iScan Ultra

iScan Ultra FAQs

1. What is the iScan Ultra?
2. What video inputs does the iScan Ultra have?
3. What signal does the iScan Ultra output?
4. What kind of aspect ratio control does the iScan Ultra offer?
5. What kind of power supply does the iScan Ultra come with?
6. I have an A/V receiver to handle the switching of my A/V sources. How should I hook up the iScan Ultra in my set-up?
7. Does the iScan Ultra support progressive scan and High Definition sources?
8. Will the iScan Ultra improve the picture quality of standard definition channels from my satellite system (DSS)?
9. Tell me more about the Chroma Filter feature of the iScan Ultra
10. Tell me more about the Y/C Delay Adjust feature of the iScan Ultra
11. What are the differences between the iScan HD, iScan Ultra and iScan Pro models?

1. What is the iScan Ultra?

The iScan Ultra video processor is a high performance 480i to 480p and 576i to 576p video processing hub. Featuring a total of 7 inputs, including a High-Definition passthrough connection, the iScan Ultra is the ideal switching and processing control center, optimized for 480p capable displays. The iScan Ultra also features state-of-the-art PureProgressive video deinterlacing, and has fully programmable picture controls with nonvolatile memories for each input.

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2. What video inputs does the iScan Ultra have?

The iScan Ultra has 2 Composite video, 2 S-video (Y/C), 2 Component video (YPbPr), and 1 analog wideband passthrough inputs.

2 Composite video inputs
2 S-Video (Y/C) inputs
2 Component video (YPbPr) inputs

The composite, S-video and component inputs accept standard definition NTSC (480i) and PAL/SECAM (576i) signals. These standard definition signals are deinterlaced by the iScan Ultra. Note that the component inputs of the iScan Ultra do not process nor pass through progressive signals (480p/576p) nor high definition signals (720p/1080i). These types of signals should be sent to the analog passthrough input of the iScan Ultra, or to the display directly. See iScan Ultra FAQ #7 for more information.

1 analog passthrough input

The VGA HD-15 input connector is for analog passthrough only - i.e., the iScan Ultra does not process nor transcode a signal from that input. It accepts computer video, standard definition progressive signals (480p/576p) and high definition signals (720p/1080i), and sends them through to the analog output (not the DVI output) unchanged.

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3. What signal does the iScan Ultra output?

There is one analog output and one DVI output.

The iScan Ultra outputs a 480p signal if the incoming video source is 480i (NTSC), or a 576p signal if the incoming video source is 576i (PAL/SECAM) through either its analog or DVI output connector.

The colorspace of the analog output signal can be either RGB or component (YPbPr). Sync options for the RGB output include separate H & V syncs, separate composite sync, or sync on green. Note that the sync on a component (YPbPr) signal is always combined with the Y signal.

When using the DVI output with an NTSC video source, there are two output resolution formats that are available: 720 x 480p and 640 x 480p, selectable at '720' or '640'. The digital output generated from a PAL or SECAM video signal has only one signal available format: 720 x 576p @ 50Hz.

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4. What kind of aspect ratio control does the iScan Ultra offer?

The iScan Ultra provides the user with aspect ratio controls to accommodate for different screen sizes and source formats. The options are FF (Full Frame), LBX (Letterbox), SQ0, SQ1, SQ2, and SQ3 (squeeze modes).

The Full Frame (FF) setting is appropriate when the input and the display aspect ratios are the same.

The Letterbox (LBX) setting offers the ability to expand a non-anamorphic DVD to full screen. A wide screen non-anamorphic DVD has the black letterbox bars encoded as part of the image which results in display thinking that they are 4:3 images. When used with just squeeze mode, the aspect ratio will be correct, but the image will appear centered with a black border all around it. The ARC function of the Ultra can stretch these non-anamorphic DVDs to fill the screen of a 16:9 display.

The squeeze modes (SQ0, SQ1, SQ2, and SQ3) are to be used when the source is 4:3 and the display is 16:9. The squeeze modes will horizontally decrease the image size by a ratio of ¾ and centers the resulting image horizontally with bars on the side, either black, dark, medium or light gray.

