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Posted

Hi All,

I’ve just had a good run through of the much-touted AUSID Tuner (HD STB). Externally it looks very well built out of high quality stainless steel, but it is designed to go behind a panel display and not sit at the front of an equipment rack to be on view. It has a small fan to keep things cool, but the fan is super quiet, so no concerns on this front. Video outputs include Component, S-Video and Video.

The component output can be independently switched to 567i (PAL), 576p, 720p and 1080i. The S-Video and Video outputs remain at PAL, so you can record onto VCR and DVD recorders whilst watching HD at 1080i. Digital Audio output consists of Coax, and the usual 2 channels analog connectors. It also has provision for 2 analog and one Video input so that you can switch your DVD (using its stereo audio outputs) or VCR through the tuner.

The Remote Control contains many buttons/functions that are not useable when used to drive only the Tuner as this remote was designed to drive the Fujitsu display panel as well. Range is excellent – more than 10m without any problems. Some people have reported that 2 presses are sometimes required to achieve a response, but I found that it just needs the button to be held down a little longer than usual.

Now to the Picture Quality. This unit has Component out as its highest quality output. When I compared this with the PQ of my trusty DGTEC HD 2000A STB and Strong 5400 HD STB on their VGA and Component outputs, there was little to discern, apart from the well know Chroma Upsampling Error (CUE) of the DGTEC 2000A at 1080i. There appeared to be some slight aberration on the in-built up-scaler of the AUSID as there sometimes was just an extra line (just below text lines). This appeared only on the component output as expected. The S-Video PQ on this unit is the best I’ve yet seen, only just slightly less in resolution compared to the component output. All test were done with my SAMSUNG 40 in HD LCD, 1280 x 758 native resolution.

From these observations, my conclusion is that on my equipment, there is no compelling reason to switch to the AUSID. If you don’t have an HD STB yet, this one is very good value and great quality at just $390 from Retravision. I think one of the reasons we are seeing so many diverging opinions/appraisals is that PQ is highly dependant on your display characteristics. Whilst some may do an excellent upscaling job, they fall down when they downscale. When watching a 1080i HD show on an HD display that has a native resolution of just 720 lines, the display must downscale, whilst setting the output of the STB at 576i, it is required to both de-interlace and upscale. As I don’t really need to keep this unit, I’m happy to sell it. Just PM me for details.

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Posted
  glenncol said:
What equipment do you own or were you testing the AUSID with?

hi glen theres a bit of info on that in his post.

he mentions a "DGTEC HD 2000A STB and Strong 5400 HD STB on their VGA and Component outputs at 1080i. Also mentions his display being a "SAMSUNG 40 in HD LCD, 1280 x 758" and some testing also on S-Video.

I do think its a pity he did not compare the ausid with the strong on dvi. As think we're waiting for an answer on that one.

Problem I think with these reviews as jpp mentions is perhaps a lot of the pq comes down to not just how good a box is but how good a combination a stb and display make. stb good on one display maybe not so good on another ?

Posted
  alebonau said:
hi glen theres a bit of info on that in his post.

he mentions a "DGTEC HD 2000A STB and Strong 5400 HD STB on their VGA and Component outputs at 1080i. Also mentions his display being a "SAMSUNG 40 in HD LCD, 1280 x 758" and some testing also on S-Video.

Ah **** F#*@ i missed it sorry

Posted

well written review JPP. I sold my AUSID box too because the remote control wasnt responsive. But that's the only reason.

PQ on my plasma was SO much better with the AUSID in comparision with my DGTEC 2000A; Not sharpness level but much brighter picture, much better white and black level. I found myself having to turn down the contrast at night because it hurted my eyes !

the only thing I can see why you dont see the difference in PQ is that you have a LCD pannel which is not as good as plasma pannels in displaying high contrast level video which the AUSID is extremely good at.

Im still using my dgtec while shopping for another set top box with DVI but it has to have better or equal PQ to the AUSID! It raised my expectation in PQ! ... the Strong HD box comes to mind but noone has done comparision between AUSID and Strong boxes on plasma pannels yet! I even thought about getting the AUSID box again and live with the remote control!

