Deinterlacing

The iScan Ultra is based on the Silicon Image SiI504 chip, and like other players and deinterlacers that use that chip it had stellar deinterlacing results. There were no significant flaws that we could find. It just works well nearly all the time.

The Basics

The Ultra is loaded with new features, and represents a substantially more complex and flexible product than the three previous models. There are six inputs instead of three -- two each of composite, s-video, and component. There is a passthrough port for HDTV signals. The front panel has a much nicer interface for adjusting parameters, and there are more parameters to adjust, including two levels of sharpness control.

The most interesting addition is a chroma filter, which almost completely fixes the Chroma Upsampling Error as well as the interlaced chroma problem we cover in our DVD chroma article. We found that it worked as intended, removing essentially all traces of chroma upsampling artifacts, even from players with incredibly strong artifacts. With DirecTV, which like all other MPEG-based video sources suffers from the same artifacts as DVD players, the improvements were also significant and worthwhile.

The Ultra also has a full set of aspect controls, including zooming letterboxed content, a feature sorely missed from the previous models (and missing from the Focus Enhancements CS-1).

We didn't do any evaluation of the basic video quality measurements on the scope, but we did look at key test patterns like resolution and Y/C delay, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Resolution loss was minimal. The 6.75 MHz pattern on Avia was still visible, though very slightly washed out and a bit more aliased than normal. Y/C delay was on the money. Default sharpness was neither too high or too low.

Overall, we give this box a strong thumbs up. If you don't need scaling, but would like to have solid 480 line deinterlacing, we don't know of a better choice.

As you’d expect, the de-interlacing was essentially perfect. We didn’t see any really significant differences between the Sil502 chip in this unit and the Sil503 in the Camelot, but perhaps we just didn’t choose the right test to show the differences. Certainly it sailed through our tests with aplomb.

The biggest drawback of using this deinterlacer instead of a progressive DVD player is that it reduces resolution slightly, and increases video noise slightly. We’d estimate that you lose around 15-20 TVL of resolution, which softens the picture a bit. In a few cases, we preferred the look of the picture through the iScan, as it hid some of the MPEG artifacts.

The iScan didn’t seem to change the chroma delay. If the inputs have no chroma delay, the outputs won’t either. The iScan does seem to add a little ringing, though not as bad as some of the players in the showdown. In general, you’d expect the ringing to be additive, so it behooves you to mate the iScan to a player with a good signal to start with. And while the iScan doesn’t add or subtract the chroma problem, it passes it right on through. Interlaced players that we know don’t have the chroma problem include the Panasonic 110, 310, 120, 320, RV30, CV50, and RV80, and the Sony S7000 and S3000. We’ll try to test more players and report on whether their MPEG decoders have the problem.

The iScan presents some fairly clear tradeoffs. You get de-interlacing that is far better than almost any stand alone DVD player, but at a loss of picture quality. And, of course, you get great de-interlacing for all your sources, including VHS and cable or Digital Satellite. If de-interlacing artifacts are driving you crazy, and you can’t afford to buy a Camelot, the iScan may fit the bill. But if you want the absolute best quality picture and are willing to live with some artifacts, you’re probably better off with one of the progressive players.