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In your case dude i would connect something like the AUSID via component to the ISCAN set the AUSID to output 5761 if you like and the ISCAN to to output native res to the display.

Thanks Dude. Problem is that I've run out of component inputs to the iScan of which there are only 2. (Sony PVR takes up one and Toshi (maybe) or another HD PVR will take up the other. (My display has DVI, but doesn't support HDCP, so can't use the HDMI output of the Toshi) I do have a spare S-Video which is why I was asking about the other ouputs from the AUSID. Have evaulated the Strong HD STB STR5400 last night and it's not bad on its S-Video output. Just lacking a bit in definition. (when tuned to SD program, video signal sent to all ouputs before processing should be the same - just no deinterlacing and scaling when looking at the S-Video and CVBS outputs). BTW, VGA and DVI PQ outputs of 5400 no better than from DGTEC 2000A (which on my LCD 40in HD display is bloody brilliant when using VGA @ 1080i, notwithstanding the other flaws that this tuner has which I've learned to live with, so nothing gained here by swithing to the 5400. I take it no VGA con on the AUSID? Sorry to have to ask again, but what are the output connections to the AUSID? Cheers, Phil.

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Hey nobby

I think you will find that most of the boxes we have coming to Australia do have native PAL tuners but they are re-hashed VCR tuners and not purpose built HD tuners.

So far the AUSID is the only one that i know oif that does not use a re-hashed VCR tuner

Yeah apparently the Strong is a from scratch HDTV tuner too. I say apparently because that's what the sales guy told me as to whether there's any diff in picture quality I haven't tested the strong yet.

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Guest Maharajah

Receiving mine tomorrow and will try it out on my 62JM9UA - the price I got was $390.00 DELIVERED in the Sydney Metropolitan area from Retravision Balgowlah (Woodwards Pty Ltd), 460 Sydney Road, Balgowlah - Speak to JAMES and please tell him that SHARIF recommended you...

Anyone tried one of these boxes with a DLP panel? Specifically I'm thinking about the 62JM9UA. Big TV needing a good clean picture!

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Yeah apparently the Strong is a from scratch HDTV tuner too. I say apparently because that's what the sales guy told me as to whether there's any diff in picture quality I haven't tested the strong yet.

I suppose what does make the difference on the AUSID to reduce the pixelisation is the fact that the mainboard is heavely shielded against RF noise.

I will have the Strong this weekend and will be putting it side by side with the AUSID and as a refernce the LG

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I suppose what does make the difference on the AUSID to reduce the pixelisation is the fact that the mainboard is heavely shielded against RF noise.

I will have the Strong this weekend and will be putting it side by side with the AUSID and as a refernce the LG

Let us know how you go Glenn the guy from Hantrex gave a big rap for these units (the Strong)

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Guest veryevilmike

Well I've had this puppy for about 3 weeks now and its fantastic! Again I can't really compare this unit with anything else in a true objective way as its the only HD box i've used but I'm very happy with the performance.

Overall football (afl) and tennis has been excellent - I haven't really noticed any solarisation or banding or any of the other complaints that seem to get mentioned around here. Now to be fair it is being viewed on a 76cm hdcrt (sony kvhr) so the smaller size of the pixels/image may help things a bit there, compared to someone viewing the output of a different box on a 50" plasma.

Now if only the broadcasters would broadcast more hq images....

One more thing - I sent this email to ausid around the time I bought this too:

From: John Waugh [j dot waugh <a_t> ausid dot com]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for you interest we did spend a lot of time getting it right. The interesting thing is that Fujitsu did do a deal with some of their resellers as an introduction and were supplying them at a discount so the prices that were spoken about may have been part of that. We have only supplied Fujitsu and as we are an electronics engineering company we have really left the marketing up to Fujitsu, the best person to ask their would be Danielle McMahon from their head office on 02-88222500 Please do not hesitate to contact us again if the need arises.

