Video Asylum

Posted by David Aiken (A) on January 07, 2009 at 21:21:39

In Reply to: RE: Once and for All: Why Are People Objecting to Buying "A Game Console" for Blu-Ray? posted by Cosmic Closet on January 07, 2009 at 12:03:32

"I hear you on the audio issue, but I think, with the current/future gen surround receivers/amps all having HDMI, should this still be a stumbling block? I currently run an older Yamaha receiver w/o HDMI, so I do DolbyDigital or DTS at the moment, but the next one will of course have it."

It is for some people. I wasn't prepared to touch a player that couldn't decode the new codecs and at least output them in LPCM via HDMI, both of which my receiver can handle, because I wanted the benefit of the new codecs plus a single cable connection. The PS3 is fine for that but those were 2 things I had to have and I would have passed on it if it couldn't do those things.

Some others want analog output of the new codecs because their receivers won't accept HDMI. That's their choice. They may not be planning to upgrade receivers for some time but they also want the benefit of the new codecs. The PS3 won't do it for them and that's definitely a legitimate reason for them to consider another player.

There are a range of players out there and some do things that the others don't, like analog output, bitstream output, 7.1 outputs, better DVD processing and upscaling, region free playback, and so on. If a given player doesn't do the things an individual wants and others do, then that person has a legitimate reason for passing on the players that don't. Their reasons are their reasons and that's it.

I believe there are some players that are region free, at least as far as DVD playback goes. I'm in Australia and there's a much more limited range of players available here than in the US. The Panasonic DM55 isn't available here, for instance, but the 35 is. I haven't gone chasing region free players here but even when the same product model is released here, the version here can have different features to the US version so that complicates matters even further when it comes to discussing what particular models can and can't do in some cases.





David Aiken