Quadscan pro or Iscan pro ?

[tiberious]

which would you choose , Quadscan Pro for £700 or i SCAN pro FOR £750 ?

For use with HT200 dlp (panamorph on way....eventually)

Thanks guys

[Ludae]

Originally posted by tiberious:
<STRONG>which would you choose , Quadscan Pro for £700 or i SCAN pro FOR £750 ?

For use with HT200 dlp (panamorph on way....eventually)

Thanks guys</STRONG>

The iScan is the better de-interlacer and the scaler in the HT200 is as good as if not slighty better than the one in the Quadscan.

[PaulB]

Tiberious,
Where you getting the Quadscan from for £700?
Paul

[tiberious]

Paul,

Advertised for sale as "B" stock by AV Science ($999).

More a metaphorical question really - I guess with shipping etc , it would end up costing more (a lot) - but out of interest, I asked a couple of people , and they said ,for me ,it would be better to feed a 800x600 signal via the quad , than 480p from the i-scan -- I don`t get that - I thought that , with a Panamorph, I would get a 800x600 (4:3)image (tall and skinny)sent from my DVD player anyway - so there would be no need for the HT200 to scale at all.

Bottom line - I`m unsure, and thrashing around in a sea of confusion !

Anyone, please help !!

[Jenz]

Just a note that when I inquired about getting the $999 unit from AV Science they could not give a delivery date and more importantly could not clarify if it was the dual 110/240v or the US specific 110v model. If the latter was used a Stepdown transformer would be needed.

[PaulB]

I had, until very recently, been using an excellent step-down transformer from Dixons that was really just an oversized plug. Cost about £18 and was very unobstrusive!

Also, I noticed that Focus' own US website had the same blowout prices as AV Science so shouldn't really be too much of a problem to get hold of. I've had a good offer for my HTPC and I've suddenly developed an interest in the Quad - hey, it happens!
Paul

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Tiberious,

The Iscan will offer superiour de-interlacing to the Quadscan. The Quadscan does have the ability to output the same resolution as the panel inside your HT200.

However, the scaler inside the HT200 will happily take the "great" 480p signal from the Iscan and re-scale it internally to 800 x 600. I've seen this combo. It's great. If you intend to purchase the panamorph then this is what I'd look at getting. The additional features a Quadscan has are covered fully by the scaler in the HT200 and the Iscan.

PaulB: I'd try and get a dem of Quadscan. It's addittional features will be of much more use to a CRT owner like yourself.

All the best,

Gordon

[tiberious]

Thanks chaps !

Gordon - so am I right in saying I`d feed my projector a 800x600 image with a panamorph ?

Leaning towards i scan, but would love to get a look first (and try it with region 1 great escape - see if those jaggies go !!)

Thanks again everyone

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Tiberious:

The panamorph optically changes the aspect ratio of the image being shone through it. So you'd set your DVD player to 16:9, it would then send out a 4:3 image which (if viewed without alteration by panamorph or scaler in ht200) would have tall thin folk. The panamorph would then squash this down optically (or perhaps it's stretch out) so that everything was the correct aspect ratio. The HT200 would be set at 4:3 setting to do this.

Hope this helps

Gordon

[tiberious]

Picture a man with a tall coned hat , sitting in the corner - thats me !!

Sorry for being thick - if the player is set to 16:9 , how would it send a 4:3 signal to the projector ?

If the player is set at 16:9 output ,and the projector at 4:3 , will the projector scalefrom 16:9 to 4:3 (panamorph then squishing down again to 16:9)?

Or , if sending a 4:3 image (from a 16:9 dvd)from the player to a 4:3 output on the projector .... panamorph squish....

Oh God - this would be so much easier if the bloody thing was here !!

Also - would the I scan need to be fed a 16:9
ratio image - or is the de interlacing the same whether it gets a 4:3 or 16:9 image?.

[Nic Rhodes]

Originally posted by tiberious:
<STRONG>Oh God - this would be so much easier if the bloody thing was here !! </STRONG>

Is this your answer? Don't be temted by cheap internet deals but deal with a local specialist who can demonstrate / loan you the equipment?

[Rob]

It would be great to dem all the scalers/ doublers together on the projector that you have.... Unfortunately this is very unlikely. I don't know of anywhere that you could go to see an Iscan/Quadscan etc. side by side (anyone?)let alone have your projector as well. This is where the forums become so usefull. There are many people here with experience, but at the end of it, you have to make your own choice. In reality,there is never a good time to buy anything , there is always something better around the corner.

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Tiberious: The Iscan does the same job of de-interlacing regardless of what aspect ratio of image it's fed.

If you set your DVD player to 16:9 TV setting it outputs a 4:3 shaped image using the full vertical resolution of 480 lines(with ntsc). The Projector then squishes the image vertically. If you had a 4:3 TV(and you have with the HT200) and viewed this image without using the 16:9 squish setting you'd see what I mean. Go and try it.

The problem with the panamorph is that when you want to view 4:3 images with it in place you need a setting on the HT200 that will squeeze the image in from the sides and add black bars on left and right. This is OK though as you have a user defineable aspect ratio setting.

Now, if you want to watch letterbox stuff with the panamorph it situ you then need yet another custom aspect ration setting. I belive that SIM2 are or have implimented the addition of another user defineable aspect ratio for this purpose. Failing that you have to buy a Rock which has all these pre-configured.

It's complicated to describe but easy to show.

Hope we're all getting closer to understanding anyway.


Gordon

[tiberious]

Gordon - you`re right , to see it would be to instantly understand I am sure !(that time will come).

I guess I`ll just wait `til the Panamorph arrives before deciding on the other equipment.

Nic

Slight confusion - when I said it would be easier if the thing was here, I was referring to the Panamorph Lens (which I pre ordered last NoVEMBER , and which is STILL not yet in production - was meant to ship Dec,and about every 2 weeks since !!).

[Nic Rhodes]

Originally posted by tiberious:
<STRONG>Nic

Slight confusion - when I said it would be easier if the thing was here, I was referring to the Panamorph Lens (which I pre ordered last NoVEMBER , and which is STILL not yet in production - was meant to ship Dec,and about every 2 weeks since !!).</STRONG>

Tiberious, sorry for the confusion. Still interested in you Panamorph lens, you must be getting very frustrated by now. Stick with it. We all want to know how you get on with it!

[tiberious]

Nic

No problem mate - I will be sure to post when it arrives.It is frustrating, but there are some who pre ordered this back in Aug !!

Good things come to he who waits....and waits...