Regards

John

Quoting mhibbard <a_t_> mech dot uwa dot edu dot au:

> Hi,

>

> On the basis of the stellar reviews given about the HD-01 on

> www.dtvforums.info I'm interested in buying one of these boxes.

> However, most retailers are limited in that they generally come

> together as part of the fujitsu plasma bundle and I'm struggling to

> find one that will sell it to me at a reasonable price($400-450).

>

> Do you sell this directly to the public? I'd much prefer to reward an

> australian company directly as opposed to going via a middle man.

>

> Alternatively, would it be possible to organise some sort of group buy

> for the forum, as I'm sure that there would be a substantial number of

> people interested if the price was right.

>

> Thanks

>

> Mike Hibbard

> Perth.

>

>

>

>

Leaders in HD TV development

--

No virus found in this incoming message.

Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.

Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.8.8/35 - Release Date: 30/06/2005

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Hi.

Just bought one recently . Got it for about $450 from Perth city retravision and I didn't have to wait.. Many thanks to veryevilmike.

PQ is very good but can't really compare with others because this is my first one. I actually bought a LG5100 as well but decided to return it because my pio 435hd only has one digital input and I am using that for my dvd player.

Question.. How do we update the firmware? And where can we find out what the latest version is?

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i got one of these after reading these forums, and having needed component video for my sony KVHR36M31

I've never seen HD before, apart from usually poorly set-ups in stores, but it is very impressive watching HD Programming on 9, 10 & 7 tonight

The SD images are very good too (especially ABC!) :blink:

Now all I need is more HD programming. The stuff on tonight I normally would not watch. I would love to see AFL in HD

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Well I have finally setup was has been regarded around here as the 'holy grail' of set top boxes, the AUSID. Prior to this I have tested the Humax 7000, Sharp and Force 705. My main two complaints have been pixelisation and banding, or solarisation as some here call it. None of these set-top boxes removes all traces of these problems, as I had hoped....

Starting at the bottom, is the Humax 7000 (RRP $595) which is the best looking box here, has teh best remote, has the best menu system and produces a very nice picture generally but it suffers from banding quite badly and pixelisation is extreme on very fast motion such as football etc.

Secondly the Sharp (RRP $659) is bland to look at but well made (Taiwan) has reasonably good menu system and a very good picture, slightly better than the Humax in terms of banding but it still suffers from pixelisation to the same degree as the Humax.

The next unit I tried was the Force 705 (RRP $595). The Force produces the best picture here, has the worst remote control that feels rather cheap and has the worst menu interface. Howeve the good news is that pixelisation levels are half that of the Humax and Sharp, banding is still present but again, an improvement over the previous two. The unit itself looks quite attractive too and the blue led on the front is not obnoxiously bright as some may suggest.

Now, after watching a couple of HD shows tonight using the AUSID (RRP $1099), I was hoping for so much, but I was NOT totally satisfied as it simply is not the HOLY GRAIL I was looking for.

My initial impression after connecting it was that the picture was more contrasty than the other boxes I have tried. So I was concerned that banding was going to be an issue, however it proved to not be so. Banding is very mild on this unit so far so I am happy with that at least.

The bad news is that pixelisation is no better than the Force 705. The remote which looks the best out of all of them, takes more than one press at times to function. This may be due to interference from the two wireless routers that are close by but.....jury is out.

Well let me finish by saying that the Force 705 and AUSID are the pick of the bunch but they are NOT the holy grail of set top boxes, or perhaps the problem is the digital broadcast medium as a whole. Something is wrong, somewhere in the chain as I find the quality of TV is at times nothing short of appalling.

If you are going to spend the dollars buying a HD display, most of the watching experience which is Standard Def is far worse on these displays than on a good SD CRT TV. Regardless of which set top box you get, SD TV looks like crap, period. Sharpness simply is not there. HD broadcast (1080i ONLY) for the most part looks stunning with the exception of banding and pixelisation. No set-top box that I have tried will remove all of the problems, but the Force 705 and AUSID will do the best job.

