Secrets Benchmark Product Review
 

Mark Levinson No 40 HD Media Console (Surround Sound and Video Processor)

Part III

July, 2007

Sumit Chawla

 

With both units stacked one on the other, you can see that there are a lot of connection possibilities. However, unlike most SSPs which only have one chassis, the two chassis of the No 40 spread things out so you have plenty of finger room to make the connections.

HDMI

The High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is now becoming ubiquitous. HDMI brings with it the convenience of transferring both audio and video on a single cable, thus greatly simplifying connectivity. The ability of the No 40 to support this new interface is re-assuring as it realizes the benefits offered by its upgradeable architecture.

True to the architecture, the form this upgrade takes is through a new card (see photo above) which provides three HDMI inputs and one HDMI output. This card is installed on the audio processor. The installation process is similar to what one might undergo to install a PCI card on a PC. You find an open slot and slide the new card in. Unlike a PC, however, one does not have to open up the chassis here. You remove the plate on the back panel, slide the new card into the slot, and then lock it in place with the screws. It is just that simple!

Once the new card is installed, you then need to install some firmware that will let the processor recognize it and allow it to perform its function. This is much the same as having to install a driver for the new hardware on the PC. While multiple instances of other types of input/output cards can be installed, the HDMI card is limited to a single instance. This provides a hard limit of three HDMI inputs which could be limiting for some installations. It would be nice if another card only offering HDMI inputs were allowed.

Mark Levinson provides custom software on the PC to facilitate the firmware download. The data are transmitted over the serial port on the computer and received via an RJ-11 input on the video processor. Multiple files, presumably with firmware for different sub-systems, are provided. You can either update all the files or select a subset of them. In the case where all files are marked for update, the application cycles through these files in a pre-determined order. The update process is really quite straightforward.

Once the card and its accompanying firmware have been installed, the inputs on the new card show up in the user interface, and the same action to assign audio and video inputs applies here. 7.1 PCM audio can be received with the HDMI input.

In an installation where audio for a given input can be received through multiple paths, the following priority has been established: HDMI, Digital, Analog. If desired, the higher priority path can be over-ridden using the migration feature which simply cycles through the different paths in order of their priority. An option is provided wherein the audio is not processed by the No 40 and instead passes through to the HDMI output.

For video, this card merely serves as a means to pass the signal through. There is no video processing capability on board. As a result, OSD is not available over HDMI, and neither is there any capability to perform any cross conversion of the analog video inputs (conversion of component video to HDMI). All resolutions except for 1080p are supported. According to ML, the receiver and transmitter chipsets are capable of supporting this resolution. It is the FPGA used as the switch matrix which limits support for this resolution. I would have really liked to have this card support 1080p since the new optical playback devices are now capable of passing the native 1080p resolution which is available on most discs. Down the road, it might be possible to add support for 1080p24 via a firmware update; however, it is unlikely that 1080p60 could be supported.

Go to Part IV.

© Copyright 2007 Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity

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