Faroudja...where? (1 Viewer)

[Drew_W]

I know most Denons have it, a Philips model too, I'm just curious as to whether any less expensive players have it like the Panasonics that don't seem to be around anymore. Anyone have any idea why Panasonic stopped using the Faroudja chip?

 

[Luke_Lemmings]

Panasonic wanted to reduce the prices of their players to become more competitive in the lower price points. The first thing to go was the Faroudja chip and they replaced it with their own.

It was a good business strategy for them since they'll sell a lot more players at $100 then at $200-$300.

Bad for us who really liked their mid-range players.

 

[John_F]

The Momoitsu 8040 has it, $250.

Regards,
John Flegert

 

[Don_Berg]

The good Panasonic DVD players 1-2 years ago with the Faroudja chip (RP82,XP30,XP50) all sold for $250-$350 list price at the time, so they were never cheap models. Panaosonic just made a business decision to compete with the lower priced models of other manufacturers, the under $100 market - the Faroudja chip is too expensive to do that. Too bad they didn't keep a higher-end line at the same time, that market is now the niche of Denon, etc. The cheapest new model DVD player with the Faroudja chip is the Mitsubishi DD-8040 ($250 at Tweeter) compared to $300-$400 for the new Denon 910,1200 models which are similar. But the older Faroudja-based players (Panasonic RP82,XP30,XP50 and Denon DVD-1600) are still a little better - sharper picture and no color flicker issue compared to the new models. The DVD-1600 is still available for a short time at retailers for around $300, the older Panasonics can be found on EBAY and one retailer started selling new XP30's recently - they must have a found a small number of them stashed away at a very good price too, only $199.

 

[Mark All]

The Samsung DVD-HD931 uses Faroudja's DCDi deinterlacer. I'm not advocating its purchase because I've heard of a number of units that have been DOA, but it is available for under $300. It apparently upconverts regular DVD images to 720p or 1080i somehow through its DVI connector.

I don't understand Panasonic's business move. Why abandon the mid-range market if they could have dominated it by continuing the association with superior chips? Panasonic is also now using chroma-bug defective chips in its DVD recorders, which are hardly inexpensive.

 

[Craig_Kg]

Also, there is more than one Faroudja deinterlacer chip and I think the only one using the new 2310 is the Philips 963SA. Most, if not all, other players use the older 2200.

 

[Don_Berg]

The Samsung uses Faroudja only for its DVI output - if your TV doesn't have DVI or you want to use it for something else like HD, the component output from the Samsung will not have the benefit of the Faroudja de-interlacer.