Meridian Audio VP-401 Owners manual

“Perfecting Video with a

No-Compromise Approach

for Reproducing

the Ultimate Film Experience”

The Faroudja

VP401 Video Processor

With Picture Plus™Technology

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

Operating Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

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

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

Cable Specifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Programming the VP401. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-15

Specifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Copyright©1998 by Faroudja Laboratories, Inc.

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

The Faroudja Laboratories VP401 Line Quadrupler 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
video processing technology. Over the last 26
years, Faroudja Laboratories has 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
Laboratories has made use of techniques from

2

Faroudja professional video equipment and incor­porated these in the VP201/VP201U/VP251 line
doublers, VP301 Line Multiplier and the
VP401/VP401U Line Quadrupler. 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.

This booklet will provide the reader with a hands­on look at the VP401, its operation and benefits.

Also supplied is an overview of the proprietary
technologies utilized in this extraordinary device
and an explanation of the visual improvements it
provides in home video and corporate playback
systems.

Some Video History and the Faroudja Approach

On June 24, 1998 Yves F aroudja was award­ed the prestigious Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime
Achievement Award from the Academy of
Television Arts & Sciences for his video pro­cessing technology. Faroudja’s first Emmy was
awarded in 1991. Some of this award winning
technology is used in the VS50.

LICENSEES AND AWARDS

1987: SMPTE

DAVID SARNOFF GOLD MEDAL AWARD

for

“Contributing to 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

1995: BROADCAST ENGINEERING AWARD

1997: VISUAL GRAND PRIX AWARD

Audio Video Review Magazine (Japan)

LD200

1997/1998: RECOMMENDED COMPONENTS

Stereophile Guide to Home Theater Magazine

AAA Rating: VP250, VP400A

1998: PLATINUM AW ARD

AV Video Multimedia Producer Magazine

Outstanding Achievement: VP250

3

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 January 1998):

Canon Microtime
Conrac Mitsubishi
General Instrument NAC
Grass Valley NEC
Hitachi Sanyo
Ikegami Sharp
JVC Sony
Matsushita (Panasonic) S3

Toshiba

Awards and Achievements

Yves Faroudja and Faroudja Laboratories 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 and PAL video formats.

The Faroudja VP401 Line Quadrupler is a preci­sion video instrument used to convert NTSC inter­laced signals into 960 visible, progressively
scanned lines. Using Picture Plus™ technology,
the VP401 removes typical video processing arti­facts while also increasing color purity and image
detail, closely matching 35mm film.

The VP401 is designed as an ideal match for
Graphics-Grade 9” CRT projectors that require the
highest possible scan rate and the ultimate visual
quality.

Front panel features include Power, Input Select,
Brightness, Contrast, Color, Auto-Tint, Noise
Reduction, Detail, Digital Filter and Freeze. All of
the settings are automatically stored when the unit
is turned off. Also, up to 16 custom presets can be
set. All front panel features can be adjusted by
infrared and RS232 remote control.

Inputs include: Composite Video, S-Video, RGB
and Component. The Video input may be connect­ed by either a BNC connection or a video RCA
type connection. These inputs are looped internal­ly so that other devices may use the signal. A
selectable 75-Ohm terminator switch is provided
and should be in the ON position if the input loop
is not used. The S-Video input uses a standard 4­pin 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 can be looped
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 VP401 to keep the highest signal band­width possible without having the high frequencies
being attenuated in a long cable.

Output from the VP401 is provided by six BNC
connectors as well as one 15 pin ‘D’ connector.
The BNC outputs provided are Red, Green, Blue,
Horizontal Sync, Vertical Sync and Composite
Sync. Interface to monitors/projectors can be a 4
or 5 wire connection. The VP401 is capable of dri­ving a monitor/projector using the BNC outputs as
well as a 15 pin ‘D’ connector, at the same time.
The monitor and projector must be compatible with
a 62.9KHz Horizontal scan rate and a minimum
bandwidth of 90mHz.

4

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

Circuit Description

Figure 1 is a block diagram of the VP401 showing
signal flow and the location of front panel controls
and switches. Composite Video and S-Video
inputs are connected to the 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
Multiplier block. The Luminance Line Multiplier
block contains the Brightness, Contrast and
Freeze controls while the R-Y and B-Y signals
enter the Chroma block where the color level can
be controlled along with the Freeze controls. The
Line Multiplier 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 Multiplier block
feed the output transcoder and are converted
to RGB signals. These RGB signals are buffered
and then sent to both the BNC and monitor
output 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
VP401 clock generator and is used as a reference
to generate Horizontal Sync, Vertical Sync and
Composite Sync.

Inventory List

1 VP401 Digital Video Processor
1 Installation/Operation Manual
1Warranty Card
1 Power Cord

5

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

Caution Notes

Do not connect the VP401 to a Monitor/
Projector not capable of the correct scan
rates. (62.9KHz)

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

No user serviceable parts inside.