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I have the opportunity to buy a Sony DVP-S7700. As it is my DVD player of choice right now, I'm thinking about jumping at it (reviews seem to like it quite a bit & it looks good in person, too).The problem: it will be placed into a system that won't take advantage of it (just a TV, albeit a relatively nice Sony KV-27V40). I'm otherwise saving up for a modest HT system, which will likely be bought in about a year.
My question: is there technology in the near-term pipeline that would render the decision to simply take the plunge & buy the player now foolish? Should I sit on my hands (or, rather, my wallet) and wait to see what comes up then, or is something like the Sony a good enough player that it will still be that good a year from now?
I recognize this question requires some iffy future-telling, but I'm hoping there is someone out there who is following this industry more closely than I am, and who thus might be able to offer at least a glimmer of insight.
Many thanks.
You buy into a system: DVD, DVDA et.et...based on the available software. The answer to your question is obvious. There are finally hundreds of titles out on DVD now. How long will it take to roll out the other formats. I have the 7700 and love the quality. Audio & video. have fun!
Thanks for the prompt response, RichardH.As you suspect, the TV will, indeed, be dropped during the upgrade (it'll go to a roommate, in favor of a very good direct view, such as the Sony XBR series).
As to audio, I already own a jukebox-type CD player, the Sony CX-555ES. Interestingly, this makes the audio capabilities of the DVD player both more and less important. Realistically, the convenience of my current 300-disc player means that the bulk of my listening will route through it. That said, I assume that a good quality single-disk player can handily beat the quality of my jukebox (as I don't own one right now, I can't say for sure). So, when I *really* want to listen to a disk (or, as you suggest, want to play a disk utilizing any of the upcoming higher fidelity formats), it would be nice to have a better option, in the form of the DVD player.
So, this prompts two follow-up questions:
-Do current DVD players (and the Sony 7700 in particular) play DVD-audio format?
-Will HDTV bring about any changes in the DVD player market? Are new video players necessary for this format? How a far away are any such changes?
thanks again.
hello,okay, i think i have a handle on your situation now. btw, what is the other associated equipment? (amps, speakers, etc.)
to answer your new questions:
no, current dvd players (like the sony) cannot play the new dvd-audio standard. there are a few new players (panasonic, i think) that can play dvd-audio as well as the standard dvd movies, but they come at a premium.as far as i know, hdtv will not change the dvd standards. the nice thing is that if you get an hdtv or hdtv-ready tv, it will be the 16 X 9 ratio, so you won't get black bars when watching widescreen dvds.
in your situation, and to some extent, my situation too, i would not bother waiting for dvd-audio/sacd to pan out. if you want dvd now, just get it now. i just recently bought the 525 that i mentioned in the previous post and i am extremely pleased with its performance. i think the promises of higher fidelity in sacd and dvd-audio are promising, but again, it'll be a while before either format reaches critical mass, not to mention if one standard wins out.
i also have a sony jukebox that i'm using as a transport and it suits me fine, especially the convenience of having so many cds available. if i were in the market for a dvd player now and it was only marginally more to get one with dvd-audio, i might do it. but, they're pretty expensive right now, and it's not even clear that dvd-audio will win.
maybe the best route is to get a dvd player now (7700 if that's the one you like), and when dvd-audio/sacd is all sorted out and there are actually some discs you want to get, get a replacement juke box for music. there's already a sony 200 disc jukebox that will play dvd movies, so i figure it won't be long before we see those extended to dvd-audio and/or sacd capabilities.
ok, i think that covers everything.
richard h
What no one here is telling you is that widespread use of HDTV will absolutely require changes in DVD--both hardware and software. DVD players will eventually output true progressive scanned video at the resolution of HDTV. Currently this is not possible with the DVDs and DVD players on the market. If you want to sit on your wallet until this development is brought to market, you will be waiting several years and then some for prices to come down and titles to come out. But at least you will not have a dinosaur connected to your TV.What I recommend, and the approach I plan to take when the time is right (i.e., when I've paid off my speakers and there are some good second or third generation audio DVD players out there) is to find separate machines for video and audio DVD. Truly, electronics manufacturers cannot build a perfect machine that does DVD audio and video perfect justice. In the design of such machines, audio or video must take a back seat. In other words, no engineer can optimize a DVD-player for both media equally without compromising quality on both no matter what chip has been developed (and Cirrus has one for DVD-A and SACD by the way).
So it makes sense to me for you to hold off on your DVD purchase for a year or two. At that point there will be a good option for an audio player that will be able to play video, although not designed for that. I recommend something capable of upsampling to 24/192. A good option right now is the Melos DVT, which I've been assured is fully upgradeable and should be a beautiful DVD-A player. But I'm a skeptic and would probably wait. Hope this helps.
Greg
hello,if i understand your situation correctly, you have a 27" sony and will be upgrading it as well as other components in a year or so, but still want dvd now.
in the not-too-distant future, the format war between dvd-audio and sacd might be resolved. already we are seeing a chip from crystal that will decode all formats, including dvd-video, dvd-audio, and sacd. hopefully that will make the format war a moot point, at least on the hardware side. anyway, the 7700 is a significant purchase, and you might want to wait and see about the next generation of dvd players in a year or so when you make your upgrade which will offer dvd-audio and possibly sacd as well. of course, those are audio formats, and if you don't care about audio, the dvd-video standard has already been set and shouldn't change for a good while. that being said, you could just get the sony now and it should serve you well for a long time. moreover, it will probably be quite some time until dvd-audio and/or sacd software reaches critical mass.
if you do care about the audio stuff, maybe a good compromise would be to buy a cheaper player now (e.g. pioneer 525) and use it until the upgrade. i doubt you'd see much difference between the 525 and the 7700 on your current tv. you could always move the chaper player to the bedroom when you got a player to replace it.
hope this helps,
richard h
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