Posted
  wildmx5 said:
well written review JPP.  I sold my AUSID box too because the remote control wasnt responsive. But that's the only reason.

PQ on my plasma was SO much better with the AUSID in comparision with my DGTEC 2000A; Not sharpness level but much brighter picture, much better white and black level. I found myself having to turn down the contrast at night because it hurted my eyes !

the only thing I can see why you dont see the difference in PQ is that you have a LCD pannel which is not as good as plasma pannels in displaying high contrast level video which the AUSID is extremely good at.

Im still using my dgtec while shopping for another set top box with DVI but it has to have better or equal PQ to the AUSID!  It raised my expectation in PQ! ... the Strong HD box comes to mind but noone has done comparision between AUSID and Strong boxes on plasma pannels yet!  I even thought about getting the AUSID box again and live with the remote control!

I am comparing the Strong and AUSID at the moment but have not had enough time for a full blow test

Posted
  TreeFern said:
glenncol,

do u notice with your AUSID the extra line (on component out) that JPP referred to above?

I must say i have not noticed it at all and neither has a couple of others.

AUSID i checking the situation out at the moment as this is the first they have heard of it as well

Posted

Hi all,

Just a short note to let you know about my experiences with the AUSID set top box. In the area where i live, the reception has always been very good, even with the normal analogue reception, the PW is always very good. I have a Teac HD Set top box which I connect to my Sony Plasma via VGA. It is very very rare for me to get any of the issues mentioned about solarisation, banding, pixellation etc etc, because I suspeact the reception is so good ..... So my comments below relate purely to PQ and nothing else.

With teh DVB800 via VGA, I have always thought that the quality was very good. However, when I hooked up the AUSID via component, the PQ amazed me. The vibrant and sharpness of the colours were astounishing, it looked so life like. I have never been able to test DVI connections because my plasma does not accept DVI, so VGA was it. A number of people have commented that the PQ from the AUSID via component was on par with DVI and I can definitely tell you that it is a step up from VGA on my TEAC.

A mate of mine, who has the DVB800 connected to a PANA 86cm 200A HiDef set, borrowed my AUSID to check it out. I must say that I was sceptible to any significant improvements on a 86cm TV, I can tell you that the PQ he had was the best I have ever seen from a CRT TV. I have always thought that teh SOny HR set was superior in quality to the PANA 200A set, but this is something else. However, one thing to keep in mind is the PANA 200A only had component inputs, therefore comparing component from teh TEAC vs component on the AUSID was literally no comparison at all. I can only imagine what the PQ would be like with the AUSID and the Sony HR set. Perhaps somebody can comment on that.

I can see that for people with Hidef TV with only component inputs, the AUSID is the one for you. But offcourse, ultimately DVI is the future but the AUSID makes an excellent stepping stone.

Bingk6

Posted
  wildmx5 said:
well written review JPP.  I sold my AUSID box too because the remote control wasnt responsive. But that's the only reason.

PQ on my plasma was SO much better with the AUSID in comparision with my DGTEC 2000A; Not sharpness level but much brighter picture, much better white and black level. I found myself having to turn down the contrast at night because it hurted my eyes !

the only thing I can see why you dont see the difference in PQ is that you have a LCD pannel which is not as good as plasma pannels in displaying high contrast level video which the AUSID is extremely good at.

Im still using my dgtec while shopping for another set top box with DVI but it has to have better or equal PQ to the AUSID!  It raised my expectation in PQ! ... the Strong HD box comes to mind but noone has done comparision between AUSID and Strong boxes on plasma pannels yet!  I even thought about getting the AUSID box again and live with the remote control!

Yes, interesting that isn't it. On my system, the contrast levels were pretty well the same. It depends really where your preset contrast levels are set. Contrast is a function of the video signal level the STB puts out. The higher the signals, the blacker the blacks and whiter the whites. Taken too far and you'll see the whites become saturated (loss of detail on white bright objects). The signals levels out of the AUSID (and STRONG even more) are higher than the DGTEC, so unless you adjust for that, the AUSID (and STRONG) will look brighter and more lifelike. Sometimes that involves getting into the "Service" mode of your display in order to get to the preset controls. Once this is done, you're ready to compare apples with apples.