So which one do I prefer? Someone in another section suggested the Force has a softer picture using it's Component outs (which I used for all boxes tested) and yes it is slightly softer than the Sharp and AUSID. However I find it to be the most 'Film' like picture of the lot and in some respects I prefer that.

The AUSID is very sharp I have to say, but not to the extent where you see fringing or any other artifacts, which given it's constrasty picture and lack of banding, is quite an achievement. So my hat goes off to the Aussie team that have built this box, as it simply is the best, but only just.

If I was to make the choice based on RRP then I would buy the Force, but with carefull shopping around the AUSID can be had for far less than the Force making it the no brainer choice. So, the AUSID wins! Second place goes to the Force, then Sharp then Humax.

The search however continues for a totally banding free, non pixelising set-top box. It can not be that hard to make the perfect box, surely?

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Well I have finally setup was has been regarded around here as the 'holy grail' of set top boxes, the AUSID. Prior to this I have tested the Humax 7000, Sharp and Force 705. My main two complaints have been pixelisation and banding, or solarisation as some here call it. None of these set-top boxes removes all traces of these problems, as I had hoped....

Starting at the bottom, is the Humax 7000 (RRP $595) which is the best looking box here, has teh best remote, has the best menu system and produces a very nice picture generally but it suffers from banding quite badly and pixelisation is extreme on very fast motion such as football etc.

Secondly the Sharp (RRP $659) is bland to look at but well made (Taiwan) has reasonably good menu system and a very good picture, slightly better than the Humax in terms of banding but it still suffers from pixelisation to the same degree as the Humax.

The next unit I tried was the Force 705 (RRP $595). The Force produces the best picture here, has the worst remote control that feels rather cheap and has the worst menu interface. Howeve the good news is that pixelisation levels are half that of the Humax and Sharp, banding is still present but again, an improvement over the previous two. The unit itself looks quite attractive too and the blue led on the front is not obnoxiously bright as some may suggest.

Now, after watching a couple of HD shows tonight using the AUSID (RRP $1099), I was hoping for so much, but I was NOT totally satisfied as it simply is not the HOLY GRAIL I was looking for.

My initial impression after connecting it was that the picture was more contrasty than the other boxes I have tried. So I was concerned that banding was going to be an issue, however it proved to not be so. Banding is very mild on this unit so far so I am happy with that at least.

The bad news is that pixelisation is no better than the Force 705. The remote which looks the best out of all of them, takes more than one press at times to function. This may be due to interference from the two wireless routers that are close by but.....jury is out.

Well let me finish by saying that the Force 705 and AUSID are the pick of the bunch but they are NOT the holy grail of set top boxes, or perhaps the problem is the digital broadcast medium as a whole. Something is wrong, somewhere in the chain as I find the quality of TV is at times nothing short of appalling.

If you are going to spend the dollars buying a HD display, most of the watching experience which is Standard Def is far worse on these displays than on a good SD CRT TV. Regardless of which set top box you get, SD TV looks like crap, period. Sharpness simply is not there. HD broadcast (1080i ONLY) for the most part looks stunning with the exception of banding and pixelisation. No set-top box that I have tried will remove all of the problems, but the Force 705 and AUSID will do the best job.

So which one do I prefer? Someone in another section suggested the Force has a softer picture using it's Component outs (which I used for all boxes tested) and yes it is slightly softer than the Sharp and AUSID. However I find it to be the most 'Film' like picture of the lot and in some respects I prefer that.

The AUSID is very sharp I have to say, but not to the extent where you see fringing or any other artifacts, which given it's constrasty picture and lack of banding, is quite an achievement. So my hat goes off to the Aussie team that have built this box, as it simply is the best, but only just.

If I was to make the choice based on RRP then I would buy the Force, but with carefull shopping around the AUSID can be had for far less than the Force making it the no brainer choice. So, the AUSID wins! Second place goes to the Force, then Sharp then Humax.

The search however continues for a totally banding free, non pixelising set-top box. It can not be that hard to make the perfect box, surely?

