toshiba 3960 - flakier than 15 year old valley girl

[pfife]

with the technology curve that we have seen of CDs->DVD-A->SACD and the upcoming new DVD formats,. you will be lucky if the transport you buy today is even technically feasible in 5 years...10 years, it will be heavy doorjam

IOW, I should hold off on purchasing a universal disk player as long as possible?

no, if you try to wait out technology, you will never buy anything...

I was just pointing out that the 10 year argument is flawed due to this...and that is why I am ok with buying cheap transports, that sound good, rather than paying a bunch of money for something that will be outdated....

With the word "upcoming" - I was under the impression that there was something coming within the next year or so... I'd wait for that if it were a significant development... overall though, I do agree with you... I think Gloco and I, when we talk about our old cd players, are talking about time period from when cds came out to about 2000 or so (widespread CD-R burning/DVDs) that the technology was basically at a plateau, where all you had was store-purchased CDs.

[nickgregory]

keep in mind, there is Blu-Ray and HD-DVD on the horizon...I dont care how much you spend on a transport today, when these come out you will have to replace it...

[pfife]

keep in mind, there is Blu-Ray and HD-DVD on the horizon...I dont care how much you spend on a transport today, when these come out you will have to replace it...

that's exactly what I'm worried about.  I don't know anything about these things, unfortunately... never heard of them.  Looks like I'll have to go do some reading!  Is that HT stuff, or a higher quality 2 channel format? 

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

you will have to replace it...

... to support the new media and formats. 

I think a good current model universal player will not be any less viable after these new formats are released.  The bulk of commercial software will still be offered in CDDA for many years to come.  All the current software you own will still be playable for many years.  If you want a multiformat player now and intend to upgrade in 12 months, buy a toshiba unit as a throw away solution today and retire it to the bedroom when the new ones come around.  I don't have any worries that my current player will become insufficient for many years because my library is all CDDA and DVD.

About the only thing that would drive me to buy one of the new players at this point is if I bought a new monitor and needed the video protocol support or more advanced interpolation for high res monitors.  Every new media is initially expensive, so I wouldn't convert my shows on CD and DVD to the higher density formats until the new media drops in price anyway and that is several years out. 

[scervin]

So am I crazy for ordering a $1600 UDP this week?  I don't think so!  Yes Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are on the horizon, but this is just going to be another format war (VHS vs. Beta, DVD-A vs. SACD).  There will only be so many titles released at first and the players will still be around $1K+ when we first start to see them in the fall.  Do you really think the video stores and Best Buy will carry them.  Not at first they won't.  Also, I don't think these players will have as good of a picture as current players on the current media, which I have a decent collection. 

I probably won't get into this newer technology until the format war is over or when 1080P front projection systems are reasonably priced ($4K).

[nickgregory]

agree with both of you...I was just making the argument that it is a trade off between price and keeping up with the technology curve....

[pfife]

ah, ok... this is more for video, as opposed to audio.... I'm only really interested in updating my 2 channel audio, so I'll bow out...   

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

agree with both of you...I was just making the argument that it is a trade off between price and keeping up with the technology curve....

Yeah, but you like being out there at the head of the curve.  ;-) 

I'm not really an early adopter.

[nickgregory]

Yeah, but you like being out there at the head of the curve. ;-)

I'm not really an early adopter.

sometimes yes, sometimes no

usually I am not an early adopter either....hell, I bought the V3 over 2 years after it came out..

[Tim]

"thanks for that insight."

Anytime.


People always prop up cheap components and hail them as the next best thing and when they fall apart in a short period of time and people act surprised. Do yourself a favor and invest in something that was built to last and not mass produced.

Hmmm... maybe I wasn't clear enough last time. BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS

who's suprised? not me. I was just posting so other people would know about the issues I had.

I'm sick of your condescending attitude. I've got plenty of money in my playback system, it's pretty clear that I understand the value of nice gear - ASL, B&W, Bel Canto (not exactly low end stuff), not to mention my recording rigs: u89s, Apogee, Grace, Oade. Any of these ring a bell?


EDIT: Maybe I can lecture you on the obvious shortcomings of your taping rig? Since you seem to enjoy lecturing others I'm sure you would love it...

[Nick Culbreth]

Hmmm... maybe I wasn't clear enough last time. BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS

who's suprised? not me. I was just posting so other people would know about the issues I had.

I'm sick of your condescending attitude. I've got plenty of money in my playback system, it's pretty clear that I understand the value of nice gear - ASL, B&W, Bel Canto (not exactly low end stuff), not to mention my recording rigs: u89s, Apogee, Grace, Oade. Any of these ring a bell?

Don't hold back Tim, tell us how you really feel. 

[Tim]

I've tried to be subtle, that didn't work

[pfife]

FWIW, a simple perusal of the net would demonstrate that Tim is not the only one "propping up this model"

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

ah, ok... this is more for video, as opposed to audio.... I'm only really interested in updating my 2 channel audio, so I'll bow out...   

This discussion is very applicable to audio.   I have a Denon 2900 and it isn't even attached to a video monitor.  I use it for CD and DVD audio playback only.  I expect that blue-ray and other new formats will be nice because of the density they provide - entire show(s) at 24/96 on one disc instead of 2 discs,  fall tour flacs on one disc eliminating a stack of CDs.   

[Ed.]

my 4960 won't spin dvds/cds anymore.  it worked great for a couple of months tho.