New progressive scan players or alternatives (IscanPro)?

[MartinCo]

anyone know anything about these players?

not sure if I'll stick with my Denon 2800, so want to look at alternatives in case this happens .

I'm particularly interested if pal progressive looks possible (even as future thing), depending on the chipset used...

the arcam's are too expensive for me. similarly, the primare v25.

what about the harmon kardon 25(?) just renewed in HCC,
and also the nad t571 which no-one seems to mention.
anyone know what chipsets they use?

the toshiba 900e can supposedly do pal progressive with the latest firmware... any users out there with one of these?


after that, I'm stuck at importing a philips 962 or q50.. not mad on the idea but possible.

final possibility, getting a cheaper non-PS component out player (Sony, Philips, Toshiba etc) and buying an Iscan Pro at a later date, funds permitting.

[WSquared]

If it was me, for the next 4 or 5 months I would stick with your 2800 as long as you are using the newest "modified" firmware.

I know this is always the case, but there are quite a few reasonably priced good quality PAL progressive capable players on the horizon. One of which will be the philips 963 which replaces the 962. It looks very apealing because it will be roughly half the price of the Denon 3800. The European model of the 963(scart equiped) is supposed to also be equiped with the faroudja FLI2200 de-interlacing chip. This information is based on Philips own spec sheet.
http://www.p4c.philips.com/
Search for "DVD963SA/001" under documentation and downloads.
Basically the 963 is: 108MHz/13bit, Faroudja DCDi, SACD, Crystal DACs, Burr Brown Op-amps, etc. General audiphile grade audio circuitry. The 963 should also be handset hackable for Multiregion and PAL progressive just like the 962.
The 963 is supposed to be available in September.

There are also a number of other promising looking players coming out from Marantz and others.

I'm looking to replace my Nintaus 9769 with one of these such players in 4 or 5 months. I'm looking forward to some price competition in this high-quality mid-range-price region of the progressive scan DVD market.

The Iscan pro is a great product, but you will loose some resolution because the picture has to go through an extra A/D and D/A conversion process. De-interlacing in the progressive DVD player is all done before the D/A conversion.
Also, the Iscan may cost as much as the amount you want to spend on the DVD player.
Cheers,

[MartinCo]

thanks WSquared.
already knew about the Philips 963.. thought it was due Oct at the earliest. importing a 962 cheap is tempting but messy. shame no-one will import these.

ideally I wanted something now, before I get locked in with my dealer so I dont really want to wait 4-5 months.
a pain though - when the Denon 2800 works, its superb.. just worries me the amount of problems people are having with it.

there doesn't seem to be any cheap workable alternatives available.. most have "problems", apart from some of the imported models like Philips.

so no-one knows about the nad 571 or harmon kardon?

both look reasonable for around £450... just wondered on the chipsets and "future" firmware possibilities.

I could swap for non-progressive player and buy an Iscan Pro later... and get the added bonus of de-interlacing sky & my vcr... which would be nice.

anyone else gone this route... I assume you do get Pal Progressive with an Iscan Pro?

[gizlaroc]

just to let you know

AVS are doing a special on on the quadscan pro at the momement for $499.
I spoke to Alan on friday and he had 30 units left, either desktop or rackmount, your choice.

I borrowed a friends to try it out and put my order in straight away, being shipped from Focus on monday.

a basic tosh with component would look good with this and you still have an extra component input, 2 s-video and 2 composite.
or you can choose the second inputs to act a loop back out and ignore the scaler.

It doesn`t do 2:2 pulldown for PAL progressive unforunatively, unlike the iScan Pro, which does.

[MartinCo]

up!..

anyone got the tosh 900e which now supposedly do pal progressive? (details at le-concepts).

would also be interesting in any iscan pro/ panasonic users info.