Plasma purchase and Video scalers

[Bill 54]

I am proposing to purchase a 50" Plasa shortly and have been advised to get a 'I Scan Pro' video scaler to go with it Can anyone advise me on which model of screen to go for (current favourite is the Panasonic or Fujitsu) and does anyone have any experience of video scalers please?

 

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

The Iscan Pro is not a scaler but it is a video processor. It is a de-interlacer. That is to say it de-interlaces the incoming interlaced PAL or NTSC content sent to it and outputs it as a progressive signal.

There is circuitry in the plasma which does this as well. As the resolution of plasma's is not the same as de-interlaced PAL or NTSC content this signal then needs to be scaled to match the amount of pixels in the display. This is where the scaling side of things comes in to play.

Whether an off board video processor will make the image better does depend on the processor you are looking to use and also how good the circuitry is inside the plasma.

I have not seen a 50" unit with a Pro. I have with other video processors and have found that improvements can usually be made. If you do searches on these forums for Iscan and Lumagen you will probably find some answers

Gordon

 

[emad]

Gordon

I always wanted to ask you this

Which scaler or video processor would you recommend to improve Sky+ picture quality on a Pioneer 504 plasma

And, how would you connect it to the plasma, If you have an HDMI DVD and would like to keep the DVD connected to the plasma via HDMI input.

Your advice would be much appreciated.

Emad

 

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Well,

As I have not managed to try connecting a video processor to a 504 I cannot give a definative answer. I would suspect the way to do it thogh would be to route Sky through the processor and then in to the PC HD15 socket on front of media box. That's what I wanted to try when I went over to Joe's to calibrate his 504. We had a technical hitch though.....his Lumagens were out on demo and the one in my car had no remote as it had been robbed for another job!....I'll get round to it sometimem though....

Gordon