Video Asylum

Posted by Tommart (A) on June 23, 2006 at 18:03:17

15 years ago, I needed to buy a TV with S-video to play my HI-8 camcorder.

I later bought a pre-pro that had the newest thing -- Dolby Prologic. Had to run so many 25 meter interconnects and speaker cables under the floor because the cable box was on the TV, but my electronics were in the back of the room. (Due to the fireplace and french doors, there was no place for my equipment. The price of the cables almost broke me.

I later bought a DVD player that had component outs, but my 36" TV only had S-video.

Dolby Digital prices came down, so I bought a new Pre-pro for $2K (Rotel), but it lacked features and quality. First bought an optical cable, but later went digital RCA.

I later bought a SACD player, and needed to run six interconnects to my pre-pro from the SACD player. But the Rotel used a computer plug rather than RCAs, so my six interconnects needed to be special ordered.

About 3 years later I bought another pre-pro for $3K (Sunfire).
It was advertised as future proof. It was a significant improvement over the Rotel. I needed to buy six more interconnects because it had RCA 5.1 inputs.

Well, now we have HDMI. Even future SACD players will use the HDMI input. Of greater importance, the new HD audio will use the hdmi.

So I called Sunfire. They can't modify my prepro to add hdmi inputs. The technican couldn't answer by question about my Sunfire being future proof.

I could use a hdmi switcher for video, but that won't help with my audio.

There's also very few hdmi pre-pros and the one's for sale are over $6K. I think most manufacturers are waiting for hdmi 1.3 due to the audio improvments with the new specification.

Maybe there's something to buying a $500 receiver every couple years.