By the way, I did test the STRONG on the DVI output as well, just didn't mention it as the AUSID and DGTEC don't have DVI outputs and therefore couldn't be compared directly.

The signal levels and PQ on the STRONG DVI's output are excellent, but not discernably different or better than VGA. I prefer VGA and DVI as both these connections provide the least manipulation of the RGB signals - they are pure RGB with separate Sync. (Yes, DVI is purely digital of course).

Component does some multiplexing or matrixing of the RGB and Luminance signals viz:

Y=0.3R+0.59G+0.11B,

R-Y=0.7R-0.59G-0.11B and

B-Y=-0.3R-0.59G+0.89B.

As you can see, a lot of manipulation of the 3 colour and luminance signals. The RGB signals have to be extracted and this involves accurate decoding/processing, which is not always the case. That's why it is often nearly impossible to get the right skin tones and oranges (both of which are examples of being highly susceptible to slight discrepencies in colour mix) on component output. You can fiddle all you like with the black levels and gains of the individual RBG signals, you just can't get it right under all brightness conditions. The AUSID had done a good job of it though, probaly by using a high quality chip to do the job.

And so it goes on - the search for perfection or holy grail!.

Posted
  bingk6 said:
Hi all,

Just a short note to let you know about my experiences with the AUSID set top box. In the area where i live, the reception has always been very good, even with the normal analogue reception, the PW is always very good. I have a Teac HD Set top box which I connect to my Sony Plasma via VGA. It is very very rare for me to get any of the issues mentioned about solarisation, banding, pixellation etc etc, because I suspeact the reception is so good ..... So my comments below relate purely to PQ and nothing else.

With teh DVB800 via VGA, I have always thought that the quality was very good. However, when I hooked up the AUSID via component, the PQ amazed me. The vibrant and sharpness of the colours were astounishing, it looked so life like. I have never been able to test DVI connections because my plasma does not accept DVI, so VGA was it. A number of people have commented that the PQ from the AUSID via component was on par with DVI and I can definitely tell you that it is a step up from VGA on my TEAC.

A mate of mine, who has the DVB800 connected to a PANA 86cm 200A HiDef set, borrowed my AUSID to check it out. I must say that I was sceptible to any significant improvements on a 86cm TV, I can tell you that the PQ he had was the best I have ever seen from a CRT TV. I have always thought that teh SOny HR set was superior in quality to the PANA 200A set, but this is something else. However, one thing to keep in mind is the PANA 200A only had component inputs, therefore comparing component from teh TEAC vs component on the AUSID was literally no comparison at all. I can only imagine what the PQ would be like with the AUSID and the Sony HR set. Perhaps somebody can comment on that.

I can see that for people with Hidef TV with only component inputs, the AUSID is the one for you. But offcourse, ultimately DVI is the future but the AUSID makes an excellent stepping stone.

Bingk6

Hey BingK6

One thing we need to remember DVI and or HDMI is not the bees knees in all cases personally i would prefer the latest and greatest connectivity everytime but the AUSID has proven to me that there is still great life in component connectivity.

I have recently spent a little time with the Strong , LG and Teac on the Fujitsu P50 40 series and for my money the component connected AUSID has a nocer PQ with heaps leess arefacts.

Same goes for the Denon 3910 , 2910 and Pioneer 969 dvd players being HDMI connected , I really feel the PQ i am getting from my Denon 2900 conected via component is a nicer image and this has been commented on by a few people visiting my place.

Posted
  glenncol said:
Hey BingK6

One thing we need to remember DVI and or HDMI is not the bees knees in all cases personally i would prefer the latest and greatest connectivity everytime but the AUSID has proven to me that there is still great life in component connectivity.

I have recently spent a little time with the Strong , LG and Teac on the Fujitsu P50 40 series and for my money the component connected AUSID has a nocer PQ with heaps leess arefacts.

