[mythtvnz] New Amplifier

[Nick Rout]

On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 11:22 AM, Steve Hodge <stevehodge at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 11:15 AM, AlanP <alan.p at orcon.net.nz> wrote:
>>
>> Well, the only reason I know that people of my acquaintance have Blue-ray
>> disc drives at *all* is because they come with Playstation 3.
>>
>> I'd say we're in no danger of blue-ray becoming widespread.
>
> That maybe true now but as Freeview and Sky move to HD and people upgrade
> their TVs Blu-ray will become more compelling. Blu-ray adoption won't be as
> fast as DVD adoption was but it will become widespread in the next 5-10
> years.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve
>

I can certainly see the attraction of an amplifier that all your audio
and video sources go into one box which switches everything at the
same time. Also upscaling, if done well, could be a bonus.

Personally I have a Logitech 5.1 system, a Z5500.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/speakers_audio/home_pc_speakers/devices/224&cl=nz,en
. They are loud, one reviewer badly anonoyed a stone deaf neighbour
with the vibrations. However, importantly, they have two spdif inputs
(one coax and one optical) and four analogue stereo inputs (three of
them can be switched to 6 channel mode if you have a 6 channel
analogue audio setup). That gives me one spdif for the dvd player and
one for mythtv, which is all I need. It does DTS and Dolby Digital, so
any DVD's or media files with 5.1 soundtracks are good, plus it mixes
a stereo input so that stuff comes out all speakers (Dolby Pro Logic).
They are THX certified, which means they pass someone's standard
(George Lucas?). I don't use the TV's speakers at all. Whats more they
can be had for about $400 now.

Of course the video input to the TV has to be switched separately, but
thats not too hard.