McIntosh MVP necessity

jupiterfx

Active Member
i have a McIntosh MVP-831, which i am hooking up to a Sharp XV-12000 projector. i cannot get HDTV in my area due to geographic location.
My question is, is it worth it, video quality wise, to get the MVP861 since it can use component video source sent straight to the projector or should i just run a s-video from my 831 to my MX119 processor and convert that to component video (i know this way will not provide a increased signal). i mainly watch dvd's and cable tv.
 
Oh man, stick with component video. Component will always get you better picture than S-video or composite. If you are projecting an big image then you will not want to use anything less than component (converted or otherwise) - all you'll end up doing is blowing up the noise in the lesser video. Stick with component.
 
Yes, the Mx119 will up convert the 'S' out of the 831 to component. The big Sharps have good internal scalers though so It may not make much difference over an S to 119 then to sharp connection. You will need to connect the 119 to the Sharp for set up though and the 119 video section will not hurt the DVD video signal in any way.

Ron-C
 
is this why McIntosh made the MVP-831 with only s-video out (b/c the processor upcoverts the signal) as opposed to the other models which all have component out video. I've always wondered why and assumed it was a marketing thing.
 
is there any significant video loss using s-video upconverted to component thru the MX119 as compared to have component video straight out of a MVP player.
 
No, but using the built in scaler of the Sharp may be a one step process since it always scales to the pixel count of the internal panel.

Ron-C
 
Yes, DVD is a 480i format. The machines using DVI, or HDMI process this DVD signal to a higher line rate like 480P, 720P, or 1080i. This requires a big assumption on what monitor is being used..
How many pixels and what type of display? To raise the signal to higher data rates causes many problems such as Macroblocking, white crush, and the dreaded red push..
Many high end displays do not want to see a modified signal so they will bring it back to 480i, often to analog and then send it to the displays built in scaler.
Why mangle the picture and have all the processing steps? The audio goes out of sync with the picture and the picture suffers. HDMI is the solution for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray but they are here yet.
You will need a true HD monitor to take advantage of HD and Blu-Ray also. These 1920 x 1080 displays are just coming on the market now though in DLP, LCD, and LCOS.
Until HD arrives I would stick to component..

Ron-C
 
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ron-c said:
You will need a true HD monitor to take advantage of HD and Blu-Ray also. These 1260 x 1080 displays are just coming on the market now though in DLP, LCD, and LCOS.
Until HD arrives I would stick to component..

Ron-C

Ron, did you mean to say that HD is 1920 x 1080i resolution? HD also has another resolution of 1280 x 720p. Also, for the people that don't know, the DVD resolution is 720 x 480p. And while we're on the subject of displays, not all displays are HD, there is a mix so be careful: EDTV (extended definition ) = 480 lines, 720p HD (true low high def) = 720 progressive lines, and 1080 interlaced (true high def) = 1080 x 1920 lines. All this is, of course based solely on the American TV HD consortium standard for HD broadcasts. I'm not talking computer resolution here, but TV resolution.
 
Yes, I meant 1920 x 1080. Too much sake with dinner last night. Many of the current displays convert the incoming phony 720P signal to analog 480i before scaling back to the pixel by pixel display rate. Unfortunately the damage is done to the picture already. Who likes macro-blocking and white crush????

Ron-C
 
Let's ressurect this thread for a second. Ron-C, do you or anyone else, for that matter know what MPEG decoder is used in the MVP-831? I am also thinking about picking this player up and modding it for SDI, but I was wondering what manufacturer and model the MPEG decoder chip was.

Oh yeah, and jupiterfx, if you don't haven't heard about an SDI mod, I would check into it. MSB technologies can do a mod on the MVP-831 for $385. SDI allows a 480i signal to be sent digitally without a digital-to-analog conversion before running through the analog ouputs, and thus can be sent to an outboard scaler or display with SDI input. Although current displays with an SDI input is not so common, and I'm quite certain your projector doesn't have one, DVDo's Iscan HD+ Video Scaler has an SDI input mod so that the 480i signal is processed all in the digital realm. Hence, having an SDI mod really does improve picture quality when using a DVD player with a solid MPEG decoder and scaler since there is no digital-to-analog, and then analog-back-to-digital when using any of the analog outputs (S-Video, Component). And, if you run multiple video resolutions (i.e-DVHS, LD, DVD) and also have a display that doesn't output the native HD resoultions, an SDI-outboard scaler solution would be something to look into...
 
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