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

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