Q I am having a problem with my Panasonic PTL300U Projector when using my RP91 DVD Player in Progressive Scan Mode. Combing or visible vertical scan lines appear on my screen during movie trailers and scenes with fast action sequences. Is this a defect with the RP91? I understand the RP91 is very good in interlace mode. Should I use interlace mode instead?

A The RP91 used an older deinterlacing chip which combs on bad discs. It does not have the chroma bug, but it does comb. Yes, try the interlaced output mode on the player.

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Q I was told that the Panasonic DVD-RP62S is the exact same DVD player as the DVD-RP62K, the only difference being the color (the RP62S is Silver). Is this true? I do want to make sure that I will get the Faroudja DCDi chip in the DVD player (RP62S). I know from your site that the RP62K has it.

A Generally, the letter at the end of the model number is the color, if it comes in more than one color. The K means black and the S means silver. Other than the color, they should be the exact same player, assuming that one is not sold here in the USA and the other only overseas.

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Q What is the difference (video-wise) between the Denon 1600 and 1805 (changer) DVD players? My reason for asking is that I need a coaxial digital output which the 1600 does not have.

A We know the 1600 is a great player, so I would suggest that you simply buy a coax/Toslink converter. This lets you have either type of output from your player connected to either type of input on your receiver. They are inexpensive and are a nice item to have in your equipment drawer. Here are some sample links:    http://www.digitalconnection.com/products/audio/co2.htm    http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/audio_toslink_adapters.html    http://www.bmm-electronics.com/Product.asp?Product_ID=76. 

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Q I have a Gem-Sound DMX Pro1010 mixer with four channels. I have two Gemini XL300s connected, two Numark CDN 25 CD players connected and a Sony CD recorder connected to the mixer all through RCA plugs. I then have an RCA to 1/4 inch mono plug from the master channel on the mixer to a Gemini x1 amp. I have two speakers connected using 1/4 to banana. When I turned this setup on, it played music for about 5 minutes and then the mixer just died completely. It won't turn on anywhere. Checked the fuse and it wasn't the fuse. I noticed this happened when I changed my connection from master on the mixer to the amp from a 1/4 stereo to a 1/4 mono because the 1/4 stereo didn't sound good. I know this is a lot but is there such a thing as burning out a mixer? If so, how do you go about avoiding it? I went out and got a new mixer Gemini DMX 2400 and same thing happened. I need help please. Thanks.

A You problem came from connecting the stereo preamp outputs together to form a single mono output. This shorts the two preamp channels, and that probably damaged the output circuit. Connecting two outputs from two different sources together is always a no-no. The output voltage from one channel is going backwards to the output of the other channel. The preamp does not like this. If you need to convert stereo to mono, and your preamp does not have a mono out switch, you might be able to use an audio isolation transformer such as made by Jensen. This lets you have stereo in and stereo out, but the input is isolated from the output, so you could probably just connect the two outputs of the isolation transformer together without causing a problem at the input jacks. However, I have not tried this, so you are on your own with it.

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Q Why do some manufacturers advertise 3:2 pulldown detection on their televisions? Isn't all OTA broadcast and most recorded media already converted into a standard 3:2 interlaced output? Do they really mean that they can deinterlace and provide a progressive picture?

A Yes, the 3:2 pulldown detection is advantageous when converting an interlaced signal to progressive scan. It lets the TV know how to reassemble the video so that you get smooth edges in the picture.

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Q  I have a Sony CD player that is fairly old (8+years) that still works fine. It has an optical output connector on it as well as the typical RCA connections. Is there any reason why I should NOT connect the CD player to my new Denon 1803 receiver via the optical cable connection?

A No, it should work fine, because your old player is probably outputting 16/44 digital bitstreams, which all new receivers can decode. If it were a new player and an old receiver, it might be a problem, because the new players sometimes output 24/96.

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Q Is there any such device that can convert a component video signal to an S-Video signal?

A The consumer devices I have seen will let you input a composite or S-Video signal and output component video, but I have not seen one that goes the other way. There are units in the pro market that let you input just about anything, and output just about anything, but they are in the $1,000 range.

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Q I own a Sharp 9000 DLP projector and wanted to know if there are any performance benefits from line conditioning. Are there specific products that perform better or show clear visible improvements in picture quality?

A Line conditioning will work for video as well as for audio, but it depends on the quality of the video or audio product that you are trying to condition. I have found line conditioning to work best with mass market stuff, because the power supplies in those products are minimum. Most front projectors are not mass market, although some of the recent ones at less than $2,000 might be worth testing to see if the line conditioning has an effect.

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