Which blu ray or should I wait?

[neilkav]

Hi there, please forgive me for being a bit of a blu ray dumbo, but I'm about to purchase a new LCD TV - Panasonic TX37lzd800, and as my current DVD player is knackered wanted to add a blu ray player too. Not planning any external audio equipment, I'm no audio head, and believe the audio on the lzd800 is pretty awesome anyway.

Trouble is I know nothing about them, first (silly) question would a blu ray player play UK DVD's?

Second question, which would be the best model for a novice like me, for ease of operation and connectivity to my new TV.

Not sure on budget, but I guess I would have £250-£300.

Also heard about the new Panasonic blu ray recorder for France, when will they be available for the UK, is it worth waiting, or will they be stupidly expensive.

thanks is advance, Neil

[mowog44]

Hi All.

I'm at a bit of a turning point and was after some advice.
I'm at the point of upgrading my gear and can't decide which way to go.
This is what I currently have :-
Sony 52" X-series LCD HD TV
Lexicon DC-1 Processor
Rotel RB-985 - five channel Power Amp (centre, rears and 7.1 mids)
Musical Fidelity X-AS 100 Two Channel Power Amp (L & R)
Pioneer DV-444 dvd player
Marantz CD-63SE cd player
Polk RM5000 series centre, sub and mids
Mission 753 Floorstanders for front L & R
Monitor Audio FXi dipole rears

OK .... here is the problem.
The Mission speakers are toast. My wife turned the processor up too high and the crossovers melted and the tweeters went pop.

So I've got to replace the speakers. That got me thinking .....
I have an HD TV so lets make use of it. Need a blu-ray player.
Also there's this THX desire thats been with me for ages.
The Lexicon and Rotel units are THX certified and I'd love to go down that route but is it worth it ???
I'd need a thx speaker package, and another two channels of ampage.
I've looked at the pioneer blu-ray players coming out soon and a couple of them are thx certified.
However .... am I leting my desire for thx get in the way of common sense ?
I could just change the missions and buy a PS3 ????
Seems rather inelegant ?

Any advice muchly appreciated.

[kingfats]

Originally Posted by neilkav

Trouble is I know nothing about them, first (silly) question would a blu ray player play UK DVD's?

Second question, which would be the best model for a novice like me, for ease of operation and connectivity to my new TV.

Not sure on budget, but I guess I would have £250-£300.

Also heard about the new Panasonic blu ray recorder for France, when will they be available for the UK, is it worth waiting, or will they be stupidly expensive.

thanks is advance, Neil

Yes no problem.
Samsung 1500,the new Sony S350.....the PS3?
Info on the French BD recorder here don't hold your breath.
All the best.

[kingfats]

Merged.

[Sniper]

Originally Posted by mowog44

The Mission speakers are toast. My wife turned the processor up too high and the crossovers melted and the tweeters went pop.

That type of damage usually means your amp clipped - not really the speakers fault - and prone to happen again with new (low-load) speakers!

[Ian_S]

I would wait until the players actually appear... There are plenty coming but they're still not here yet. One would hope more than just the Panasonics and Samsung to choose from will soften prices in the run up to Xmas, so if you hold on a bit longer you may well benefit. Also, it would be nice to get some real feedback on performance instead of just trying to guess from PR material. DVD playback would be the area that would worry me most, along with BD-J performance.

It is SO disappointing how long all these players are taking to get to market.