N E W R E V I E W S
DUELLING DOMAINS
Can Adcom’s GFR-700HD receiver handle video as well as it does audio?
or an audio receiver to be worth its salt stored,so they will change automatically when
today,it must be able to handle the intri- you switch from yourVCR to your DVD play-
F
cacies of video with the same precision er. And while upscaling a VCR to the 1080p
as it does audio. So rather than waxing poetic resolution of my Samsung LED rear-projection
on how nicely the GFR-700HD’s controls display might seem crazy, the image from the
blend into its industrial-tech black and silver videocassette of My Fair Lady,upscaled through
finish, I’ll start instead with the integral video the GFR-700HD’s National Semiconductor
scaler. It accepts video signals from legacy video processing chip, looks smooth.
sources such asVCRs and DVD players, con-
I then switch to my Oppo DV-981HD
verts them into whatever resolution your vid- DVD player (set to 480i and using compo-
eo display prefers, then outputs the video to nent output), and try Enter the Dragon and the
your display through an HDMI digital video more recent Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Man’s
jack.The downside to this scaler is that it only Chest. Dragon looks steady and smooth despite
works on 480i standard-definition signals;video its gritty film grain; Bruce Lee’s ruddy skin
at resolutions of 480p or greater is ignored and tones appear realistic to the eye. Pirates’ many
output as-is. (A planned video board upgrade panoramic vistas actually seem more detailed
won’t have this limitation.) But 480i signals are than they would on a standard-definition dis-
the ones that need the most work.
play. (Of course, neither looks as good here as
There are many options for controlling the the Blu-ray versions of these movies do.) Us-
picture, such as deciding upon the aspect ratio ing the HQV Benchmark DVD—a much more
and fine-tuning vertical/horizontal positioning demanding trial than normal program material
of the image. Scaler settings for each input are would be—I find Adcom’s upconversion
BY MARSHAL ROSENTHAL • PHOTOGRAPHY BY CORDERO STUDIOS
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