[enodog]

Hello everyone,

I am about to order a bunch of AMX equipment that will be installed in about 3 weeks. Although I wish I could afford a Kaleidescape system for audio and video serving, the reality is that I do not think I can. I am considering either an Escient MX-111 with a Sony changer or a video request with Sony changer for a less expensive soltion to audio and video serving. Can anyone tell me if one product is better suited to AMX control versus the other? Reliability and ease of use are critical! RS232 or TCP/IP control from the AMX is okay (whichever is the most reliable).


Also, it seems as if the video Request server supports 720P. This is a nice bonus over the 480P of the Escient, however, I am confused as to why the Request would have better resolution when using the same Sony changer. Doesn't the feed from the video server to the video switcher come form the changer?


Finally, does anyone know the approximate dealer cost of an intro K-scape system capable of audio and video (I think MSRP is just under $13k)?


Any help or clarification would be great.


Many thanks

 

[chunkisagoonie]

Well, first of all DVDs are 480 lines native. It looks as though the ReQuest video manager actually does scaling to 720p. The internal video scalers of newer TVs keep getting better and better, though. It's hard to say whether or not the ReQuest's upscaling will actually yield an appreciable difference over straight-through 480p coming out of the Escient manager.


AMX should be able to acommodate either system relatively easily as long as your integrator is familiar with their RS-232 commands.


Markup on Kaleidescape gear varies. The hard drive cartridges have almost NO markup, whereas the servers and players hover around 30%; that's pretty standard. If you just use Kaleidescape for video (no music), a little over $10k MSRP gets you the Movie Player2 and a 1U storage server. It's $3,000 to add the Music Player. It's expensive stuff and I don't think very many dealers would actually discount them.

 

[enodog]



Quote:
Originally Posted by chunkisagoonie /forum/post/0


Well, first of all DVDs are 480 lines native. It looks as though the ReQuest video manager actually does scaling to 720p. The internal video scalers of newer TVs keep getting better and better, though. It's hard to say whether or not the ReQuest's upscaling will actually yield an appreciable difference over straight-through 480p coming out of the Escient manager.

If using a Samsung HLN-507W and a Samsung LN-S3251D would the ReQuest's upscaling be a moot point? I searched around for info on the Samsung TV's and there did not seem to be a specific mention of a scaler but my newbie-sense is telling me that the native resoltuion of the TV should dictate that the analog component video connection from either the Escient or ReQuest server will be/can be scaled to the native 720P of the TV by the TV itself. Hence if I think the scaler of the TV is adequate I should not let the fact that the Escient is lacking the scaler sway my decision. Am I on the right track?