Looking for a DVD player and setup questions

[Porky45]

Greetings all,

First I would just like to say that I am just starting out into this wonderfull realm. I have what most people here would consider sub standard equipement, but like I said I am starting out and money is still an issue.

I am in the process of building up a home theater setup. What I have now:

Yamaha RXV 496 (AV receiver)
PSB Imate 4t (left and right)
PSB 8C (Center)
NO surround as of yet... looking for a pair of 10s (PSB Image series)
Boston PV600 (sub)
Toshiba 65$ lowest crappiest DVD player (Looking to upgrade)
Toshiba 30'' HD Cinema series TV
Ultralink interconects everywhere xcept MIT between th cd and amp


First I am looking to buy a DVD player (max budget 500$ cdn)

These are the suggestions I got

People at Philtronic (Montreal high end seller), suggested: Cambridge audio azur 540d (489$)

Boutique electronique suggested: Toshiba 3800 series or something like that (225$)

Audio center: Yamaha entry level dvd (250$)

I have not viewed or listened to anything as of yet. If you can suggest anything else go ahead.


Next question is setup.

HDMI worth it for me? (TV is compatible)
IF not HDMI, run component cables to TV (By-Pass amp). This is what I was going to do.

Now for audio... If I use the composite audio out from the DVD, I will be bypassing the DAC from the dvd player (hence not using the DAC from the CA 540D but using the DAC from what I think is a cheap one from my Yamaha amp. If so, why buy a good DVD player (audio wise).

Any way I can use the integrated DAC from the DVD, and still get surround sound (well left, right, center for now)...?

Thank you for taking the time to read, and if you have any other suggestions, please feel free... Just remeber I am more into the bang for the buck... If I am going to see the diffence I dont mind paying, if not well.... you know... =)

Cheers

Porky

[paul_pci]

To begin with, if you like your equipment and your satisfied with it, don't apologize for it. It's not like you have a HTIB. Now, my opinion would be not to go overboard with the DVD budget, especially if this is still all new to you and you would not likely be sensitive to the nuanced audio/video differences between a $200 unit and a $1k unit. For instance, I remarked in a different thread that I may get Yamaha's universal player, DVC750 (5 disc changer) that is currently selling in US for $299. I love Yamaha stuff and I'm sure it would be as solid as any other $200-$500 player out there.

I think you've got the DAC thing backwards. If you use analog cable, say for a movie, from your DVD, then your DVD unit is converting an originally digital signal on the DVD disc to analog to send to your receiver where it will or will not do more conversions reconversions, depending on how its all configured. Using a digital cable means that you are transfering the digital information read on the disc to the receiver.

The same principle applies to the HDMI. The supposed advantage is that you would be sending a pure digital signal from the DVD player to the digital TV. The ideal situation would be if you could demo both the component video and HDMI cable to see if the difference is worth the money involved. But if the price difference is negligible, then the conventional wisdom is: go with the pure, direct digital signal.

Hope this helps.