Faroudja LD100/LD100U, LD100, LD100U Installation & Operation Instructions

The Faroudja

LD100/LD100U Line Doubler

Installation & Operation

Instructions

History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Licensees and Awards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

System Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Inventory List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Caution Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Technical Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Installation Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Rear Panel I/O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Line Doubler Operating Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Appendix A: Remote Control Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Appendix B: VGA Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Appendix C: Cable Lengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Specifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Warranty Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Copyright©1994 by Faroudja Laboratories Inc.

No part of this document may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reproduced to any electronic
medium or machine readable form without prior consent, in writing, from Faroudja Laboratories, Inc.

The Faroudja Laboratories LD100 Line Doubler is covered by the following United States patents: 4,030,121,
4,179,705, 4,240,105, 4,262,304, 4,847, 681, 4,864,389, 4,876,596, 4,893,176, 4,916,526, 4,967,271,
4,982,280, 4,989,090, 5,014,119, 5,025,312, 5,159,451, 5,237,414.

All Rights Reserved.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

HISTORY

Faroudja Laboratories, located in northern Califor­nia’s Silicon Valley, was founded in 1971 by Yves
and Isabell Faroudja to develop state-of-the-art of
video processing technology. Over the last 20
years, Faroudja Laboratories and its companion
R&D center, Faroudja Research, have indeed devel­oped hundreds of advanced electronic processes
to improve video enhancement, noise reduction
and NTSC encoding/ decoding technologies. Many
of these processes are used under license by
the world’s leading electronics companies in a
wide range of high performance video products.
Faroudja professional video equipment is also
currently hard at work in hundreds of television
studios. Thus Faroudja technology is utilized and
enjoyed in millions of American homes every day.

Yves Faroudja has devoted his career and his com­pany to the goal of enabling home video systems to
achieve the image quality of 35mm motion pictures.
In pursuit of this goal, Faroudja Labs has made use
of techniques from Faroudja professional video
equipment and incorporated these in the LD100
and LD100U line doublers.

This booklet will provide the reader with a hands­on look at the LD100, its operation and benefits.
Also supplied is an overview of the proprietary tech-

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nologies utilized in this extraordinary device and an
explanation of the visual improvements it provides
in home video playback systems.

First, before we discuss the LD100, let’s take a
quick look at the history of the current television
standard. Today’s 525 line TV picture standard was
actually developed in the 1940’s when broadcasts
were only in black and white. Keep in mind that
back then, the transistor had not yet been invented!
In 1953, the National Television Systems Committee
(NTSC) adopted what is still the present method of
color TV broadcasting. It was designed to be fully
compatible with the older technology of black and
white transmission. Unfortunately, this need to main­tain compatibility with old technology led to
unavoidable compromises in NTSC picture quality.

Today, thanks to the advent of new thinking and
new technologies realized by industry pioneer Yves
Faroudja, these compromises can be nearly
eliminated. Faroudja’s unique approach focuses
on critical problem areas in the NTSC and PAL
broadcast format. With patented engineering and
design work, Yves and Faroudja Laboratories have
created an exceptional product that brings new lev­els of visual reality to the enjoyment of discerning
video enthusiasts around the world.

Some Video History and the Faroudja Approach

LICENSEES AND AWARDS

1987: SMPTE

DAVID SARNOFF GOLD MEDAL AWARD

for

“Contributing in Optimizing NTSC Performances”

1988: MONITOR AWARD

for

“Excellence in Engineering

NTSC Encoders and Decoders”

1989: BM/E AWARD

for

“Excellence in Engineering”

1991: Technology Executive of the Year

from Cable TV Business

1991: EMMY

from The National Academy

of Television Arts and Sciences

for

“Techniques for Minimization of NTSC Artifacts

Through Advanced Encoding Techniques”

1992: VIDEO GRAND PRIX AWARD

Audio/Video International

LD100 Line Doubler “Advanced Technology Award”

1993: VIDEO MAGAZINE

Video Visionary

LD100 Line Doubler “10 Best Products”

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Licensees Around the World

Faroudja’s inventive approach to improving the qual­ity of video imaging has caught the eye of some of
the world’s greatest high technology companies.
The following list represents those that have recog­nized the value of Faroudja’s solutions to imaging
problems and pay for the opportunity to incorporate
this technology in their advanced video products (as
of December 1993):

Canon Microtime
Conrac Mitsubishi
General Instrument NAC
Grass Valley NEC
Hitachi Sanyo
Ikegami Sharp
JVC Sony
Matsushita (Panasonic) Toshiba

Awards and Achievements

In just the last four years, Yves Faroudja and
Faroudja Labs have garnered worldwide recognition
and a number of industry awards. These honors are
notable for several reasons. They are in response to
the significant impact that Faroudja’s technology has
made on the serious improvement of video quality.
They are also a reflection of his long term dedication
to continually improving and optimizing the perfor­mance of the NTSC video format.

