Why a new DVD player at all?

[SpecialK-MD]

I'm in the market for a new receiver and DVD player. Had settled on the Denon 4806 and 3910 combo. BUT, after doing some further reading here, what's the point? Why spend all this money on a receiver that won't accept the imminent DD+/DTS+ formats? And for the same reason, why spend all this money on a DVD player that makes movies look good when you will be able to soon buy an HD-DVD player that makes movies look great? That's like getting an expensive S-VHS player to make your VHS movies look as good as they can, when you could go out and buy a less expensive DVD player and make them look a whole lot better.

[iqwertyi]

Because people want what the best of what they can afford today.

There will be people out there who will buy the newest and best gadgets when they come out for a premium. Why? Because they have the HT bug and they can afford it.

When HD-DVD comes out (or Bluray), I will be buying one but not when they break the $500 price point.

I can still remember when 42" plasma's intro'd at $26,000. And people bought them. If you've got it, flaunt it :)

[James W. Johnson]

Because people want what the best of what they can afford today.

I agree with this part and would like to add to it.... there will always be something bigger and better on the horizon..always. That is how it has always worked. Buy when you are ready and buy what you can afford.

[Chris Gerhard]

DVD selection is great with DVD prices very attractive and a great player can make DVDs look really good. Whether or not buying an expensive DVD player or receiver that won't handle the upcoming video and audio formats makes any sense can only be answered by each individual. I plan to continue to use DVDs for many years but I still don't plan on buying an expensive DVD player, nor am I going to purchase a new amplifier that won't be able to handle the soon to be available audio formats. Others could certainly disagree with my position.

Chris

[James W. Johnson]

Oh and then there are people like me who buy what they want, not what they can afford. :D





Actually I am just kidding, I started going down that route and realized quickly that it led to nothing...even expensive stuff gets outdated so staying in your budget is more important. Pretty much anyone can afford to have a very good sounding home theater.
The difference between a $500 reciever and a $5000 Pre-pro is alot smaller than most people realize.
On the other hand the difference between a $500 receiver from 7-8 years ago compared to a $500 reciever today is huge.

Some guys...usually the guys that have the gear will tell you up and down that their $20,000 HT will kill your $2K HT ..and that may be true but what is also true is that their $20K HT cannot kill mine...not even close , in fact mine may very well kill theirs. :)

Its not so much as how much you spend , its how you spend it.

[Paul Bigelow]

For some people, A/V is a means to entertain.
For some people, A/V is a hobby.
For some people, A/V is an expensive hobby.

How one fits into those categories determines the budget and sacrifices one makes to participate.

All cagtegories can be fun. If it's not fun then don't do it (or not have fun but do it anyway and complain).

;)

Paul

[NEC baby]

Well I'm have a bit different opinion. If you like quality sound or quality image, I think it is probably always a good time to buy quality stuff even if new technology is coming soon.

For example, I have an old Arcam AV50 Dolby Pro Logic only receiver that is 6-7 years old. Well I just spend the last month shopping for a new one and in the less than $1500 range, I have not found anything that outputs better sound to my taste aside from the new Arcam, and even those are just a bit better. Sure, the new receivers have new features that I don't have but sound quality is still extremely good.

Several people have also reported that the image they get from very good "non" upscaling players is even better than these new cheap "upscaling" players...

Old vinyl records are still around, regular CDs are probably going to be still here for another 10 years and regular DVDs probably the same.

Well, I hope my theory makes sense because I'm currently shopping for a new relatively expensive DVD player! haha