April 30, 2021 - For this month product spotlight I'm going to stick to the same theme I used in last month's spotlight - scaling and signal processing. This time we're looking at the AC-SC2-AUHD-GEN2, the big brother to last month's AC-SC1-AUHD. The SC2 is the most powerful fix-it tool in our arsenal. Like the SC1, calling it a scaler would be severely underselling what it can do for you. There is another good reason to talk about it this month - it is the focus of our May promo. For the month of May you have the opportunity to get one for FREE!

As video technology advances we are constantly presented with challenges related to getting products of varying capabilities to play nicely together. The SC2 was developed specifically to address these challenges. Whether it is signal resolution, HDR capability, EDID communication, poor source output or a plethora of other roadblocks, the SC2 can be an invaluable tool.

Does your customer have a favorite 480p plasma panel they just can't let go of?  The SC2 can let you successfully integrate it into a current system (I'm not recommending this, however you could if the occasion arose...). It can be set to a fixed output of 480p, 720p, 1080p or 4K taking any incoming signal and upscaling or downscaling to something that the display can easily accommodate. It also has an adaptive scaling mode, ideal for cable boxes and satellite receivers. If the SC2 receives a signal below 1080p, including 1080i, it will scale it to 1080p. This prevents the display from seeing those hard to handle signals that these devices can output. Anything above that will pass through untouched, allowing 4K HDR signals to be displayed in all of their glory.

It will also allow de-embedding of stereo PCM audio signals. It is a powerful EDID manager including 16 internal EDID's plus the ability to capture and store EDID information. Like the SC1 it will also re-clock, re-equalize and amplify the HDMI signal to help rectify problems related to poor source output. It can stabilize a finicky system and help maintain the HDMI handshake, reducing switching times. It also contains 1080p and 4K test patterns to assist with diagnostics and system setup. 

This little box can be a true lifesaver, and through the end of May(2021) you can get one for FREE with the purchase of five extender sets (select models). If you've tried the AC-SC2-AUHD-GEN2 you know how powerful it is. If you haven't tried one here's your chance. I'm sure you'll make it a part of your toolset!