Sony G90 manual Significant New Products and Trends, World of displays, Report

Page 15

in the world of displays.

 

 

 

 

ideo upconverters have become important prod-

 

As with many trade shows, the city hosting Infocomm

 

 

changes each year. But the general organization of the show

 

ucts for home theater. A large number of these

 

remains much the same wherever it occurs. This year it was the

 

Vwere introduced this year at INFOCOMM, almost

 

huge halls of the Orange County Convention Center that were

 

all of them scalers. Unlike simpler line doublers or quadru-

 

 

plers – which output progressive signals with either double

 

filled with manufacturer’s exhibits. The largest booths, some

 

 

 

 

 

or quadruple the number of

 

threatening to scrape the ceiling, were those of the pro-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VIDEO UPCON-

lines in each original inter-

 

jector manufacturers. Many of these contained screens

 

 

 

laced video field – scalers

 

of nearly theater proportions displaying high-definition

 

offer a range of progressive

 

material, much of it from recent blockbuster movies,

 

 

VERTERS

output formats and scan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

projected by the brightest projectors available. Sur-

 

 

 

 

 

rates to better match the

 

rounding these were the smaller booths of manufactur-

 

 

 

 

 

characteristics of a given dis-

 

ers with more humble space requirements. Line the aisles

 

play device. The new products this year at the show includ-

 

between with plush carpet and your picture of this trade show

 

ed Analog Way’s Trans-Scaler, Communications Specialties’

 

 

Deuce Pro, Extron’s DVS 100, Faroudja’s DVP3000 and

 

is almost complete. (Did I mention the indigestible food?)

 

 

 

 

 

DVP3000U, Focus Enhancement’s QuadScan, Inline’s

 

This year’s Infocomm pre-

 

 

 

 

 

IN1402, IN1403, and IN1404, RGB Spectrum’s DTQ and VLI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

200, and YEM’s DVS-1000. Space prohibits describing all of

 

sent ed over 9 0 project ors in

 

 

these products, so I focus here on only a few of the most

 

 

 

noteworthy.

 

 

it s annual Shoot Out , as well

 

 

Communications Specialties’ Deuce Pro, with a sug-

 

 

 

gested list price of $4,995, is a much-improved version of

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

its popular Deuce video scaler. The product adds a compo -

 

as a handful of direct -view

 

 

nent/RGB input, VGA pass-through, stereo audio switching,

 

 

 

RS-232, and an internal power supply. Compatible with

 

Separated from the main exhibit halls was the ICIA Pro-

 

NTSC and PAL signals, it outputs RGB in ten different for-

 

 

mats up to 1365 x 1024, at three selectable refresh rates.

 

jection Shoot-Out. This event-within-an-event is a showcase

 

 

 

Performance improvements include a two-line comb filter,

 

of Infocomm. It is also quite misunderstood: It was created to

 

 

 

noise reduction, and a sharpness control. Extron’s DVS

 

allow potential buyers of display equipment – potential

 

 

 

100, with a list price of $2,325, includes a component input

 

because nothing can be bought at the show – to compare the

 

and a three-line adaptive Y/C separator. It can decode

 

performance of products from different manufacturers under

 

NTSC, PAL, and SECAM and provides a total of 17 RGB

 

identical conditions. No one actually wins the Shoot-Out, and

 

output formats, including 480p, 720p, and 1080p. Faroud-

 

there are no prizes – in fact, participants are strictly prohibit-

 

ja’s DVP3000, with a suggested list price of $19,995, con-

 

ed from declaring themselves winners. Nevertheless, it’s an

 

verts 480i (NTSC) to one of eight output formats, including

 

important event for manufacturers and buyers alike because

 

720p, 1080i, and 1080p HDTV. In addition to Faroudja’s

 

 

renowned film-mode deinterlacing, the DVP3000 includes

 

it is rare to see similar display products together in one place.

