Sony G90 manual Dvdo iScan Plus Line Doubler

players mentioned have a similar flat-frequency response to 4

MHz with a rapid fall-off at 5 MHz (seen as a weak image in

the 5 MHz band on a multiburst test pattern, e.g., on the Video

Essentials laserdisc). There is a strange moiré or rainbow

color in the 5 MHz burst on the DVL-91 that I haven’t seen

before. I couldn’t find any examples of this in real-world

images from laserdisc playback, possibly because few

laserdiscs have any content at this frequency.

The DVL-91, like the Theta Voyager, has its weakest per-

formance in chroma noise. On color bars or full-frame color

displays, the noise is best described as “worms” in the image.

This is most prominent in blue and cyan, but is also present in

red, magenta, green, and yellow. The noise can be significant-

ly reduced by turning the variable digital noise reduction (V-

DNR) to max, but is still visible, even with that setting. Fortu-

M a n u f a c t u r e r I n f o r m a t i o n

PIONEER ELITE DVL-91

Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.

2265 East 220th St

Long Beach, California 90810

Phone: 1-800-Pioneer

www.pioneerelectronics.com

Source: Manufacturer Loan

Price: $1,800

nately this chroma noise does not often intrude

on laserdisc playback. I noticed it most on older,

noisy laserdiscs. Their inherent noise, added to

that of the DVL-91, created a noisier image than

from the CLD-97/99. The DVL-91 also has an

exaggerated chroma delay: See the Video Essen -

tials test pattern with two red bars on a yellow background.

There is smear of the red bar to the right, into the yellow

background, and it includes an irregular pattern of red dots.

The awkward controls, which I mentioned above for DVD,

also apply for laserdisc. Pioneer’s earlier CLD-97 and CLD-99

had better controls for still step than does the DVL-91, and

their jog/shuttle controls worked better.

Summary

The video performance of the Pioneer DVL-91 is essentially

equivalent to that of the Theta Voyager. It is particularly

impressive as a DVD player, but like the Voyager, doesn’t

equal previous generation state-of-the-art laserdisc players.

However, for $1,800, you get a combination LD and DVD play-

er, which is not a bad deal, especially if you have a collection

of laserdiscs and need a new LD player. There is also the con-

venience of having just one set of hook-ups and one remote

control for all your home-theater optical disc needs. Of

course, as with any stand-alone DVD or LD player, you also

get a CD player in the bargain.

Further Thoughts:

DVDO iScan Plus Line Doubler

In the last issue, we previewed a prototype of the DVDO	tion iScan Plus was set too low, but this can be compensat-
iScan Plus line doubler, a breakthrough product at $699. Its	ed with the projector’s brightness control. I believe the
price and key feature, inverse-telecine processing, threatens	absence of a color control will be the feature missed the
to restructure the line-doubler market. Inverse-telecine is a	most. There is very little control over color levels on cable
process that can convert interlaced video from film sources to	TV and digital satellite broadcasts, and chroma levels on
progressive video without creating deinterlacing artifacts.	laserdiscs and DVDs are sometimes variable, reflecting the
Until recently it has been protected by patents making it avail-	judgement and taste of the telecine colorist.
able only on line-doublers and video upconverters more than	The performance of the YPbPr and RGB outputs were
10 times the price of the iScan Plus. (The inverse-telecine	essentially the same when connected to a Sony VPH-G90U
process is explained fully in Issue 24.)	front projector. I also didn’t see any of the earlier VCR
I have now received a standard production iScan Plus and	Macrovision problems using my Sony SLV-R5 S-VHS deck.
can update our earlier evaluation. The inverse-telecine pro-	My primary concern with the prototype’s performance was
cessing continues to work as flawlessly as before to deinter-	a significantly softer picture than its more expensive competi-
lace DVD and laserdisc movies, as well as anything shot on	tion. Here DVDO may have overreacted. The production ver-
film for broadcast TV. Deinterlacing material shot with video	sion’s picture appears much sharper, but that has been
cameras, where the inverse-telecine process no longer	achieved by excessively peaking the horizontal frequency
applies, continues to be rather mediocre. That is actually a	response in the 2.5-3 MHz region. This creates edge-outlining
much more difficult technical challenge, so I didn’t expect	artifacts, a ghostly white halo adjacent to dark vertical edges
anything better for this price.	that can most easily be seen against light backgrounds. It isn’t
The complete iScan Plus feature set is implemented on	as bad as the severe edge-enhancement that I have been com-
the production unit, which includes one composite and two	plaining about on some DVDs, but it is more than I wish to see.
S-Video inputs, but no component video inputs. It is disap-	The NTSC decoder in this product has a wide range of hori-
pointing to give up the higher chroma bandwidth that com-	zontal bandwidth settings, so it would be a benefit if DVDO
ponent video inputs would have provided for DVD. You	turned this peaking back down, or somehow provided user
also don’t get the conventional video picture adjustments	control. A slightly softer picture is preferable to edge-outlin-
for contrast, brightness, color, tint, and	ing. Otherwise, the iScan Plus would be the
sharpness. The black level of the produc-	line-doubler deal of the century.

G R E G R O G E R S