Augustes

so I'm going to order the Toshiba HD-AX1 in a few days and I have this thought pop in my head. when I get the Toshiba the player will be hooked up to my tv via a switchbox and audio will be going to my reciever via 5.1 analog. this will fill up every connection on my reciever(both analog/digital). now when I buy a Blu-Ray player the video will be covered via the switchbox but what exactly are my options since my reciever will have every single audio in used and I need more for it(Blu-Ray)?

all of this is starting to make my head hurt.

Nero

You can wait and watch it die a slow painful death.

muhuhhuhuhahahahahhaa

in all seriousness...if you're going to jump on board one, why not wait and see what happens to the other? IMHO, buying both is going to make both survive. I'd rather jump on one, enjoy it and wait.

Nimbus

Just supporting one always sounds good until the other gets that must have title you can't resist. I'm currently stumped on this one as well. I simply don't have enough connections now and will have to either buy switchboxes for HDMI and probably analog audio (or goof with cables all the time) or get a brand new receiver. I don't want to get a new receiver with the HDMI thing up in the air still so I'm still trying to figure it out.

redford

Whichever one does the best upconverting? This will be the main player I use. I only have one HDMI connection.

I am hoping the Blu-ray players do a great job of upconverting the same way a very good dvd player would. For $1000+ it should play blu-ray, do an excellent job at upconverting standard, and make breakfast. But, thats just me.

I will connect the second to component. But, if flags start to happen, I will have to buy a multi-switch for HDMI. They are several hundred from what I have seen so far. Hoping to hold off on that. Also, if I buy a new tv eventually I don't want to plunk down more money on something I may not need.

I am not an early adaptor at all. The last thing early adapted was a Directv satellite dish back in 1995. And my mother paid for that. I was still a kid.

Nero

Do you need the RS232 port for control on the HD-DVD player? Otherwise, the $800 model has almost nothing over the $500 model. For connection advice, you'd have to give more info. Like what inputs you have available, and what sources are filling them up.

Augustes

at this point I don't need the rs232 port. I actually just like the look of the AX1 more(I'm still really deciding on it because of price however). my reciever is a Pioneer vsx1014. I have 4 rear a/v(3 digital ins) with 1 front a/v(1 digital in). my current installed hardware is below.

its quite a mess but it works:

input 1 - DTIVO - s-vid with /analog/digital audio(optical)

input 2 - DTIVO #2 - s-vid with analog/digital audio(optical)

input 3 - dvd recorder - s-vid with analog audio

input 4 - input shares 2 components - LD player directly to reciever - s-vid with analog audio(need a power adapter for my demodulator so I can get AC3 back) and then my DVD player connected directly to tv via DVI and digital coax to reciever

plus I have an s-vhs vcr which is plugged into front A/V of either reciever/dvd recorder when needed

Comcast HD reciever directly to tv via component and digital audio(optical) to front digital in on reciever

xbox360 to component with digital audio to front digital in on reciever(I just plug/unplug each component as needed)


I plan on using my 5.1 ins for audio with the Toshiba unit and getting an HDMI switchbox(5x1 from Monoprice) for the video.

I want to get some type of A/V swithcher with digital audio as well and combine alot of this stuff into one or two inputs instead of the way it is now. do they make an affordable switcher like this? I don't want to upgrade my reciever at this point and then have to upgrade again within a year or so.

Nimbus

I support HD-DVD, but I may adopt early for Blu-Ray as well. I must admit I do like the look of the Sony player. I just wish the price tag was a bit cheaper. One thing I do like is this unit appears to not be as heavy as the Toshiba. From amazon.com, they show the shipping weight as about 13 lbs, compared to the 25 lbs for the Toshiba. I would also need a switcher if I jumped on board early.

redford

You have quite the array of stuff to hook up. Almost the exact same list as me. My receiver just barely covers all my devices. I used to use a switch for video games, now I just hook them up one at a time when needed.

About all you can do is to have a couple switches for different things. Without getting another receiver, you aren't going to find a switch that can handle different types of inputs, both Svideo and component, for instance. Not without spending as much as a receiver would cost.

You can get an Svideo switcher that handles digital audio. A simple switch would have Svideo, composite video, and analog audio. You could use the composite for digital coaxial audio. But that won't match up well with all your optical-only devices. There's an excellent Audio Authority switch that does Svideo and either optical/coax audio. But it doesn't include analog audio for recording from your Tivos to DVDR, which I assume you do. I can't find a name brand, but this switch might help. Here's a better view.

That looks pretty useful. I might have to pick one up myself. Have to look for some reviews, see if it actually works.

redford

That's really bizarre. This is all analog, so there shouldn't be any issues like digital video, where the components have to communicate to each other to work.

Have you tried wiggling the connectors or pushing them slightly to the side to see if they are not connecting properly? I wonder if the connectors on the switcher are extra deep or something, so the connection is not easily made. My parents DVD player has this issue, I need to get them a new cable. I hope it's not the player.

Or, conspiracy theory turned on, maybe the switcher is just crap and the only reason the cable box works is that it is sending the signal incorrectly as full composite all on one wire through the Svideo connection instead of splitting it into black/white and color. But I'm not even sure if that would work properly once it gets to the TV, so I don't know.

Nero

If I had to guess at the source of the problem, I would suspect it is a voltage level and/or resistance issue on some of the leads (at least on the chroma lead). Since the switch is electronic rather than manual, it could be that it requires a certain voltage in order to complete the switch of all the leads, and even though the signals coming from the DTivo, S-VHS and DVD player are within the S-Video connection spec, they aren't providing what the switch needs or expects. Of course, this would mean that the switch is poorly designed, and should be returned.

And, I just have to say, this item from the product features list on Best Buy's web site doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling about the quality of the unit: