7. How Good Is The Copy?, Continued

For a more subjective look, I also ran a few test images from Digital Video Essentials through the DX2. Figures 11 and 12 are original and DX2 captures of the Vertical Multiburst test signals from DVE's Picture Resolution test group (Title 13, Chapter 3). The multiburst signal is typically used to measure the frequency response of a video system. Loss of higher frequencies translates to a loss of picture detail.

Figure 11: DVE Vertical Multiburst Pattern, DVD original (click to enlarge)

Compared to the original DVD, the DX2 wasn't able to capture the lines in the full bandwidth section. It also fuzzed the edges of all of the other lines making them appear rounded rather than straight edged and there is also a reduction in brightness in the copy. This result confirms my observation of loss of detail in the DX2 image from the Image test above.

Figure 12: DVE Vertical Multiburst Pattern, DX2 copy (click to enlarge)

The second resolution test used the PB & Pr Sweep 0.25MHz to 2.875 MHz from Title 13, Chapter 7 of Digital Video Essentials. This test alternates the Pb and Pr signals at increasing frequency and is another way to gauge video resolution. In this test, the DX2 had a hard time capturing about half of the colored lines in the original DVD test pattern. This result could account for the color shift problem that I saw in all of the DX2's copies.

Figure 13: DVE PB & Pr Sweep 0.25MHz to 2.875 MHz, DVD original (click to enlarge)

Figure 14: DVE PB & Pr Sweep 0.25MHz to 2.875 MHz, DX2 copy (click to enlarge)

Conclusion