2. home-theater
  3. 1233948104

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
jamesw20
270 posts
 
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.
chadnliz
3,736 posts
 
Richard your all set! Cheers
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
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.
richard_stacy OP
686 posts
 
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.

???
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
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.
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