Blu Ray or Oppo?

The Oppo is so low profile and the PS3 so compact, I found that I have room on my rack to stack one on top of the other. I use the Oppo for all music; I have it internally upconvert everything to 7.1 channel and use the 7.1 analog outputs to the 7.1 analog inputs on my Boston AVP7 pre/pro. I have the PS3 connected via HDMI to the HDTV and a digital optic link into the pre/pro for sound. Granted, this won't give me full uncompressed surround of the new codecs, but I'm not ready to spend the money on a fully HDMI 1.3b-capable pre-pro, and it *still* sounds better than std. def DVD simply because the transfer rate is significantly faster.

But I use the Oppo DV-980H for redbook CD, CD-R, HDCD-encoded CD, DVD-A, and SACD. In my case, the two boxes take up less space than one big-ass universal player, I can play more formats than any "universal" I know of, and the total cost for the two boxes was $569.

The disc is a dying format. Welcome to the "hard drive disc" era! - downloading digital media, computer/entertainment media convergence, internet based home automated systems.
"...I am proteus" - "Welcome to the Matrix"...

26-08: Iplaynaked
The disc is a dying format. Welcome to the "hard drive disc" era! - downloading digital media, computer/entertainment media convergence, internet based home automated systems.

Yeah, but there will always be a thriving niche market for those who prefer quality and the ability to build a library over instant convenience. Downloads are limited by the bandwidth of the delivery system. In cable that means the video is lossy-compressed (I *always* get pixelation on fast action from cable-sourced HD) and the audio currently can't rise above dull-as-dishwater Dolby Digital 5.1. Maybe someday, but not now.

Even with my 720p native mode 55" LC RP HDTV, cable-sourced HDTV can't TOUCH the clean, sharp resolution I get from HD DVD on my entry-level Toshiba and Blu-ray on my stepson's PS3. And I can't even access the lossless surround codecs, but with the faster digital audio transfer rates of HD DVD and Blu-ray, the sound is still worlds better as a downconversion from TrueHD to DTS coming over Toslink than what I get from std. def. DVD and cable-sourced HD programming.

And if you have a front-projection or large-screen 1080p with 120Hz refresh and 24 fps source from Blu-ray, feeding the uncompressed audio to a compatible pre/pro, the viewing quality over cable or dish HDTV is ridiculous.

I don't believe DVD is a dying format, but it's definitely shrinking just as CD's have. Download content wont eliminate disc, but it will split the market because:

1. It will take a lot longer than many think for everyone to have the high speed & high capacity connection necessary to download HD movies, and longer for those people to all know how to download and burn movies in HD.

2. Many consumers like myself still like the physical ownership of the disc and booklet, as with audio CD.

3. Blu-ray is definitely impressive, but even a standard DVD through a decent player (upscaling or not) viewed on a good crt/plasma/lcd can still be excellent to watch; this takes away the incentive for a huge part of the market to start worrying about downloads, or spending big $$$ on bluray just yet.