ZINWELL - Brite View Video Scaler/Deinterlacer
Video
scalers are becoming commonplace in today's world of fixed-pixel displays. Some
of the current displays with built-in scalers have limitations, making an external
unit desirable. However, the cost of any quality scaler usually runs thousands
of dollars. I recently had the opportunity to take a look at a new product from
a company based in Taipei. Zinwell Corporation has just released a scaler/deinterlacer
capable of HD scan rates (1080i and 720p) as well as several VESA standards with
resolutions up to 1280x1024. While it doesn't cover the requirements of all of
the displays out there, it does meet the needs of many on a limited budget. At
$599, it is by far the cheapest scaler I have seen. The Brite View is built in
a sturdy housing with only a blue light on the front panel. Also behind the small
window in the front lies the IR detector for the remote control.
The
rear panel has all the video interface connections including the power input,
power switch and color space switch. Input connectors are provided for composite,
s-video and component video sources. Video is sent out through a high density
VGA connector. The power adapter is a switching power unit supplying over an amp
at 12 volt DC. The remote is simple and logical with dedicated buttons for Contrast,
Brightness, Color, Tint and Sharpness. Additional
button are for setting the Resolution, Format (4:3 or 16:9) and
Language (English, German and French).
Unlike
most of today's scalers that are based on Silicon Image or Faroudja technology,
the Brite View is built around the new highly integrated Trident DPTV™-3D
scan-conversion chip. This powerful chip features 10-bit analog-to-digital converters
with a full motion adaptive 3-D comb filter for Y/C separation for the composite
input. In addition, the internal input multiplexor accommodates composite, s-video
and component inputs. The chip uses four 16 Mbit (16-bit x 1MB) SDRAMs to handle
the motion-adaptive video processing algorithms. As a result of using this device,
the design is greatly simplified because the video decoding and scan-conversion
takes place on the same chip. Finally, the 10-bit digital-to-analog converters
are also integrated on the same chip. The complexity of the design results in
a substantial amount of power being dissipated from the 208-pin chip and therefore
requires a heat-sink mounted on the top for cooling. This insures long term reliability
by minimizing thermal stress. However, all of this is hidden inside of the box.
Performance
Video
performance on the Brite View is exceptionally good given its price tag. We primarily
used the 480p mode, but did try some material at 1080i. I was surprised to see
that the up-conversion to 1080i looked impressive compared to some of the set-top
boxes currently on the market. Although my time was limited with the unit, I did
not see any noticeable conversion artifacts. The quality of the high performance
3-D motion adaptive comb filter was obvious with good quality source material.
We fed a composite signal from our Pioneer CLD-D704 laserdisc player to the Brite
View composite input and it did an incredible job processing the video. We also
used the composite out from our Sony DVP-NS900V DVD player for our tests. Separation
artifacts were minimal and when using the laserdisc player as a composite source,
the comb filter performance was comparable with the processing that our reference
Pioneer ELITE CLD-99 did for $2400 years ago. We did notice a need to adjust our
display's black level. For some reason we found the black level was too high when
using this scaler. Once adjusted 10 ticks lower than our reference level, the
black level looked fine. With the black level set too high, I did notice some
low level noise in the video when using the composite and s-video inputs. However,
this seemed to diminish when the black level was set correctly.
The scan rate is displayed in the upper right corner of the video for a few seconds when the user changes the setting. However, this is not very useful if the display cannot synchronize to the video scan rate. In addition, there is no indicator on the box to let the user know what mode he or she is running in. A set of indicators on the front panel would be an inexpensive improvement to the current design. There is also no support for digital video interfaces such as DVI, which I consider a limitation as we move into a world demanding this type of connectivity. However, the low cost of this unit may justify this omission.
The
Brite View scaler is an great unit for the money. Video looked clean and free
of objectionable artifacts in the modes we tested, which is amazing given its
price. Taking advantage of today's latest chip technology and video processing
algorithms, this deinterlacer/scaler makes high quality video performance affordable.
The output scan rates offered by the Brite View will ultimately drive your decision
for a possible match with your display. If cost-no-object performance and features
is your goal, then you have several high-end manufacturers to choose from. However,
if you are on a budget and want a quality scaler/deinterlacer that is capable
of converting 480i material to a native resolution, then the Brite View is certainly
a worthy candidate.
- Kevin Nakano