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Barco-Folsom Image Pro HD Processor?

post #1 of 13
2/2/08 at 5:47pm
Thread Starter 
Anyone have any hands-on experience with this VP. Expensive, but can basically do everything. Barco obviously bought Folsom Research to get a hold of their video processing expertise. They are touting their "Athena" motion adaptive per-pixel de-interlacing, so I am interested to see how it compares to the Realta.
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post #2 of 13
2/2/08 at 9:56pm
What is expensive?
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post #3 of 13
2/2/08 at 10:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fastl View Post

Anyone have any hands-on experience with this VP. Expensive, but can basically do everything. Barco obviously bought Folsom Research to get a hold of their video processing expertise. They are touting their "Athena" motion adaptive per-pixel de-interlacing, so I am interested to see how it compares to the Realta.

Any links ?

Art
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post #4 of 13
2/3/08 at 6:26am
Thread Starter 
Ok, here the vendor's link:

http://video.folsom.com/products/ind...70327722_18404

and here's an idea of what one would cost ($8K):

http://www.avmediadepot.com/product_...oducts_id=2174

I have seen its sibling Presentation Pro in operation more than once - very nice. Was hoping that one of the Barco fans here has actually used one and can comment on its de-interlacing quality. From what I know so far, the Realta is still the best at de-interlacing until you get into something like a Snell & Wilcox Quasar. Most of the VPs dynamically decrease bandwidth during fast motion de-interlacing to conceal artifacts, unlike the Realta.
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post #5 of 13
1/7/09 at 8:40am
I work in the event staging industry, and we use Barco products all the time. I love the Image Pro for it's complete range of capabilities. We call it the "swiss army knife" of video. Feed it anything, it spits out anything. And their athena scalers (which is in the Image Pro, Screen Pro II, and Encore VPs) always deliver great quality. If you like the Presentation Pro, you'll like the Image Pro as well (probably more).
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post #6 of 13
1/7/09 at 9:26am
Folsom is also the company that makes the processor for blending two projectors side by side. Haven't seen it firsthand, but about 1/2 dozen CRT guys have this in their home. Tim MArtin sells them.
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post #7 of 13
1/7/09 at 11:37am
I have seen better video processing than that of the acs-2048, made by folsom for the Barco, but this thing is designed for cinemas from the ground up so ...

For example the dvi equalization boost (with which the unit comes in set at 12 for a 12 meter input compensation boost) is for the input cables, if you dont set it at 3 the image blooms like crazy. You cannot scale to 1920 x 1080 only to 2048. There is only brightness contrast and gamma adjustment for dvi in.

Not very transparent...
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post #8 of 13
1/7/09 at 12:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Gouger View Post

What is expensive?

I'll wager its far less expensive than your last one.
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post #9 of 13
1/7/09 at 3:05pm
The Blendzilla's are made by Analog Way. Softedge blending is practically standard on higher end rental & staging processors. TVOne is working its way into this market and has been gaining ground with the CRT folks as it starts at a far lower price point, and developers seem keen to address their needs. The higher end models also start around 8K, all HD-SDI I/O will add considerably to this.

At the beginning of the century Barco also acquired a German Blending specialist, whose boards were included in Barco CRTs, but can't think of the name right now. A few years later Barco acquired Folsom, the release is still online for those who care.
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post #10 of 13
1/7/09 at 4:36pm
Thread Starter 
According to Barco, the acs-2048 is designed specifically with a dual-link output to drive 2K resolution projection, so you typically wouldn't want to use one in a home system. They recommend the Image Pro instead. I wound-up purchasing a Calibre PVPRO instead, because it had certain filters and other processing features that weren't available in the Image Pro. However, I haven't ruled the Image Pro out yet and may purchase one in the future.
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post #11 of 13
4/26/09 at 7:38am
I wasn't very impressed with the Folsom. Its quite aliased and yet mushy at the same time. Seen better scaling on HTPCs.

When I put 1080p through a DP100 I bypassed the Folsom to get true 1:1 with a small border down the left hand side. deinterlacing seems okay though.
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post #12 of 13
5/2/09 at 5:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.D View Post

I wasn't very impressed with the Folsom. Its quite aliased and yet mushy at the same time. Seen better scaling on HTPCs.

When I put 1080p through a DP100 I bypassed the Folsom to get true 1:1 with a small border down the left hand side. deinterlacing seems okay though.

This mirrors my experience and assessment of the picture quality, mushy is dead on Mr.D.

I reported this to Barco Technical support, they called Folsom, Folsom got all up in arms that the TI SCALING ENGINE IN NO WAY COULD BE BETTER THAN THEIRS.

Folsom is setting up a system to seriously optimize their scaler with dual link connectivity to the Barco's.
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post #13 of 13
5/2/09 at 7:42am
I see Calibre has a new commercial VP call the VideoExcel
Duel link 3G HD SDI in/out.
I have to say I am very impressed with their PVPROHD. Thanks for the heads up fastl.
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AVS › AVS Forum › Display Devices › Ultra Hi-End HT Gear ($20,000+) › D-cinema Equipment and Theaters › Barco-Folsom Image Pro HD Processor?