I'm going to jump in here rather than starting a new thread....
I also bought the Toshiba HD-DVD player at the Wal-Mart special last year. I hadn't really followed Blu-Ray partly because I already had the Toshiba (and maybe 12 discs) and because I was waiting till Blu-Ray matured.
Well, now it seems as though it HAS mostly matured. As I start looking into options, I keep getting the feeling that I'm going to hit a brick wall with my current Denon 3805 receiver....(no HDMI inputs).
True or False miscellaneous ramblings, numbered for ease-of-answering...
1- Am I correct that all the new, uncompressed sound formats can ONLY be passed to the receiver through HDMI if they are not decoded within the player? And ONLY v1.3? (Won't work for me as my receiver doesn't have HDMI of any flavor).
2- If you buy a player that decodes on-board AND has analog "outs", you gain the ability to send the already-decoded signal to the receiver via the receivers' analog "ins"? (Won't work for me as I already use the receiver's analog ins for SACD/DVD-A playback).
3- Am I correct in reading that some Blu-Ray players decode SOME of the new sound formats on-board, but not others?
4- Are there players that decode on-board, but send the now-decoded signal to the receiver via digital coax or optical Toslink?
5- If the answer to #4 is "no", I guess my only option would be to not have access to the uncompressed audio tracks on the discs I play. So what DO I get....Dolby Digital? And, I assume THAT is sent via optical or digital coax?
6- Is the PS3 frequently recommended simply as a good value, or is there also some flexibility it terms of decoding or outputs that would help someone in my situation?
I guess what I'm trying to determine is whether or not getting a Blu-Ray player is even feasible with my old receiver. Obviously, I could enjoy the good-looking content of Blu-Ray, but if I don't have any way of enjoying the better sound as well, I might just wait....
I feel like a NOOB because I hadn't really followed Blu-Ray. But lately I've been "tempted", have a bit of extra cash and knowing that there might be some excellent deals on players and discs coming in the next few weeks, I need a crash course....
