Key Digital ISync Pro - Page 3

iSync HD 480i from DVD player;

I was able to output 480i from a DVD player to the iSync via a component video connection. HDMI input at 480i does not seem to be supported or at least I was not able to get the iSync to accept a 480i HDMI signal from my Oppo 970 DVD player. The Mission Impossible III sequences reviewed previously via HDMI at 1080i were almost as good on this film-based DVD programming when allowing the iSync to do all the scaling and deinterlacing with a raw 480i analog signal. This was equally true using my Pioneer Elite Universal SACD/DVD-A player. Now I will likely be able to move one of these players out of my media room rack and use it with another TV in different room. Efficiency in home Theater- now that's a novel concept.

I did identify several scenes where moire is evident (on venetian blinds in one scene and a large run of steps in another scene), that thus far no combination of input resolutions between the Oppo Digital DVD player (which uses the Genesis/Faradouja chip) or the iSync (with Key Digital proprietary algorithm) would fix. I don't know if this is a function of the processors or perhaps something in the programming itself. It would be interesting to know if one of the state-of-the-art video processors that do a trillion computations a second would be any better with regard to these tricky sequences with lots of horizontal lines packed tightly together.

Tomorrow night I'll look at SD and HD from the satellite box connected to the iSync via HDMI and see if it can outperform what was seen the other night from these sources via component video. Theoretically, the all digital signal should provide best performance and this may be the source of the subtle difference in what I observed here between 1080i HDMI and the 480i analog signal with DVD film-based material (i.e. digital having a slight edge). We'll see.

Randomcreek (or others with this unit),

I received the iSync PRO this week and am encountering serious issues with this unit in my theater environment. Of the several problems, the biggest is related to 1080i output and apparent synchronization loss of the signal on both my Mitsubishi WS55413 CRT RP and Sony VPL-400Q LCD projectors. None of the problems exist with the iSync Pro out of the signal path.

Before I go on, let me say that I have spoken directly with Key Digital tech support (very friendly and interested in understanding and trying to resolve the problem), and the problems I am encountering are certainly not expected behavior. They have suggested getting a replacement unit so they can look at my unit (suggesting there is probably a faulty component). I will be contacting DigitalConnection today.

I am using component hookups only on my Pioneer Elite Universal SACD/DVD-A DV-45A. I am also using the Terminator 2 DVD as a test disk. It may be that this DVD creates situations that stressess the circuitry in the iSync Pro.

Here's the problem and maybe some of you can test this too.

1) Set the output from the DVD player to the iSync Pro as 480i (480p exhibits the same problem).
2) Set the output from the iSync Pro to 1080i.
3) Set the iSync Pro to output Full Screen mode. This displays the movie in the standard 2.35:1 mode with black bars top and bottom.
4) Play opening scene where girl is on playground swing and the screen fills to bright white light.

In my setup, both display units lose signal sync and the screen either goes blank or scrolls partially upwards - kind of like tracking problems on VCR playback. Play the next chapter where the humans battle the terminators. Very dark battle scene with lots of action and bright white explosions. I see multiple occurrences of signal breakup and loss. Another example is when young Conner is riding his motorcycle (with buddy on back) through the white concrete waterway in LA.

Throughout the movie, there is also frequent loss of sync and occurrences where the top 1/10th portion of the movie image is skewed horizontally - primarily again where bright scenes exist. When Robert Patrick rolls up in his police car at the house looking for Conner, and the bright white window blinds scene when he subsequently approaches the door to the house - are a couple examples.

Two followup points - setting the iSync Pro to output 480i or 480p instead of 1080i greatly reduces the frequency of signal loss (but it still happens) - but if I set the iSync Pro to Vertical Zoom the output (essentially expanding the image for constant height setup removing the black bars), the problem is greatly reduced from non-existant (480i/p) to occassionally with 1080i. I'm wondering if it has to do with the signal transition between the black bar masking area and the image itself.

I researched this a bit and yes, the competitive upgrade exists, but it's applied to MSRP price on the DVDO website. I've seen authorized online retailers provide almost similar savings without the competitive upgrade - therefore you'd be spending $700 more than you need to for a DVDO unit if the iSync doesn't work out - if that's what you really want.

But if the iSync works out for you - it's a heck of a deal.

