looking to add components

hey guys
looking to add stuff to connect to my amp
cd player unsure what brand to go with is it recommended to go with the receiver brand? in my case it would be denon
blu-ray player or does it not get much better then the ps3 but if theres definetly a difference i would like to buy a seperate player for blu-rays i also was told that when putting a movie into the ps3 the laser is constantly spinning which damages the ps3 laser but when playing a game the laser spins to load up to a certain point and then spins again at its next loading point and therefore was told its best not to play movies in them at all can someone please verify if this is true or not
and i would also like to add a dvd recorder
any suggestions would be great as i know hardly anything when it comes to good components
oh and with budget if you could just mention what seems to be very good quality and the price point i could then work on if i could spend that much
i like to set a price to stop at but because i know nothing about this equipment im going to have to find out some info then i can put a price on it
cheers

I myself do not yet own a PS3 but everyone I know plays movies on theirs. I also would recommend waiting for the OPPO bluray player which is coming out this month. It is a very nice looking unit and has been favorably reviewed.Your dvd player or bluray does not have to be the same brand as your AVR.That is not even a problem. I don't know what the best dvd recorder is but I would start with the major brands for starters.....best of luck to you... sorry I couldn't help myself...

PS3 is already a pretty good CD, DVD and BD player

Timmy245 said:

hey guys
looking to add stuff to connect to my amp
cd player unsure what brand to go with is it recommended to go with the receiver brand? in my case it would be denon
blu-ray player or does it not get much better then the ps3 but if theres definetly a difference i would like to buy a seperate player for blu-rays i also was told that when putting a movie into the ps3 the laser is constantly spinning which damages the ps3 laser but when playing a game the laser spins to load up to a certain point and then spins again at its next loading point and therefore was told its best not to play movies in them at all can someone please verify if this is true or not
and i would also like to add a dvd recorder
any suggestions would be great as i know hardly anything when it comes to good components
oh and with budget if you could just mention what seems to be very good quality and the price point i could then work on if i could spend that much
i like to set a price to stop at but because i know nothing about this equipment im going to have to find out some info then i can put a price on it
cheers

Click to expand...

PS3 is already a pretty good CD, DVD and BD player. If you just have money burning a whole in your pocket send it my way.

Good Upgrade, if you don't already have one, SPL meter to tune sound levels perfectly Here is a pretty good $50 one from Radio Shack: http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=digital spl&origkw=digital SPL&sr=1

Room acoustic treatments ?? maybe a way to spend extra money.

Good Luck!

MidCow2



Good Luck!

MidCow2

Jamie - the new professional look

jamie2112 said:

I myself do not yet own a PS3 but everyone I know plays movies on theirs. I also would recommend waiting for the OPPO bluray player which is coming out this month. It is a very nice looking unit and has been favorably reviewed.Your dvd player or bluray does not have to be the same brand as your AVR.That is not even a problem. I don't know what the best dvd recorder is but I would start with the major brands for starters.....best of luck to you...

sorry I couldn't help myself...

Click to expand...

Jamie you changed your Avitar to the more sophisticated professional look! THUMBS UP!

OP-- If Jamies say the new OPPO is great then it is he knows his audio stuff and his opinion is even more compelling now that he looks "professional"

Later,

MidCow2

hey
thanks for the really quick replys
money isnt burning a hole in my pocket but if there was something better then what i have (bluray, cd, dvd recorder) then i would be aiming to buy it
so doesnt it get better then ps3 for audio and video (blu-rays, cds) if so then all im looking at is the recorder was looking at the panasonic 500gb blu-ray recorder which would knock the cd player blu ray player and recorder of my list in one hit and for what you get i guess the price isnt to bad.... anyway anymore suggestions to take into consideration
thanks for the advice so far

Timmy245 said:

its best not to play movies in them at all

Click to expand...

That's the first time I have ever heard that one.
Whoever came up with that should probably lay low for a while.
Sony is PISSED !!!

lol
ok so im guessing its not true bout the whole playing movies in the ps3
thanks for that Alex nice pic hahah

My thoughts and ramblings on DVR recording

Timmy245 said:

hey
thanks for the really quick replys
money isnt burning a hole in my pocket but if there was something better then what i have (bluray, cd, dvd recorder) then i would be aiming to buy it
so doesnt it get better then ps3 for audio and video (blu-rays, cds) if so then all im looking at is the recorder was looking at the panasonic 500gb blu-ray recorder which would knock the cd player blu ray player and recorder of my list in one hit and for what you get i guess the price isnt to bad.... anyway anymore suggestions to take into consideration
thanks for the advice so far

Click to expand...

Here are some of my thoughts and ramblings. We have a PS3 installed in the media room; it is very fast loading and provides good BD PQ conencted via component at 1080i. ( this is primarily a gaming room which I don't frequent all that much except to connect or fix audio/video issues ). The standard type otional PS3 DVD controller makes it work well. Downstairs in the den ( My HT ) I have a Panasonic DMP-BD30K which works very nice (slower load though than PS3; pS3 uses brute software CPU power for fastest loading BD player ).

