I have a Faroudja LD-1000 laserdisc player. From what I understand it has a pretty decent 3D comb filter. My display is a 720P Pioneer Kuro PDP-5080HD. When I have the player connected to the tv via composite I get a shaky picture when I pause a CLV disc. If I use the s-video connection the picture is stable. Should I assume the faroudja posses a superior comb filter?

I also have a Pioneer Elite VSX-49txi it will convert all video to component. I do not think this receiver has an internal scaler. Would I be better off to run the laserdisc through the receiver and have it output via component? If so should I be utilizing composite or s-video from the laserdisc? My player is down right now otherwise I would be trying this out as I type this.

It could be that the scaling/deinterlacing in the plasma has issues with composite inputs because I've never heard comb filters causing shaky pictures. I always thought that Pioneer Kuros used top of the line comb filters in them.

The best way to see which has the better comb filter is to get a disc of Video Essentials and queue up the Snell & Wilcox moving orb test pattern. Have the player connected via both S-Video and composite. Flip back and forth, see which gives off the most artifacts and which produces the better color response.

If I'm not mistaken the LD-1000 has the NEC #1 chip (same comb filter as the HLD-X0, one gen newer than the NEC #0 chip in the CLD-99), and with that filter being from 1994-95, I can't imagine it being a better filter.

Laserdisc players don't always put out perfectly stable in-spec video. Some displays/devices are more tolerant than others. It's not necessarily a sign of a better/worse comb filter

With my DVDO Edge Green I would get a lot of shaking in the upper 1/3 of the image when I paused a disc, or went into stillframe. Didn't matter if I used composite or s-video. During normal playback the image would not shake. The internal player comb filter were obviously far superior, so stuck with s-video. Got a new video processor, Crystalio II, and no shaking anymore. Switched over to composite since the Crystalio had a better comb filter than the one in the player.

My guess is that my DVDO were a bit wonky when it came to analog signals. Might be the case with your TV too. My experience is that a lot of stuff claim to handle analog sources, but are badly equipped to handle it. The signal has to be 100% flawless, which you usually only get from DVD players or something modern. Not VCRs or LD players which can have unstable signals.

This is good feedback. I really expected my Kuro to be able to handle a composite still image from laserdisc but alas. My Samsung plasma couldn't either. I don't know anything about component video outputs. When my player is up and working I will be experimenting with connections. Would I be gaining anything by having my receiver convert my signal to output component to the TV?

When I freezeframe any NTSC disc (CLV or CAV) on my Pioneer CLD-D925, it produces a shaky picture on at least two TVs. When I freezeframe any PAL disc, the picture is perfect. WTF?

jlindsey86: Don't think you will gain anything by doing it. Of course, worth a try. Do some experimenting and see if something suddenly should work.

It is strange. Probably slightly different stability in the signals. My internal capture card, Blackmagic Intensity Pro, claims to handle analog sources. Works fine with my laserdisc player, but with my VCR it is horrible. A lot of dropouts (black screen and no sound) occur. Video game consoles won't even show up. While a friend of mine has the same card, but a different VCR, says it works flawless. Had to get another (older) capture device which is the only one I've found that works with everything I throw at it.