Q&A # 150 - November 30, 1999

Staff

Q Will it be beneficial to use the "Tice Infinite Speed Reference Power Cable" for my Velodyne HGS-15? What kind of benefits can be expected? Will it be harmful? I heard that certain power cables may prevent the subwoofer from getting the power it needs at the required times. I also own the Sunfire Theater Grand processor. Will the Tice offer benefits here and if yes what kind of benefits? Lastly I own the Sunfire Cinema Grand, but unfortunately it does not have a detachable cord. If I detached the cord and put an adapter onto the Cinema Grand then I could attach a power cable like the Tice. Is this recommended or would you have other suggestions here? Presently the Sunfire Cinema Grand and the Theater Grand are hooked up to the Monster Home Theatre Reference PowerCenter HTS 1000, and I have the Cardas Quadlink 5-C running from the HTS 1000 to the Theater Grand. Also presently the Velodyne is hooked up with its own original power cable directly to the wall receptacle.

A The power cable should go to your Sunfire Theater Grand Processor rather than to the subwoofer. It will help keep noise out of the preamplifier and digital processing circuits, and should give you a cleaner sound.

Q I just purchased a Velodyne HGS-15 which has balanced inputs. My processor is the Sunfire Theater Grand with a sub woofer balanced out. Would you recommend using the balanced connections or is it a waste of money to buy such a cable (the run is about 10 feet long)? What kind of benefits can be expected? Also would you suggest using the crossover in the Sunfire with the sub-out or use the front right and left pre-outs with the subwoofer crossover, i.e., so I can set the crossover on the sub to say 60 Hz (I was told by Sunfire that setting the sub switch to off on the processor will redirect the LFE channel to the front left and right speakers) as opposed to the fixed crossover in the Sunfire that is set to 80 Hz)?

A The balanced connections will only be beneficial if you have serious hum problems in the subwoofer. Use the sub-out on the processor and go ahead with setting the subwoofer's low-pass to 60 Hz. If you redirect your low frequencies in the LFE to the front speakers, you might overload them with the bass.

Q I'm considering getting a Sony TV for local TV programs, cable/satellite transmissions, and for watching DVD home theater movies. My choice is between the KV-28FX60 Widescreen (16:9) model and the KV-29FX60 Standard (4:3) model. My preference is for the Widescreen. What I need to find out is whether I'll have those annoying black bars on the left and right of the screen when viewing local TV programs that are transmitted in 4:3 format. In other words, if the local TV station transmits in standard 4:3 format, can the widescreen model be adjusted to convert this to 16:9 format, i.e., expand the picture to fill the whole screen, as can be done when viewing DVD movies?

A Most 16:9 sets do have a mode that will zoom in or stretch a 4:3 program to fill a 16:9 image, but the process is ugly! You can either clip the top of the picture or make everything fat. And some do a little of both. Just put up with the bars. It will be a much better picture that way.

Q If I had any choice, and in the fairly near future I will, I'd not have to worry about this. But as I upgrade my home theater components, my TV is going to be the weak link in the short run. I bought a Philips 27" TV 9 months ago when my old TV quit, and I didn't have much money on hand. It has no S-Video input. I've actually been pretty happy with the picture going through just composite video, so I decided to upgrade the audio parts of my home theater first. But now I've got a DVD player and a Dish Network satellite receiver that output S-Video as well as composite video. I've only one composite video input on the TV, so I'm fairly stuck using video switching from the receiver. The receiver has both composite and S-Video inputs, all I want. So is it better to run S-Video from the DVD and satellite to the receiver and composite out from receiver to TV, or just stick with composite the whole way? Of course my next TV will have both S-Video and component inputs (my Toshiba 3109 has component out), but I'm just wondering about a stopgap measure until then. Another thought: Is it possible to have an S-Video input (or even two) wired into my existing set? It is obvious that the chassis was made to have an S-Video input because there is a hole in the back where it would be if I had bought the model one step up.

A Rewiring your TV for S-Video would probably cost more than the TV. Put in a DVD and try it through the receiver and then straight to the TV. See if you notice the picture get softer through the receiver. Straight to the TV is always the best way to go, but it is not the most convenient. If you don't see a picture quality difference, then go through the receiver for your video switching.

