Plea for help setting up father-in-laws insanely expensive equipment (1 Viewer)

[Andrew W]

So the video store that has been selling my father-in-law his HT gear has gone out of business and his stuff is in a screwed up state. I've got audio mostly figured out, but I'd like to know the best way to set up the video.

I have:

Runco 992 Ultra CRT projector. This guy takes RGB+sync or RY/Y/BY + sync as inputs.

Sony DVP-S7000 DVD player that outputs RY/Y/BY but with no sync.

Comcast box that outputs unknown component video (Pr/Y/Pb?)

Faroudja VP400 line quadrupler. This guy takes a composite video input and outputs RGB.

A component to RGB converter by KDS.

A KDS 4x video switch.

The original config had the composite video from the DVD player into the VP400 then to the video switch. The Component->RGB was on the Comcast output and before the video switch.

The Comcast HD looked good, but the DVD picture looked like a bad PhotoShop filter due to the Faroudja. I think it's time has past. It was probably great for making VCR tapes look good on a projector, but contributing nothing at this point.

I tried running the DVD player straight into the switch, but the projector is set for RGB inputs.

My best configuration is to move the Component->RGB converter to the projector side of the switch and run the Comcast box and DVD player straight into the switch.

Is there a better setup than this? I tried setting the projector input to component video to remove the component->RGB converter from the system to avoid extra signal degradation. But this resulted in the Comcast output turning to all green. The DVD picture was fine like this even though the DVD player lacks a separate sync cable.

I'm still getting hum bars travelling from bottom to top on the DVD picture. They are mild, but I notice them. The HD output from the Comcast box doesn't seem to have them.

Any suggestions on how to make this right would be appreciated. The poor guy got a bunch of good gear, but the video store staff seemed incompetent in setting it up.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[Andrew W]

Alas, things are worse than I previously posted. The component->RGB converter is actually a component -> VGA converter. So the 720p or 1080i HD signal coming out of the Comcast box is being turned into 640x480 VGA. No wonder it didn't look like HD.

 

[Andrew W]

Ah, I found the online docs for the Comcast box. It can put out a variety of signals including 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i. We get green on 720p and 1080i, but the 480p signal looks good (well, just like the progressive scan DVD picture.)

If I switch to the 720p or 1080i, I get about 2 seconds of good picture with correct colors and then the red and blue go out.

 

[Allan Jayne]

Are you sure the projector requires a separate sync. with Y/Pb/Pr component video? The standard for component video has the sync. combined with the Y.

For the projector to accept both RGB and Y/Pb/Pr there is either a manual switch or menu selection or separate input jacks on the projector. If the selection is wrong the picture will be watchable enough for you to make the right selection using menus. As far as "unknown component video" goes, Pr/Y/Pb and Y/Pb/Pr are the same, all you need to do is match up the cables to the jacks.

Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm

 

[JeremyErwin]

Runco 992 Manual The various connection options are discussed on pages 3-1 through 3-5

It's a pity that Meridian's site is down, otherwise I might be able to dig up some specs on the faroudja. Are you quite sure that it can't quadruple a 525 line component source?

Perhaps the video store went out of business because people who pay $50K expect rather more than incompetence...

 

[Jack Gilvey]

You could try here, also:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=16

 

[Andrew W]

Allan,

Sync on Y seems to work OK. I can now get 480p from the DVD and Comcast box to look good with the Runco input type set to component video.

Y/Pr/Pb seems to be another name for Y/Y-R/Y-B as the usage in manuals and labeling of the jacks is intermixed.

At this point, I just can't get the 720p to be right.

Jeremy, The straight 480p signal looks better to me that the Faroudja output. It's an older unit, so it only has composite video input. I sure it was a must for 480i since I tried that output from the Comcast box and it looked really bad on the projector. Since I can get at least 480p from both sources, I'm going to stick with that for now.

I'd love to have a new Faroudja that took s-video or component input. I'd definitely put it in the loop then.

 

[JeremyErwin]

Several things come to mind.

HD component requires switch boxes and cables with a certain amount of bandwidth. It's possible that the switchbox is only rated for 480p.

The comcast box could be bad. Have you connected it to a more conventional HD Television?

A number of companies do make HD component to XGA/SXGA convertors.

Is there any information displayed onscreen about this 720p format (such as horizontal frequency, vertical freq, etc).

There also appear to be two (or more_) different component formats, depending on whether a separate sync signal is used. The projector might simply be confused about which format is preferable.

 

[Andrew W]

So, I finally got to talk to a tech that knew about the Runco projector. Turns out this was one of those products from the 1999..2000 era when they were lying about stuff being HD. Well it kind of is. What it projects is line double or quadrupled, but the best input it can handle is in fact VGA or 480p. It won't pass through a 1080i or 720p signal.

Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but I least I know I'm getting the most I can out of it.