I think a few of us already had been a patron of that store, it's just a matter of how close or "insider-ish" you can get with them to get that price you quoted.

How often? Until the next iteration i guess, depending on how fast they wanna replace the current model. But i dont see them adding anything else into the current receiver lineup, unless you're into those DLNA or streaming of digital content from media servers. Wireless HDMI and therefore WirelessHD just got introduced recently, but the tech has not matured for mass consumption.

Or, if you're willing to wait, delay your purchase until CES 2008 finishes and see what new models are announced there. CES 2008 is between January 7th and 10th in Vegas, some are hoping to see next-gen HD players from new player in the field (Marantz, Meridian and Denon) and definite street release date of previous announced products like that Denon BD player.

Short answer: YES!

Long answer: Depends. You need to pair it with good speakers otherwise the advantage would not be heard.

You can definitely hear the difference, but if you're the type that doesnt care much about the intricacies of all this audio thingamajigs, it may not be worthwhile to you. I have a few friends who couldnt care less about the clarity or discreteness of the soundfield generated by all these nice HT setups, but go crazy when they can get the "bass" to overdrive or "explosion" to shake and rattle the room, even if it is way over the recommended limits. I guess different people different take on things. Some enjoy finer things in life, other want flashy things.

Mine more subjective, yours more technical, complements each other. RX is getting the best on both ends.

RX, if you can find one, get one of those Kef satellite speaker packages. They look sweet, egg-like, doesnt consume much space, and carries the Kef's tradition of superior sound quality. www.whathifi.com under Home Cinema has a few of those Kefs under scrutiny. Be prepared to pay though.

Cant help you on those, im tone deaf when it comes to music. MP3s are golden to my ears, so my take on anything musical is crap to others.

But i guess it's hard to find a setup that is excellent on both music and home cinema, AND good on your wallet too?

Maybe others can suggest other manufacturers? Im not familiar on how the PC-related brands like Klipsh or Harman Kardon sounds, or if they offer a compact solution, but they may provide you with alternatives there, RX.

LOL like this aaa?



Trust me, the more you suffer now, the more satisfied you will be later. You can rest easy with the fact that you have done your homework and got the best you can get with those criterias you have in mind. Suffer away!

Anybody's BD orders on its way? Im especially excited for these:-



Coming from LA, should be here in a few days. Shoot 'Em Up in particular, with DTS HD MA, should be glorious during the numerous shootouts. Cant wait!

No lah, i do that a lot, with or without reasons sometimes. Sometimes from trying to understand....women. The other unsolvable mystery of the universe, can never understand them.

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Added on January 4, 2008, 12:23 pmYup, New Line is apparently following in the footsteps of 20th Century Fox and going DTS HD MA way. Delicious! Eye candy = Monica Belluci breast-feeding in that brothel, Ear candy = Clive Owen opening gunfight. Perfect!

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jan 4 2008, 12:23 PM

Arrgghhh i forgot!!!! Good point! Sigh.....DTS-HD only loh......unless i can find a HD-DVD version of this.

One link to explain them all!

Now, please BDA.......sort out the players! Im at my wit's end here! Here's the lowdown:-

PS3
Pros: Future-proofed, BD-Live /Profile 2.0 ready which requires internet connection & 1GB persistent memory. The fastest loading BD player in the market. Zero problems loading BDs , even the new ones with Profile 1.1 like War & Resident Evil Extinction.
Cons: Cannot bitstream HBR audio formats (DTHD & DTSHDMA) via its HDMI port, hence why even DTHD is internally decoded. Some doubt that the PS3 can internally decode DTSHDMA as pass it out as LPCM.

vs

Other players such as Panny DMP-BD30K & Samsung BD-P1400
Pros: Can bitstream HBR audio hence uncompromised sound quality. Some argue that internally decoded DTHD==>LPCM like what PS3 degrades the audio quality, but yet to be proven.
Cons: TONS! Becomes obsolete once new profiles emerge, due to its inability to upgrade itself to the next profile (PS3 rules in this case) due to lack of hardware onboard. SLOW loading, in some cases , like loading those Java-laden Pirates movies, up to 3 minutes! Tons of glitches loading BDs that requires WAITING for new firmware updates. American versions of these BD players are attractively priced, at up to USD449.99, but comes overly priced when it arrives here. Eg. the Sammy player , priced at USD399.99, comes to RM3999.99 here. WTF!

