Sencore Introduces RadianceXD

[The following is a release from Sencore]

July 14, 2008

“FIX” Your HD Installations!  What's to fix? ……you might ask. Everybody loves HD. Not since Aunt Martha performed her last (unfortunate) cartwheel on New Year’s Eve have more people said “WOW’ in the living room. HDNet, DiscoveryHD, Animal PlanetHD, Any CSI, ESPNHD, et. al., ad infinitum. Glorious images all. Now comes Blu-Ray high definition optical disc to increase the percentage of HD content people watch as a steady diet. So what's the problem? Hold that thought. When your clients actually make the transition, they fall into a profile that is as predictable as the next Gas Price Increase headline. Three things occur almost simultaneously. 1. They will make the transition with a much larger screen. Probably from 30 something inches to 60+. In viewable square inch talk, this is likely to be 3 to 4 times larger. 2. Now-a-days, the “transition” installation will probably include an upgrade to a Blu-Ray player. 3. After about 30 minutes, the clients’ video standards have indelibly changed. Channel surfers who used to blow by The Discovery Channel now screech to a halt, save it as a “favorite’, and call someone else into the room to witness the spectacle of the “Gray Goose Migration”. All of the above contribute to securing the transition to HD a place in television history, right next to the airing of The Bachelorette, season 2. All of the above insure you will get a call asking you to “fix” the non-HD content…you know, the legacy stuff we all will live with for several generations to come. (who amongst us could give up Nick at Night, QVC or Speedvision…or any of the million-plus movies released in standard definition). Here's the thing. Pristine on-screen images are the result of the absence of video artifacts. No artifacts = No complaints. Artifacts are anything that appears in the picture that shouldn't be there (wasn't in the original image). There are color artifacts, motion artifacts, scaling artifacts, luminance artifacts and artifacts that get injected into the picture from countless other kinds of video processing. Many people don't realize it, but ALL fixed pixel displays can only display an image one way. That way is in a progressive scan (all “p”, no “i”) and in a pixel matrix that is native to that display. In other words, a display that is said to have a vertical resolution of 720 (seven hundred and twenty horizontal lines, top to bottom) cannot display 480, 576, 768 or 1080 or anything that ends with an “I” without some processing magic. That means that there is a lot of video processing going on to get the variety of incoming signals fed to it into a watchable state. It’s not uncommon for an incoming signal to be “manipulated” a dozen times from source feed to viewing screen. Worse, every stop is likely to add some kind of artifact. Things that were too small to catch your eye on Dad’s 27” Magnavox will look like a Monster truck invading your 65” plasma. Now comes the really good news! You get to choose. You (on behalf of your clients) can relegate all the aforementioned processing tasks to the $20 chip-set from the low bidder that the manufacturer was forced to install in the front-end of his display electronics OR, you can employ the only real, effective solution to the problem — outboard video processing. Enter Sencore and the RadianceXD. The RadianceXD is the latest, most comprehensive offering from Sencore. In addition to a list of features too long and complex for this missive, there are some fundamental advantages Sencore brings to the table with the RadianceXD. Simplify Audio/Video Connections With HDMI interconnection being a “must” now, many folks are considering a complete replacement of their older, component-oriented receivers/pre-pros (HDMI is the only connection that enables HDCP copy protection, allowing up-conversion of SD content to HD displays). Why not deliver the largest HDMI switcher available (6 in, 2 out) with world class video processing to boot? Another huge advantage inherent in the RadianceXD is the amount of memory available at each input. This means you (or an ISF calibrator) can have an appropriate setting for day and night viewing. Even better, you can implement a unique color temperature setting (5400 Kelvin) for authentic viewing of Black and White movies. Casablanca never looked so good. While careful examination of the spec sheet is strongly advised to see all the benefits this flagship processor has to offer, it’s safe to say that it will not only make your multi-source installations easier to get right while solving the HDMI conversion problem, it will also make the standard definition content look as good as it possibly can (likely better than your client has ever seen it). Most importantly, it will set your installations apart from those of your competitors and establish your company as the one who has something “special”. The “unintended consequences” of HD are very real and ubiquitous to every installation. You can address them now with the RadianceXD or later when the phone rings. Be proactive and set yourself up for a stream of referral business from the best looking large screen displays in your area. Even Aunt Martha, who now constrains her activities to watching “I Love Lucy” reruns, will thank you… The Radiance provides 18 video inputs and 18 audio inputs, two HDMI video outputs and two digital coaxial audio outputs. Visit the RadianceXD webpage at http://www.sencore.com/markets/high-end-a-v-processing/156 for more information. Sencore, who recently announced a worldwide strategic partnership with Lumagen, is in the process of adding dealers (North America) and distributors (international) to add this futuristic processor to their product line.

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