Q I've narrowed my choice for a new HDTV down to the Zenith IQB64W10W (a true HDTV that will not play native 480p signals, but will upconvert them to 1080i) and the Toshiba TW65X81 (HDTV-ready). Since I will be playing DVDs mainly, and I'm not concerned about broadcast HDTV yet. I've seen both units, and the Zenith looks awesome, but the Toshiba was at a disadvantage because it didn't have a true 480p source for input. I've been told that the 480p output from Toshiba's SD-5109 played on a progressive scan Toshiba set looks considerably better than when the set has to line double a 480i on its own. I know why a non-interlaced signal is better than an interlaced one and was ready to buy the Toshiba with the progressive scan DVD player. Than I saw the Zenith, and WOWWWW! The only explanation I have why it looked so good was that it displays all inputs upconverted to 1080i and has 9" CRTs. The Toshiba only has 7" CRTs. So, what looks better, an HDTV that displays 1080i (540 lines with content and 540 at some stage of decay, for any one frame) with 9" CRT's or a HDTV that will display a true native 480p (480 lines of content on screen for any one frame) signal with 7" CRTs?

A I have just received the SD-5109 and the Toshiba TW40X81. I will be taking a close look at them shortly. As far as DVD is concerned, the Toshiba will most likely produce a better picture. But on HDTV, the Zenith may be able to resolve more detail since it does have 9" CRTs. HDTV is not readily available today, but DVD is. If you think you will be watching a lot more DVD in the next couple of years, go for the Toshiba.

Q Following the announcement by Toshiba at CEDIA on its progressive scan DVD players, I've become confused. I understand that movies are recorded and stored onto DVDs in progressive format. It's the MPEG2 decoder that outputs the video in interlaced format. I just read somewhere that movies are stored on DVDs in interlace format. Which one is correct? I also wonder whether the conversion from interlace to progressive inside the DVD player is actually better than using an outboard unit. In this respect, some people say that doing so by the DVD player is fine since everything is done in the digital domain. More importantly, the DVD player is able to recognize the encoded "flag" so that the converter inside the player "knows" that the source is film-based and there's no error involved in performing the 3:2 pulldown.

A For video, the SD-5109 will have to line double, but I am not sure what it does on film yet. A lot of early DVDs did not properly encode the 3:2 flag, so it is even more important to see how it handles those. (3:2 pulldown refers to the fact that video has 30 frames per second, while film has 24. In order to show a film on TV, one of the two fields in every other frame is shown twice.)

Q Now we are witnessing new DVD players with MPEG-2 multichannel reading capability. Does it mean that we can expect the next generation of receivers to have MPEG decoding? How are DD and DTS related to MPEG-2 audio?

A In the US, DVDs are only going to output DTS, DD, PCM, and DVD-A (MLP). Many new receivers are now offering 5.1 inputs along with DD and DTS. A new Onkyo receiver I have does just that for a only $530. 5.1 inputs seem to be the only life saver in the market today. Remember that MPEG has a video layer and an audio layer, so the terms can be confusing.

Q In one of your latest Q&As, you discussed that you're setting-up/adding PC to your home theater. Hooray, there isn't enough good, detailed info on this yet. Specifically, you mentioned video cards and I'm interested in that. But the really hard part to dig up good info on is digital sound cards. I'm surprised that digital in/outs on sound cards are hard to find and an extra expense. Routing digital-to-digital shouldn't cost $100 more dollars, rather it should be less. Complaints aside, I've heard bad things about the digital quality of SoundBlaster Live. On the other hand, I've heard good things about the RME digi-series cards (http://www.rme-audio.com/english/index.htm), but they're a bit more expensive. Any comments or suggestions regarding PC digital in/out cards?

A I personally have used the SB Live. Its S/N ratio is not as good as a dedicated DVD player, but it works wonderfully. I have never heard the RME card, so I do not know how it performs. Yes, a digital output on a PC should not cost as much as analog outputs. It seems to be based on supply and demand. Before the AWE64, a digital output on a sound card would have cost you a pretty penny.

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