how should i move forward...blu-ray etc...?


my gear is pretty old school but looks and sounds stellar...theta casanova, lexicon rt-10, kell fpb600c, krell kav 3250, wilson wp7's and watch center/surrounds assorted great cables mostly mit, and screen is runco pl50-hdx with vivix proc...so it seems the new technology has plateaued and it may be time to test the bluray waters...

i am reluctant to get away from my 5.1 standard dolby dig/dts world but i am very curious about the new hd formats. what are some cheap (ha ha) ways to test the waters with the stuff i have?

first post here but have been lurking and really respect some of the minds that type here...
richard_stacy
the analog input card is 6 stereo rca inputs for line level analog output devices, one pair of analog tape outs for recording and one pair to route to a 2nd zone which is controlled separately from the main analog output levels.

there is also a video card with 6 composite rca inputs that can be switched with any audio inputs and fed to the main video out. 4 svideo inputs, also mapable.

???
02-09-09: Richard_stacy
the analog input card is 6 stereo rca inputs for line level analog output devices,
Right. That's what I thought when I went to the Theta website to read up on the Casablanca. Multichannel input is limited to SP/DIF, AES/EBU, and optical digital multichannel. These digital links don't have the bandwidth to pass along lossless multichannel data. And the Casablanca's analog input is limited to stereo pairs.

So no, your Theta Casablanca can't decode, nor even pass along the lossless multichannel surround schemes from Blu-ray.
Original post states Casanova, not Casablanca processor.. Isn't the Casanova model slightly different than the Casablanca on which it's based? Unless I read their website incorrectly, it looked to me like the Casanova has analog ins, "two pair analog L/R, plus one pair rear L/R, a center and sub... Of course this may have been an optional card which your particular unit lacks..
guys thanks for the discussion first of all!

mine is configured as i wrote...here is how the manual reads describeing that portion of the rear panel layout:

analog input card. six stereo rca inputs are provided for any line level analog aoutput device such as vcr, laserdisc, cd and dat players, phono preamp, eternal d/a converters, tape deck, am fm tuner etc. there is one pair of analog tape outs for recording purposes and one pair to route to another area (zone 2). the zone 2 output is controlled seperatley from the main analog output levels.

goes on about video input card and digital input card...

i also emailed theta this morning to see what they suggest...i will post what they say as well..

great discussion so far!