Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 598 SDI mod in US ???

colin - with some input from abqpete on this board (thanks) and after sending photos to JVB, JVB said they could modify my 598 (C-Cube Ziva 3). in fact, it's now up on their site for general ordering. you can ship to Netherlands or MI USA. though for the avoidance of doubt, they've never done a 596 or 598 before; though i'ts not rocket science.

i am waiting to hear back from thomas at cinematrix as previously referenced by adidadi in this thread. he's in southern CA USA. seems like a nice guy, but i think we've had three "i'll call you back tomorrow with an answer" conversations - and i don't have an answer yet :-). supposedly they have modified 598s before, though he wasn't very clear about it on the phone at all.

dvdupgrade in Switzerland never responded to my inquiry (and their inquiry process is bizarre).

i'm likely to give cinematrix one last call monday or tuesday and then take the plunge with JVB.

doody.

I am more impressed with the work of JVB than the work of Cinematrix (Germany) in General..

JVB does hundreds of DVD regio free mods. Cinematrix has done their PSM-1 board in a lot of DVD players also i think.

Jaco

This is a very interesting post!

Could someone please let me know how you would use the SDI signal from a JVB-modified 596 or 598 with a projector such as a Infocus 7200? Would you have to convert the SDI signal to DVi?

Thanks in advance,

Paul

One would feed the interlaced SDI signal into a scaler. Than it gets scaled, and feed towards a projector.
That can be RGBHV analogue, or DVI digital, depending on the used scaler.

I use a Immersive Holograph3D-2 card in a PC. That has SDI in and RGBHV and DVI out (No HDCP support)

Jaco

Thanks for the tip on JVB. I have contacted their Holland unit. They would not commit on a M596. They have requested photos of the main board prior to confirming an upgrade. Incidently, they gave the same response on a Meridian 800. At the moment they will only modify a M598. I'm going to sort out some photos and see how far I get. I'll report news when I get some.

If i would have visited them with my 800 and it worked out well, they might have responded more positive.
I can see why he does not jump into it too fast. If he is not sure he can do it, you would not be happy to send in your unit, and receive it back after 2 weeks unmodified i think.

I am still not sure what it would improve by going SDI in stead of the component output into my Holo3D-2

Jaco

colin - that is EXACTLY what they said to me when i contacted them on the 598. i sent them photos of the board as well as some specifics as per abqpete (thank you again!).

once they got the photos and the data they said "yes, we should be able to do that then" and they put it up on their site. they still have never done one :-)

open up your 596 and take some photos and email them. are you dealing with J.vd Belt? email me mr_doody AT yahoo.com and i'll send you the snaps i took so you know what to look for.

doody.

Since I've been receiving many emails on this subject, here is the key information everyone needs for the modification. If this does not make sense to you, most likely you should not be doing the mod! ;-)

Attach the serializer to points corresponding to the Analog Devices ADV717x Video Encoder located on the output board. For 596, 598, and 800 interlaced models, the encoder is the same. On the 598 and 800(v2) Progressive models, attach at the interlaced video encoder.

Pin 38 = P0
Pin 39 = P1
Pin 40 = P2
Pin 41 = P3
Pin 42 = P4
Pin 2 = P5
Pin 3 = P6
Pin 4 = P7

Pin 44 = Clock

Regards, Peter

Hi

I have now found a UK based Hifi dealer that can offer a SDI upgrade for a 596. He has successfully upgraded and delivered two units for customers. The price is �325 including return delivery to your UK address.

My 596 is scheduled for upgrade in the second week of June. Please email me for contact details if anyone is interested. He has also upgraded a 598 and is confident that he can upgrade a 800 for SDI.

Thanks to everyone for their help during my search for this upgrade.