Interesting chat with Panasonic-re rp82 (1 Viewer)

[Jon Bye]

In my search to locate either an rp82 or xp30 I contacted panasonic for info.

As expected they said that the models had been discontinued. After several back and forths regarding the chip sets used. I got the following response:

"We have confirmed with our factory that the RP82 and the XP30 used a
Matsushita chip, not a Sage/Faroudja chip. The only player that we marketed
with a Faroudja chip was the DVD-RP56"

I was sure that the rp82 and xp30 used the sage chips although I could be wrong. Can someone confirm which chips are being used in which models?

thanks

 

[Bill Blank]

DOH! You're gonna have all of those RP82 and XP30 owners jumping off of bridges with a comment like that!! That was a big reason most of them bought, the inclusion of that chip in such a fair-priced model!

 

[greg_t]

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-b...deInt=0&mpeg=0

The Secrets shootout lists both the 82 and 30 as using the FLI2200, which is the Sage/Farjouda chip. There are also pictures on several forums that have taken and posted pictures of their players showing the Sage chip. It's in there. I wouldn't trust too much of what reps have to say. Panasonic can't even publish accurate information about their players on their website.

 

[Jon Bye]

I was pretty sure that the Xp and rp82 used the genesis so i sent the panasonic tech the link to the shootout. I will post his answer if he has one.

thanks for the replies

 

[Jon Bye]

He still insists that the 82 and 30 don't have the fli2200 chip. Only their MEC chip.

I tried to educate him with the shootout data, but he is not budging.

 

[Jim A. Banville]

SO? Who cares what this Panasonic idiot thinks?

 

[Don Munsil]

It's nice to know that Panasonic keeps their techs so well informed. :rolleyes

It's in there, believe me. You don't even have to pop the hood to check. Two seconds of looking at the waving flag in Video Essentials will tell you, because no one else has anything like DCDi.

Don

 

[Jon Bye]

Don

Are you saying that any player with DCDi, would be better than one with out.

I have a JVC XV60. I can't find the rp82, cp72 or xp30 up here in Canada, but I saw the RCA 480n which has DCDi. Would it be superior to my JVC, just because of the DCDi?

Thanks

 

[Jim A. Banville]

Would it be superior to my JVC, just because of the DCDi?

I'll asnwer it for him... "Nope". DCDi makes a good player GREAT! DCDi can't make a poor player good.

 

[Jon Bye]

Jim

Have you seen the rca DRC480N? Any comments

Thanks

 

[nousername]

http://www.dcdi-video.com/products/dvd/index.html

 

[Jim A. Banville]

No, I have not. Sorry :frowning:

 

[Don Munsil]

DCDi is actually just one part of what makes the Faroudja-designed deinterlacing chipsets great. It happens to be the thing that Faroudja emphasizes in their marketing because it's exclusive to them and no one else has anything quite like it.

However, the Faroudja-designed chips also have:

- Excellent cadence analysis to recognize 3-2 telecine cadence and reverse it.

- Excellent "bad edit" detection that recognizes when the 3-2 pattern hiccups and automatically goes into video mode temporarily to avoid combing artifacts.

- High-quality video deinterlacing that is motion-adaptive on a per-pixel basis, keeping full resolution on the static portions of the picture while avoiding artifacts on the moving portions.

Any of the best deinterlacers, including the Faroudja-designed Genesis chips, the DVDO-designed Silicon Image chips, and the new Trident DPTV chips, have all of the above features. Only the Faroudja has DCDi, but DCDi is only used when the chip is in video mode, which would be for all video-sourced content, and for a few moments during film-sourced content whenever there is a hiccup in the cadence.

However, in normal playback of most movies, most of the time, even the simple deinterlacing of the all-in-one chips used in most DVD players looks perfect. If the player is correctly detecting film mode, the output frame will be identical to the original progressive input frame. It's only when things get hairy that these exceptionally good deinterlacers shine. Personally I think things get hairy enough of the time that I'm not satisfied with the "good enough" approach of most DVD players.

So to answer Jon Bye's question, no I wouldn't say that any player with DCDi is better than any player without it. The JVC you're using has an excellent analog stage, and if you swapped it for a player with great deinterlacing but so-so analog stage you might actually see a step down on most movies (though you'd see a step up on all video or oddly flagged content).

Will an RP82 be better than a JVC? In terms of core video quality and deinterlacing, absolutely. In terms of features, no.

You can see that there are no easy answers...

Don