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
If you can go all HDMI its a simple 1 wire connection but you can do HDMI straight to Pro (and sometimes even Component video) and run Multi channel RCA connections from a Blu Ray with internal decoder and get same results.
Just more wires, hassle and remotes is all.
chad i am comfortable with wires! that used to be such a big part of all this. i suppose i was under the impression that the quality would not be as high with this type of set up...
The only difference will be based on wires. Because HDMI keeps things digital the quality of the cable, IMHO, really isn't that important as you shouldn't have much interfere with a digital signal. However, with separate analog inputs the signal can very much be played with by RIF so you need good shielding.
I was all set to recommend a Blu-ray player with internal TrueHD and DTS-HD MA decoders, but there's just one thing, and correct me if I'm wrong:

The Theta Casanova does not have line level analog 5.1 or 7.1 inputs.

If it does, then by all means connect the Blu-ray player's multichannel analog outputs to the Theta's multichannel inputs.

If the Theta doesn't have these, then we're looking at a new player *and* a new pre/pro.