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I wanted to provide this information to the forum in return for helpful info I've gotten by lurking on the forums here. I originally found these forums seeking the very information I'm providing now.
I have the 42" Daewoo flat panel (DP42SM), which I bought about 3 weeks ago. The picture from a progressive DVD player and with the HD signal at the store was very nice (It's nice at home, also). I had read about the poor de-interlacing on Cable and VHS signals that some of the flat panels provided but was unable to look at an ordinary signal in the showroom because all the local stores claimed that they don't get ordinary cable and couldn't provide the signal. I can see why they don't do it; They don't want customers to be discouraged by the lousy picture.
In my particular case the Daewoo was certainly disappointing on Cox digital cable and with VHS signals. Not all channels were poor but in general it was pretty ugly. The best picture of course is provided when you view these signals in their native (4:3) aspect ratio. The problem with this is that you then risk burn-in from the black bars on the side. I was thinking about keeping the old 32" set in the den side by side with the flat panel just to watch interlaced signals. This would crowd the den badly but I wasn't sure what else to do.
I started wondering if an external line-doubler would help, and that's what brought me here. It seems to be a common problem but I didn't find any clear cut posts on how to address it. I ended up taking a chance and bought a used DVDO Iscan Pro on ebay for $300.
The good news: It works! The de-interlaced picture on most cable channels is excellent. In the case of most movies it looks almost as clean and pretty as a progressive DVD signal. Instead of being inferior to the interlaced TV it is actually superior. I'm very pleased with the picture quality.
There are a couple of flies in the ointment. One is that on at least one station (TNT) the Iscan is unable to detect the need for 3:2 pulldown, and so doesn't kick in to film mode. I don't know why it doesn't on this one channel but it doesn't. The result is that there are tiny "jumps" in the motion for film content. I watched the same channel on an analog TV just to be sure and the jumps were not evident so they were not part of the broadcast. Another problem is that the Daewoo TV will give you a "no signal" screen when there is a weak or momentary signal loss. This sometimes happens when transitioning from a commercial back to a movie, and you get that momentary black screen as a result. It also will do it every now and then for no apparent reason when watching a VHS tape (could this be a fault with my particular Iscan unit?). It's a little annoying, but far less so than the poor picture from the onboard de-interlacer.
I watch mostly in the 4:3 aspect ratio, because this still gives easily the highest quality picture. The unit puts up gray bars on the sides, and also creeps the 4:3 picture almost imperceptably back and forth so that there is no chance of a single clean line to establish a burn-in point. The gray bars do take some getting used to, but I've watched it for several hours straight and seen no sign of the lingering bar images when I go to a black screen.
Another minor point. I don't yet have a dedicated audio receiver so I use the audio output from the TV directly to a pair of speakers. Since both cable and VCR now go to the Iscan and therefore to a single connection on the display (the VGA port), you have to be sure that when you switch the video you also switch the audio which accompanies the video signal to the VGA port, or you'll have cable TV sound when you're trying to watch a VHS tape.
I wanted to provide this information for people who might have the same issue that I did when watching cable and VHS on their flat-panel TVs. If anyone has specific questions about how these two items perform (Daewoo with the Iscan Pro) just ask and I'll try to provide an answer.
I have the 42" Daewoo flat panel (DP42SM), which I bought about 3 weeks ago. The picture from a progressive DVD player and with the HD signal at the store was very nice (It's nice at home, also). I had read about the poor de-interlacing on Cable and VHS signals that some of the flat panels provided but was unable to look at an ordinary signal in the showroom because all the local stores claimed that they don't get ordinary cable and couldn't provide the signal. I can see why they don't do it; They don't want customers to be discouraged by the lousy picture.
In my particular case the Daewoo was certainly disappointing on Cox digital cable and with VHS signals. Not all channels were poor but in general it was pretty ugly. The best picture of course is provided when you view these signals in their native (4:3) aspect ratio. The problem with this is that you then risk burn-in from the black bars on the side. I was thinking about keeping the old 32" set in the den side by side with the flat panel just to watch interlaced signals. This would crowd the den badly but I wasn't sure what else to do.
I started wondering if an external line-doubler would help, and that's what brought me here. It seems to be a common problem but I didn't find any clear cut posts on how to address it. I ended up taking a chance and bought a used DVDO Iscan Pro on ebay for $300.
The good news: It works! The de-interlaced picture on most cable channels is excellent. In the case of most movies it looks almost as clean and pretty as a progressive DVD signal. Instead of being inferior to the interlaced TV it is actually superior. I'm very pleased with the picture quality.
There are a couple of flies in the ointment. One is that on at least one station (TNT) the Iscan is unable to detect the need for 3:2 pulldown, and so doesn't kick in to film mode. I don't know why it doesn't on this one channel but it doesn't. The result is that there are tiny "jumps" in the motion for film content. I watched the same channel on an analog TV just to be sure and the jumps were not evident so they were not part of the broadcast. Another problem is that the Daewoo TV will give you a "no signal" screen when there is a weak or momentary signal loss. This sometimes happens when transitioning from a commercial back to a movie, and you get that momentary black screen as a result. It also will do it every now and then for no apparent reason when watching a VHS tape (could this be a fault with my particular Iscan unit?). It's a little annoying, but far less so than the poor picture from the onboard de-interlacer.
I watch mostly in the 4:3 aspect ratio, because this still gives easily the highest quality picture. The unit puts up gray bars on the sides, and also creeps the 4:3 picture almost imperceptably back and forth so that there is no chance of a single clean line to establish a burn-in point. The gray bars do take some getting used to, but I've watched it for several hours straight and seen no sign of the lingering bar images when I go to a black screen.
Another minor point. I don't yet have a dedicated audio receiver so I use the audio output from the TV directly to a pair of speakers. Since both cable and VCR now go to the Iscan and therefore to a single connection on the display (the VGA port), you have to be sure that when you switch the video you also switch the audio which accompanies the video signal to the VGA port, or you'll have cable TV sound when you're trying to watch a VHS tape.
I wanted to provide this information for people who might have the same issue that I did when watching cable and VHS on their flat-panel TVs. If anyone has specific questions about how these two items perform (Daewoo with the Iscan Pro) just ask and I'll try to provide an answer.
