hd dvd in changer format?

cmescia · Sep 11, 2006

Hi,

I was looking to get a nnew dvd player (hopefully something universal with hd/dvda/sacd, etc...). The Wife insists on a 5d changer, like the cheapo sony that we used to have (I say cheapo, buut it actually wasnt too awful with upcoding to 1080 and hdmi/dvi output)

is there any carosel type changers out there of decent quality? i am not like some folks here with 2-3K to spend....I think I am out of luck here, but thought someone here might know.

Thanks!

Chris

JonFo · Sep 11, 2006

Chris, you might be out of luck if you include HD in the requirements. My guess is we won't see an HD capable changer until late in '07 at the earliest. Also, your requirement for universal transport is going to require patience, as those again are not likley until late '07 either.

Personally, I'd either stick with an existing universal (non-HD) carousel for existing media and add HD players as they come into your price and feature range.

For my CD based music, I went with a media server and HTPC and ripped all my music into .WAV’s, no compression. So only the relatively small (50 or so) DVD-A /SACD discs I have need to be spun on the Denon DVD2900 one by one, all else is in a playlsit or easily accessible via the HTPC.

HD_DVD's are few and far between now, so putting those in the Toshiba HD_A1 is not a chore either.

A few years from now, all the above can be revisited once the dust settles on the HD wars.

amey01 · Sep 11, 2006

cmescia said:
is there any carosel type changers out there of decent quality? i am not like some folks here with 2-3K to spend....I think I am out of luck here, but thought someone here might know.

Chris

Not that I know of - changers by nature compromise sound quality and as such there are not too many high quality ones. Maybe you should buy a really really cheap changer for those times that you need it and a better single disc machine for when you want to listen to quality?

SugarMedia · Sep 12, 2006

amey01 said:
Not that I know of - changers by nature compromise sound quality and as such there are not too many high quality ones. Maybe you should buy a really really cheap changer for those times that you need it and a better single disc machine for when you want to listen to quality?

Completely agree amey01.

Have you thought about digitizing your music collection and getting a Squeeze box?

cmescia · Sep 13, 2006

i have, but at this point it is a it too overwhelming and i dont think the software is advanced enough to catalog things like I like to. I have about many thousands hours of recordings that are not commercial cd's, so I cant just load them in and let the software label all the tracks etc... most of these are live recordings with all the tracks labeled like HerbieHan****1998-03-05d1t03, etc... eventually I will want to load them into a few 2TB drives (i have most of them in shn or flac uncompressed format) and will leave the names alone. my goal is to listen to them and gradually whittle the grain from the chaff. I have shows that have 2 or 3 tremendous tunes and the rest is mediocre. my goal is to give those 2 or 3 tracks an 8 or a 9 on a 1-10 scale, and the rest of the show a 2 or a 3. As I gradually move back through the collection and rate these tunes, I can tell thhe software 'play everything that is a 7 or better, or 9 or better, or whatever'. I would also like to stick the shows in diff folders for diff genres--i know this type off cataloging is widespread, but the rating system is lacking in most packages, as far as I am aware. the ability to put a commercial cd in the drive and have the software recognize it is not a big plus for me, as I rarely listen to that type of media. I am all about the live music experience, and tend to listen to live music, even if the quality is not up to par.

as long as i can look down at my arm and get goosebumps from the performance, I dont care if the soundstage reveals that the singer is slightly in front of the trumpet player ;^) Though that is really nice, and I love to show off what my aeon i's, logos, and aerius i's can do, i gotta say i keep coming back to the blow me away live shows that just sound ok audiophile-wise.

If anyone knows of good software that would do all of the above, please pipe up....i will be quite grateful. I dont need the wireless issue with the squeeze box, as I can go spdif coax out from my computer and into my stereo system directly since they are only 15 feet apart.
Chris