Krell - Showcase DVD

MPEG Maker: ST MPEG Model: unknown Deinterlacer Maker: Faroudja Deinterlacer Model: FLI-2200     MSRP: $3500.00 Website: http://www.krellonline.com

Deinterlacing

The Krell Showcase DVD player uses the Faroudja FLI 2200 deinterlacing chip. This is the same chip its big brother used but lacks the 2210 enhancement. I was a bit surprised by this since I thought they would have used the newer FLI2310. This player has an optional HDMI output, but the unit I tested lacked this feature. When I peeked under the hood I noticed that the HDMI ouput circuit had nothing going to it at all which means that this upgrade is most likely a hardware change. This could mean a different solution in that configuration.

The Basics

The Showcase features that spectacular Krell build quality typical of the Showcase line. The player has an elegant look and an exceptional analog section reminiscent of the DVD Standard. The transport is based on the earlier Phillips model, similar to the Phillip’s Q-50. It has a few of the same drawbacks as well. One very noticeable attribute is the alignment of the subpicture is off. This causes menus and test patterns to take on a doubled look. This makes using test patterns very difficult when adjusting sharpness and other fine detail adjustments.

The main offender is the chapter skips, which are very slow, resulting in an almost 3 second delay per command. This made navigating through Video Essentials test patterns brutal. Its menu navigation is quite streamlined though and doesn’t have any annoying lag. The chapter skips and layer change also produce a very audible click from the player that reminded me of a relay switching. The transport is also quite noisy.

For some reason the player would not pass below black information. It has a black level adjustment for digital level (0 and 16) in the user setup, but nothing for below black. Most of the user settings in the setup were enhancements including some limited Faroudja settings (Gamma, DCDi, chroma delay), but others were a bit sketchy with names that didn’t relate to any real world applications. The player also had a 7ns chroma delay in both the red and blue channels that wasn’t fixable using the player’s chroma delay adjustments.

There was a noticeable flicker from 3-2 chroma material such as Monster’s Inc. This could mean two things, either the CCS is in a constant ON position, or the player indeed has the 3-2 CUE problem, either way you essentially see the same result so we didn’t pass it on that test.

Given the price point of the player, I was hoping for a bit more refinement. The user interface could use a good bit of tweaking.

Video Frequency Response
Krell

Integra - DPC 7.4

MPEG Maker: unknown MPEG Model: unknown Deinterlacer Maker: unknown Deinterlacer Model: unknown     MSRP: $500.00 Website: http://www.integrahometheater.com

Deinterlacing

The DPC 7.4 supports what Integra calls an “exclusive progressive solution”. I popped the hood on the unit to see what it was, but the player’s main board is under the disc tray, so there was no way to get at it. Unfortunately the deinterlacer isn’t a very good solution. It is completely flagged-based, similar to what most HTPC’s use. This resulted in the player dropping to video mode a lot. As you can see from our results summary, the player failed the majority of the tests.

The Basics

The DPC 7.4 is Integra’s newest DVD changer. It has some nice touches to it including a set of BNC connectors for its component output. This is a feature I would like to see more players implement, because it makes for a much better connection.

The MPEG decoder did well in our core tests and didn’t show any sign of CUE problems. The white level and frequency response were quite good. The player does suffer from some rather large Y/C delay, showing a full pixel delay in both chroma channels.

Given that this is a mid-level offering, squeezing between Onkyo and Integra Research, I was hoping for better results.

Video Frequency Response
Integra