 

 

 

“Directional Correlation Deinterlacing” to eliminate motion

 

This year, over 90 projectors were presented, as well as a

 

 

 

artifacts from video-originated material. Another significant

 

handful of direct-view CRT monitors and plasma-display pan-

 

 

 

feature is the ability to upconvert 480p signals from future

 

els. Products were divided into multiple categories according

 

 

 

progressive-scan DVD players. A component output is also

 

to image resolution and display application. Projectors in a

 

included for connecting to HDTVs. The DVP3000U

 

given category were fed identical signals for display on iden-

 

($21,995) adds 580i (PAL) and 580p input compatibility and

 

tical side-by-side low-gain screens. For the first time, the

 

the ability to output at 100Hz.

 

Shoot-Out included a high-definition “HDTV Demo” category

 

A total of 11 upconverters were entered into the Pro-

 

whose entries consisted, for the most part, of high-brightness,

 

jection Shoot-Out this year, including several of the new

 

large-venue projectors (the screens were large - 27 x 15 feet).

 

products described above. The upconverter Shoot-Out was

 

 

divided into two categories - 31.5 kHz output and 64 kHz

 

The Shoot-Out also included categories for scan converters

 

 

 

output. Each product was fed identical input signals and

 

and video upconverters. (See the sidebar.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the output was projected onto identical side-by-side

 

Since I work as an engineer for Electrohome Projection

 

 

 

screens – using 8” CRT projectors in the 31.5 kHz categor y

 

Systems, an exhibitor at the show, my view of Infocomm is

 

 

 

and 9” CRT projectors in the 64 kHz category. Video mater-

 

that of an industry insider, an advantageous perspective from

 

ial consisted of colorbar and multiburst test patterns, color

 

which to report the event. Of course, it carries with it the dan-

 

and black-and-white movie scenes, and VCR playback of

 

ger that I could be perceived as biased toward my company’s

 

video-originated scenes, including fast-forward and reverse

 

products or against those of its competitors. To set this aside,

 

previews, as well as paused frames. These images permit-

 

let me assure the reader that, apart from supplying a relative-

 

ted only a limited evaluation of performance (scaling quality

 

ly low volume of OEM projectors for the very High End of

 

with other output formats was not tested, for example).

 

 

Accordingly, I ranked products simply as “good,” “ade-

 

home theater, Electrohome does not make products that

 

 

 

quate,” or “poor” based strictly on the test images shown.

 

directly compete in the categories of most interest to this

 

 

 

In the 31.5 kHz category, I rated two products “good:” the

 

report.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Astro Systems SC-2025A line doubler and the Chromatek

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Significant New Products and Trends

 

 

Biraster 3428 line doubler. Both displayed the test patterns

 

 

 

competently, had few objectionable deinterlacing artifacts,

 

Among the multitude of new display products introduced at

 

and handled VCR playback well. I rated the Communication

 

Infocomm, I have selected a handful as “significant” because

 

Specialties Deuce as merely “adequate” because of its rel-

 

they demonstrate the most important trends taking place in

 

atively poor high-frequency luma response and smeary

 

the display industry. They also turn out to

 

 

 

 

 

 

continued on page 23

 

