George,

I have recently upgraded my 596 to SDI with Duncan's great cable mod and the BT656 Pro SDI board, running it into a DVDO iScan HD+ with SDI option, then to my Pioneer Elite Pro1410HD Plasma screen. I will attest that the SDI mod made a significant difference in picture quality.

Good DVDs are stunning - like they are Hi Def. Even DVDs of old TV shows look better (see my comment on dark scenes below). In general, the difference in digital video transmission vs. analog is not subtle (once you've changed from VGA to DVI output on a computer you'll see what I mean - the VGA output is much "softer" - far less focused - edges are fuzzy, etc.

Also, digital output allows the DVDO scaler to scale and pass the signal to my display in the digital domain, where it is converted by the Pioneer Elite's 10-bit convertors (instead of the 596's 8-bit ones). Blacks and darker scenes have far more detail now, and are far better rendered. This difference is not subtle at all, and make even poor DVD transfers far better.

Go for it - to future proof your installation, I'd recommend and scaler like the new DVDO VP30, that can handle SDI, Component, S-Video, etc. and also handles up to 4 HDMI (or DVI) inputs. This will save you from having to buy an HDMI switch down the road (as I will have to do shortly when I add a Mac as a media center). One less box and fewer cables can't be bad.

BTW - I'm in Massachusetts also - Andover, to be precise. You're welcome to come over and check out the difference yourself, if you'd like to see it before you take the plunge.

Regards,

John

Main system: Cable, Apple TV, HD621, G68D, AC11, 218, DSP7200SE (L+R), DSP3200 (L+R Rear)
2nd system: Cable, Apple TV, MC200, HD621, 568.2, M3100 (L+R)