LumagenHDP instead of the VP30 - Have I made the right choice??

[Saltrock]

I've got the Lumagen HDP on order which will eventually plug into a PHD8 via DVI to a DVI board.

I know perhaps I should have looked around a bit more but i'm just wondering if i've made the right decision when I look at the spec sheet for the VP30?

All those HDMIs!! An upgradable processor! And overall a nicer looking box (which to be honest, doesn't really bother me.)

QUESTIONS:

How do these two boxes compare with each other?
Am I better off or worse off with the HDP when it comes to PQ?
When it comes to the ports what features am I losing out on when it comes to having DVI in/out instead of HDMI?

On another note, the HDP - can the optional SDI board be ordered at a later date and fitted by the end user (that has a fair idear when it comes to electronics)?

Many thanks

Craig.

 

[madshi]

I think the Lumagen is no bad choice, because Lumagen plans to add support for true motion adaptive deinterlacing in a later firmware. The iScan VP30 will never ever do that, as far as I know. So the Lumagen should have noticably better PQ for 1080i video (TV shows/sports). Apart from that I don't think the Lumagen and iScan scalers differ much in terms of picture quality and features. HDMI is nice to have, but you can use DVI in the same way by using a simple adapter.

 

[Welwynnick]

Not quite.

Both HDP and VP30 do per-pixel motion-adaptive de-interlacing, and both only do it on standard definition sources. The improvements of the VP30 over the iScan HD+ are largely catch-up with the HDP & Pro (HD over analogue inputs, better outputs etc).

What Lumagen are working on now, and apparently about to release fairly shortly, is film mode inverse tele-cine de-interlacing for high definition sources. They've been saying that for some time, but it would be a big plus for the Lumagen.

What the VP30 may or may not do in the future is beyond speculation at the moment. DVDO tend to show their hand when it is ready, not just "in development".

Nick

 

[madshi]

Ouch, Nick, of course you're right. I must have been dreaming!

Of course I meant proper HD film mode deinterlacing, not motion adaptive HD video deinterlacing. Meant the right thing, wrote the wrong thing.

Sorry for the confusion!

 

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

The newest firmware for the HDP has 1080i video de-interlacing that is not "bob". You can read comments from those who've tried it stating how great it looks to standard "bob"(on avs). The next and final stage to it is the film detection.

Gordon

 

[Welwynnick]

Gordon,
Heard very good things about it yesterday, but if it isn't bob, then what is it? Is it per-frame motion-adaptive or something?
If the HDP has got film AND video covered, that could undermine the new VXP/HQV processors.
Nick

 

[madshi]

Well, the new HQV/VXP chips do have some further advantages, e.g. special filters to remove diagonal jaggies. However, the $1499 Lumagen for half the price of the new HQV/VXP processors would be worth a 2nd look at least.

 

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Jim tried to explain what they were doing at CEDIA. It's not per pixel motion adaptive but it's a form of motion adaptive. He didn't give it any sort of name as such. He did say they were very happy with it in their tests and now it's out it seems others are too. Once they've finished what they are doing Jim might explain more I guess.

HQV does have other things going for it. Cadence detection being one along with jagged edge filtering when it drops to video modes. The ability to run some of the Silicon Optix noise removal filters as well. I think HQV combined with the huge FPGA Lumagen are sticking in Radiance should allow them to get some superior images over the Vision range....at a price of course.

Gordon