be the most relevant to those attempting

A L E N

K O E B E L

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Page 14 Page 16
Contents Sony G90 Size Does Matter Sound and vision at the same time every time Ingly just beyond reachThan ever we needed in strange, dark caves Experience before he finds a little of ItBergman’s The Seventh Seal DVD Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut HPBarco Vision Watch Follies & FrolicsEditor Editors will respond next issueCan All That Counts Be Counted? a Forum Begins II Janet’s IndexProblem with DVD Digital Artifacts Targeting 14-Year-Old Boys?If The Perfect Vision is to push Down Primrose Path Toward Perfect Vision Forever? At all. So it doesn’t take Hdtv orAzine Widescreen Review perhaps? TV Is TV What Not To See on DVDDigital Cinema The Good Bad of It John Eargle Lossy Data Compression & DVD SoundSeries such as Star Trek The Next Generation . Each I L L E RMovie Trivia DVDs Gaining MomentumE G E G S a N D O W S I C & M U L T I M E D I aPanasonic DVD-L50D PalmTheater ViaTV VC 105 VideophoneM M a R T I N Encountered R R Y R a W L I N S O NInfocomm Significant New Products and Trends World of displaysReport Tunately, there are trade-offs for the small size of ultra To recreate the theater experience in the homeOgy near its limit and its days are numbered. The display Light projected on the screen. These considerations haveAn Ideal Cinema? Leges, its perks, as it were. If you’re the script super Real movie where there was none before, or at leastOmetimes I think that every position on a Moviemaking crew comes with its special priviFootage One way or another when it comes to working withIty between when they are and when Assistant directors, service people,Directors seem to trust me to use my Into any trouble Certainly a serviceable way to editMovies Likely to get youEnjoy prelaps to pull the narrative Allowing for camera setups, lighting, and rigTakes and setups meaning the master It’s a funny thing about matching in editing. Most laySion? In Understanding Media, McCluhan Lexicon MC-1 Controller Sonic Flavors To Slake Every ThirstR L E Y Logic 7 Digital Signal Processing for Movies and Music Lexicon’s Music Surround ModesListening to Movies Listening To Music Surround Ing the Denon Anechoic Orchestral Music Recording CD ConclusionControllers Two-Channel Bypass Mode Surround Decoding and Digital Signal Processing DSPDSP and the Future-Proof Controller Bass Management THX-Certified ControllersFuture… High-Resolution Digital Audio…the controller represents Radical new path toInterFacing the User After DSP Digital to Analog ConversionM M I I L L E R Revel Ultima Speakers From 2 to 7.1 ChannelsEpisode One The Ancient Enemy Meet My Enemy59 by Deploying the Troops RPG Room Optimizer SoftwareTion coefficient for the surfaces that is comparable to Revel Ultima Salon Noble WarriorStart and go get a beer, or two You wanted to cross over your subwoofer at 40 HzResearch effort to quantify in-room speaker behavior Our noble warrior against the ancient enemyLikewise for the 15-inch woofer in the Sub-15 Essary to achieve the Revel design team’s led by KevinSpeaker? Removing the bottom octave from the Salon’s Direct radiator to bloated. The Salon’s soundstage comBy Keith Johnson for Reference Recordings Nal processing in controllers hadn’t made subwooferWoofer, when it is well integrated with your main speakers Cians often use emphasis in the intensityFormance. Orchestral music, for example, is performed Get that the fight for the lowlands was far from over Cy, phase, and time. It then develops adaptive filters thatBattle Summary Stand-off Episode Two a War On Two FrontsSearch of the Mythical Beast LINN-AV5103 Aktiv Multi-Channel SystemQuest Begins Company of the BeastRemote Interface Working the EnvironmentI L G a D E R NAD T770 Audio-Video ReceiverJust the Basics, Done Well Summing UpGaines’ Stormy Monday I’ve Got the T-Bone Walker Das Boot, The Director’s Cut Wolfgang Peterson, directorDesigns go, the NAD T770 is all steak Steering in DD mode is precise and smoothManufacturer’s Corner RPG Diffuser Systems Inc., Room OptimizerWant My DVD Major Labels’ Plans for Classical Music on DVDI D I W a L E S O N Tan Opera Guide to Opera on Video and executive direc Have been considered typical indeed, good for a Audience, he says. We fed that information to the rearTion from the main mikes as well as the spot mikes From the two main mikes and brought it to the rear onesComputer and TV combined See review, this issueQuering technology issues, Moorhead says. Most of our Fall was so high. This was an elaborate jointMade for DVD Original, so they’re not going to fake it for DVDStars. God, was I skeptical Ple either turning cynical, or lusting for more blood Dramatic confrontation, in the second scene of Act TwoMust answer three riddles. If his answers are correct, she To Turandot’s collection the Chinese nation, ruled by anMoon onstage we see a corps of Chinese dancers, wearing Turandot. And why would there be? Yes, Puccini conscienPreoccupation like that made more sense, but Tucks into a tiny