CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

ecrabb · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:31 pm Post subject: EXT-FULLHD or IFB-HD...

Guys,

Now that I have the G70 singing pretty nicely, I'm thinking about going to a Moome device. I'm happy with the HD Fury, but I can't resist the temptation to try eek out another 5 or 10% of performance. The big question I have is... IFB or EXT-FULLHD? How much difference is there, really? I like the idea of having the flexibility of the external device, but it isn't crucial since I don't see changing projectors anytime soon. The EXT is $60 cheaper, though!

Let's say the EXT-FULLHD is inside the hush box with a short VGA-BNC to the projector. How much difference do you suppose there would be between the IFB and the EXT right at the projector - running 1080p.

EXT-FULLHD
Pros
- $60 cheaper than IFB
- Flexible

Cons
- Uses factory inputs
- AC wall-wart
- Lower-quality DACs compared to IFB

IFB-HD
Pros
- Bypasses factory inputs
- No AC wall-wart
- High-precision DACs

Cons
- $60 more expensive than EXT
- Inflexible (only for Sony)

Any other pluses or minuses I'm missing?

Thanks,
SC

CRT_Ben · Joined: 28 Aug 2006 Posts: 1684 Location: Northern Virginia

From the product page description of the IFB-HD:

"Uses an external high precision video DAC, producing an image that will a little sharper than the EXT-HD external version."

ecrabb · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:08 pm Post subject:

Thanks - I definitely missed that little nugget. I'll update the pros/cons.

How about the difference between skipping the Sony input circuits? Anybody know enough about the G70's to know what you're eliminating in the signal path by putting a card right in the projector?

There was a thread on AVS that found that the built-in input actually had the edge on bandwidth and sharpness over the IFB slot. What's between the IFB slot and wherever the internal interface connects that causes that. Would the IFB-HD suffer the same degradation. If so, then I wonder if that would mitigate some of the advantage to the IFB-HD compared to plugging the EXT into the built-in input. I know I'm splitting hairs - I just thought it would be an interesting conversation. I'll see if I can find that other thread in the AVS archives later.

SC

ecrabb · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:10 pm Post subject:

Hey, how about the inability to insert a raster-shift device with the IFB? Anybody having any trouble with 1080p and left-shift with the IFB?

SC