully someone else can try it out and report on it. You're on the right track in getting the HD-DVD to output 1080i and using something else to downscale to 720p because I've heard that the Toshiba looks marginal at 720p output and 1080i is fantastic. Even on upscaled SD DVD's the Toshiba is amazing and I actually prefer over my heavily tweaked HTPC. I'm hopeful that with a little tweaking the DF with a 480i input will be even better than the Toshiba.

Hi Emmanuel,

Are you saying you have a DF with a later version? If so, please give us some of the scoop! 480i is working okay with this version? And what's the surprise? Don't leave us in suspense :)

It sounds like they are giving you permission to crack the seals and open the box without voiding the warranty. This is very trusting of them. If you take the plunge can you take photos? :)

This is great news! Once 480i is stable I'm keenly interested in seeing how the Pioneer DV-59Avi works with the DF. I'm hopeful that this will be an even better combo for SD DVD upconversion than using the Toshiba HD-A1 (which is amazingly good).

I also got an e-mail from Algolith clarifying what was mentioned earlier in the thread about noise reduction. They were talking about the video noise option (not the fan noise that I assumed). So even though the price has gone up we AVS powerbuy users who have stuck it out are getting the uber unit that includes what is now an additional $500 charge (thanks Algolith!).

While hooking up all of my sources to the DF (HD-DVD, Samsung BD, cable, etc.). It occured to me that adding the ability to accept audio via HDMI and output it via SPDIF (for those audio formats that are SPDIF compatible) would really be a useful feature with the Mosquito + Dragonfly combo. As it stands now all of my sources need to go into the DF because of the large HQV audio delay. One of the great features of the Mosquito is that it can be used as a swticher to multiplex sources. Unfortunately the Mosquito only switches audio if it's over HDMI and the DF doesn't have enough audio inputs to be used effectively as a switcher. If this one change was added however I could use the Mosquito and DF combo to easily switch 5 HDMI sources without the hassles of using another outboard audio switcher. Does anyone know how difficult it would be for Algolith to add this HDMI->SPDIF audio transconding feature on the DF?