[Fraza]

I haven’t seen any new post on the Vision Pro lately. My setup is Marquee 8500LC and HTPC with MP1. I love the picture but not the HTPC. With all the new scalers and scaling DVD players, is the Vision Pro still the way to go. I have a Panny RP82. I have been following this forum but since I’m still a newbie a lot of the info confuses me. I mainly play DVDs and plan to add HDTV later. I would also like to connect my PS2. Price range for me is $1500.00 to $2500.00. Are there any new options I should check out? Can I get good 1080P at this price range?



Thanks all


Andre

 

[oferlaor]

Hey Andre,


I have a Vision Pro + SDI.


Just updated to a new firmware, and it's even more stable and robust than before. I also changed my cable from an RGBHV breakout to a 5x BNC and the results are ever more fantastic.


Using DVE, the demos look like real life, they are simply amazing.


TV has also never looked as good as this!


I use pretty much every type of input this unit has to offer, and I would say that I use about 80% of its features, at least.


I have very little complaints and the ones I did have - I have passed on to Lumagen. They have done their best to resolve all my issues. In fact, subsequent firmware fixes fixed 95% of my issues, apart from those that extend beyond the hardware capabilities of the unit.


Their customer support and overall response to my emails and questions were nothing short of excellent.


I really have to take my hat off to these guys. They are doing a magnificent job and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the unit to anyone.


If you do a search, I have an extended review of the unit (from a few months ago)


Regarding the price, these units are very well priced. A similarly featured unit would have cost quite a lot more only a few months ago! There is nothing within their price range that does 1080i->1080p (the HD LEEZA is listed at $4000).

 

[Gordon Fraser]

It might also be worth noting that it is extremely unlikely that you woulod be able to resolve 1080p with your projector, although the Lumagens will output it. (but as Ofer says they will not de-interlace HD)


Gordon

 

[Free]

I would like to know if they are coming out with anything new. Perhaps something with DVI. I have the Vision and love it. I would be very interested in the Vision Pro, if it had a DVI output.

 

[oferlaor]

Free,


It's hard for me to imagine an image better than the one I'm getting today without DVI. having compared (using the HD LEEZA) the RGBHV inputs and DVI inputs, I would say DVI is sometimes more trouble than it's worth...


It took A LOT of effort to fill my screen with an image (because the plasma's 852x480 resolution is not a standard DVI resolution). After a lot of tweaking I was able to do it, but I'd say it was about a 4% (obviously, not an accurate figure) improvement in the picture.


The convinience of DVI is obviously important, and Lumagen will probably have to go this way anyway because this is where their competitors are going.


In any case, DVI or not, this baby really puts out a terrific image. I can't wait to see what they'll come out with next!

 

[Fraza]

Guys,


Thank you so much for the input. I notice that Vision products never have questions concerning how to work a bug out compare to other scalers so I think I'll go ahead and make the purchase. I don't want to spend four hour tweaking just to watch a 120 min. movie. Ofer, is the picture difference with SDI mod worth the extra money or are we only talking a slight difference?


Andre

 

[Free]

Good question Andre, and one I would like to know the answer to as well, since I gave up using the SDI output on my RP82 when I got the standard Vision.


If the difference is substantial, it would be worth an upgrade to me.

 

[Gordon Fraser]

Well I think it is. The SDI implimentation on the Pro is very good. I think Jim spent some time choosing what devices to use and how to impliment them by actually looking at the results rather than by specification alone. It shows.


Gordon

 

[oferlaor]

At least on my system, having compared component coming from an RP56 vs SDI coming from the very same DVD player, as well as a Philips DVDR 985 (also using component and comparing to the FLI2200 output of that player), the SDI wins by a large margin.


I'd say that component on my system evaluates to about 9 (out of 10). SDI pops it up to about 9.7...


Last night me & my wife watched LOTR:TT (for her it was the first time). I couldn't get the smile off my face. It was a PAL release (NOT anamorphic), so I ZOOMED in to reduce the amount of black stripes.


With one level of zoom, the image was as pristine as I'd ever seen on a system. It was as close to reference quality as my plasma has ever gotten.


The scenes and backgrounds were so fluid and 3D, it was just a pleasure to watch.


I switched quickly to component (my DVD is hooked up simultaneously on the scaler to SDI, component, SVideo and composite so I can compare) and there was a definite drop in PQ. That's not to say that it wasn't great... It's just that SDI is that much better...


Having owned 3 scalers with SDI already (not counting the Rock), I find it difficult to imagine investing any money in a none-SDI scaler...

 

[keyvan]

I fully agree with Ofer's findings. I have my VisionPro(SDI) connected to a NEC plasma via BNC (with a Bettercables Reference 8 meter cable).

The results are the best I have ever seen. Although I do not yet have a SDI capable player. I just have a cheap(ish) Toshiba SD520ES with prog. scan turned off and connected via component. None the less the results are stunning with the Lumagen.

I have yet to upgrade to the latest firmware. Which version are you running Ofer?


Regards


Keyvan

 

[Steve Siener]

I'd like to add that I agree with Ofer 100%. It is a great product and the support provided by the Lumagen folks is top notch.

 

[oferlaor]

keyvan,


I'm not sure if it's a released version. It could be an interim version (it's from 01-12-04).

 

[mark haflich]

A great company from a dealer's viewpoint and as a customer. The SDi option is definately worth it and is the way to go.


The unit works well with flat panel resolutions. I find it to be somewhat bandwidth limited at 960p or higher. I use it at 720p with my 9 inch CRT. At 960p it softens the image too much.


My only complaint is with the deinterlacing chip used. It is only so so. The chip is one of the better ones available but artifacts are indeed visable to a crtitical viewer.

 

[77haven]

Will I get any improvement using the Vision Pro with a LCD projection television? I currently have an AvTool Box scaler, line doubler with 480p through 1080i and it makes SD television watchable. It seems that the Vision Pro has a few more features but the I-scan HD is tempting also.

 

[keyvan]

The address for the web site is:

http://www.lumagen.com


SDI stands for Serial Digital Interface. It looks a lot like a coax connection - on the VisionPro it is a single BNC connector.

It is another way (like DVI, HDMI -I think?) to transmit/receive pure digital mpeg data in native format. The advantage being (on DVD players and VisionPro in any case) that you do not converts to an analog format (s-video or component) and then re-convert to digital in the Lumagen (so that it can scale & process) and then output to analog (RGB) to display the processed & scaled image.

I hope I am correct - no expert me!!

I am sure others here will correct me if I am way off


Keyvan

 

[77haven]

Does anyone have just the Vision? If so what are your thoughts? How does SD look after being processed.

 

[Free]

I have the Vision and it is really fantastic! I am coming from an HTPC so I am quite impressed with the imgage quality. One of the things that attracted me to the Lumagen products was the "Studio quality TV decoder with 10-bit A/D". I watch a fair amount of SD TV and it really does a good job.

 

[Free]

By the way, the Vision is really small and I am constantly amazed at how such a tiny box can do so much

 

[mark haflich]

The Vision does not use 75 ohm bnc connectors. The Vision Pro does. If you have a really high quality display you will see ringing causeed by the 50 ohm connectors on the Vision. I have both units, and on my 9 inch CRT projector the ringing caused by VGA output connector on the Vision makes it unacceptable. No problem with the Pro which uses 5 BNCs for the output.

 

[Free]

That is very odd Mark.


I see absolutely no ringing with my Vision with my JVC SX21 and 120" Silverstar Screen. The SS is very revealing so, if it were there, I would surely see it.


Maybe you have a deffective vision, or some bad connectors?