corner of the staging. Hordes of ChineseDVD-ness Classical DVD SamplerPerformances Ment of that, and when I listened, I found I’d chooseWith the sound either way, or with the sound of the Scala Full of pomp and circumstance, but much less lifelikeThat’s simply ravishing This performance is broad Role mostly as a force of nature, powerful but blankStart of each one, there’s Karajan on screen, his face Like institutional persona, Herr Music Director of AllExperiment in a New Medium Roger Reynolds Watershed Mode 70, DVDSurrounded JargonAreas of music rhythm, loudness, and tone color, for Are so new that we all need orientationThough, is that Reynolds is way too impressed with Yes, theorists can find all sorts of relationships amongThat, while Otto is allegedly creating syntax by moving Musical scoreMaybe, succeeded by metallic effects But in rhythms he himself creates. In practice, these, toPerformance we see on DVD begins with a film Pop With a TwistB G E N D R O N Ments of a Clockwork Orange What Ever Happened to BabyHorizon, probably to his death. It is a scene that demands Perfect timing and careful choreographyBelow-average vocal performance Son’s Dead to the World. NopeLy slurs the tune’s climactic line,What DVD, with its digitally clear resolutionTabloid, because of its sensational pur Insignificance of the media and with aGodzilla, Armageddon, Instrument is better than Dent films Gods and Monsters, Cookie’s Fortune thatWith 1991’s In on the Kill Close Encounter Voices of Light/The Passion of Joan of ArcD R E W Q U I N T Special presentation of Voices of Light/The Passion of Joan By much of the sound reinforcement heard in Broadway Obvious. The movie is about as complete as it can be.Other instances, were not merely happy coincidences, nor Each other. Seen together, they seemed inseparable yetHuman Color Perception An Introduction to Digital VideoPart 2 Video Color Concepts Physics of ColorHue and Saturation ColorblindnessColor Concepts for Video Additive Color LuminanceDisplay Color Accuracy RGB Primaries The Color Triangle CIE Chromaticity DiagramWhite Reference Color Temperature Grayscale Color TemperatureColor Measurement Color Bars Instrument known as a color analyzer or a spectro Other color signals will alsoColor errors. Are used in some circumstancesAdjustments Color and HueAvia Guide to Home Theater pro Sony VPH-G90U Multiscan Projector PhysicalE G R O G E R S Operating Functions Installation and Set-upConnections Scan RatesSummary PerformanceSpecifications Runco DTV-930 Multiscan ProjectorDescription Inputs/Outputs Formats can be selected directly from the remote Convergence Labs Test Report Greg RogersCombination is about the reasonable limit to achieve an Horizontal and vertical scan frequencies and other sourceBe noticed RangeRemote Control IEV Turboscan 1500 Line DoublerLine Doubling = Deinterlacing 3Dfusion do each in different ways. The Turboscan Video outputs. As a progressive video reference, I used aCreates progressive video without deinterlacing artifacts Ics-grade front projectorPioneer Elite DVL-91 Combination CD/LD/DVD Player Look and FeelL L C R U C E Meaning clear Up menus allow you to configure such things as onscreen lanWrong one in the dark DVD PerformanceLD Performance Ly, the remote of the DVL-91, like thatDvdo iScan Plus Line Doubler Celebrate Film L M & M O V I E S Classic Comedy’s Second Coming Roberto BenigniQuently escape was Benigni’s first American and English Though a number of films in which BenigniRoberto on the Internet Original Pink Panther film go figure. Sad to say Cute cameo which perhaps hints at a sequelAspect ratio and running time incorrectly SoundSet consists of Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001 a Special Editions Kubrick and The Space MonstersFirst wave of anger and incredulity. The DVD set was No thanks to Warner’s folks Small wonderBoth Clockwork and Full Metal Jacket exhibited pinkish What Dreams May Come Special Editions Few Weird ThoughtsNavigator a Medieval Odyssey, the other is Map Human Heart Worth a Look Relatively Recent ArrivalsSmooth as could be and given the importance How beautiful she was when she was married to RogerMovie would have had the solid foundation it needed To say that the film is developing a cult following someLove.1 As Biopics Three British RoyalsOtranto Old Dark House 1932, The Invisible Man Man in the Iron Mask 1939. But it is hisHP Comments Food-storage room Ic in this context in cloud cuckooland, with theirYou have an idea of what’s really going on in the film Mon with The Shining than with any other Kubrick opusN a T H a N V a L I N From Art to CultFace the questions that vexed and haunted Only later goes on to give them human dimensions. EvenSuch blatant symbolism can sustain an entire movie Not content to present us with an allegory of the eternalIssues 111 Editorial Submissions Back Issues Website Change of AddressQuestions About Your Subscription Letters to the EditorName Company Address CITY, State , ZIP A S S I F I E D a D O R D E R F O R MVision Watch
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