[Hank Snow]

Just talked to a nice Panny engineer with a minor issue of what the 4:3 zoom feature does. It is nothing but a zoom feature to take widescreen aspect and zoom it to a 4:3 TV's in which the sides are cropped to fill in the screen.


Asked him about the tech side of the house regarding any video enhancements and apparently there is not - same chip and no firmware updates. So apparently what you see with the 56K now, is what you're gonna get with the 62K with a few added features such as the ability to read MS wma files.


Hank

 

[CKNA]

You will also get better pickup which reads DVD-RAM discs and has disc stabilizer.

 

[DaveGill]

I was looking at the spec sheet that's been posted here on the board for the 62, and DVD-RAM is noticeably absent from it, unlike the sheet for the 82. I'm concerned because DVD-RAM playback is a huge reason for me wanting one.

 

[Hank Snow]

Until the units are stocked, there will be alot of speculation about the 62 and 82K. No one seems to know what the tech differences are, but the engineers, and to get hold of one of them is just plain luck. I got a call back two days later, but I must say at least Customer Service logged my (small) concern and sent it onto an engineer. I appreciated that. Wish I had asked him about the RAM issue as well as others. Never fails - you think of the stuff you forgot as soon as you go "click".


Doesn't look like Panny has done many changes to their new line is what I'm gathering, just did some window dressing and cosmetic "uplifts".


Hank

 

[Hank Snow]

CKNA, in another thread you stated that the new JVC's use a Mediamatics Pantera II 2 chip, which is new. Where did you get that ID name? From what I've seen of the JVC XV-S500BK, I'm very impressed and am trying to nail down some details - Mediamatics has not returned my call.


They have a new line of Progressive Scan chips that just might be the cat's meow. The NDV 8601 and 8611 for example.
Quote:

Mediamatics' single-chip solutions provide support for the ANSI/SMPTE standard 293M-1996 throughout the entire video-processing pipeline. On-chip video processing elements include zoom scaling, anti-flicker filters, rate conversion, video trick modes, contrast/saturation/hue/gamma correction and extensions to graphics processing including support for 16-bit-per-pixel formats. All are fully available for both interlaced and progressive output. There are no compromises due to data processing or memory implications.

http://www.national.com/appinfo/dvd/hardware3.html


Thanks,

Hank

 

[CKNA]

I read the name right off the chip inside the new JVC XV-S502. It is probably the same as regular Pantera 2 except for fixed subtitles on Phantom Menace and few other small changes.

As far as Panasonic new players, even adding WMA playback requires new firmware. I am sure there are design changes. Also using the same chips is normal since Panasonic MPEG decoder is probably the best out there and there is only one Faroudja chip.

 

[Hank Snow]

I see your point, which suggests the Panny engineer is full of frijoles?


May I assume you have the new JVC, and if so, how does it handle switching between video/film and all those other things we ponder about?


Thanks,

Hank

 

[Matt DeVillier]

CKNA


will you be offering region-free/macrovision mods (or a modded version) or the 500BK like you did with the previous JVCs?


tia