Is the Gefen Home Theater Scaler the Cypress CP-255 in drag?

[mesajoe]

Does anyone know if the forthcoming Gefen Home Theater Scaler http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=4174 really nothing more than the Cypress CP-255 http://www.cypress.com.tw/product.ph...20Scalers&SR=0 in drag?

Thanks,
Mark

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Looks like it's two of the cyprus units stacked....

Gordon

[cj]

I actually like the look of that, and a bargain at $350 - might give one a try

[Mad Mr H]

From what I know Gefen design and built their own units.........

The Gefen products I have seen/used are all plain boxes no frills but do exactly what they are meant to, and cheaply too......

"Gefen are to video like Behringer are to Audio"

Cheap no frills does the job well..........


They design many "on the road" items so their range tends to be robust.


RE : Look alikes........

I think we will start to see many more in same box / same remote.......

As prices tumble the need for cheap becomes more......

Items like the case and remote are often produced by others.

the Arcam and Lexicon remote for instance - same company builds them......

Standard look cases will soon appear more often and so items will look more like each other.......

(I know these 2 are different)

Look at the Gefen scaler and say a SONUS box !!!!


I hope you buy the Gefen, when I mentioned Gefen I think a lot of people were not convinced as the price was cheap.........the day of the expensive scaler is nearly over !!!!

[Joe Fernand]

Hello all

I doubt these are one and the same unit – Gefen have been working on the Home Theatre Scaler for a few months and expect to launch it later this month.

Gefen kit is mostly ‘in house’ – though they do work for others so possibly expect to see this unit re badged in the near future.

Gefen haven’t released stock to Dealers as yet so cant say how it performs – though I’m not sure its aimed at the same folk the likes of DVDO, Lumagen, PMS etc are chasing.

Joe

[SeanT]

I wish someone would build a scaler in a cyrus box, would look awesome imho(might be a bit of a bugger fitting all the connections on, but with hdmi not too bad!)

[Tipper]

Just so everyone is aware - Gefen is also putting out another scaler called the Home Theater Mate. This has one DVI input instead of two HDMI, and one DVI output. For $350 - yikes, that's cheap!

[Mad Mr H]

Gefen and a number of other companies have started to produce scalers at very reasonable or low prices.

These have been produced WITHOUT a compromise of quality.

I and WelwynNick actually tested side by side the Gefen HD SDI to DVI scaler with others.......

The Gefen was the winner in my opinion for quality of picture.

These high end scalers with mega price tags are not long for this world! Sure there will be those that feel the high price tags will give them better quality and some retailers will make the most of that, BUT im sure the higher number of lower priced sales will appeal to many as well..........

Technology is moving forward, and with it lower prices for better quality products.

I was very impressed with the Gefen I have, menu system is easy to use, quality of build very good, well packaged, and attention to detail, remote EVEN came with a battery.....AND 2 spare SETS !!! nice thought guys........

[Joe Fernand]

Hello MadMrH

Just for others clarification can you confirm its the EXT-HDSDI-2-DVIS 'HDSDI to DVI Scaler' (1,049.90 USD) you've been testing not the EXT-HOMETS 'Home Theatre Scaler' (449.00 USD) or EXT-HDMATE-S 'HD Mate Scaler' (349.00 USD).

The lower cost units have still to launch - though as you say they are hopefully up to Gefen's usual high quality; mind you I'm not sure Gefen qualify for your 'never get it wrong' award'!!!

A quick look through the Gefen support Forums and you will see they suffer from as many compatibility/firmware problems as anyone else in this market.

Sometimes I wish Gefen didn't 'include' so many extras in their 'bundles' as folk often see the top line figures and don't realise they are getting cables, spare batteries etc included in the price.

Best regards

Joe

[PaulB]

Originally Posted by mesajoe

Does anyone know if the forthcoming Gefen Home Theater Scaler is really nothing more than the Cypress CP-255 in drag?

Thanks,
Mark

I can see why you said that, the "Features" description for both products is pretty much identical - there has to be some commonality between them I would think.
Paul

[Mad Mr H]

Joe, I have edited my above post and added the exact scaler detail

Yes mine is a HD SDI to DVIS about $1000 USD.

The new Gefen is much less at about $350 I think mentioned.....

In mine the Dual HD SDI will make up a large part of its cost.......

I would "GUESS" the same scaler processor will be used in the cheaper product, thats a guess on my part, lets see when its released.......

Cables are often bundles in so you can use straight away, without additional costs, then there are those that will buy better anyway and never use the original cables - you cant win, supply them and people will want cheaper without them, dont supply and people will say "cant use it without buying cables" - thats buyers for ya!

I have so many left over cables from items that give 4 "worldwide" mains leads........BUT must be cheaper for them to pack one box fits the world, rather than 4 seperate packing options.......

[Joe Fernand]

Hello Mad Mr H

Many thanks for clarifying - a few folk were wondering how you had gotten a hold of the lower cost units

Not sure about the 'Home Theatre Scaler' or 'HD Mate Scaler' being based around the same scaling technology as the HD SDI to DVI unit - the lower costs units have been put back a couple of times which makes me think they are new designs.

Zektor use a great PSU that comes with interchangeable 'heads' for US, UK and Euro use; saves on all of those spare cables.

Gefen kit supplied in the UK ought to come with a UK mains cable and the latest stock is all CE and RoHS compliant - see attached image.

The Gefen 'bundled' cables are generally very good - its just that folk don't tend to 'notice' them when comparing prices with alternative options that are usually supplied excluding cables.

Best regards

Joe

[Tipper]

The Gefen HD-SDI to DVI scaler uses the Gennum's VXP Scaler - the Home Theater Scaler and Home Theater Mate use something else. I just wish Gefen would dump at least one of the HD-SDI inputs and replace it with an HDMI, DVI or analog input - then they would have a world beater in the scaler world.

As an aside - Rotel is coming out with a $1200 USD scaler that sounds very interesting, except that the announcement appeared to imply that 1080p wasn't part of the specs. This could be wrong though.

[Joe Fernand]

Hello Tipper

As you say its not been confirmed as yet what's going to be used in the lower cost units - Dealers were sent out a questionnaire about a feature set for an ideal scaler back in July and that seemed to have a big impact on the development of the two lower cost units.

Joe

[Joe Fernand]

Hello all

Gefen are now listing a 'Plus' version of the Home Theatre Scalar - looks like it adds Composite and S-video to the Input options - see http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=4298

Joe