Our native mobile app has a new name: Fora Communities. Learn more.

Upconverting DVD player vs Iscan HD?

1546 Views 17 Replies 12 Participants Last post by aufVidyZen, Mar 18, 2005

dwright1542

Discussion Starter · Mar 1, 2005

Anyone have any comparisons?

I am considering upgrading my Iscan Pro to an HD, however, with the advent of all these new Upconverting DVD players, I'm torn. I'll just be watching HD from my HD reciever and DVD's.

Is an interlaced output with the Iscan HD better than an upconverting player?

I will be using it with a PT-AE700U.

Status: Not open for further replies.

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

vancouver

· #2 · Mar 1, 2005

i was where you are before i got my iscan HD asking the same question. I was told that the iscan does a much better job when comparing it to something like a Denon 3910. I cant say if it does because I didnt compare.

I can say that Denon's 5910 chose DVDO to do its deinterlacing and scaling...unless someone can correct me there.

[email protected]

· #3 · Mar 1, 2005

Denon DVD-5910:

Scaling by Anchor Bay Technologies/DVDO

Deinterlacing/Noise Reduction by Silicon Optix (HQV/Realta)

The best signal from a DVD player to send to the iScan HD/HD+ is a 480i signal.

I will allow iScan HD/HD+ users to comment on the quality improvements because of my obvious bias.

See less See more

Keenan

· #4 · Mar 1, 2005

Quote:

Originally posted by dwright1542

Is an interlaced output with the Iscan HD better than an upconverting player?

I will be using it with a PT-AE700U.

It depends on the player, but I can't imagine a player that wouldn't be improved by adding the iScan in the mix.

My personal experience is with a Denon 5900, which has the well-documented macro-blocking problem. The MB problem never really bothered me as it seemed I was only seeing it occasionally. As it turns out, I was seeing it a lot more than I thought. With the 5900 w/SDI and the iScan the picture I get now is beautiful, there is a definite lack of noise compared to the 5900 by itself. I honestly did not expect the degree of improvement that I ended up with. IMO, the iScan is well worth the investment. YMMV.

See less See more

JimP

· #5 · Mar 1, 2005

dwright1542

Your comparison is going to depend on DVD players you're making the comparison with.

I also have the AE700 projector and my comparison is between a DVI output on the Denon 5900 to a SDI modified 5900 going into a Iscan HD+ with the SDI module. In my opinion the projected image on a 119" diagonal screen went from barely unwatchable(defined as I wouldn't want to use it) to very watchable. If your screen size is less or you're using a different DVD player, your results will be different.

Personally, I'd rather have a single component that does it all correctly. Since I already had the 5900, my options were get it modified and buy the Iscan or sell it for what I could get for it and then buy an upconvert player in the $1,500 range. Some concerns that I had were that I didn't want another player that might have later to surface problems like lip synch problems or inability to display blacker than black . So I stuck it out with the 5900 and it worked out.

So you're new problem is how does this relate to a 3910? I don't know. Which players specifically are you considering?

See less See more

dwright1542

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 1, 2005

Probably the cheaper ones. My upgrade of the Iscan pro make the HD extremely affordable, but attaching a thousand dollar DVD player at this point seems a waste, especially with HD-DVD just around the corner.

I was figuring the samsung HD931 or the Toshiba SD-5970.

However, if I'm just going to pull interlaced video out and use the Iscan HD, I guess my regular DVD player will do just fine.

Keenan

· #7 · Mar 1, 2005

Quote:

Originally posted by dwright1542
but attaching a thousand dollar DVD player at this point seems a waste, especially with HD-DVD just around the corner.

It's only my opinion, but I wouldn't let the spectre of a HD-DVD player to influence your decision too much. Those players are probably not due for maybe a year, and even then they will be expensive, plus they may have their own issues and problems that may take a second generation player to be worked out.

oferlaor

· #8 · Mar 2, 2005

keenan,

I completely agree. Plus, because of the cost and the format mess, I think many people will be left in a holding pattern for a few months when these units come out. That means 1-2 years before everything stabilizes.

edfowler

· #9 · Mar 2, 2005

My experience with the Iscan HD has been very underwhelming. I wanted to improve the sharpness I was getting with a Momitsu V880 (the first gen) and what I got was a softer, fuzzier picture. Granted, I haven't sdi modded a player yet, but with the results I've been getting, I'm hesitant to invest a lot more in another dvd player at this point.

I've tried my Momitsu, a Pioneer 434 (I know this one stinks), a Toshiba 4800, and a Pioneer DVR810H Tivo dvd burner/player. They all look worse than the V880 did.

I will probably try a Pioneer 59avi next and see if the dvdo helps. If it does, I may upgrade to dvdo hd+ and see how that looks.

By now though, I'm getting close to the cost of a Denon 5910.

heavyharmonies

· #10 · Mar 2, 2005

I've had the opposite experience. I have a Zenith DVB-318 and NeuNeo HVD108. Comparing their 1080i upconversion with the IscanHD's upconversion, I prefer the latter. Plus you have much more freedom to tweak and adjust.

For example, neither of the aforementioned players will play 4:3 material in the proper aspect ratio at 1080i. Running S-video through the Iscan, fixed. I also find that the Iscan produces better quality color.

