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Blu Ray or Oppo?

It so happens that my VCR and DVD player are nearing their end together, in a coordinated sort of way. To replace them I am thinking of two componets:

(1) A DVD recorder + VCR combo. Considering Panasonic DMR EZ47VK, because it seems to get good reviews, but other recommendations are welcome (should have built in tuner).

(2) A better dvd player. This is where I am confused.

The best regarded dvd player seems to be Oppo. But they don't make Blu Ray.

If I get Oppo, it would be great quality and I can live with it until they or somebody else comes out with a well-built Blu Ray. Downside: I have to keep buying standard resolution dvd's, and I won't be happy with those when I do get my Blu Ray player.

If I get Blu Ray, my fear it will be a cheaply made machine which might start flaking on me (Amazon reviews). Upside: I can start building up my Blu Ray collection right now.

What would (or did!) you do?

All comments and advice appreciated.
aktchi
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
Once I saw movies on my HD-D2, I decided I'd never buy another std def DVD again. After watching several HD cable movies followed by another HD DVD from Netflix (KIng of California), I'm going to get a PS3 and start ordering Blu-ray rentals from Netflix. I only have a native 720p 55" RP display, but the difference is too obvious. Optical disc hi-rez REWLZ!
bobcel
6 posts
 
Wait and be patient. Oppo is woking on a Blue Ray player.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
08-05-08: Bobcel
Wait and be patient. Oppo is woking on a Blue Ray player.
Sounds like a good idea. After reading from someone who's owned both, now I'm a little more inclined to go with a standalone player than a PS3. And I realized, I don't want to go buy yet a third surround pre/pro in 3 years. I like my Boston Acoustics AVP7 just fine. Of course it doesn't do HDMI switching or decoding, but it DOES have 7.1 ch. analog inputs, and I really like its overall sound quality, usability, and build quality.

FINALLY some Blu-ray players are coming out with internal sound decoding (most recently, I think, the Panasonic DMP-50 at $700). So could a yet more affordable Oppo Blu-ray be too far behind? When the right Blu-ray comes out that provides analog output of True HD and DTS Master Theater at a reasonable price--then I'll buy.

After all, until I can get a player with internal decoding of lossless surround codecs, I would not be getting the full potential sound quality without getting something that can digitally decode HDMI 1.3.
homer
75 posts
 
OPPO is working on a Blu-Ray player.
solidstate9
17 posts
 
I have The OPPO 983 and a playstation3 and I use both all the time. My kids have 100's of DVDs and they play them all the time on the Oppo. There is no doubt HD cable or bluray is even better; clearer, more resolution, better color rendition on my plasma Pio 6010, P.S. the playstation 3 loads 3 times faster at least than the pioneer elite 94 or 95 and sound wise it would be hard to tell between a PS3 using HDMI and Pioneer blu HDMI output!
Dvd's are getting cheap so kids stuff keeps coming but we won't be buying any more dvd's for Mom and Dad.
If I had to wait even longer (christmas) I probably would just get the playstation 3.
this is a fun problem to discuss..... and OPPO will probably make a good bluplayer too.
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