DVDO iScan Ultra Home cinema Video Processor review ?
 

One of my friends in the UK just purchased one of these processors to improve motion and jitter problems from old 20 year + PAL VHS recordings. I really have no idea about the device and was wondering if anyone knew anything about it. My only concern from reading the specs was a progressive output.

All the VHS tapes are being recorded to a DVD recorder.

He has 3 DVD recorders:
1- Panasonic HD recorder (which also records normal video)
2- Toshiba DVD recorder
3- One of the older JVC recorders

Everything is PAL

Again for the most part on most of his recordings they seem to all have motion and jitter problems, so I thought he needed an external TBC so he ended up buying this thing instead.

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The iScan Ultra is the perfect "video hub" for the sophisticated home theater system. This unique video processor takes in video from seven different sources, including DVD players, Satellite TV receivers, Personal Video Recorders (such as TiVo and RePlay), VCRs, and Laserdisc Players. Standard NTSC and PAL video are converted into high-quality 480-line Progressive Scan video. High Definition sources (such as HDTV tuners and PC video outputs) can be connected as well though a high-bandwidth Passthrough input.

FEATURES - Dvdo iScan Ultra Home cinema Video Processor:

• Ideal for Plasma Display Panels, DLP and LCD Projectors and other Progressive Scan displays
• State-of-the-art Pure Progressive Motion and Source Adaptive Video Processing
• Separate Picture Controls, individually programmable for each input
• Chroma Up sampling Error (CUE) Correction Filter removes MPEG decoder artefacts
• Full Aspect Ratio Control
• High performance full-frame Time Base Correction
• Advanced Source Transition Management for seamless video presentation of poor edits
• 12-bit video digital-to-analog converters (DACs), featuring 8X Chroma Oversampling and 4X Luma Oversampling @ 108MHz
• Multiple outputs, including Digital Visual Interface (DVI) all-digital RGB link
• Infrared remote control

This can't be used as a pass thru TBC. Its simply not its function. Its true purpose is to upscale and process video to fit a HDTV, particularly DVDs and 480p video. Heck, most DVDO units aren't even good at handling composite video since they lack a decent comb filter. No clue how well the "TBC" works either. Yes, its full frame, but everything gets digitized when inputted into this box anyway.

I'm curious how this turned out. Any update? :)

Attached is the PDF spec sheet / user manual. Based on what I see, this really does not replace a TBC. It's really a gamble on whether this will assist in capturing video, or improving quality in any way. At very best, I'd say this might have some abilities to replace a proc amp. But at an MSRP of $900, it's rather foolish compared against a dedicated proc amp (SignVideo PA-100, for example).

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