I have installed this sharp z10000 and calibrated with test dvd. Set to progressive scan for Integra dvd player and also have HD cable. Both thru same Component output of H&K receiver. DVD looks awesome and so does HD cable. But regular cable signal looks like crap, the color just doesn't look good at all. What gives? The customer sees that his 47 inch toshiba with standard cable outperform his sharp on the same channel while watching baseball game. Any ideas, we are going to try a scaler, but i have never used one.

You are now part of the club who realizes how bad ntsc(analog transmissions) looks. Yes a scaler will help. My suggestion is Key Digital model HD Leeza. It retails around 4000.00. It will allow you to adjust the output to match the native input of the display. Wow what a difference it will make. Once you have a diplay unit that has a very high resolution, anything below looks like crap. Good luck.

What size screen are you shooting the z10000 on? NTSC is never going to look great on a large screen, even with a scaler. NTSC was never designed to be shown on anything larger than a 20" screen. The 47" screen probably doesnt look spectacular but is at least watchable. Is the Toshiba a HD set or an old SD set? If its an SD set then that is most likely why it looks better. It was originally designed to show SD signals, therefore it will look better. If it is an HD set, it has enough line doubling/scaling(there is a difference) built in to 'get the job done'.

Screen size is 92"
toshiba is hd capable
I was thinking of using the dvdo-iscanpro

If I hook up a scaler to the projector would I have to split the cable signal, with one going to the cable box for hd and another to a vcr so that the scaler has a component input for hd signals and a composite input for regular signals. Or can I send all signals from cable box thru component cable to scaler and let it figure it out.

Before you try a scaler. Hook up the S-video output from the cable box to the projector. The Motorola HD boxes around here seem to degrade the analog channels picture. A problem that the cable company acknowleges. So we just program our remotes with a macro for HD and one for standard.

-James

Do you mean the analog signal out of the component cable is getting degraded?

The IscanPro is NOT a scaler. Its a line doubler. the scaler built into the 10000 is a better one.

What he means by the degraded signal output is that the cable box has a terrible scalaer built into it. You will get a better picture on the projector for standard cable out of the composite video output.

If you want a great cheap video scaler get the AVtoolbox AVT-3800. Same price (or less) than the DVDO and it IS a true scaler. Output up to 1366x768.

DONT run a HD output of the cable box through a scaler. it will ruin the native HD output if it even passes it. (Unless you get a scaler with a true pass through function)

Ditto here. Adelphia's "advanced" tech advises that we never try to watch NTSC through their Motorola HD boxes. We tried it anyway, and yup, it sucked!

the scaler is now going to be a CS-1 by focus enhancements?
So am I to believe that I need to run ntsc through a vcr or regular cable box then through the cs-1.

And then the hd out of hd cable box then through cs-1.
or hd straight through av receiver.