How does one find out what price an authorized retailer is willing to sell for vs. what they can advertise it for? Do you call or e-mail to negotiate the price? The DVDO agreement with their authorized retailers (according to DVDO's website) states that the VP20 cannot be advertised for less than $1499. Retailers are free to sell for whatever price they choose, but they can't advertise their price below $1499. Unauthorized retailers, of course, set their own prices. I'm curious b/c I'm new to the HT world and "how things work".

Dennis

Dennis, you've seen what I've seen. I just visited the authorized reseller web pages to see their prices.

My point was only that if you can get it for $1499 through a reseller, or $1399 through DVDO by supplying them with an iSync unit that you pony'd up $700 for - that's a lot to pay if you wanted the DVDO from the beginning.

Certainly, if I was going to go DVDO all along, getting the iSync would be a waste of time/money. I was hoping that the iSync would provide close-to-VP20 performance at less than half the cost. Since the Digital Connection deal doesn't allow returning the iSync for a refund, I was initially a little skeptical about forking over the money for a VP that has very little info/discussion on it. My comment on the DVDO trade-in program was meant to point out that, if the iSync doesn't pan out, then my investment in it isn't totally lost because I can use it to decrease the cost of the VP20.

BTW, the DVDO website sells the VP20 for $1699, so with the iSync Pro trade-in, that'd be only $1099, vs $1499 from an authorized dealer. The difference is a decent chunk of change.

Dennis

For those who have the iSync Pro, I was wondering if it upconverts analog video S-video and component) to HDMI, Or does it only upconvert analog video (S-video) to component video? In other words, if I have both component and HDMI sources, can I run just an HDMI cable to my display, or will I need to run both component and HDMI cables? The manual doesn't seem to say anything about this at all.

Dennis

Yes, this unit transcodes analog and digital signals. Any connection in and any connection out.

From everything I've seen and read this unit will outperform the VP20 (without the Precision Deinterlacing card add-on) with SD material and substantially outperform any version of the VP20 with HD material.

At this price, this is a no-brainer. See

http://hometheatermag.com/hookmeup/706hook/

Yup, I've got one on the way. Couldn't pass up on this deal, even though I'm still a few months away from buying the projector to pair with the VP. :-)

Actually, Tom, you were the one who made me aware that the iSync was more than just a switcher/scaler. The unit's manual and Key Digital's website make so little mention of the deinterlacing capabilities that I had initially dismissed the Power Buy. It was only after I read one of your comments in another thread about 1080i deinterlacing, that I gave the unit a second look and read whatever I could find about it (which didn't take very long at all). If it performs comparably to the VP20, then I'll be quite pleased. Thanks.

Dennis

I'm just curious why you would buy a nice external deinterlacer and then NOT use its deinterlacing capabilities? To take advantage of this unit's abilities you should really output at least 720p, which virtually all HDTVs will accept.

Would if I could. Neither my Mits RP CRT or Sony accept 720p.

I'm planning for the future though (and snagging deals when they surface). With the next crop of projectors I'll likely find a replacement for the Sony. In addition, I am looking at this unit for CH projection and its switching capabilities.

Everyone's experience with this unit seems positive - except for mine at the moment. I'm hoping the replacement will net different results.

Gee, that's really unusual.

Thisd processor was compared to the VP20 (or VP30?) and another processor in HT Magazine. They did not provide much detail but favored the Isync.

As Tom pointed out it was reviewed without the precision deinterlacing card option installed. Where I'll differ from him though is offering an opinion on a unit I never saw myself for the sake of taking yet another jab at DVDO.

Key Digital makes decent products and unlike so many others that have come and gone from the market, they have been around forever. Just make sure the return policy is solid and give the thing a try. If you get it from Digital Connection I'd bet Kei will take good care of you should you find you do not like the thing.

Nothing beats a good return policy. There are so many technical reviews (sometimes objective) and subjective opinions of products these days that in-home auditioning is a must.

Noticed in the isync manual it lists 1920x1080 sp[24hz] as an available output . What is it and is it of any use to us? jeff melb australia

Keith- I have a Pioneer Elite universal player as well (DV-45a) hooked up via component video connections and I reviewed DVD MI III as test material output through the iSynch HD out to my display's 1080P native resolution. It did a nice job scaling and deinterlacing this signal and was just a little bit softer than using a digital signal from my Oppo player (output of DVD player set at 1080i). To your specific question, I did what you suggested above (although I don't have T2 as test material) and I had no problems sending 1080i to my set. You may have a specific issue with your unit. Have you fed your TV a 1080i signal from other sources without any problems?

iSync HD SD and HD via HDMI:

Last night I was able to hook up my satellite box via HDMI to the iSync. Previously I was using component connection from satellite to iSync and HDMI from the iSync to the 1080P input of my display (Sony A2000 SXRD) With component I determined the iSync makes a big difference in my set up (SD was much sharper and annoying video noise and blurring in some HD sports broadcasts was reduced significantly).

