Upgrades: Blu-ray vs. Receiver Vs. Decoder w/amplifier?

Question

I have the following:
Sony STR-DE897 receiver (7.1 channel discrete amplifier)
Magnavox NB500MG9 blu-ray player

I have several choices and I’m not sure what I want to do. I’m looking at cost being a factor in my decision but I’d like feedback from people. My receiver is an analog receiver. It’s beautiful receiver but it’s pre-HDMI which means unless I use the 8 channel multi-channel analog inputs I won’t be able to experience full uncompressed 7.1 surround sound. As of right now I’m sporting an optical cable with supports up to Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound. I’d like to upgrade something in the mix in order to get that lossless audio.

1. Should I upgrade me receiver? If I do I’m looking at the Sony STR-DN1000. It’s an amazing receiver but the price tag is what scares me with the cheapest I can find it at about $350. By upgrading my receiver I future proof my home theater system for any later upgrades.

2. Should I upgrade my Blu-ray player? I’ve been happy with my current one. I’ve already upgraded the firmware to its latest version and haven’t had any issues with it since I bought it which was from Wal-Mart over black Friday last year. Now it’s not a high end one but still none-the-less a great blu-ray player. Now depending on where you look up the info the player decodes DTS HD, Dolby True HD, Linear PCM, and more. This came direct from the manual. The only downfall is the player doesn’t support Multi-Channel analog outputs. A downfall to upgrading my player is it doesn’t future proof my receiver and entire home entertainment center. The player is BD profile 1.1 just not BD live 2.0 which I’m not concerned about getting on the net with a BD player.

3. Should I purchase an HDMI LPCM Dolby Digital to Multi-Channel audio decoder with amplifier? I found one that supports all major audio formats as well as LPCM/5.1/7.1/2/ and bitstream decoding. It decodes the audio coming in through HDMI and sends it out through the 8 channel Multi-Channel outputs plus it has HDMI pass-through. I’m truly leaning towards this side for a few reasons. The first is it future proofs my current receiver without spending a few hundred dollars on a new one since this decoder is only $128. By what I’ve read it’s one of the best decoders you can get. I only don’t like the fact it may be an eye sore. But I can at least have it close to my current receiver with 1.5’ RCA cables running from it.

Here is the website to the decoder:
http://www.ambery.com/2hddodtsdihd.html

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated…. Feedback please!? Thanks!

Answer 1

First off if you look at the blu ray disc in the market now and read the back you will find very few selection that are in the 7.1, majority are still 5.1. I recommend you wait until next year when for blu ray disc are in the 7.1, by that time the price of receivers and blu ray disc player will be lower. Or you can up grade your blu ray disc player with one that has analog output for 7.1. I have over 100 blu ray disc movies and only about three of them are in 7.1. Hope this will help you out.

Answer 2

You could upgrade your receiver, but keep in mind that the difference between Dolby Digital/DTS and their lossless versions is very subtle. Many people cannot hear the difference at all, even with great speakers or headphones.



If you really want lossless audio, you could get a Blu-ray player with analog outputs. Connect them using six RCAs to the multichannel input on your receiver. That's what I did, since I have an older Yamaha receiver without HDMI, sounds great.



I would also recommend against a Sony receiver, I've owned several and never been happy with them. Get a Yamaha, Denon or Onkyo instead.



I would not get that decoder just to hear lossless audio, I think you'll be very disappointed with the slight improvement, and the conversion may not be as good as that built into a Blu-ray player.



If you really want to future-proof your system, I recommend the Oppo BDP-83 player, it's excellent, and constantly being improved via firmware updates. But it costs $500. However, there are many Blu-ray players for half that with analog audio outputs.

Answer 3

Blu ray has approx 50 gigs of memory per disk and HD DVD has approx 10 gigs. Blu ray is not worth it unless you have an lcd tv, but 3 major movie companies recently stated that they would start producing all of their movies in Blu ray for now on. Blu ray is better only for that reason.