3. The Cure For The Common CUE

The shame of it all is that the problem is still very prevalent in MPEG decoders after all these years, and in most cases, it is not masked by the video processor. The only two video processors hide the bug: the Sage/Genesis FLI2xxx line (2200 and 2300) and Silicon Optix HQV chip, which is only used in one deck, Denon's top-of-the-line 5910 model.

What I learned after my "The Incredibles" review is that my deck at the time, a Pioneer Elite DV-45a player, had one of the worst MPEG decoders when it comes to CUE errors and its video processor did nothing to mask the problem. Once Bob and family were in their red outfits, jagged lines were everywhere, which is the hallmark of the chroma bug. The most glaring glitch was when the rocket carrying the family approaches the city, with Helen stretching all of her limbs to hold the camper in place. Every limb looked like a steak knife.

This exercise led to a series of exchanges between me and Kris Deering, Senior Editor for Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity, who has reviewed a number of decks of varying price range and brand names. His site has been the most active in digging into the chroma bug and the flaws in DVD decks that others might miss. They do an excellent job in digging into progressive scan and 3-2 pulldown here.

When making a purchase, he says you want to look for one of two specific chips in the player: The Sage/Genesis FLI2xxx product line and Silicon Image's PureProgressive SiI504 chip. The S/G chips use a variety of algorithms to improve image quality. One of them is DCDi, or Directional Correlational Deinterlacing, from Faroudja. DCDi is designed to eliminate jagged lines on video-based material, like TV shows. Its chroma filters helped eliminate the jagged edges I saw in "The Incredibles." The technology is explained here.

Silicon Image's SiI504 chip is an exceptionally well-made chip that focuses on doing deinterlacing and does it very well. Some chroma issues will appear, but the overall picture quality will be among the best because the chip is so good.

The bulk of DVD players use a single chip to do two jobs: MPEG decoding and video processing. Since FLI2xxx and SiI504 do just the video processing, they focus on doing that one job very well and leave MPEG decoding to a separate MPEG decoder. Decks using a two-chip setup, one for video processing and one for MPEG decoding, tend to do better than decks with all-in-one chips because the all-in-one chips tend to cut corners, says Deering.

The FLI2200 was a good chip used in older decks, including mine, but has been replaced with the FLI2300. This new line is not without faults. On some sets, there can be noticeable macroblocking. Macroblocking is an error where you see a notable block or blocks of light. It shows up the most on display devices with a fixed pixel size, like a plasma TV.

The majority of well-received DVD decks Deering and others have reviewed on Secrets of Home Theater have used one of these two chips, the FLI2xxx or the SiI504, and they cover a wide range of brand names and price points. The hard part about it, Deering points out, is that most players don't tell you what decoder chip they have, at least on the box. Some units do have the DCDi logo on the box, like Denon players.

If you're lucky, some manufacturers will hype the fact they use the DCDi technology or Silicon Image chip in the product information. Denon decks have the DCDi logo on the box and on the front of many of the players. But by and large, this one component of the deck is not listed among its features, which is vital information when making a purchase decision.