In chronological order, these awards and their spe­cific focus are listed including an EMMY in 1991 for
minimizing artifacts in the NTSC broadcast encod­ing process.

The Faroudja System LD100 digital scan converter
is a precision video instrument used to convert
NTSC Composite, Y/C, or 525 line RGB or
Component interlaced signals into 525 line progres­sive outputs. Using the LD100 digital scan converter
will produce pictures with more details, remove
unwanted picture artifacts and, when used with pro­jection systems, produce pictures of exceptional
quality, giving a “cinema-like” feeling.

Front panel features include Power, Input Select
(Video, Y/C, RGB and Component), Brightness,
Contrast, Color, Auto-Tint, Noise Reduction, Detail,
AGC and Freeze. Input switch settings are memo­rized when the power is removed from the unit. This
allows the LD100 to be interfaced into a system
without the need to select the input when the sys­tem is powered up. During power up, the AGC
switch is selected in the On mode with the Freeze
switch selected OFF. The remaining controls may be
left in factory preset or manually set by pulling out
and rotating the control until the desired level is
established.

Inputs to the LD100 include: Composite Video, Y/C
(S-VHS), RGB and Component (Y,R-Y,B-Y). The
Video input may be connected by either a BNC con­nection or a video RCA type connection. These
inputs are looped internally so that the signal may
be used by other devices. A selectable 75 Ohm ter­minator switch is provided and should be in the ON

position if the input loop is not used. The Y/C input
uses a standard 4 pin S-VHS connector. This input
is not available for a looped operation and is termi­nated internally. The RGB and Component inputs
use BNC connectors. As with the video input, these
inputs are loopable to other devices. Selectable 75
Ohm terminations are provided. If the looped inputs
are used, these cables should be kept short, (under
6' in length) or a video distribution amplifier should
be used. This allows the LD100 to keep the highest
signal bandwidth possible without having the high
frequency being attenuated in a long cable.

Output from the LD100 is provided on six BNC con­nectors as well as one 15 pin ‘D’ VGA connector.
The BNC outputs provided are Red, Green, Blue,
Horizontal Sync, Vertical Sync and Composite Sync.
Interface to monitors/projectors can be of a 4 or 5
wire connection. Note: 4 wire, meaning Red, Green,
Blue and Composite Sync or 5 wire, meaning Red,
Green, Blue, Horizontal Sync and Vertical Sync.
There is no sync present on the Green output. The
LD100 is capable of driving a monitor/projector
using the BNC outputs as well as a VGA monitor
using the 15 pin ‘D’ connector, at the same time.

The LD100 features a remote control interface that
will allow control of all line doubler functions. The
remote control uses a 25 pin female ‘D’ connector
located on the rear panel. See appendix A for fur­ther information.

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SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

Circuit Description

Figure 1 is a block diagram of the LD100 showing
signal flow and the location of front panel controls
and switches. Composite Video and Y/C (S-VHS)
inputs are connected to the units decoder with AGC
control and converted to Y, R-Y and B-Y signals.
The Y, (Luminance) output from the decoder enters
the input switcher while the R-Y and B-Y signal
enter the Chroma Enhancement block where the
Tint phase can be adjusted when selected in the
manual mode. The RGB input signals are trans­coded to Y, R-Y, and B-Y signals and fed to the
input switcher. Component signals are fed directly
to the input switcher.

The input switcher then selects the correct function
and outputs the Y signal to the Luminance Line
Doubler block. The Luminance Line Doubler block
contains the Brightness, Contrast and Freeze con­trols while the R-Y and B-Y signals enter the
Chroma Line Doubling block where the color level
can be controlled along with the Freeze controls.
The Line Doubled Luminance signal now enters the
Luminance Detail and Noise Reduction block where
the functions of Noise Reduction and Detail Level
are controlled.

The Luminance signal from the Luminance Detail
and Noise Reduction block along with the R-Y and
B-Y signals from the Chroma Line Doubling block
feed the output transcoder and are converted to
RGB signals. These RGB signals are buffered and
then sent to the rear panel outputs to both the BNC
and VGA interface connectors.

When using the RGB or Component inputs, Sync is
derived from the G or Y input signals unless sync is
provided to the Composite Sync input. The
Composite Sync input will override the sync from
the G or Y inputs. The sync signal then feeds the
LD100 systems clock generator and is used as a
reference to generate Horizontal Sync, Vertical
Sync, Composite Sync.

Inventory List

1 LD100 Digital Scan Converter
1 Installation/Operation Manual
1Warranty Card
1 Power Cord
2 Rack Mount Ears
1 Rack Mount Screw Kit

5

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

Caution Notes

Do not connect the LD100 to a Monitor/
Projector not capable of the correct scan
rates. (31.5KHz)

High Voltages are present inside. Opening
the unit will void all warranties.

No user serviceable parts inside.