I don't get it. Audioholics prides itself of being the one site that cuts through all the marketing BS, and tells the true story of real performance. Yet, you too have succumbed to the BS marketing machine that is Darbee, and call it "true contrast enhancement", which it most certainly is not. It is a sharpening tool like lots of others, and whether or not it is a BETTER sharpening tool than others (which I will dispute), it has nothing to do in a reproduction chain, and sharpening does not in any way become a "true contrast enhancement". It MAY be an enhancement to perceived contrast, no doubt about that, but then at least call it what it is.
Also, you imply that other sharpening tools outthere, such as those included in most higher-end displays nowadays, alter "deinterlacing, luminance tests or color balance" (why else mention it as a good thing specifically for Darbee?). I don't remember ANY sharpening or detail enhancement settings on ANY display I've worked with, that ever changed color balance. Lots of enhancement processing tools such as Pixel Plus etc. crowd several "enhancements" together in one setting, and this most certainly often affects color balance, but the sharpness/detail settings as such do not. JVC projectors, which is where I see lots of people touting the use of Darbee because the projector itself isn't super sharp, have their own sharpness and detail enhancement processing, that also do not affect "deinterlacing, luminance tests or color balance". Why not use them instead of shelling out for an outboard box that does the same?
You call it a "brand new video processing technology", which it isn't. It's one version of a processing technology that's been available for years in most displays. It may provide finer tuning than most, but that doesn't make the core technology any different.
If movies looked better with this processing turned on, movie producers would have turned it on when producing the movie. In fact, they quite often do, it's an important part of their creative palette. I don't dislike sharpening tools per se, I just think they should be used when producing the movie, not when reproducing it. However, if you disagree and actually do want to use detail enhancement processing, please stop touting Darbee as the one unique technology outthere that does this properly, when there are plenty of enhancement technologies in most displays already, that work in the exact same way, but just haven't received the same attention because most reviewers have become used to turning them off by default, and thus have stopped caring how well they work. Darbee is given special treatment, for no other reason than because it is delivered in a seperate box that costs money. Please try to give the built in enhancement the same attention and thoroughness in testing, and you will find that you can get the exact same "benefits" by using them. Darbee really is nothing new or anything special.
By the way, I am an Oppo dealer. I still call BS. And I'm dissapointed that Audioholics seem to change stance on what true performance versus marketing BS is, depending on which company delivers said marketing.