Same goes for the Denon 3910 , 2910 and Pioneer 969 dvd players being HDMI connected , I really feel the PQ i am getting from my Denon 2900 conected via component is a nicer image and this has been commented on by a few people visiting my place.

Glen no question component has a bit of life left in it by the looks. I too prefer my denon 2900 via component vs the 3910 and 2910 via hdmi/dvi on my plasma. In regards the teac dvb800 I would certainly not hold up its picture via component as any standard and almost prefer the picture from my old teac dvb400 stb via RGB scart. I somehow don't think a lot of efforts been put in the component output on the teac dvb800 and theres probably better boxes out there if component is required - certainly the ausid by the looks as you guys are finding.

Something like the teac dvb800 really comes into its own on dvi. Question still goes though what off the strong HD box via dvi how does that compare - I remember spdf when he checked out the strong he felt its colour balance more natural than the teac. Glen how have you found the strong vs the ausid and teac - you still got the teac glen to compare ?

Posted
  alebonau said:
Glen no question component has a bit of life left in it by the looks. I too prefer my denon 2900 via component vs the 3910 and 2910 via hdmi/dvi on my plasma. In regards the teac dvb800 I would certainly not hold up its picture via component as any standard and almost prefer the picture from my old teac dvb400 stb via RGB scart. I somehow don't think a lot of efforts been put in the component output on the teac dvb800 and theres probably better boxes out there if component is required - certainly the ausid by the looks as you guys are finding.

Question still goes though what off the strong HD box via dvi how does that compare - I remember spdf when he checked out the strong he felt its colour balance more natural than the teac. Glen how have you found the strong vs the ausid and teac - you still got the teac glen to compare ?

Hey Al

I no longer have the Teac but have access to one anytime for testing but still have the LG paying around.

As with any of the boxes i play with i always use the boxes highest quality output

I would still loke more time to test the Strong out but have been flat out but i will say one thing the Strong it better then the Teac but dont like it as much as the AUSID.

I have tried the Strong on both Component and DVI against the AUSID and still prefer the AUSID by a country mile due to its lack of arefacts where the strong has the same issues on football as does the Teac.

Overall i prefer the AUSID PQ over amything i have seen so far including the Toshis HDD-J35 which came up nice after the calibration and would not put it over the Strong.

Posted
  glenncol said:
Hey Al

I no longer have the Teac but have access to one anytime for testing but still have the LG paying around.

As with any of the boxes i play with i always use the boxes highest quality output

I would still loke more time to test the Strong out but have been flat out but i will say one thing the Strong it better then the Teac but dont like it as much as the AUSID.

I have tried the Strong on both Component and DVI against the AUSID and still prefer the AUSID by a country mile due to its lack of arefacts where the strong has the same issues on football as does the Teac.

Overall i prefer the AUSID PQ over amything i have seen so far including the Toshis HDD-J35 which came up nice after the calibration and would not put it over the Strong.

thanks glen, take your time on the strong, thanks for the update, its good to see theres a few good boxes out there - also happy to hear the tosh hdpvr picture is upto par as well. In regards pixelation from what you say looks like ausid is well ahead.

Posted
  alebonau said:
thanks glen, take your time on the strong, thanks for the update, its good to see theres a few good boxes out there - also happy to hear the tosh hdpvr picture is upto par as well. In regards pixelation from what you say looks like ausid is well ahead.

Yeah the guys out at AUSID have done it well real well

I was on the verge of looking away from all plasma's and LCD's until the Fujitsu\AUSID combo came along as i was sick and tired f motion artefacts while watching TV.

So for the money at the moment the AUSID beats the crap out of everything for overall PQ and pleasure of watching and the Toshib trails behind and a crap load more expensive

Posted
  Quote
So for the money at the moment the AUSID beats the crap out of everything for overall PQ and pleasure of watching and the Toshib trails behind and a crap load more expensive

So if one is to think that the people behind the AUSID put in the same effect into a DVI/HDMI model it should be a winner?.. interesting to know if they did try to produce one with digital outputs! [test unit]

cheers laurie

Posted
  laurie said:
So if one is to think that the people behind the AUSID put in the same effect into a DVI/HDMI model it should be a winner?.. interesting to know if they did try to produce one with digital outputs! [test unit]

cheers laurie

I have had that conversation with them and they ellected on component at the time as offering the best quality and it does.

