Greetings fellow pioneers!
As the owner of an HTPC equipped with the sweet SDI-SILK card, who just upgraded from an SDI-equipped DVD player that had the chroma bug (Electrograph DVD2000) to one that did NOT have the chroma bug (modified Denon 3300), I have to say:
This is not a subtle improvement on PQ at all! At least, not on a large screen (4.5' by 8') with a high resolution projector (G15 DILA).
I waited until I could confirm with my own eyes what I had always suspected: sharpness, detail, outline clarity and color shading are greatly impoved!
I applaud all the efforts of Stacey Spears and others to raise this issue and keep it in the light until the equipment makers get it fixed.
I realize that this bug is perhaps not an issue on the small direct view sets that the majority of DVD players drive, which is why the manufacturers are letting it slide. (Denon has apparently regressed! their latest players have the chroma bug!)
However, for anyone magnifying and scaling the image for larger screens, I find it incredible that the chroma bug is considered subtle!
People with good vision, though perhaps not experienced in judging all the aspects of image quality, certainly are sensitive to the perceived detail in an image.
To my eyes (spoiled as I may be!
) , the difference in the detail and the sharpness of outlines is obvious and once experienced, of course, there is no going back.
By now, we who frequent this forum (even as lurkers 8=>) are good at detecting de-interlacing errors and the net effect of the chroma bug is constant de-interlacing errors in the color space. And since the image is composed of pixels of color, modulated by the luma information, incorrectly combining rows of color information, due to the eyes' variable sensitivity to color hues, indirectly affects the luma or intensity of the pixel, further muddying the image reconstruction.
Much is made of the superior color space of HDTV signals, which in my opinion, goes a long way toward the perceived superiority of the image even on upconverted content. Getting the color right is almost as big a factor in image quality as the higher pixel resolution.
Shadow detail, as the Impressionist painters discovered, is ruled by subtle color choices, and here is where the non-chroma bug player shines: I can now see farther into the shadow areas of an image without straining my eyes looking in vain for detail in a muddy area. In fact, the film grain is now more apparent, evidence that the image reconstruction is getting closer to the source.
FOR SDI users:
If you have gone this far, DO NOT settle for an SDI feed from a player whose MPEG decoder has the chroma bug!
I am amazed at the difference and my daughter, who is not yet a video phile (in spite of living with a video and audio phool!), walked into the HT last night and asked me what I did to the system, as she throught that I has viewing HDTV!
I look at the money being dropped on standalone players that have the chroma bug and at the investment some have made in high end scalers and I feel both smug and flabbergasted.
My base HTPC with SDI_SILK card and running DSCALER (yeah team!) and SDI-modified player came in under $4000 and for DVD playback, I have seen nothing better at any price for film-based content.
No, I have not seen the Terranex nor the Snell and Wilcox interpolator but, fine as those pieces of video gear are, can they truly restore the messed up color even when fed an SDI stream from a chroma bug-infected MPEG chip?
In any case, those solutions are out of the reach of the middle class and my goal is to find ways of delivering state-of-the-art home theater experience that the middle class can afford (by simply foregoing that shiny new SUV!).
I am now confidant that I am squeezing as much information out of the DVD format as possible.
My heartfelt thanks to:
Dan Schmelzer - SD-SILK card
Craig Heims of Cellar Cinemas - HTPC builder extraordinaire
Stacey Spears - Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity
( http://www.hometheaterhifi.com )
William Phelps - Projector calibrator extraordinaire
The DSCALER software team (you know who you are!)
and everyone here who contribute to this great forum and paves the way for a future of higher quality and quantity of information and long term enjoyment for all!
Thanks for letting me rant!
As the owner of an HTPC equipped with the sweet SDI-SILK card, who just upgraded from an SDI-equipped DVD player that had the chroma bug (Electrograph DVD2000) to one that did NOT have the chroma bug (modified Denon 3300), I have to say:
This is not a subtle improvement on PQ at all! At least, not on a large screen (4.5' by 8') with a high resolution projector (G15 DILA).
I waited until I could confirm with my own eyes what I had always suspected: sharpness, detail, outline clarity and color shading are greatly impoved!
I applaud all the efforts of Stacey Spears and others to raise this issue and keep it in the light until the equipment makers get it fixed.
I realize that this bug is perhaps not an issue on the small direct view sets that the majority of DVD players drive, which is why the manufacturers are letting it slide. (Denon has apparently regressed! their latest players have the chroma bug!)
However, for anyone magnifying and scaling the image for larger screens, I find it incredible that the chroma bug is considered subtle!
People with good vision, though perhaps not experienced in judging all the aspects of image quality, certainly are sensitive to the perceived detail in an image.
To my eyes (spoiled as I may be!
) , the difference in the detail and the sharpness of outlines is obvious and once experienced, of course, there is no going back.By now, we who frequent this forum (even as lurkers 8=>) are good at detecting de-interlacing errors and the net effect of the chroma bug is constant de-interlacing errors in the color space. And since the image is composed of pixels of color, modulated by the luma information, incorrectly combining rows of color information, due to the eyes' variable sensitivity to color hues, indirectly affects the luma or intensity of the pixel, further muddying the image reconstruction.
Much is made of the superior color space of HDTV signals, which in my opinion, goes a long way toward the perceived superiority of the image even on upconverted content. Getting the color right is almost as big a factor in image quality as the higher pixel resolution.
Shadow detail, as the Impressionist painters discovered, is ruled by subtle color choices, and here is where the non-chroma bug player shines: I can now see farther into the shadow areas of an image without straining my eyes looking in vain for detail in a muddy area. In fact, the film grain is now more apparent, evidence that the image reconstruction is getting closer to the source.
FOR SDI users:
If you have gone this far, DO NOT settle for an SDI feed from a player whose MPEG decoder has the chroma bug!
I am amazed at the difference and my daughter, who is not yet a video phile (in spite of living with a video and audio phool!), walked into the HT last night and asked me what I did to the system, as she throught that I has viewing HDTV!
I look at the money being dropped on standalone players that have the chroma bug and at the investment some have made in high end scalers and I feel both smug and flabbergasted.
My base HTPC with SDI_SILK card and running DSCALER (yeah team!) and SDI-modified player came in under $4000 and for DVD playback, I have seen nothing better at any price for film-based content.
No, I have not seen the Terranex nor the Snell and Wilcox interpolator but, fine as those pieces of video gear are, can they truly restore the messed up color even when fed an SDI stream from a chroma bug-infected MPEG chip?
In any case, those solutions are out of the reach of the middle class and my goal is to find ways of delivering state-of-the-art home theater experience that the middle class can afford (by simply foregoing that shiny new SUV!).
I am now confidant that I am squeezing as much information out of the DVD format as possible.
My heartfelt thanks to:
Dan Schmelzer - SD-SILK card
Craig Heims of Cellar Cinemas - HTPC builder extraordinaire
Stacey Spears - Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity
( http://www.hometheaterhifi.com )
William Phelps - Projector calibrator extraordinaire
The DSCALER software team (you know who you are!)
and everyone here who contribute to this great forum and paves the way for a future of higher quality and quantity of information and long term enjoyment for all!
Thanks for letting me rant!