Yes, the picture is not as sharp, but it is *much* smoother. I prefer the softer, smoother look to one that is almost too sharp.

It's an expensive proposition, comparitavely speaking, but now that I have one I would not give it up...

Keenan

· #11 · Mar 2, 2005

Quote:

Originally posted by edfowler
My experience with the Iscan HD has been very underwhelming. I wanted to improve the sharpness I was getting with a Momitsu V880 (the first gen) and what I got was a softer, fuzzier picture. Granted, I haven't sdi modded a player yet, but with the results I've been getting, I'm hesitant to invest a lot more in another dvd player at this point.

I've tried my Momitsu, a Pioneer 434 (I know this one stinks), a Toshiba 4800, and a Pioneer DVR810H Tivo dvd burner/player. They all look worse than the V880 did.

I will probably try a Pioneer 59avi next and see if the dvdo helps. If it does, I may upgrade to dvdo hd+ and see how that looks.

By now though, I'm getting close to the cost of a Denon 5910.

If I'm not mistaken, the Momitsu uses a one chip solution for both the decoding and interlacing/deinterlacing, so you may be getting a signal that has too much processing already on it before it's fed to the iSCAN. I recall reading somewhere that the Momitsu cannot be SDI modded because of this one-chip setup.

The biggest difference I noticed with the iSCAN unit is the lack of noise in the resulting image, fairly easily discernible with a before and after look at the two outputs...As an example, a few months ago I started to watch Hero and was disappointed at the amount of video noise in the image, things like the marble floor were "alive". I decided to wait on watching the complete movie until I received the HD+ and my SDI modded 5900. It's hard to quantify the amount of improvement the combo made over the standard 5900 playback, but to me, it was a major increase in picture quality, no more "noisy" marble floors or mosquito noise, in fact much of the film had an almost HD quality to it. And this is a DVD that has been panned for it's less than stellar PQ...YMMV...I'm set for at least two years or until the Hi-Rez players shake out their first-run issues..

See less See more

Keenan

· #12 · Mar 2, 2005

Quote:

Originally posted by oferlaor
keenan,

I completely agree. Plus, because of the cost and the format mess, I think many people will be left in a holding pattern for a few months when these units come out. That means 1-2 years before everything stabilizes.

Yep, I think a lot of people are going to be denying themselves a lot of movie watching enjoyment if they decide to wait for something that may be further down the road than they think..just my opinion..

edfowler

· #13 · Mar 12, 2005

Ordered a Pioneer 59avi to use with the DVDO HD. Now have over 2k invested. Hope it looks good.

Forgot to mention that I'm still holding on to the scaler because there is a panamorph sitting in my closet that I hope will put me over the top of a one box solution.

We'll see.

stevetoney

· #14 · Mar 12, 2005

I'm in the same stage of thought on what to do

I have the HD and feed it DVD via component from a Panny HT1000 that then goes DVI to my Panny 500 projector

it is good on most DVD's

I also feed the HD - DVD via an HTPC via DVI -- Most of these either DVD in the drive or rip DVD ISO from the HTPC seems to looks a bit better tha from the Panny DVD HTIB player -- but not significantly

I have a spare PAnny RP56 I have been think of getting SDI modded or wonder if antoher of the commonly SDI modded Player would be better?

Then decide to upgrade to the HD+ with SDI or wait and get the newer H++ with SDI the fall?? big question>

I also feed the HD with with HD DirectTivo from satellite and antenna - via it HDMI to DVI in the HD -- I have a Geffen 2 port DVI switcher

HD stuff is really nice in PQ compare to the other sources

I do have an audio drop put issue with the HD DirectTivo - satellite sources

I'm still thinking about what path to take -- suggestions?

See less See more

JPinTO

· #15 · Mar 13, 2005

Quote:

Originally posted by dwright1542
I was figuring the samsung HD931 or the Toshiba SD-5970.

I've got an HD931, and there's no comparison between it and a RP56+HD. Don't bother with the HD931... it's nasty. The HD creates a beautiful image and you won't be second guessing yourself if you get it.

stevetoney

· #16 · Mar 15, 2005

By this do you imply that having my RP56 SDI modded is a very good choice versus going for another player to mod == cost aside

thanks

The RP56 did a good job for me when I use it as my main player

Craig Peer

· #17 · Mar 15, 2005

" I have a spare PAnny RP56 I have been think of getting SDI modded or wonder if antoher of the commonly SDI modded Player would be better? " -

I had the SDI mod done to my RP56 by JVB Digital. Now that I've figured out the best settings, watching dvd's over component ( let alone DVI - which may or may not be any better ) via the iscan hd with my H79 projector is absolutely stunning! Crisp and clear - better than the Bravo D1 via DVI. RP56 is a highly rated dvd player, I recommend you do it!

aufVidyZen

· #18 · Mar 18, 2005

I was not impressed by the Samsung HD931 upconversion to 1080i or 720p (which I had lots of problems with). Currently I use a Pioneer Elite 45A with an SDI output to the Iscan which is great. So much so, that I have not gone to the trouble of tweaking the output to provide pixel perfect mapping to my Sony HS10.

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

Status: Not open for further replies.