The Output Control also has a "Curtain" adjust feature that allows you to crop the sides of a 4:3 image further when using one of the Squeeze modes. This is useful if you are using gray bars on the sides of the 4:3 image, but the 4:3 image itself has a black border on the sides.

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5. What kind of power supply does the iScan Ultra come with?

The iScan Ultra comes with a universal 6V/2A AC to DC external power adapter, which accepts 100-240 VAC at 50/60Hz.

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6. I have an A/V receiver to handle the switching of my A/V sources. How should I hook up the iScan Ultra in my set-up?

There are a couple of ways that you can connect the iScan Ultra to your system.
You can connect your video sources directly to the iScan Ultra, with the audio going to the A/V receiver. This way, you will be using the iScan Ultra to switch the video and the A/V receiver to switch audio which will yield the best picture.

The other way you can connect the iScan Ultra is to leave your video sources connected to the A/V receiver and then connect the main video output to the iScan Ultra. This will allow you to use the system in the same way, as well as processing everything that comes out of the A/V receiver.

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7. Does the iScan Ultra support progressive scan and High Definition sources?

The iScan Ultra only processes standard definition 480i (NTSC) or 576i (PAL/SECAM) signals.

The iScan Ultra does not process progressive scan (480p or 576p) or High Definition (1080i, 720p) signals, although it can pass them through unchanged to its analog output.

Connecting a progressive or high definition source to the component input of the iScan Ultra will result in a split, unstable or scrambled image.

Most progressive scan DVD players can output both 480i and 480p signals through their component output. We suggest that you set up your progressive scan DVD player to 480i output, and hook it up to the iScan Ultra unit through the component connection. In that case, the iScan Ultra unit will convert the 480i signal from the DVD player to a 480p signal feeding your display.

Today's HDTV receivers output High Definition signals (1080i, 720p) through either DVI, component or RGB. This output should be connected to your display directly. You can also connect the component or RGB output of your High Definition receiver to the passthrough input of the iScan Ultra, so that the iScan Ultra can act as a switcher for your High Definition receiver and other video sources.

Note that some High Definition receivers also have a separate S-video output for standard definition channels. We recommend that you connect this output to the iScan Ultra unit. The iScan Ultra will convert the 480i signal coming out of the receiver to 480p.

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8. Will the iScan Ultra improve the picture quality of standard definition channels from my satellite system (DSS)?

Picture improvement of standard definition satellite channels is often very subjective, and depends a great deal on exactly which aspects of the image are objectionable.

If you have a standard definition satellite feed which is loaded with compression artifacts or is blurry because of bandwidth limitations, then the iScan Ultra (or most other video processors, for that matter) may not bring much improvement to the picture.

However, the iScan Ultra may react better to this type of problem than your display would, but that depends on the specific display you use. If your source is reasonably clean, then the iScan Ultra should do a good job of making it look good on the big screen.

If your complaints are in regards to the display's deinterlacing capabilities, then the iScan Ultra should make a noticeable improvement.

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9. Tell me more about the Chroma Filter feature of the iScan Ultra

Many DVD players use MPEG decoders which have a known issue with proper decoding of the chroma signal. This shows as a "bleeding" effect of red or reddish colors onto their surrounding colors. The iScan Ultra has filter that can be enabled to filter out most of this effect and make it much less objectionable.
Some DVD player MPEG decoders have a bug in the chroma sampling data that is sent to the video decoders and deinterlacer. This can result in color bleeding in some images. This artifact can be filtered with the iScan Ultra by enabling the Chroma filter feature.

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10. Tell me more about the Y/C Delay Adjust feature of the iScan Ultra

Many displays have problems with proper phase alignment of the Y (Luminance) and C (Chroma) signals producing a misalignment of the brightness and color portions of the image. The iScan Ultra provides an adjustable delay to reduce or remove the effects of this problem.

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