CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

wkosmann · Last edited by wkosmann on Fri Nov 30, 2007 6:14 pm; edited 2 times in total

Dear All;

Moome has been kind enough to send me a pre-production version of the DVI/DVI Repeater. It works perfectly.

I have had up to 4 inputs connected to it (a Sony BDP-S301 Blu-ray player, an HTPC, a beta version of the Lumagen Radiance HD video scalar, and a Sony SAT-HD300 ATSC/NTSC/DirecTV tuner). The BDP-S301 and Radiance scalar output HDMI. The HTPC and ATSC Tuner output DVI. For these later two inputs I am using HDMI to DVI cables.

The DVI output of the DVI/DVI Repeater is fed directly to the Analog Way DVX-8022 BlendZilla blender/scalar/switcher (which has one DVI input). The HDMI output of the DVI/DVI Repeater is fed to a Convergent Design nanoConnect HDMI to HD-SDI converter. The output of this converter is fed directly to one of the two BlendZilla HD-SDI inputs.

I have fed the DVI/DVI Repeater 1080P/24 (from the Sony BDP-S301), 1080P/60 (from the Sony BDP-S301, Radiance HD, and the HTPC), and 720P/60 and 1080i/60 (from the ATSC Tuner), and the DVI/DVI Repeater has handled all of these input resolutions/refresh rates perfectly. I have not seen any errors introduced by the DVI/DVI Repeater.

I am not testing the DVI/DVI Repeater's audio output, as all audio is being fed directly into my Lexicon MC-12 audio processor.

The only issue I have noticed is when the HD-SDI is path is used. There is major banding/tearing of the video whenever there is vertical motion of any kind. The only source to date for HD-SDI viewing has been the Sony BDP-S301 Blu-ray player. I don't yet know if this vertical motion problem is a source problem (doubtful), an HDMI to HD-SDI conversion problem (possible), or a DVX-8022 problem (probable).

More testing is on the way after I complete a Brightness/Contrast/Gray Scale calibration.

William

**kal** · Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2007 1:27 am Post subject:

Thanks for the review! I may steal a few lines for the product ordering page when it's time for pre-orders if you don't mind!

Kal

wkosmann · Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 2:03 pm Post subject: Additional Review Results

Dear Kal;

You may use whatever text from this series of review results, with pleasure.

Dear All;

Some additional review results. In the interests of full disclosure, I am actually using the Convergent Design HD-Connect MI HDMI to HD-SDI converter. This is because that is the converter Convergent Design sent me to evaluate. The HD-Connect MI is a big brother to the nanoConnect, offering additional video tape deck control features not relevant to my Home Theater application.

Yesterday I watched a series of football games in both 720P/60 and 1080i/60, via the Sony SAT-HD300 ATSC/NTSC/DirecTV tuner. Not a single instance of vertical motion tearing in any broadcast, with the exception of one commercial. The 12 foot wide blended CRT projected image was sharper, with more vibrant colors than I have ever seen in any TV image. It was like watching a 12 foot wide direct view CRT tube. So the results to date are: 720P/60 and 1080i/60 do not result in vertical motion tearing, whereas 1080P/24 does.

Today I intend to more fully test the dual high definition HTPC and the Sony BDP-S301 Blu-ray player sources, and look for additional instances of the vertical motion tearing. I can display 1080i/60 and 1080P/24 from either the HTPC or the BDP-S301, and see when the tearing is present.

Finally, I am not able to test the remote input switching function, as I do not have the remote.

William

wkosmann · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 7:59 pm Post subject: Another Update

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have been using the Moome DVI/DVI Repeater (MUX-HD) 4 HDMI in/1 HDMI out and 1 DVI out HDCP stripper for a month now. The worst thing that has happened is that it locked up on me once. I removed power to it, re-attached power, and it turned right back on, and has been working perfectly ever since.

Today I received the remote. It is a Panasonic RC-9995N remote. The one I received has Chinese printing on it. (I suspect that the final verson will have English printing on it.) This is not really a problem as the only buttons that do anything to the DVI/DVI Repeater are the 0, 1, 2, and 3 buttons. Pushing 0 selects input 0. Pushing 1 selects input 1. Pushing 2 selects input 2. Pushing 3 selects input 3. I tried all the other buttons on the remote, looking for a button that would cycle through the inputs, but could not find one. The remote works at very wide angles with respect to the DVI/DVI Repeater. I have tested up to about 80 degrees.

I still notice no signal degradation over either the HDMI or the DVI outputs. I am constantly cycling back and forth between them as I go from the HDMI to HD-SDI video path to the HDMI to DVI video path and back.

I have now tested all features on the DVI/DVI Repeater, other than the audio pass through. If I test that, I wll post a follow on update

William

moome · Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Posts: 497

thanks for William testing, this MUX-HD should ready ship end of Jan 2008,
we hope fix most bug on it, and for remote, there is no botton to cycle the input.

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

William can you try to see if it will accept 48hz out of the lumagen? thsi is how i ouput my lumagen for my stack. The iternal moome cards accept it so just wondering if the box will.

Athanasios

northernpal · Joined: 02 Nov 2007 Posts: 2

William,

Thanks for doing all the testing. I am sure this will ensure a very high quality product and reduce the chance of folks having issues later on considerably. The time/energy/effort you have put into this is greatly appreciated!

Northern Paladin

odyssey · Joined: 12 Dec 2007 Posts: 1

There is one potential problem, especially with using a DVI (HDMI) to HD-SDI converter. The output of the MUX-HD is always RGB. This means that the YCbCr from a source like BD or HD-DVD is converted to RGB by the MUX-HD and back to YCbCr in the HD-SDI converter. This is again converted to RGB by the projector. This conversion chain:
YCbCr>RGB>YCbCr>RGB is rarely transparent and not a good idea. The ideal is YCbCr>RGB, only once. I asked Moome to consider providing a YCbCr output. In other words, don't change the incoming HDMI signal, only remove the HDCP requirement. This potential problem is also there with using any type of processor, including processing in the projector. Most (not all) processing is in YCbCr space and incoming RGB signals are converted.

Gino · Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:02 am Post subject:

That's odd. Moome's EXT box has a DVI output, and that passes YCbCr from my HD/BD sources just fine

wkosmann · Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 12:43 am Post subject: 1080P/24

Dear Athanasios;

The Lumagen Radiance XD does not yet have 1080P/48 available as an output. When it does, I will be happy to test the DVI/DVI Repeater for you.

William

Speedplay · Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 117 Location: Albuquerque, NM

Gino · Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 2:32 pm Post subject:

My apologies, you are right. For some reason I thought my EXT-HD was connected between my HD/BD sources and the VP50, and the VP50 was reporting YCbCr.

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

Maybe he can modify them for those who want a selectable rgb or ycbcr output. I'd be willing to wait for that option.

Athanasios

Speedplay · Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 117 Location: Albuquerque, NM

I would too.
I would definitely prefer if the output was YCbCr.
A selectable output would be a great option that would add flexibility and accommodate more varied applications.

moome · Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Posts: 497

Speedplay · Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 117 Location: Albuquerque, NM

moome · Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Posts: 497

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

So how much for the specilal model?

Athanasios

I pre paid already and was told to send 210. so how much for the special?

getgray · Joined: 31 Aug 2007 Posts: 3

Moome sent the request to pay the balance last Dec which I did. I have never heard anything else. Does anyone know the staus?

**kal** · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:14 am Post subject:

On Apr 2 Moome told me he'd be shipping them out over the next few days. I think this got delayed a week or so, so they should be going out now I would hope.

Kal