Something wrong here if the pixelisation is bothering you , I would be trying high quality component cables as a start.

One of my main problems have always been pixelisation and now with the AUSID i can watch AFL without the crap i use to get.

I have noticed some banding within the last two weeks since having the Toshiba hooked up as well, So out of the one antenna outlet i have a lead from the wall to the AUSID then out from that into the Toshi and the loopback cable used on the Toshi.

So is fact three devices running from the one out let, then i have three other TV's around the house.

The Toshi started to play up last night so i disconnected it and removed it from the living room and the issue with the AUSID was gone, so this is were i need a amplifier as i must have pulled the crap out of my signal strength

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Something wrong here if the pixelisation is bothering you , I would be trying high quality component cables as a start.

Well I have a quality AudioQuest cable on all devices and I fail to see how that can make any difference to the level of pixelisation. I see it as a lack of processing power within the STB, as it simply can not decode quickly enough.

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Well I have a quality AudioQuest cable on all devices and I fail to see how that can make any difference to the level of pixelisation. I see it as a lack of processing power within the STB, as it simply can not decode quickly enough.

Elimination my friend interference from external sources can cause different problems be it through RF via another component or through cheaper cables which is not the case here i like making sure every i is dotted and t is crossed before making a comment.

From past experience bandwidth plays a part in artefacts like this as well so in your case bandwidth maybe an issue.

I was having exactly the same issue until this box arrived now there is no issue with pixelisation that annoys me and minimal minimal banding.

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I suppose what does make the difference on the AUSID to reduce the pixelisation is the fact that the mainboard is heavely shielded against RF noise.

I will have the Strong this weekend and will be putting it side by side with the AUSID and as a refernce the LG

Glenncol,

Appreciate your thorough reviews and detail. Was wondering whether you have had a chance to look at the Strong vs the AUSID yet.

Currently have a Hitachi 37 inch 7800 plasma and an older Toshiba 23a and the picture is getting progressively worse (or I am getting increasingly picky after learning more about what to look for).

By the way, my comment about learning more appears to be a double edged sword - the more you know, the more you look for the issues and the unhappier you get - I never get too close to the plasma as I know that if I discover a dead pixel - I will stare at it for the next ? years getting more depressed each day.

Keep up the good work - you appear to be one of the group without an axe to grind - more than can be said for some of the other bunnies (but the banter back and forth between those in the know and those who only have a speck of knowledge [and are therefore dangerous] keeps me amused).

Thanks

David

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Well you may be right, in fact I am sure cables make a difference otherwise I would not buy good ones, but pixelisation I am still not convinced....as for the level of pixelisation it is mainly in things like the ads for Football and one particular ad where there is a dark blue sky with spotlights or something moving very fast across the sky and it pixelates badly. In normal TV viewing it rarely rears it's ugly head... so it is more of an observation thatn a constant complaint.

I do think you are spot on with interference causing some artifacts in my set-up, as I have an UNWIRED broadband modem next to the set-top box, along with a wireless router, both of which I am sure are having some effect.

As a side note, I woke up this morning with an angry wife as the STB was not working at all. On all channels it said NO SIGNAL OR WEAK SIGNAL, even though my G5 Mac in which I have a HD TV Card could get all stations no problem. And it was second in line after the STB to get an aerial feed.

No amount of powering on and off would fix it, it took a disconnection of the power to get it to work again, very strange......

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Well you may be right, in fact I am sure cables make a difference otherwise I would not buy good ones, but pixelisation I am still not convinced....as for the level of pixelisation it is mainly in things like the ads for Football and one particular ad where there is a dark blue sky with spotlights or something moving very fast across the sky and it pixelates badly. In normal TV viewing it rarely rears it's ugly head... so it is more of an observation thatn a constant complaint.

I do think you are spot on with interference causing some artifacts in my set-up, as I have an UNWIRED broadband modem next to the set-top box, along with a wireless router, both of which I am sure are having some effect.

