[barco_boy]

Hi all,

Has anyone seen or used the new iScan Ultra with the new 504 chip from Silicon Image? I've been using the iScan Pro since it was released and am very pleased with it. Is upgrading to the Ultra worth the money?


/Barco Boy

 

[Matt_Stevens]

I am also interested in this product, but for one simple purpose.


What I want to do is this: Be able to view 2.35:1 letterbox laserdiscs like STAR WARS on my Panasonic 47inch HDTV, which forces all Progressive Signals (480p) into FULL/16X9 mode.


That means the Iscan would have to correct forced 16X9 squeeze and zoom in the frame so that I can view the film without bars on the left and right and with the aspect ratio correct (not squished). I have read that scaling 4X3 works, but that the added zoom for letterbox stuff is messed up. True?

 

[Allan Jayne]

I have not seen an iScan Ultra (or a DVD player with zoom for non-anamorphic programs) but I think this is TV dependent.


The iscan zoom (or any non-anamorphic zoom) is for all intents and purposes a 360p to 480p upconversion. (The picture area of interest on a non-anamorphic DVD for which zoom is desired is 360 active scan lines.) If your TV always operates in 1080i as opposed to doing either 960i or 480p for 480p inputs, there is another upconversion, 480p to 540p/1080i. This may or may not cause more artifacts to appear.


Even if the TV displays 480p as 480p, some viewers will fell that optical zoom, spreading out the inner 360 scan lines of a letterboxed program, looks better than anybody's 360p to 480p conversion zoom.


Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm

 

[Doug Baisey]

Anyone seen it work? Doug

 

[MonkeyMafia]

i just purchased one of the last remaining ones i could find (i've been talking to a ton of dealers who are all out of stock and are waiting for the next shipment).


plan to connect it to my pio 503cmx via DVI-D, 480p, 31.5khz. it will give my HTPC (also connect via DVI-D, but also scaled to the plasma native resolution) a run for its money for film-based dvd playback.


it should make watching SD cable/satellite acceptable, and clean up other NTSC 480i sources, such as my camcorder and VHS player.


i'll post a review of this unit once it's setup.


MMAfia

 

[kevinshi]

MMAfia -


How have you achieved using DVI for both the iScan Ultra and your HTPC given that the iScan doesn't have DVI pass through? This is exactly what I would like to do however I figured impossible given, I assume, that the 5002 has only one DVI input...


Thanks,

kevin

 

[Doug Baisey]

MMAfia,

Look forward to seeing the outcome, keep us up on the review. Thanks, Doug

 

[MonkeyMafia]

Hey guys,


I got the iscan ultra along with the pio 503cmx plasma, and am in serious need of sleep.


i haven't got a dvi cable long enough to make it to the plasma from the ultra, but as soon as i do, i'll post the result.


so far, from the brief testing i've been able to do, the iscan ultra does an excellent job. it's noticeably better than my dtc-100 (which isn't saying much since the dtc-100 sux at de-interlacing) at de-interlacing, and does a better job scaling (to make 4:3 fit 16:9) than the plasma's 5002 video card.


it removes much of the jaggies i see on the basketball court, but i still see some artifacting, like on the three point line from time to time. it's rare enough that i don't think about, and i'm a pretty picky viewer.


i really like the digital controls available on the iscan ultra. using s-video sucked as expected. Y/C needs to be done by the ultra.


but yes, the ultra has no DVI-in... so i guess i'm just gonna have to wait until someone comes out with a card for the pio503cmx that allows dual dvi inputs....


MMAfia

 

[kevinshi]

Or iScan Utral+ (or whatever) with DVI passthrough, eh?

 

[mrwilson]

Whats wrong with using S-Video on the Ultra? I've never seen an issue with s-video on my iScan pro.

 

[Juno]

Where would I find more info and pricing on the Iscan products?


Thanks in advance.


-Juno

 

[mdryja]

Try www.siimage.com. There are many online dealers that sell iScan's. You can get used units at pretty good deals on ebay.