Audio Video News

We at Marantz wish to thank SGHT for the opportunity to have our VP-12S2 reviewed by your publication. While we recognize your efforts to be thorough and accurate in your writing, however, we cannot help but to take the primary reviewer, Peter Putman, to task on a few important points.

First, some technical corrections:
Peter mentions that we include Faroudja DCDi signal processing in the VP-12S2. While this is true, there is much more to it than that. We need to make this clear, because DCDi (which is just the FLI2200 chip) is incorporated in many products today, including the under $200 DVD player that Peter chose to use. Engineered into the VP-12S2 are all three of the Faroudja chipsets that Faroudja itself uses in their NRS series. This includes the FLI2000 video decoder, which has their famous comb filter for composite sources as well as their renowned NTSC decoding circuitry for the conversion of Y/C sources to baseband component video. It has the FLI2200 DCDi chipset for deinterlacing (even considering its popularity, it is still state of the art, particularly in its handling of video based material), and finally, it includes the FLI2220 enhancement circuit. This circuit provides edge and detail enhancement without the deleterious side effects caused by less well designed circuits. This processing is part of the signal path for everything in the composite, Y/C, and Y/Pb/Pr inputs. These chipsets have been chosen for their 10-bit processing of the video image as well as their incredible flexibility. Many of our competitors have chosen "trendier" processing chips which actually don't perform as well, but have a newer model number, a later "release" date, or are simply less expensive.

Peter also comments about the limited zoom range and short throw. Since this projector is going to find its way into the homes of many ex-CRT users, its throw was designed with that in mind. We appreciate that he did note that for newer installations or more "theatrical" presentations, a long throw lens option is available. The limited zoom range is due to our unwillingness to compromise the image quality. The VP-12S2 uses a custom ground and coated 14-element lens from Minolta. This lens was designed with two things in mind, contrast and image quality. If we could have obtained a wider zoom range without compromising either of those critically important performance parameters, we would have.

Peter wishes we had more connections. This, I believe shows a misunderstanding of the target customer and their uses for the VP-12S2. We realize that in a typical "review" situation, the projector will probably be coffee-table mounted with many different sources connected; on the other hand most end users would rather have one cable running to their projector location, with all switching and processing done elsewhere. However since this is a digital display device, all signals need to be in the digital domain before display, which is why we don't do the video processing externally and run a single analog cable, like some of our competitors, because doing so adds an additional stage of A/D and D/A that are unnecessary and can hurt performance. It is easy to do video switching externally; therefore one type of each input offers the best picture performance while still maintaining simple connection capabilities.

Peter also comments on the small size and supposedly limited functionality of the remote. This subject has been covered before in reviews of other products, and more-experienced home-theater reviewers are usually quick to understand that no consumer owning a custom-installed video projector is going to use the remote that comes with the unit. Instead, they are going to use a custom controller, such as our RC5200 or RC9200 touch-panel remotes, or more sophisticated devices such as the touchscreens from Crestron or AMX. The remote is there simply to supply a library of the available commands—all of which are discrete (non-toggling), by the way.

Now we get to the "meat" of our problem with this review, which is Peter's lack of understanding of the possibilities offered by the multiple ways to connect various sources. He noted correctly that there is a softening of an HD image slightly when using the component inputs. This is due to the FLI2220 enhancement circuitry which is part of the signal path for component video, but not for the RGB or DVI inputs.

While we consider HD to be an extremely important part of our video future, it is nowhere near as important to our video present—which is DVD. DVD is the fastest-growing consumer-electronics format ever, and considering its overwhelming popularity and importance to consumers, we wanted to make sure that the video quality from DVD was as good as it could be. The FLI2220 is arguably the finest enhancement circuitry ever designed for standard scan-rate video, and does an amazing job of yielding close to HD quality from a well-mastered DVD. At CES this year, many people asked us how we were able to get a high-definition version of Star Wars Episode II for our home theater demonstrations, and were shocked to find out that what they were watching was actually the interlaced output from the Marantz DV8300 DVD/SACD player, as displayed from the VP-12S2.

However, as was correctly pointed out by Peter, HD doesn't need this enhancement, and the circuit actually adds some softening and ringing to the image. For this reason, we also offer the ability to bypass all enhancement circuitry by using either the RGB or in the best scenario, the DVI input. It's that simple. Through either of those inputs, Peter did notice that the image was good enough to evaluate upstream video quality (the point about the film weave in Raiders of the Lost Ark). This extreme level of fidelity in video playback has been noted by several top people in the mastering community in Hollywood, who are considering the use of the VP12 as a reference device for viewing digital dailies (which are now being considered to be more revealing than film dailies). The flip side of that coin is that if the RGB or DVI inputs are used, the user loses control over such things as color-level adjustments and many other types of enhancement and control. While the "purist" doesn't mind this trade-off, many would rather have more control at the expense of the slight softening of the image. The VP12 offers the best of both worlds.

Peter also commented about the shift towards green in some of the images, even though his color analyzing equipment couldn't see it (imagine that, our human sensory system picking up on something that sophisticated measurement tools couldn't see—heresy!). Our only answer here is that since there was obviously a problem with the bulb in his review sample this might have been skewing the color slightly.

We are also curious about the unusually low contrast measurements taken by Peter. It might have been the ANSI methodology, which was originally a necessity for CRT based devices, where the was a huge difference in light output between full screen and a little window, but there is no need for that with a bulb based display, since there is no such thing as blooming. Just as a speaker needs to be measured anechoically, or at least quasi-anechoically to remove any of the room's interactions with frequency response, doing full-on, full-off measurements in a completely light controlled environment is the only way to accurately assess the black level potential of a device such as this, and the measurements that we have taken personally in our own theater, closely correspond to the ones done by Tom. While we're on the subject of black level, this is the one area where we have focused (no pun intended—well, maybe a little) a tremendous amount of energy, and we're glad this was noticed by both Peter and Tom. Many of our customers, like ourselves, are former CRT owners and don't miss them at all.

We also need to explain the "High Bright" setting. This is primarily designed for presentation purposes, where colorimetry takes a back seat to overall brightness. It is not designed under any circumstances to be used in a home theater setting, except perhaps the occasional Sunday afternoon game where having lights turned up somewhat might save the furniture and/or carpet from spillage, if you catch my drift.

All in all, it is obvious to us at Marantz, our dealers, our many happy customers, and an amazingly large group of internet followers (on the AVS forum, where it is strictly based on end-user input, the VP12S2 and its predecessor, the VP12S1 have been considered pretty much the projector to beat, at any cost) that there must be more to this projector than the "test" results alone will bear out. And while we are aware of Mr. Putman's credentials, his bias towards the business projector side of this industry can't be missed. We urge anyone who is considering the purchase of a video projector to visit your authorized Marantz dealer and see the VP12S2 for yourself. You won't be disappointed in the least.

Dan Miller
Marantz America
Resident Vidiot