Scaler Showdown

Hi Kenny,

Is it in the shops now?

Cheers, Lee
 
anyone tested any of these scales, i have the chance of buying the iscan hd+ for 520.00 and would like opinions. thanks
 
$520?

malcky said:
anyone tested any of these scales, i have the chance of buying the iscan hd+ for 520.00 and would like opinions. thanks
 
lscolman said:
Hi Kenny,

Is it in the shops now?

Cheers, Lee
Nope! Just been in WHS at Waterloo and they have the April edition on the shelves but no review of scalers in the index. According to Gordon it should be on the shelves this coming Thursday then, but perhaps I should ignore it - just in case!

Mark.
 
MarkE19 said:
but perhaps I should ignore it - just in case!
Having just bought an HDP and had Gordon calibrate it I'm definitely not going to be reading it. :D
 
Don't even go there. I'm trying hard to save up for a visit from Gordon but a new bathroom is getting in the way at the moment :rolleyes:

Mark.
 
Nice to see a high street magazine promoting the benefits of a scaler - the blurb around the reviews is also a great read for those new to scalers/deinterlacing/scaling.

I also think the conclusion reached by the review seems pretty fair as well...given the money the Lumagen would probs be the likely choice for most...if you only have a grand, the HD+ is a pretty good bargain IMHO. Then again, I am biased :D

JJ
 
Kenny Glasgow said:
This month's HCC has Cinemateq, Crystalio, IScan and Lumagen on test

Please note, that the HCC reviewed as a matter of fact only the "small" picture optimizer (our entry solution) instead of the "big" picture optimizer plus II, appointed in the headline and shown on the pictures. What a mistake.
:suicide:
 
Never mind Gordon,

To take your mind off it I'll ask you how your conversation with Stuart went? :devil:
 
Gordon @ Convergent AV said:
boo hooo....how come other folk have seen the review and I haven't and I'm one of the bloody distributors.....

Gordon


Get a subscription! ;) :D
 
kpr@cinemateq said:
Please note, that the HCC reviewed as a matter of fact only the "small" picture optimizer (our entry solution) instead of the "big" picture optimizer plus II, appointed in the headline and shown on the pictures. What a mistake.
:suicide:
Yeah they broke the SDI unit they were given and all that was available at the time was a baby Optimizer. An absolute shame as I would've like to see a no holds barred Cinemateq V iScan review. Mind you, they only had a pre-release HD+ because the final revision wasn't yet available when they started the review. Thinking about it the Lumagen would've been on older (almost BETA) firmware too, and really old if the reviewer hadn't been updating regularly. And presumably the Crystalio would've been a pre-HDCP unit as well. So it's almost a battle of the BETAs :devil:
 
The HDP Pro they had for review was an early sample and was returned with 2 month old firmware in it. (they had it for a while.....).

I've just read the review and I'm somewhat surprised at the star rating based on the actual reviews....they don't seem to tally....Well done DVDo for the best buy.

I think it's about time I sent them DVI for review....

Gordon
 
Liam @ Prog AV said:
So it's almost a battle of the BETAs
Which means it's pretty useless as an aid to potential purchasers and provides deniability to all manufacturers concerned if theirs isn't shown in a good light.

I'm glad I dont subscribe to a magazine which publishes such worthless reviews. :thumbsdow
 
I think to be fair to Martin Pipe its a complex subject and he managed a pretty good stab at getting the main points across in a limited amount of space...its a 10 page feature. Really could have done with being a 30 page feature but that's never going to happen....

Gordon
 
It's usually pretty obvious what is a bug and what won't be in final release when it comes to comparing them so I wouldn't say the review has no merits (having not read it I don't know how detailed the review goes). Either way I would still treat it with a pinch of salt, especially where points have had to be compressed to fit a subject people write books about into a single magazine review!
 
Have read the review now, doesn't really spend much time discussing the picture quality differences between them, and specifically what is better where, so wouldn't bother worrying about the units not being up to full steam!! Also doesn't spend much time comparing the different units memory abilities and use with multiple displays (PJ and plasma). The annoying thing is it also doesn't make clear that the Lumagen ProHDP and Crystalio are competing with each other only, and that the iScan is half the price and really competes with the Cinemateq *PlusII* and Luma *HDP* instead (both not reviewed).

However it's a great intro to video processing for noobs who are at the "Do I need a scaler" stage, more than the "which is best for me stage" (which is highly individual, relies on what the rest of the kit is and would require a whole issue to cover and explain all the differences in detail!). Information paragraphs explain things like deinterlacing, digital connections (although basic on SDI merits), pull-down etc. Some discussion on HDTV shows where these boxes are useful for passing through HDCP but rescaling or converting refresh rate. All good stuff and worth a read if your getting nothing but confused surfing this forum!!!

However, I got to the final page (summary) where it all goes wrong:

- iScan better connectivity over Crystalio and Lumagen - come on, use your eyes man! Two massive banks of DVIs, SDIs and BNCs versus 4/6 inputs and a DVI socket that won't do interlace.
- iScan better performance than Lumagen, and both better performers than Crystalio - er he did actually look at and setup the scalers didn't he? iScan is great, and half the price, but it ain't no Lumagen or Crystalio. Please don't tell me the results are tainted with the old "price factor" excuse, the worst thing you can do to a review like this.
- the Lumagen requires pro-setup, but the others don't? - by the looks of it he needed pro setup on the lot!

Seriously though, good read but no replacement for individual, professional advice which is more important with video scaling than pretty much every other part of the system!
 
Liam @ Prog AV said:
- the Lumagen requires pro-setup, but the others don't? - by the looks of it he needed pro setup on the lot!
Not wishing to re-hash old arguments but it was a comment just like that back in Decemeber IIRC that initally put me off the Lumagen and leaning towards the iScan .. since I bought one and had Gordon set it up clearly I'm now a believer. :D

It was only after getting "professional advice" that I changed my mind, but you can hardly argue that statement isn't correct. From everything I've read the iScan is deployable 'out of the box', not too sure about the Crystalio but its' manual was a lot more approachable than the Luma's.
 
Yeah I see what you mean if the Lumagen hadn't got any preinstalled timings, but it does. You only gotta press the right key combination on the Lumagen to get a picture up in exactly the same way the iScan, Cinemateq and Crystalio do. Could pick up a default Luma right now, hit the right combo (e.g. MENU 0 2 5 720p or 0 2 4 XGA - might be other way round) and get a picture in seconds flat - without having to navigate any menus too. Calibrate the DVD input briefly, then copy settings to all other inputs (others don't do this) and you've got an iScan beating picture in about 5 minutes.
 
You just made my point for me. :) How does a n00b discover those magic incantations?
 

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