My hope is the PS3, which is what im sticking with now, is able to internally decode DTSHDMA eventually, so that we can enjoy that elusive audio format. The good thing about internally decoding DTSHDMA is that you can pass the resulting decodes as lossless PCMs, and even those with older receivers can take these lossless PCMs and feed it to their receiver and enjoy DTSHDMA, albeit in PCM form. You dont need to upgrade to those newfangled receivers to enjoy lossless PCMs.

Come on Blu-ray, we're all on board here, just dont fcuk it up!

Ahahahaha, the AVSForum section just exploded with retorts and jibes about that Warner going Blu thingy. 53 pages already!

But i guess, it's fair. The BD folks wont get Transformers (or will have to wait till the 18 months Paramount "bribe" deal to expires ), and the HD-DVD folks will not be getting The Dark Knight, once it's ready for home release.

But things look a little bit grimmer on the HD-DVD side, with Indy Trilogy rumored to be going where Spielberg wants it to go, and after Close Encounter of the Third Kind going BD, others suspect the rest of his catalog titles to follow suit.

2008 is going to be an interesting year. More megaton announcements to come as CES 2008 arrives in 2 days!

Two words: Direct download. MS have been secretly waiting in the corner to get the HD-DVD and Blu-ray folks to lock horns and kill each other, so that their own option of HD viewing can live and thrive as the loser between HD-DVD vs Blu-ray dies.

The HD-DVD folks is planned to speak for 2 hours at the CES conference, while the BD guys only have 1 hour time slot. I imagine it is going to be very awkward for Warner, especially those "if looks can kill" stares from the HD-DVD conglomerates.

What a way to start the new year! Now bring on the Profile 2.0 players already, Sony/Samsung/Panasonic/Sharp! Those 2.0 standalone players already announced are from crappy companies like Daewoo (WTF is a car company making a BD player!) and LG (that second generation hybrid player, yuck!).

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jan 5 2008, 10:04 AM

Okay then, washing machine company.

Keep those HD-DVDs, it will still play on your player. Once dual format player prices come down, get one as backup should your primary player dies, or get standalone HD-DVD players on the cheap when the format dies away.

The good news about all this is concerning Warner. They had been limiting their encoding bitrates to HD-DVD specs (a.k.a less storage space, lower encoding rates), and pass the same encoding rates to their BD titles. Now with them going BD, i hope they take advantage of the BD space and do higher encodes. The result can already be seen from new titles like Shoot 'Em Up from New Line, where bitrates recorded reaches 40-50Mbps, and the PQ looked phenomenal.

I suggest those sitting on the fence about all this to hold off from buying any BD player in the market now, except the PS3. Future-proofing your investment is crucial, and at the moment, only the PS3 is secured for Profile 2.0/BD-Live. The currently available players in the market will be obsolete once we move to 2.0.

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Added on January 5, 2008, 11:18 amHDMI.

Optical will severely downres your audio to DD+ or DTS Core only.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jan 5 2008, 11:18 AM

Sorry DD only, lapse of mind.

You can get DD+ from analogue connection from the back of your player. But in the case of PS3, you can only get DD, unless you go HDMI.

Silver would go weird on my column stack, thankfully i got black for my US 605 model.

Although IIANM, the ones i saw on display at Harvey is also black.

Nyahahahahahaha!

*hides the Roofies, GHB, Rohypnol, and Ketamine*