Okay now to your Panasonic DMR-BW500 ,Blu-ray Disc recorder with 500 GB HDD & Twin HD tuner for MSRP $2,199. I assume you are going to record TV from satellite or cable since almost all DVDs and BDs are copyrighte, correct ?
I personally am using DishNetwork with two separate DVr recorders ( 622 and 722); Supports recording of 4 TV streams : two SD and 2 HD. I added external 750 GB ( maximum size DishNetwork says they support, even though I have heard higher sizes work) via uSB 2.0 connections. They cost about $80 each (maybe less now). You can record on DVR then transfer to external drive and paly-back from external drive;works very well. This was a lot less cost than $2,199 but then again I am paying am only DVR fee. If you goal is to provide your own recording on a cable or satellite channel and avoid paying motnhly DVR rental fee then maybe the Panasonic DMR-BW500 would pay out over time. But it is hard to beat the easy of recording management of DishNetwork DVR ( Tivo is similar) and I think my monthy DVR cost is only something like $6.95

Again , just my ramblings, If I missed your reason and point sorry.

Later,

MidCow2

Thanks very much
that advice is very helpful and ill definetly consider those other options that panasonic bluray recorder definetly comes at a price
and yes you are correct in saying im only wanting to record cable and not copyright other disks
thanks again for the input

Timmy,

a PS3 will outperform any Blu-ray in it's price range, and probably anything sub 1000 dollars. I suppose you could build your own blu-ray media center for 1000 dollars and maybe come up with a better system, but I don't think it's worth it.

You bought your PS3 for less than it cost Sony to make. They sold it at a huge loss. Any stand alone player will be sold for profit so the quality will go down.

Stick to the PS3. Maybe in a couple years something better will come out, but for now stick to it.

lsiberian said:

a PS3 will outperform any Blu-ray in it's price range, and probably anything sub 1000 dollars. I suppose you could build your own blu-ray media center for 1000 dollars and maybe come up with a better system, but I don't think it's worth it.

Click to expand...

I've been sensitive to fanboyism as of late. Or maybe I'm always sensitive. In any case, this is not true. Even the older, superceded Panasonics outperformed the PS3. Heck, it'll be twice superceded any day now. 6 bluray player shootout.
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47892

Stick to the PS3. Maybe in a couple years something better will come out, but for now stick to it.

Click to expand...

But, yes, I agree. These players in general are close enough in performance that throwing money at it is a misallocation of funds.

Timmy, you immediately stated in this thread that you want to hook up something to your amp. However, if it was my system, as is, my immediate upgrade path would be the following:

-obtain one identical speaker to the mains, and use as upright center speaker
-which forces to move away the electronics (a good thing on multiple levels). I'd use the studio tech modular rack for $199 shipped.
-which forces a longer HDMI cable. Monoprice 35ft is about $40.
-how about controlling the system when the electronics are somewhere else? A URC RF-20+blaster, $80 shipped.

Not including speaker cost, about $325. You can maybe do it for less.

You'd have the ideal audio arrangement, and its something that most people cannot do. Even if most of these people just don't know any better, even those that do know better could not make it work out. The height of your display, IMO, makes it inexcusable not to do so. IMHO.

sorry josten but im not quite following with the whole
"-obtain one identical speaker to the mains, and use as upright center speaker"
Not including speaker cost,
sorry but im kind of unsire what your saying wether to get another centre or get rid of the old one and get a better one
lol you may have to dumb it down for me a bit lol

Timmy245 said:

"-obtain one identical speaker to the mains, and use as upright center speaker"

Click to expand...

He's saying to get another Klipsh F1.
There is a radical upright center sect here at AH.
Madness lies down that path.

ohhh thanks alex i probly should have figured that out ey lol does it make the sound that normally comes through the centre way better?
thanks

Ideal is an identical center to front speakers

Timmy245 said:

ohhh thanks alex i probly should have figured that out ey lol does it make the sound that normally comes through the centre way better?
thanks

Click to expand...

The center should match the fronts to maintain timbre(seamless front sound).

Many speaker manufacturers have center speakers that very closely match the fronts.

However, if you have a center speaker that is identical to the fronts, it will match 100% exactly. That is what Alex is saying; very good recommendation!

The center speaker is very important for DVDs, BD, and TV because it carries the vocal and voice dialog.

Good Luck!

MidCow2

thanks midcow
ill guess ill have to look at how much an f-1 on its own cost
thanks again

Ya know, maybe I'm not timbre matched, but it sounds great to me. =\

Timmy

It's not just about the best timbre match you can possibly get, though that's pretty huge.

Without time to search and look, I presume you have a horizontal center, MTM design. These designs are arguably the worst speaker design in existence, and the ONLY reasons they exist is for aesthetic compromise, or to simply fit as a first priority, in a certain space.

If horiz was better, don't you think we'd use them for all 5 speakers? Sound likes to travel along the smallest dimension.

The real reason why most h-mtm's are bad is due to the lobing effect. I've explained it a gajillion times just by myself, as I'm sure others have as well. Please use search function. Audioholics has an excellent writeup as well!

Vertically arrayed drivers are best. Period. Ok, outside of coincidental driver.

The even plane of all of your drivers also allows the best panning possible, with better and/or more convincing shifting of energy within the stage.

No more distracting lights up front.

No mass between speakers to ruin imaging.

yada yada.

Sorry it took me a little while to get back to you. If you have another question, I fear it will be yet again a little while before I can get back to you. Not typical of me, but the point is I normally would get back to you quicker. Not these days.

my best,
j

Ok, I'm back again. Just so you don't think I am lying, here are a few pics with identical speakers across the front, on the same plane. The first two are AH member systems.

Oh yeah, that AH article I was mentioning

http://www.audioholics.com/education/loudspeaker-basics/vertical-vs-horizontal-speaker-designs