Pioneer HLD-X9 settings

Finally I take out of the box my beloved Pioneer HLD-X9, because it's time to use it for interesting preservations.

I "studied" its settings years ago, and was sure they was right, but nowadays, there are different opinions about that.

Well, I will use the X9's S-Video output, because my capture card internal comb filter is quite awful; so, at the moment I decided to use the following settings:

• Y/C   : C-Wide (others are Normal and HR)
• 3D.Y/C: 4      (0 min, 8 max)
• 3D.YNR: 0      (0 min, 8 max)
• 3D.CNR: 0      (0 min, 8 max)

I'm waiting for your opinions, in particular if you have (or had) this player, or others with the same settings.

Found some old posts on usenet:

The Y/C setting sets the mode of the comb filter.

Normal- for normal material
C- Wide- typically used for material with lots of fast action
HR- High resolution- Produces the most resolution of all the settings
but is only used for material that is mostly static images. With this
setting you cannot adjust the 3D Y/C level. It locks out this control
and sets the level to MAX.

3D Y/C- this controls the level of 3D processing. OFF is no 3D
processing, 2D only. The more you turn this up the more 3D processing
is done on the signal. I typically leave mine at 2 or 3 for normal
material. Usually use less processing for fast moving sequences and
more for slow or static material.

3D YNR- This controls the level of 3D noise reduction done on the
luminance (black and white) portions of the signal. Off is 2D
processing, and more 3D processing is added as your turn the scale up.
I generally keep this one at level 2 or 3, but it's really what seems
best to you.

3D CNR- This controls the level of 3D noise reduction done on the
chroma (color) portions of the signal. Off is 2D processing, and more
3D processing is added as your turn the scale up. I generally keep
this one around midpoint, but again is based on your own preference.

What I've found is if the disc has lots of action, I try to keep things
low. For example, watching Star wars I usually use C-wide mode with 3D
Y/C at level 2 with the noise reduction at 2 or 3.

Slow movies that are mostly dialog with no action I will use normal
mode with 3D y/c at half with more noise reduction. I rarely use HR
mode because it can cause smearing.

The DNR is going to interact differently with every display, so there
are no hard and fast rules here, but generally speaking it's better to
keep YNR low because it causes the most blatant smearing. You have more
leeway with CNR, which can be comfortably pushed to the mid-point or a
little higher on most monitors.

...

I'll just add to this by saying
that if you turn the 3D Y/C up too high it can result in a
"checkerboarding" of colors during shots with motion. A prime example of
this are the laser blasts in Star Wars, which turn into a blocky mess
with the 3D processing any higher than the bottom step or two.

...

The higher the 3D the more vivid your colors, but the consequence are
artifacts during motion.

As far as general noise, I
don't find the player to have a noisy picture. However, while HR mode
does give a slightly sharper picture, I find that it does result in
increased noise in the image and if there is any fast action
scenes it exhibits a "hatch" type pattern and smearing. For example,
the Star Wars LD are nearly unwatchable in HR because of all the fast
moving action, there are "hatch" type patterns all over, especially
seen in the laser blasts. The only thing I use HR for is laserdiscs that
have mostly static or slow moving images. I think HR is made for Art
style laserdiscs with mostly still images. On the X9 the amount of 3D
processing cannot be adjusted in this mode and by viewing patterns on
Video essentials it appears that the 3D processing is at MAX when in
HR. The 3D level being at or near max isn't good for fast moving
action and this is what I think causes the issues I see on the Star
Wars LD.

I add these factory settings:

Standardl:

• Y/C   : Normal (others are Normal and HR)
• 3D.Y/C: 4      (0 off, 8 max)
• 3D.YNR: 4      (0 off, 8 max)
• 3D.CNR: 4      (0 off, 8 max)

Sport:

• Y/C   : Normal (others are Normal and HR)
• 3D.Y/C: 2      (0 off, 8 max)
• 3D.YNR: 2      (0 off, 8 max)
• 3D.CNR: 2      (0 off, 8 max)

Art:

• Y/C   : Normal (others are Normal and HR)
• 3D.Y/C: 6      (0 off, 8 max)
• 3D.YNR: 6      (0 off, 8 max)
• 3D.CNR: 6      (0 off, 8 max)

I will try those settings on mine.

Do you have the Toy Story discs? There is a scene with Mr Potato Head on that disc that is a good comb filter test.

A modern 3D comb filter would probably perform better, no?

I captured "Beauty and the Beast" with these settings:

• Y/C   : C-Wide (others are Normal and HR)
• 3D.Y/C: 2      (0 min, 8 max)
• 3D.YNR: 2      (0 min, 8 max)
• 3D.CNR: 2      (0 min, 8 max)

the result is quite good.

About comb filter: I tried everything I have at home (laserdisc composite and S-video out in combination with or without three different DVD recorder) but nothing gives me the quality I'm looking for...

The last resource will be the phase-inversion trick... poita, if you really had positive results, could you please explain how did you do it?

_,,,^..^,,,_ said:

I captured "Beauty and the Beast" with these settings:

• Y/C   : C-Wide (others are Normal and HR)
• 3D.Y/C: 2      (0 min, 8 max)
• 3D.YNR: 2      (0 min, 8 max)
• 3D.CNR: 2      (0 min, 8 max)

the result is quite good.

About comb filter: I tried everything I have at home (laserdisc composite and S-video out in combination with or without three different DVD recorder) but nothing gives me the quality I'm looking for...

The last resource will be the phase-inversion trick... poita, if you really had positive results, could you please explain how did you do it?

Have you considered getting a Pioneer DVR-550?

poita did some tests on it in the past and determined that it's great for PAL: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Laserdisc-players-screenshot-comparison/post/633778/#TopicPost633778

(OO!) I WANT IT! RIGHT NOW! But, wait... on ebay it costs "only" 700+ euro... is out of question, for the moment and for the near future... (XX/)

poita, could you please reveal us how to perform the phase-inversion trick? Please...

_,,,^..^,,,_ said:

(OO!) I WANT IT! RIGHT NOW! But, wait... on ebay it costs "only" 700+ euro... is out of question, for the moment and for the near future... (XX/)

poita, could you please reveal us how to perform the phase-inversion trick? Please...

Can you get it shipped from Germany?

It's listed here for 79.99 EU: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B000QUN5HE

... and 250.00 EU in Italy: http://www.amazon.it/dp/B000QUN5HE

Also, the following is useful is you're looking for a product in Europe and it's not on eBay for a reasonable price: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/gateway-eu