2nd baby to be ordered - DVDO iScan Duo

[gadgtfreek]

Anchor Bay » Products » DVDO Systems » iScan Duo

Will post results in Sept, after it gets installed by Gregg. Will run HDDVR and BR player into it, for gamma and CMS adjustments along with the other goodies it does, then output one HDMI to TV for video and one to Denon for audio.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Just sent in the dough, this should be exciting.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Have a tracking number in hand, gonna be fun.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Great deal right now at Amazon: Amazon.com: DVDO iScan Duo High Definition Video Processor (Black): Electronics@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31WcRsiH3OL.@@AMEPARAM@@31WcRsiH3OL

$899

 

[gadgtfreek]

New toy

 

[navychop]

You take this hobby REAL seriously, don't you?

 

[gadgtfreek]

I like new toys! Gonna hook it up tonight!

 

[stone phillips420]

looks like a cool toy, i may have to check it out. i presume this comes with remote?

 

[lakebum431]

So tell me about this thing Elway. Why is it better than an AV receiver? Or do you still need an AV receiver to process the audio codecs? Do you really have/need 8 HDMI components? Looks like an interesting device, just not sure I see the use for it.

 

[teachsac]

For a videophile it is a must. Each input device can be calibrated separately. AVRs can't do this. Then video is output to the calibrated TV and Audio is output to the receiver. Bam.

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

Yepp.

You run ALL your Video devices into it, at native resolution of whatever you are watching. I have my Direct DVR sending Native on all channels, and the BR player of course is 1080p/24. The processor has all KINDS of adjustments, above and beyond the standard AnchorBay chip that comes in Denons and the Oppo. It has TWO video HDMI outs, so I have one running to the TV, and one is blank, and a third is for audio out to the Denon. It passes the HD audio off BR just fine.

When you connect it, it'll talk to the tv, and figure out what formats the tv is capable off, so a lot of the settings you leave on auto and it does a great job. As far as Directv goes, the native goes in to the Duo, so there is not ANY processing done by the broadcom chip, and the Duo scales it to 1080p/60, and send it to the tv. This means the tv doesnt do anything either, it's all done in the Duo. The Duo realizes my TV is deep color capable, and 4:4:4 capable, so when I play a Blu-ray, it goes to the TV as YCbCr 4:4:4 1080p/24 and Deep Color 36 bit. My BD85 will send out YCbCr 4:4:4, which is kinda like deep color, but the missing color is interpolated and inserted, kinda like how an LCD can do film, it just fills in the blanks.

You have edge enhancement settings, built in test patterns, it auto detects the input, so if you cut off the DVR, and turn on the DVD player, it'll switch itself over. It also powers on when it detects an input, and turns itself off.

Finally, the main reason I bought it, was because of their new FW update. It added a 3D CMS system, and you are able to adjust grayscale and gamma.

This is huge IMO, because after you have the TV professionally calibrated, you then use the Duo test patterns and internal CMS/Grayscale to fine tune the signal out to the TV. You basically make the TV better than it could be by itself. It allows you to dial in damn near any Gamma you want, which is big for me because these 2010 Panny's are like 1.9, so it'll be simple to increase it to 2.2. The CMS also works well, so it can even improve up the TV CMS adjustments, or, if you have a tv without a good CMS (mine), it allows you to still dial spot on colors.

If you go to Chromapure.com, and read TomHuffmans review, you can see his before and after of a Pioneer Plasma. He took an awesome calibrated TV, and made the grayscale and color even better, almost perfect.

I watched about 30 minutes of I Robot on blu-ray, and am watching Ice Road Truckers now off the HDDVR. Im not going to say it made this vast improvement in video processing, but I will say that for a 58" display thats not professionally calibrated yet (Spears and Munsil test disc only), the PQ is VERY good.

I'll shut up now.

And yes it comes with a remote, nice feature is the "info" button, and it tells you ALL the date from the input stream, and all the data thats going to the tv.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Read this, and pay attention to the before and after Pio results.

ChromaPure - Products

 

[lakebum431]

Thanks for the info. Great read!

 

[gadgtfreek]

Yeah, pretty cool stuff. With the Radiance being $3500, they've now really brought a nice pre/pro into an affordable range for a lot of folks.

 

[gadgtfreek]

This thing is nice. It obviously does a better job scaling 1080i/720p content to 1080p than my TV does.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Ok, new update:

I was running into an issue, where while watching my DirecTV HDDVR, I was getting split second clicks/audio drops, almost like a static noise. Very low, but enough to drive me mad (not a far drive). I found cutting off DD 5.1, in the DVR, corrected this, so I chalked it up to a DVR issue since these DirecTV boxes have had 5.1 bugs for a bit.


I did mention it to Ken anyways, and he said to take the input audio delay into the negative. Well, I have noticed it at times on the TiVo, and now last night it was doing some funky stuff the first 30 minutes of Iron Man on Blu-ray. A restart of the Duo fixes it, but not for good, and it comes back.


What I found, is a -15 input audio delay solves the issue. YMMV, but if you run out of the Duo, to an AVR with the HDMI cable, and you experience audio issues, just decrease the delay by 5, until it stops.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Update:

Been loving the unit, I feel it scales 480i, 720p and 1080i to 1080p better than my set does.

I ran into a problem last week where I was hearing some audio drops/static clicks randomly(Im using the one HDMI audio out to my Denon). At first I thought it was the Directv 5.1 issue, but when I got the TiVo installed, it showed up, then it happened on Blu-rays.I dropped the audio delay from 0 ms to -15, and it pretty much quit. The whole time I was in contact with the AB engineer, Ken, and he came to the conclusion the unit had defective memory (problem with memory used for buffering audio).

I explained Gregg would be here on the 7th, so time was an issue. I did not mention it to him, but I also did not want to have to send it in because I had just routed all my HDMI's for the new setup. He asked about the reseller and I told him Gregg Loewen, Gregg then confirmed and asked they help me with the time.

Ken called today, took my credit card number for security, and is shipping me a new unit once he finishes bench testing it today. Great service so far, and Im glad they are sending me one, then allowing me to return the faulty one.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Display calibrated today, then the Duo was calibrated by Gregg Loewen. The Duo is an amazing machine, that allows you pin point CIE Gamut settings, and allows adjustment of Gamma over all 11 grayscale points. Even with a gamma slider setting on lcd's, it's inconsistent over the whoe range, while the Duo allowed setting a 2.2 over each slide. As you'll see too, the grayscale DeltaE's are all at 1 or below, after Duo calibration.

Awesome investement.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Man, going into the Duo menu, during paused programming, really brings the CMS improvements to light. My TV, as well as a lot of Panny plasmas, does not have CMS adjustments. If I turn the CMS Bypass to ON in the Duo menu, which cuts off the CMS settings, things really change. You go from natural green to neon, and a orange Gatorade bottle got fluorescent. Really impressed so far.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Also, an FYI to anyone looking to buy, contact Gregg directly. He is a reseller, and the price is better than Amazon...