Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 3x S/PDIF modded HD-DVD player in the works...

Hey all,

You may recall Shawn Fogg's (SFogg) posts this past Summer and Fall with regards to his company's Universal Translator AV control interface amongst other things. The most interesting to me of those other things is the 3x SPDIF output board that switch-box.com has began offering. In light of Meridian's once burned, twice shy approach to the adoption of HDMI 1.3 connectivity, I would suspect many of you would be psyched to own HD players that output high-rez 5.1 digitally to your existing 568.2MM or newer Pre/Pros right now.

In any event I just purchased a gently used Toshiba HD-XA2 on eBay and forwarded it to Shawn. As his board has been successfully installed in Tosh HD-A1 and HD-A35 players, odds are that it should work fine. I decided to go with the HD-XA2 2nd gen flagship player over the latest 3rd gen Toshibas because the XA2 has the superior HQV internal scaler. For the forseeable future I intend to stick with our 720P Projectiondesign PJ and its on-board DCDi scaling is weak. My fascination (addiction?) to console gaming ruled out upgrading to the latest stand-alone video processors as all have serious latency issues with progressive HD games. Looks like I'm just running all the HD video through a Radiient HDMI switch.

It'll be interesting to compare SD DVD playback between our current upscaled 598/SDI/iScan HD+ combo and the upsample output of of the HD-XA2. I suspect that the 598 may be relegated to DVD-A playback. We shall see... Speaking of video comparisons, tonight I was shocked at the picture quality improvement realized with the HDMI/DVI connection between either game console and the PJ vs quality Blue Jeans component video cables. If you own a digital display, get rid of all those analog video interconnects!

So, by the time the hot-rodded player arrives I should have all my cable re-jigging complete. We're moving the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles into my adjacent "gear" closet to eliminate the din from their fans and drives. With the addition of the HDMI switch, all remaining analog video cabling is being replaced with Blue Jeans best HDMI cables. Expect a detailed report on the suped-up HD player's performance and perhaps some pictures as soon as it arrives.

Happy Trails,
Vince@Freewheelcycle.com

Hey Vince, you are not alone. We've been discussing Shawn's 3x SPDIF mod in a number of threads as a means of getting uncompressed m/channel PCM from Blu-Ray and HD DVD players into our beloved Meridian processors. Shawn also has a mod in the wings for the Oppo 970 which would yield digital m/channel DVD-A and SACD from a $150 player!

The most interesting potential modification is of a new product from Gefen that we've been discussing in this thread:

https://www.meridianunplugged.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=68493#Post68493

Cheers,
Joel

How about modding a processor/receiver with 3xS/PDIF out ?
I think it's been sai before, some of us somehow eneded up with too many boxes to mod ...

V. interested in the outcome of this myself . I just picked up a 2nd XE-1 Hd-DVD
player for less than half-price online It would be very nice to keep things digital

~M~

OT : Reaping the benefits of HD-DVD's demise, huh ?
I must start looking after one myself

I purchased a used XA2 'cuz the holes drilled through the back panel for the additional SPDIF RCA jacks will void the warranty anyhow. As far as the demise of HD-DVD goes, I suspect its a bit too soon to be planning a wake for HD-DVD.

Happy Trails!
Vince@Freewheelcycle.com

Any idea on cost? Is it user (with soldering skills)installable? Keep us updated. Thanks.

" I must start looking after one myself "

Look no further ! Mine's in transit :

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/10715/54/xx/9/3/criteresn.html

I still have quite a few discs ordered and at those prices a CD/DVD/upscaling player ( with HD as a bonus ) is well worth it IMO. And it can be made completely region free which is what I want .

~M~

I'm wondering if any 861v4 card set could support a three SPDIF MC digital input configuration without an external box.

Tim

Huh? Lossless multi-channel digital comes in via a properly configured IE42 card. the IE43 is found in all 861v4s. The issue isn't with the input, it is modding non-Meridian players to offer the 3x SPDIF output found exclusively in Meridian players.

Happy Trails!
Vince@Freewheelcycle.com

Hey Frank (and other interested parties),
www.switch-box.com where all is revealed...

Happy Trails!
Vince@Freewheelcycle.com

Uh .. I am off-topic but I'd really like to know how to make my XE-1 region free (for DVD), I thought there wasn't a region hack available.

TIA

p.s.
Vince, I am really looking forward to reading your opinion on the performance of the modded player.