Hmm interesting. But now I have to go after a blu ray player! I have already noticed that instead of using that set top box and using the built in tuner on the tv all my channels seem to come in a lot stronger.

You have two choices for blu-ray player:
~PS3
or
~Cheap magnavox or whatever (BF ads have some good deals)

No one has created a better blu-ray player yet than the PS3, sadly. There are a few above the 500USD mark but they still lack a few things that make them worth the price tag.

Ya I was looking at the magnavox whatever I buy it will be a temp. piece. I will be getting a pioneer br player or an elite model to replace it down the road. A ps3 would be nice but I am not sure how much I would even use it. Not to mention my internet is nothing that can have movies rented and watched. "satellite internet"

I'd argue that. There is one that is better than the PS3, the BDP-09 Pioneer Elite Blu-Ray Player.
Sound & Vision Magazine - Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD Blu-ray Disc player

X2 man the elite models are beasts!

:tup::iagree:

The price makes you all :icon14: though.. even my price at nearly cost was still :icon14:

I was looking at the Pioneer BDP-51FD as an alternative for the elite and much cheaper you can get a refurbished one off amazon for 200.

But that proves my point, it has a few features which would be a solid upgrade from the PS3, but look at the price tag.
There is one I would consider an upgrade within the price range so far and that is the Oppo BDP-83.

LOL ya I know that is why I was looking at the cheaper models.

Of course Oppo has the it model that competes against the elite for half the price.
Oppo BDP-83 SE

Still if I am not going to use the game features of a ps3 and the rent features I do not see why I would need a ps3.

Yeah it's pretty crazy..

There is one thing the Oppo doesn't have which was key in my choice to go with that BR player.. it doesn't have the 8 DACs for 7.1 Analog out... no other BR player on the market offers higher audio quality at the moment and that was the biggest factor for me.

Well, that is true.
I would say 6 months ago you would be crazy to consider anything else, but Blu-ray players are finally come to market that are sub 200USD that may not be the best of the best but will get the basics across. Though I would argue that even at the price point, a PS3 as just a Blu-ray player is still a solid deal. Even if you do not play a video game on it for 2 years and then all of a sudden do, you will not end up with two Blu-ray systems and a video game system.

Similar situation when the Xbox 360 came out, a lot of companies were making Upscaling DVD players, but the 360 did it just as well for a fraction of the price. We finally saw the price drop (right around the time Blu-ray hit), but the 360 still did just as good of job and had the option of playing video games.

Thats a good model and definitely a good price for it.

IMO, PS3 makes a great BR player.. infinitely upgradeable.. can't beat that

True, but for me I am not spending the money to upgrade my speakers. Hell, I still use the stock speakers on the TV (I know :shakes head:), but while I live at home for free I respect my parents need to watch television also and do not upgrade them. Once I am on my own I will be overhauling the A/V setup, only thing left actually is speakers. I have everything else, TV, receiver, blu-ray, HTPC, server, etc.

Yep, though one of the huge arguments for the PS3 was the issue of firmware upgrades. Now, Sony has claimed that 2.0 or whatever we are at is the current and "final" revision, but we all know that is not true. The thing you need to watch out for is being able to upgrade your Blu-ray player to newer Blu-ray firmwares.

Well that's completely understandable. Plus it's always a pain to set-up, disconnect, and then reset-up the system over and over..

exactly.. the guys that bought the very first sony and samsung BR players always had tons of issues with firmware updates.. always felt bad for those customer since they spent nearly a grand on a player

One reason I am upgrading my setup now is so when I move out after college, I will have my setup all ready.

Oh, I love the tear down and restructure, trying to find that perfect angle to optimize sound quality and clarity. I just do not want to bother the parents, free ride while still in college is nice, but will end soon. :(
My path once I move out will go something like this.
Within 6 months of moving into own place:
~2 floor standing
~Center
~Sub

One year after new place:
~2 rear speakers (either move original 2 floor standing or buy dedicated rears)
~Upgrade television - Hoping for OLED to finally go big and being a bit of time pass so I am not dropping 5k on a 40" television

I upgraded mine because I knew I'd never be in the position to get items at cost or below. I also figure i'll never make enough to justify spending over $xxK just on speakers so if I wanted $xxK worth of speaker then I better do it now.

Not a bad plan.. mine basically consists of find a job that is a career, establish what my pay will be, then make my move and order my Z. In the mean time all my pay is my down payment on my Z so yay for what will be next to nothing monthly payment :tup:

I tell myself that, but I hold back on the speakers. Everything else I listed is either top or near top when I bought it, expandable for the future (up to 5 years).

stuff is not cheap for sure!!!!!!!!

nope.. gets expensive really quick. too quick in fact.

i haven't upgraded my system in about four years, thinking about putting surround sound in the bedroom.:tup:

:tup:

I am slowly upgrading and very happy with it so far. Next after the BR player is the fallowing.

Center

Sub

Fronts

Anybody expecting audio gifts for Christmas? I just bought some nice MIT cables for 50 bucks.

Not audio directly, but I have a TV Tuner card. Should go nicely with my DVR, will be glad to offload some shows onto it instead of taking up space on my DVR. Planning on either doing all my unknown shows that I rarely watch and like to just watch a bunch at once or my favorite shows so I can archive the episodes.
I am thinking option one as I am not a huge fan of re-watching TV episodes.

Nice are you using like a 1 tb hard drive for storage?

Me I sort of spoiled myself this year.
40 inch tv
pioneer elite receiver
blu ray player
MIT speaker wires

All I need is a apple tv

I have a server (running WHS) which I do all my back up and movie/TV storage. Currently have 4x1TB and 3x1.5TB, will finish off the last 1.5TB after the new year and move onto 2TB drives. My server case has 20 HD slots so I am only 2/5 of the way full; plenty of space for expansion.

LOL you better have a massive power supply and some big fans.

Server setup is basically running the same hardware as my HTPC, does not need a lot of power, its main focus is network streaming. I play movies from the server to my HTPC or desktop.
PSU is a 1k Corsair unit, a bit over the top but bought it for the long run when I have full 20 hard drives (21 with the OS). I also dropped extra money on the quietest 80mm fans so you never know the server is running basically.

Ya but those hard drives at start up and even while running suck a lot of power.

I run WD Green drives, they run at a variable rate of 5400 to 7200, start they suck a total of 200 watts (currently at seven drives). When the system is just at idle the total power output is just below 150, overall power is not an issue nor is heat.
The only downside to the Green drives is they do go idle after X amount of time (forget how long), and then take about 2 seconds to reload where they last were. If I am viewing a 2.5 hour movie off the server and it buffers so much the drive can go idle during the movie.

Good the green drives are pretty nice for what they are.

For this year... Klipsch RF-82 to replace 10 year old Wharfedale Valdus speakers. Not too shabby, but it's a pretty good investment for something that should last for a very long time. In fact, the Wharfedale speakers are still good!