Man if these guys put thier heads into developing a unit for a digital output they way they have developed and manufactured this box i really dont think it could be beaten

Posted
  glenncol said:
I have had that conversation with them and they ellected on component at the time as offering the best quality and it does.

Man if these guys put thier heads into developing a unit for a digital output they way they have developed and manufactured this box i really dont think it could be beaten

do you think they probably went for component also for broader appeal - not every one has a tv with a digital input especially given all those crts and PJs out there.

Posted
  alebonau said:
do you think they probably went for component also for broader appeal - not every one has a tv with a digital input especially given all those crts and PJs out there.

No i dont think so Al as this box was built for the Fujitsu panels back when the 30 series were around and they had DVI

Posted
  JPP said:
Yes, interesting that isn't it. On my system, the contrast levels were pretty well the same. It depends really where your preset contrast levels are set. Contrast is a function of the video signal level the STB puts out. The higher the signals, the blacker the blacks and whiter the whites. Taken too far and you'll see the whites become saturated (loss of detail on white bright objects). The signals levels out of the AUSID (and STRONG even more) are higher than the DGTEC, so unless you adjust for that, the AUSID (and STRONG) will look brighter and more lifelike. Sometimes that involves getting into the "Service" mode of your display in order to get to the preset controls. Once this is done, you're ready to compare apples with apples.

yeah I was thinking the AUSID high contrast level was something to do with the it's high signal output voltage as well. I read somewhere a while back about the link between voltage output and contrast level.

I did not see the improvement in term of solarisation (colour banding) comparing to the dgtec 2000A. In fact I only started to notice solarisation once I hooked up the AUSID. To be fair, later on when I switched back to the dgtect, the box suffered just as much solarisation only that it outputs less contrast and I didnt noticed it as much before.

Does anybody who owns an AUSID think its PQ improvment is due to this high voltage output ? If this is the case it also means that it's not good for the half life of plasmas! May be this is just the same as salesmen adjusting their TV contrast level to maximum ? Any thoughts on that people ?

Posted
  wildmx5 said:
yeah I was thinking the AUSID high contrast level was something to do with the it's high signal output voltage as well. I read somewhere a while back about the link between voltage output and contrast level. 

I did not see the improvement in term of solarisation (colour banding) comparing to the dgtec 2000A. In fact I only started to notice solarisation once I hooked up the AUSID. To be fair, later on when I switched back to the dgtect, the box suffered just as much solarisation only that it outputs less contrast and I didnt noticed it as much before.

Does anybody who owns an AUSID think its PQ  improvment is due to this high voltage output ? If this is the case it also means that it's not good for the half life of plasmas! May be this is just the same as salesmen adjusting their TV contrast level to maximum ?  Any thoughts on that people ?

No I dont think it is due to higher voltage but more due to awell designed board , the correct tunner and being well shielded

Posted
  wildmx5 said:
Does anybody who owns an AUSID think its PQ  improvment is due to this high voltage output ? If this is the case it also means that it's not good for the half life of plasmas! May be this is just the same as salesmen adjusting their TV contrast level to maximum ?  Any thoughts on that people ?

If that were the case, I would need significantly different contrast settings to my DVD player after calibration, but I can tell you that the 2 memory settings for DVD and STB have very similar contrast settings.

Posted
  Foghorn17 said:
If that were the case, I would need significantly different contrast settings to my DVD player after calibration, but I can tell you that the 2 memory settings for DVD and STB have very similar contrast settings.

The point is you dont know if AUSID box outputs too much contrast and causes mirnor loss of picture details, because you no way of checking, unless the AUSID box can display the calibration test or "service" page that's available through channel 7 teletext. Does AUSID have teletext ? (I know that it has closed caption) .

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