As a side note, I woke up this morning with an angry wife as the STB was not working at all. On all channels it said NO SIGNAL OR WEAK SIGNAL, even though my G5 Mac in which I have a HD TV Card could get all stations no problem. And it was second in line after the STB to get an aerial feed.

No amount of powering on and off would fix it, it took a disconnection of the power to get it to work again, very strange......

Bloody strange i had the same issue with the Toshiba lastnight but is fine this morning

I suppose what i am refering to with cables is that any RF coming from any direction be it coax fly lead or interconnects will add to the overall end PQ i just dont take any chances when its comes to this.

When i encounter a problem i go through a process of elimination as a matter of course including all components.

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Glenncol,

Appreciate your thorough reviews and detail.  Was wondering whether you have had a chance to look at the Strong vs the AUSID yet.

Currently have a Hitachi 37 inch 7800 plasma and an older Toshiba 23a and the picture is getting progressively worse (or I am getting increasingly picky after learning more about what to look for).

By the way, my comment about learning more appears to be a double edged sword - the more you know, the more you look for the issues and the unhappier you get - I never get too close to the plasma as I know that if I discover a dead pixel - I will stare at it for the next ? years getting more depressed each day.

Keep up the good work - you appear to be one of the group without an axe to grind - more than can be said for some of the other bunnies (but the banter back and forth between those in the know and those who only have a speck of knowledge [and are therefore dangerous] keeps me amused).

Thanks

David

Hey David

I have not really had the time to invest spending on the strong that I would like.

I didn’t really want to say anything until I have had good enough time to try everything out but in short so far I have found nothing to date that would make me run out and buy one at this stage.

I would put it on par so far with the Teac and or LG but again I have not had heaps of time putting it through its paces, I have noticed more pixelisation on this than the AUSID and more banding but again I need to invest more time

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Well you may be right, in fact I am sure cables make a difference otherwise I would not buy good ones, but pixelisation I am still not convinced....as for the level of pixelisation it is mainly in things like the ads for Football and one particular ad where there is a dark blue sky with spotlights or something moving very fast across the sky and it pixelates badly. In normal TV viewing it rarely rears it's ugly head... so it is more of an observation thatn a constant complaint.

FWIW, I use a Toshiba J35 STB driving a Toshiba 32" LCD TV. I have found that there is no pixelastion, not even with fast moving sports. It also gives a magnificent picture both in SD and HD. The difference between analogue, SD and HD can be easily seen - each is a leap towards perfection. Even the difference between component and HDMI is noticable.

However, I cannot recommend the J35 at this stage because it has so many inherent problems (see Toshiba J35 new firmware). I am due to have my J35 replaced with a new one that has the latest firmware issued this week. Hopefully that will fix the problems and give better service. If not, I could be in the market to buy an AUSID.

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Just tried to get AUSID for $390 from Myer Megamart in Brissy. They can't get remotely near that. Best they can do is $800 :P Tried Retravison MacGregor: never heard of it (i also said 'fujitsu box' , 'RF remote', 'for plasmas'). The salesman pointed out that we are a little backwards in queensland :blink:

Has anyone bought one in Qld at an OK price?

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Just tried to get AUSID for $390 from Myer Megamart in Brissy.  They can't get remotely near that.  Best they can do is $800  :P   Tried Retravison MacGregor: never heard of it (i also said 'fujitsu box' , 'RF remote', 'for plasmas').  The salesman pointed out that we are a little backwards in queensland  :blink:

Has anyone bought one in Qld at an OK price?

Well I have my brand spanking new AUSID for sale, delivered anywhere in Oz for $425. Selling it becuase I have tested it against my Force, and although it is better, it is marginal and i am happy to keep my Force. Let me know if you want it!

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Well I have my brand spanking new AUSID for sale, delivered anywhere in Oz for $425. Selling it becuase I have tested it against my Force, and although it is better, it is marginal and i am happy to keep my Force. Let me know if you want it!

And if that's not enough, mine is also still up for sale. Just PM me.

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