[flipnap]

Hey all, i was wondering if this combination would really make a difference for primarily DVD viewing. Could i effectively scale the dvd up to 1080i, then have the onboard faroujda (of the pj) do the lacing and have a better picture? Im just wondering if the extra cash is worth the scaler.. since i havent seen one functioning on this pj.


thanks all


jb

 

[RickE]

I would say not. The 7205 has a very good scaler on board allready. I think if you were just wanting to "upconvert" a dvd source 1st, I would get an upscaling dvd player, convert it to 720p, and feed the infocus that.


I'm still not sure that you would see much difference over feeding it a 480p signal, and letting the projector do the scaling though.


Rick

 

[flipnap]

rick E thanks for the reply.. yeah see, thats what has me confused.. the SP7205 has such a good on board scaler and i would hate to bypass, but is that the same as a line doubler, ie the iscanHD? I mean, is there a difference between a scaler and a line doubler that outs 1081i, or is it all smoke and mirrors anyway..

 

[LarryChanin]

Hi jb,


Its my understanding that the term "line doubler" refers to a video scaler that only converts interlaced to progressive at a specific resolution. Usually this means 480i to 480p. That is, 480p has twice as many lines as 480i.


In other words line doublers are not as versatile as full fledged video scalers that can do a number of video timing besides 480p. Neither the 7205 or the IScan are merely line doublers.


I agree with Rick that I doubt you would get your money's worth buying the IScan to be used with a 7205. I bought an upconverting DVD player to use in conjunction with my 7205, but ironically it wasn't for its upconverting abilities. It was because it had a DVI output.


Larry

 

[flipnap]

Hey Larry, actually im glad you said that.. cuz i was looking at the samsung DVD for the digital out but read many bad things about black crush.. also about "sparkling in the lines" for the dvi cables to and from.. what DVD player did you buy? and also did you use the infocus m1 to dvi 10 meter cable, or buy and adapter and run regular DVI... thanks for the input.. its much more helpful to talk with someone whos got the same projector... also, did you really notice a difference with the upscale from the DVD?


thanks man, sorry for all the questions but its saving me much time of buy and try..


jb

 

[thirdkind]

You'd really need to compare the 7205's internal processing with that of the iScan using test patterns to know which is better.


Also, don't confuse scaling with deinterlacing or lump the two together. They're two different operations.


What people used to refer to as a "line doubler" was just a deinterlacer. It took 480i input and deinterlaced it to 480p.


Scaling is a separate process where an already deinterlaced signal is converted to a higher resolution, such as 480p to 720p.


When you compare the 7205 to the iScan, you're actually comparing two separate actions: scaling and deinterlacing.


It's quite possible you'll prefer the deinterlacing of the Sil504 in the iScan to that of the Faroudja in the 7205. The Sil504 is usually regarded as being the superior solution for film-based content, while the Faroudja excels with video.


As for scaling, I'd wager the algorithms in the iScan are superior to those in the 7205. Good scaling results in smoother diagonal edges and better resolution of fine detail. Not sure what scaling solution the 7205 uses. Could be a separate Pixelworks chip or it could be the Faroudja's scaler (which, again, is a separate operation from the Faroudja deinterlacer, though they're probably both on the same chip).

 

[LarryChanin]

Quote:

Originally posted by flipnap Hey Larry, actually im glad you said that.. cuz i was looking at the samsung DVD for the digital out but read many bad things about black crush.. also about "sparkling in the lines" for the dvi cables to and from.. what DVD player did you buy? and also did you use the infocus m1 to dvi 10 meter cable, or buy and adapter and run regular DVI... thanks for the input.. its much more helpful to talk with someone whos got the same projector... also, did you really notice a difference with the upscale from the DVD? thanks man, sorry for all the questions but its saving me much time of buy and try.. jb

Hi jb,


I bought a V Inc., Bravo D2 DVD player. It cost less than $250 and I'm quite pleased with it. I bought a 9 meter DVI cable from BetterCables. I'm using a DVD to M1 adapter. The DVI cable is connected to a 4:1 DVI switcher. Connected to the switch is the D2 and a DIRECTV HD TiVo. The TiVo has an HDMI output, but it comes with an HDMI to DVI adapter. Despite the adapters I have an excellent picture and have never experienced any "sparkling in the lines".


I've tried using the both the InFocus to do the scaling and the D2. Frankly I can't see a difference with regular program material.


With regard to thirdkind's comments regarding the the iScan scaler, I agree that its quite likely that the iScan is superior to the InFocus in deinterlacing and scaling, since that's its sole purpose. However, the picture quality of the InFocus is already so good that the laws of diminishing returns start to creep in. It is difficult to place an incremental value on the subtle improvement in picture quality that the iScan might provide, however from my perspective I doubt that I would see $1,500 worth of improvement.


While I doubt I would get my money's worth matching the iScan with my InFocus, nevertheless I think it might be the perfect scaler to match up with my first generation HDTV. My old HDTV had a lousy internal line doubler. Using the iSCan to deinterlace the standard programming would greatly improve the picture quality. In addition, it would do a great job in scaling DVDs to 540p to provide a sort of simulated HD quality on good DVD transfers. So in this situation the scaler might be worth $1,500.


Larry