Video Asylum

Posted by nunderwood on March 24, 2006 at 12:25:53

In Reply to: your concerns are rational posted by Joe Murphy Jr on March 23, 2006 at 19:10:26:

Couldn't have said it better myself. At the end of the day we need to keep people interested in quality audio/video. Unfortunately, and I occasionally fall into this trap, we get too wrapped up in the equipment & set-up and forget about the emotional involvement and enjoyment of the music and/or film. The HD DVD and Blu ray roll out has distracted those in-the-know and have confused the general population that have a slightly more than passing interest. The immediate result has been a dramatic decline in sales for mid to high performance disc players and that is a crime because we have currently have the best crop of Universal, CD/SACD and dedicated CD players in the history of the industry. These players may be passed up and discontinued because of the current state of affairs and that, again, is a crime. My suggestion is, if there is a desire to upgrade disc players, buy one of the better performers available now( 2ch Marantz Reference SA15/SA11, Esoteric,multi ch DV7600/DV9600 etc) and keep your existing DVD player for the next year or so.
So at the end of the day let's hope that the HD DVD/Blu Ray rolls out successfully and that the industry taps into the audio-only capabilities(granted hi rez available only through HDMI with respective HDMI inputs of AVR/pre-pro) AND that the backwards compatibility eventually includes SACD as well as non compromised NTSC DVD playback. Here's a thumbs up( and fingers crossed!) to an interesting year and keep enjoying the music!