DVDO Iscan HD, Or: To upscale or not to upscale.
Spend any time on a laserdisc related forum or facebook page, and you're bound to hear the buzzword "upscaler" or some permutation of it. It's a hotly debated topic amongst us laserdicks, and there are two main camps; those who believe in watching as intended, and those who believe in wringing every drop of potential out of what is, at the end of the day, a moderately mediocre video signal. And these two camps will go to war over their views.
Each school of thought has it's main weapon of choice. In the purist corner, the Cathode Ray Tube display, or the big boxy CRT. In the opposite end is the video processor, namely, the upscaler. Each works differently. Laserdisc is a late 70's analog technology. Yes, advancements were made in the players and mastering of discs up until roughly the new millennium. Given the age of the tech, it goes without saying that LD was designed to be viewed relatively small (back then 28inches was consider a pretty big TV) standard definition sets. And this is where camp A lies firmly. The tube tv is THE definitive, and to some, the ONLY real way to view that awesome Alien box set you bought at Suncoast Video for an obscene price in 93'.
Upscalers, such as my own DVDO Iscan HD+ (a mid 2k's model made by Anchor Bay Technologies.), usually take the SD video signal, either from a composite or S-video output on a player, and, though some magic I don't clearly understand, crank up the signal's resolution to make it more visually appealing on a display of an HD nature. They usually output though HDMI or component, though my Iscan uses DVI.
Now, for where I weigh in....I'm the rare proponent of both. They each have their merits, and each have very valid points against them. A well mastered disc on a high grade consumer CRT...if you're able to put yourself in a historical mindset, it's mind blowing to think that it was that good waaaay back when. Even today, some will give a DVD a really good run for it's money. Now, that said, when my CRT died, I had NO INTENTION OF REPLACING IT WITH ANOTHER. Why? Because good ones, such as the coveted Sony Trinitron, are becoming rarer and rarer. When you find one, it's usually possible to get it for next to nothing, if not nothing. However, by that time, I had my Iscan, which I'd gotten to make LD look good on a LED projector. With the tube out of my office and my Toshiba DLP set up in its stead, I hooked up the player and scaler, and this has been my main workhorse laserdisc rig.
Ultimately, it boils down to personal preference, and what you're willing to spend. Decent LDP's and CRT's are still cheap, upscalers, however, well, the sky is the limit in terms of price. Gear made by Faroudja, and the Lumagen and Crystalio product lines in particular command damn near absurd premiums.
