has anyone here seriously evaluated the TENLAB converters and like products

[expat]

Hi,I'm interested in a top quality(within reason,$2000 or less) PAL>NTSC converter.Here's the deal.I moved to Germany and brought my 56" Samsung HLP-5685W w/ me(also affectionately known as the KIRK model) They don't even sell this size model Kirk in Germany! My question is,how good will the TENLAB's(I'm looking at the top of the line rackmount model) conversion look on a 56" DLP HDTV? I bought a cheapy conversion unit from some English firm(3 double u or somesort of co.for $200) when I first got to Germany so my wife could watch German cable.Now bear in mind,I don't even have digital cable(I'm in Frankfurt) plain old analog(no hdtv here in the forseeable future,and I'm not allowed to put up a sat dish!) but I'm not happy at all w/ the conversion of the unit I bought.I guess I'm looking for people who've tested the various TENLAB type units on larger 50"+ screens and what they bought and would recommend.If there won't be much difference between Tenlab's $1500 model and the $800 model,I'd rather not waste the $$$.Thanks for any input!

[JohnnyMalaria]

I think you are going down the wrong track.

I've tried to find a user's manual on line but with no luck. I'd be astonished if your TV cannot handle PAL input. Not via the tuner, though.

Your monster TV has a wide variety of inputs, including component RGB. A TV such as yours can handle a wide variety of input frame rates and resolutions. In Europe, there's a great thing called SCART. If your PAL source has a fully configured SCART output then the RGB signals will be there already. You then just need to get a SCART to phono lead.

As far as Tenlab units go, I have a 10-year old unit that works just fine for plain old analog video. Tenlab sell other, cheaper devices that may be all you need, too. You don't need to full blown PAL to NTSC (i.e, changing the frame size, frame rate and the frequency that the color signal is encoded at). You just need to change the color carrier frequency. PAL uses 4.43MHz and NTSC uses 3.58MHz. Some devices exist that simply change the color carrier frequency. With a modern TV, that will be sufficient.

I even made a PAL TV work properly with NTSC by simply unsoldering an existing 4.43MHz quartz crystal and replacing it with a 3.58MHz one - cost less than a dollar!

John.