Last night I watched the over-the-air (uncompressed) Monday Night Football Clip I recorded previously as test material and also an ESPN2 (HD lite, i.e. highly compressed) college football game. The same improvements observed with the component signal were evident. I also was able to explore the settngs on the iSync and noticed that the sharpness setting (for digital picture/edge enhancement) is unlike any sharpness control on TVs that I'm accustomed to. Increasing the sharpness on the iSync actually was able to improved the apparent sharpness of SD and HD lite programming more still without introducing any halo effects that I could see in the picture. All-in-all I'm very pleased with the iSync with everyday satellite programming (SD and HD) and DVD movies. It also does a good job with DVD video-based material and laser disks adding a sharpenss coming closer to HD than I've ever seen previously never having used an external video processor before getting the iSync last Wednesday. Based on my experience thus far, from here on out I will stick with using a pure digital signal from source to display with the isync placed firmly and permanently in the middle outputting 1080p. Next up will be to look at DVD test patterns. . . . .

Thanks for trying the test.

I have an LG LSS-3200A HDTV DirecTV receiver and XBox 360 both sending 1080i to the Mits and Sony projector with never any glitches. The Mits was calibrated for HD and the image is stunning. Simply adding the iSync Pro into the mix produced display errors even with HDTV (1080i in/1080i out). I would occassionally lose sync just watching ESPN HD SportsCenter - the situation again seemed related to a bright screen - and when they played a trailer (letterbox image) for Gears of War - I lost sync on that signal at one point.

I will say that when the problem wasn't there (which is a majority of the time), the DVD image (480i in/1080i out) looks great. HDTV however seemed to get some graininess and an increase in red into the picture.

I did everything I could to minimize the test scenario variables, and always adding the iSync into the path produced errors. The opinion at the moment is that some fault exists with the unit. It has gone back and I'm getting a replacement.

has anyone used this processor with a 2.35:1 constant height setup. I am interested in using this projector in conjunction with a lens and an AE-900.

thanks
Itai

I hooked up the Isync Pro to my oppo 971 and optoma H77. Via component it was able to accept 480i and output 480i through HDMI to the projector. Oppo 971 doesn't output 480i via DVI so i was not able to assess that, but it accepted 480p, 720p, 1080i and scales it to every resolution imaginable. It really does everything described in the owner's manual and the set up and operation is easy. The PQ, though, was less sharp and grainy and the dark level was elevated with loss of shadow detail, almost reminding me of the PQ of my old LCD projector. This is true of all combinations of resolutions. Oppo 970 without the Faruja chip would be a better player in this case.
BTY, my Isync Pro has a revised firmware 2.09

Well this doesn,t sound [look] good. Other professional reviews, ie home theater mag didn,t show any of these issues.

any comments from Key Digital? jeff . melbourne australia

From my experience, Home Theater magazine is hardly the paragon of video equipment review sources. What I've seen from them in the past is highly subjective reviews which never twice used the same evaluation criteria. It doesn't surprise me a bit that their review could have missed a lot of key issues (no pun intended ), glossed over problems, or overlooked interesting or useful features which might work very well. I cancelled my subscription a long time ago based on lack of meaningful content.

- Dale Adams

Dale,

I agree with your comments on HT, but this review was by Gary Merson, whom I'd put in a different class than their current reviewers.

I'm scratching my head at your having discredited a review that was favorable to the ISync and not addressed the poor results of a user.

I've never actually seen or used an ISync Pro, so I could hardly provide useful feedback on a user's specific problems with a product I've never seen. I have, however, seen and read Home Theater magazine and can provide feedback on that.

- Dale Adams

Noah,

Dale is just stating his opinion about the magazine, not about the product.

Just got this email from Doug Molloy of Key Digital:

The iSync Pro does support 480i on its HDMI and component inputs. Please check to see if the unit has the latest firmware which is 2.09. This can be found on our web site where the iSync Pro is located under firmware/ control modules.



Doug Molloy

Senior Technical Specialist

My bad, when I saw ABT in Dale's sig I thought "VP mfgr" and mistakenly connected him with KD.