Hrm... DD-TrueHD, DTS-HD, should we wait?

[Rocky]

My question is one that many HT enthusiasts are probably thinking about and I want your opinions. Seeing as there are new formats such as DTS HD, Dolby TrueHD, and dolby digital plus, would it be beneficial to stick it out with current equipment until receivers, and pre-pro's that feature these technology become readily avaliable, or will you get just as nice of a system if you buy a high end receiver or pre-pro with todays technology? Lets hear it boys. (BTW, im out of the enthusiasts looking to upgrade )

 

[Leprkon]

I guess the best answer is, how bad do you hate your old equipment ? if you are just wanting to upgrade, then upgrade. If you still like what comes out of the speakers, then you might want to hold out till this time next year.

there will undoubtedly be a major shake-up in industry between now and next Christmas, so anything you buy risks not being up to "state of the art".

the flip side is that
a. you can keep telling yourself this same story every year and never buy anything
b. most of the coverage from the big show in Las Vegas had the receivers getting HDMI and such, as opposed to sound improvements. They had to be using something today to drive the HD-DVD and BlueRay equipment at the show, so at least some backwards-compatability must be built in to the new toys.
c. Anything that does come out this year will be geared to the gotta-have-it-first audiophiles and be hideously expensive and potentially unreliable.

the bottom line is, suppose you do buy something moderately pricey and of good quality this year and some thing worthwhile, reliable, and affordable is available in two years. you could always move this year's toy into the den.. or give to the kid as he goes off to college... or bring the parents kicking and screaming into DTS... if you are buying for the long haul, I would say wait. if this is just another step along the great electronic shopping experience that is life, fire away.

 

[Khellandros66]

I am not looking to wait, cause this format war is all insane.

Both BR and HDDVD players will require the decoding to be done in the unit itself. The Toshiba players already boast huge processing power (Quad 32bit SHARC and 192/24bit DACs and Bass management). I would expect the same from the otherside, besides I will wait and see if a Denon or hopefully a Yamaha Universal player comes out with both formats and similar if not better processing power then the Toshiba units.

Currently I am looking to upgrade my RX-V1300 to a RX-V2600 so that I have atleast HDMI 1.1 . I have my Sony DVp-CX995V which upconverts dvds to 720p/1080i and would like to take advantage of the 1 cable convinience. I also hope to run my Computer to the 2600 via DVI to HDMI cable along with coxial audio. This combined with the HD-PVR from comcast i look to have one cable from the receiver to my tv and not worry about changing that input all the time.

The idea of improved accoustics using the YPAO and the superior bass management of the 2600 (1300 is global at 90Hz for small speakers). With that i intend upgrade to the 2600 and keep it for atleast 3 years and if necessary add a better amp in the future (ATI 2007 comes to mind)

~Bob

 

[Rocky]

Its not to say that i hate my equipment, but im seriously thinking of taking it to the next level. My kenwood receiver does the job but I've found a few things (mainly feature set) that i would like to upgrade. I have it in my head that im going for the good stuff on the next upgrade as well. none of this all in one receiver stuff anymore. pre-pro, amps (5 chan and 2 chan), feeback destroyer, power conditioning, ect. I absoultely love my Sinclair speakers, and IMHO they are quite high end in sound quality and i want audiophile quality stuff to run them. BTW, i dont think ill be giving it to the kid as he goes off to college as i am the kid going off to college , maybe the parents though. BTW, another question to pose... how long do you guys think it will be until dvds will be using more then 7.1 audio? To my knowledge there arent even DVD's supporting 7.1, only 6.1, so im thinking that it may be a while, in which case i will be upgrading quite soon. BTW, check out my sig and let me know what you think about the new pre-pro and amp im looking at

 

[The Chukker]

... how long do you guys think it will be until dvds will be using more then 7.1 audio? To my knowledge there arent even DVD's supporting 7.1, only 6.1, so im thinking that it may be a while, in which case i will be upgrading quite soon.

That there my friend is the rub. DVD's only support up to 6 discrete channels which I believe is mandated by the DVD consortium (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) but I believe that Dolby True HD and DTS HD (both of whom will appear on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD) are natively encoded 7.1 discrete. For those of us that will be using their DD EX/PLIIx/DTS-ES recievers as pre/pros (at least initially) we will not get 7 discrete channels -- the back channel even when using 2 speakers will be a mono "matrix" of the SBL and SBR signal.

 

[MAX661]

That there my friend is the rub. DVD's only support up to 6 discrete channels which I believe is mandated by the DVD consortium (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) but I believe that Dolby True HD and DTS HD (both of whom will appear on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD) are natively encoded 7.1 discrete. For those of us that will be using their DD EX/PLIIx/DTS-ES recievers as pre/pros (at least initially) we will not get 7 discrete channels -- the back channel even when using 2 speakers will be a mono "matrix" of the SBL and SBR signal.

That is not true, as long as you have analog 8ch inputs on the back of your receiver you will be able to enjoy all of the loseless formats with the decoding being done in the HD-BLURay players. So dont worry you will be fine with your current receivers.

 

[MAX661]

Chuckker,

Not to get of subject but I have a question for you. I noticed you have the Def Tech BP7000SC, CLR2500, BPVX/P'sx4 and Supercube Reference x2.

I have a very similar system, BP7000sc, CLR3000, BPVX/P x4, Supercube Trinity Sub.

May I ask why you chose to go with the lower model center channel considering this is the most important speaker out of them all? this is just a question out of curiosity.

 

[The Chukker]

That is not true, as long as you have analog 8ch inputs on the back of your receiver you will be able to enjoy all of the loseless formats with the decoding being done in the HD-BLURay players. So dont worry you will be fine with your current receivers.

You know, that is why I love this site. I seriously did not even think of that and it (quite literally) was right in front of my face. Thanks for the correction (no really -- that is a HUGE relief). As for your second question regarding why I didn't get the C/L/R 3000, it's because (and I must apologize to the original poster -- I am not intentionally trying to hijack your thread) the stand for my tv is a full 2 inches too compact to fit. In fact, I had to slide my center in from the side just to get it to barely fit. It made for quite a lot of swearing (and skinned knuckles) to get the damn thing bi-wired. Timbre wise the 2500 blends pretty well with the 7000SC's, although the 2500's drivers are 5 1/2 inches instead of 6 1/2. My plan is to upgrade to the 3000 as soon as it becomes necessary to buy a 1080p panel (and hence a new stand). If you feel like discussing more of this stuff feel free to start a new thread (I posted a reply to you in another thread yesterday regarding my curiosity about the Trinity...) would love to hear from you.
Regards,
Charles

p.s. just noticed this after I posted but this pic was when I had my 7002's -- they have been moved up into the game room upstairs. I really do have 70000SC's, just not in this pic.