Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners blu-ray w/analog vs. HDMI 1.3

Hello Folks,

I currently own the Emotiva LMC-1 processor. I am very happy with it and listen to a lot of sacd and dvd-a music. However I am fascinated by the new uncompressed Dolby and DTS offered on blu-ray movie discs. In addition, I have very limited funds and want to stay married ;@)

My question is this; Would folks recommend buying a blu ray player with a 5.1 analog out set up to my LMC-1 for optimal listening during films/music and sticking with my current processor, or would you advise waiting until Emotiva's new processor with the HDMI 1.3 connection comes out, spending the money on that, and eventually pick up the blu-ray player in order to get optimal sound?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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You can pick up a Panasonic BD55 which does both (up to 7.1 analog outs, HDMI 1.3 etc) and then you can use the analog outs and let the BD55 do the processing for the lossless audio in the meantime and then when you get your new Emotiva you can switch to HDMI . Best of both worlds

The Panasonic BD55 BTW is proclaimed as one of the best standalone blu-ray players of 2008 (if not the best).

I totally concur with Dr. House on the BD55. I bought one just when they became available and it was recommended by a friend of mine who manages a store that I have dealt with for a number of years. I have owned Pioneer Elite's for quite some time and had my heart set on their new BD-05FD, but when I compared the two in the store, the Panasonic was faster, had more up-to-date features and was basically half the price. I mentioned earlier in another thread that until the BD-55/35 players came on the market, the reviewers weren't particularly happy about the way Blu-Ray players were handling standard DVD's. Those concerns were eliminated when the Panny's became available. That is essentially why they called these probably the best overall players to date. I would expect, though, when the Oppo BDP-83 and its unlimited feature set arrives, it might just surpass the Panasonic's.

If you enjoy the LMC-1 then just get a Panny BD-55 as recommended. I doubt very strongly that you would notice any difference in sound quality between using conversion w/in the Panny and using your analog outs vs. using HDMI and letting a new pre/pro do the processing. Remember, the only way a pre/pro goes out of date is if there are new codecs you want to use. But, as in this case, if you have analog inputs then I would see no reason (unless you really want to do HDMI switching w/in your pre/pro, which is a convenience but not really a quality issue) to upgrade. I currently have a Denon AVR-1802 receiver. For my size room the power is certainly ample (80W), I have no need for HDMI switching, and when I get a blu-ray player I'll just get one with analog outs and continue to use the Denon 'til its dead.

I agree that the best near-term solution with some future proofing is the BD55.

I disagree about not noticing sound quality difference, only because the pre/pro is apt to have a much better DAC section than the BD55.

Rather than getting the BD-55 I plan to hold out a little longer and get the Oppo BDP-83 in a couple of months.