laserfanhld-gb wrote:
Interesting, I’ll have to confess that I really wasn’t expecting that outcome and during the time I had possession of a MSC-4000 never thought to check its image quality whilst in pause mode.
For last night tests... no more paused/buffered frame putting the MSC-4000 at an advantage but only nearly-static sequences that can be captured
while in PLAY mode.
And the results are not obvious anymore, even maybe slightly tilting to the HM-D101's side.
I tried a rather "soft" movie transfer in Hi-Vision:
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) [PILH-1001]First, let's take a look at the easiest screenshot:
the pre-contents warnings.
Again the MSC-4000 looks sharper but look closer and there is rigging/shadows on left and right sides as if additional DNR had been applied.
(You will have to download the pics as the previews are removing a lot of details).
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1a MSC-4000.jpg [ 518.76 KiB | Viewed 473 times ]
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1b HM-D101.jpg [ 490.78 KiB | Viewed 473 times ]
On CAROLCO logo, we are again quite close with the Pioneer a little softer.
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2a MSC-4000.jpg [ 411.29 KiB | Viewed 473 times ]
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2b HM-D101.jpg [ 268.09 KiB | Viewed 473 times ]
The sharper image + rigging is clearly back again on the SONY (look at the space between the POLICE letters), again it feels like an additional layer of DNR. Pioneer looks smoother but also has nothing between the POLICE letters.
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3a MSC-4000.jpg [ 659.63 KiB | Viewed 473 times ]
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3b HM-D101.jpg [ 573.51 KiB | Viewed 473 times ]
Same thing happens on other sequences: the burnt-in subtitles are showing rigging on the SONY and none on the Pioneer.
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4a MSC-4000.jpg [ 494.46 KiB | Viewed 473 times ]
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4b HM-D101.jpg [ 457.51 KiB | Viewed 473 times ]
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5a MSC-4000.jpg [ 451.15 KiB | Viewed 473 times ]
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5b HM-D101.jpg [ 471.44 KiB | Viewed 473 times ]
So... it really feels like the MSC-4000 is similar to previous generation but with added DNR?
Color-wise they are very similar.
In all honesty, I can see the differences
when looking up close.
From a normal watching distance, I would be in trouble to easily tell which MUSE decoder is running.
The HM-D101 really has a Xmas tree of light on the front but it's nice to see the decoder detect whether the incoming content is A-MODE, B-MODE, 4ch (3+1) and offer 2ch or 5ch output via panel control.
Next round of tests: similar tests on a MUSE contents shot natively in MUSE video like
Okinawa Underwater (1992) [00MW-0001] or
Kamui of the Okhotsk (1995) [00MW-0012] and
River Runs Through It, A (1992) [PILH-1006] which is supposed to have better MUSE encoding.
Julien