Longtime member - long time since I posted

I have finally managed to grab a cheap Extron DSC 301 HD from eBay.

Some initial testing with a number of 2.35:1 aspect ration LD films (essentially the least resolution quality) shows a real improvement in a lot of areas: notably ironing out a lot of ailising artefacts and making the image appear much cleaner thanks to the comb filter.
Upscaling to 2K (and reducing the Extron 'Detail' setting a bit) seems to be the cherry on the cake!

EDIT: I've spent ages just using the picture location and size settings lol! Bargain for £35 and has really improved LD visuals on my 4K TV. So much control as to where and how the picture displays

However, I now have a dilemma: I can't work out how to hook up the audio (preferably Optical) from the LD into my Amp so i can use the Extron and still make use of the Amp.

Pre Extron setup (for older L&R autio, and newer optical) is like this:

Audio:
1 - Analogue cables from LD > Yamaha V765 Amp AV input 6
2 - Optical cable from the LD > Yamaha V765 Amp AV input 4

Video:
1 - Composite from LD > Yamaha V765 Amp input 6 > picture output to TV via HDMI. Audio outpur from Amp.
2 - Composite from LD > Yamaha V765 Amp input 4 > picture output to TV via HDMI. Audio output from Amp.


Page 9 here shows the rear jacks on my Yamaha Amp: https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/o ... X-V765.pdf

How can i get the Extron to play with the Amp given a lack of AV support for the HDMI input jacks?

I'm assuming I'm going to have to plug the Extron directly into the TV and then switch on the Amp to ingest the Optical Audio from AV jack 4? (Thus splitting the video and Audio: video duirect to TV, audio still via Amp?)

Any cleaner way to achieve this via the Amp itself? (I'm short on spare HDMI inputs on my 4K TV doh!)

Wow good luck.
Only thing I can add to hopefully help, when I had an amp like this I had to manually select the Analog or Digital audio selections.

If it was setup to auto it would have only worked with DVD as the signal would be auto but LD its not going to connect to any auto.

As for connection, this is how its done, it will be very confusing as LD is older and you need to connect with all these types of connections.

Picture: I've ended up putting the composite into the Extron > HDMI input 3 into the TV directly (bypassing the amp)

Sound: Laserdisc optical into the Amp > Amp set to Audio input 4 to play the sound.

There is a smidgen of lip-sync lag caused by thew Extron picture path - but not in anyway determimental.


Wow! The image thru the Extron is lovely! 3D Comb Filter seems to be automatic (i cant alter any variables there) but all the various picture size and position adjust (plus the upscale to 2K) is really impressive for something that only cost me £30 (I have no reference as to what these devices cost new in 2012 - I assume alot more lol!)

To anyone out there reading this and using LD *without* a seperate scaler/comb-filter: get one hooked into your setup. I was running thru my Yamaha amp previously (1080p scaler only) and thought *that* was good . . . the Extron blows it out of the water for composite picture clarity. I can only guess how good a better product (Lumagen/Crystalio) would be . . . and possibly how much better adding a dedicated 4K scaler into the path after the Extron mighty be lol

I'd stick around and write some more: but i now have over 200 LDs to potentially rewatch in (to me) much improved visual clarify

Good to learn you are finding a big image improvement with the Extron versus just straight into the Yamaha AVRs composite input and especially for just a £30 outlay

I’m not familiar with this model of AVR but are none of the HDMI inputs assignable to the audio only inputs? My main Arcam AVR600 and also a spare Onkyo TX-NR 818 that I have both have this option onboard plus separate Lipsync adjustment for each source.

The Yamaha AMP doesn't seem to have any multi-audio/HDMI setup options in the manual

No great loss: It looks like the newer Extron device has much better scaling that the Amp did anyway (plus the awesome 3D comb filter)

Re watching the 1.85:1 ratio Men In Black LD last night. I swear it's *almost* DVD quality to my eyes now lol

Oh man. Those words. Whenever I see someone talking about how great the picture is on their complicated modern setup and then those words…I question how good the picture is. I wonder if you’re even close to good LD.

"I wonder if you’re even close to good LD." If that necessitates an uber-LD player + Lumagen + awesome OLED TV/awesome CRT TV then nope, I suspect I am not close to good LD

Comparing the LD picture i now have vs original DVD picture quality from 1999: it's a nice comparison. DVD still wins (and wins by more with later better DVD tech such as anamorphic transfers, progressive scan etc)

I have a soft spot for the LD 'video' image vs the more digital looking DVD. That's probably swaying my comparison a bit lol

Now, if signofzeta will loan me a better LD player and better upstream kit: I'd be happy to run more comparisons with my improved set-up vs a "good LD" one such as that

You could of course acheive a better image quality still without losing any sound quality and make things simpler all round by ditching both the Extron and Yamaha and replacing them with a single Onkyo such as the one mentioned in my last post or several similar AVRs that are all equiped with the same state of the art (arguably) comb filter and excellent video processing, also with assignable hdmi inputs and individual lip-sync adjustment. You could virtually pick up a nice TX-NR 809, 818, 709, or 609 for not much more than what your other two pieces of kit are worth on the used market.

I have many LDs that beat the equivelent DVD hands down in both sound and picture quality when viewed large scale via Lumagen R2144 & JVC DLA-X7000, you may be surprised just how sharp colourful & filmic LD can be, the image from DVDs (both early & later releases) on the other hand although much improved via the Lumagen still display varying amounts of compression artifacts that are all the more obvious the larger you go which even a 2144 processor can’t do much about, I really do find that DVD image quality gets a little fatiguing after a while due to these artifacts - for me I’d choose LD most of the time for Standard Def and then go straight to Bluray for HD/UHD.

Just to add: Uber LD player not a particular requirement, Lumagen not always, Awesome Oled Yes! (I do understand zeta has a nice one with excellent comb filter fitted!)