Rhino's got some great stuff. Quadrophenia, The Rutles, a lot of music documentaries and videos, and things of that nature. I'll gladly pick up several of their releases (just not the ones announced today, heh).

Well, according to this:

http://dvd.themanroom.com/dvd-newsview.php?id=294

all isn't as it may seem.


The Genius 2007 releases look to be ESPN-owned properties. Which are owned by Disney. Which doesn't make a BD release too surprising.

Ultimately, this news looks like it may be non-news. Genius is simply releasing some Disney properties on BD.

HDbeat is stating that the Panasonic Blu-Ray player is shipping to distributors now and might be available for sale within 1-2 weeks. $1300

Pioneer and Phillips players confirmed for release in Q4! Though I'll probably bite on the Panasonic.

Did Panasonic ever announce finalized specs on their players?

I'm eyeing the Panasonic as well, though I will probably wait for reviews before I pick one of the manufacturers.

Last I read, the Pioneer had been delayed.

And the Phillips is just a Samsung.

Link?

Here is what I found I the subject of the availability of the Pioneer BD Player:

http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/09/15/pio...firmed-take-2/

Yesterday we posted that the Pioneer's Blu-ray player was going to be available within a few weeks which was in-line with everything we have heard for months. However we were flooded with comments about Audioholic's, another popular AV coverage site closely releated to AVSforum.com, post that stated very clearly that no, it is coming out Spring '07. Let us tell you that this was news to Chris Walker, Pioneer's Senior Poduct Planning Manager, when we talked to him today. Spring of '07 is simply not true and according to everyone at the CEDIA Pioneer booth, this fall is their launch target and not Spring of '07.

That's almost a shame, because if they delayed it to '07 they might have been able to add in things like advanced audio decoding. Again, did Panasonic post their finalized specs yet?

I wouldn't go that far as to say it is a "shame", but there is always the possibility of a firmware upgrade to add the advanced audio decoding like with the Toshiba.

I have not seen finalized specs yet on the Panny, but it is supposed to be shipping to distributers as we speak according to a post at AVS.

Yeah, I read that post. It's in shipment but there are no specs to be found? That is just so weird.

Just got the A1 and hooked it up last night. I am using the HDMI connection since my other dvd player is using the analog inputs. When I tried to select the DD Plus (I think that was it), I got an error msg that read my receiver could not accept that option. Had to switch to the regular DD option on the movie.

Do I have to use analog to listen to DD plus?

I'm guessing (not an owner) that you can switch the HDMI audio from bitstream (which passes the actual DD+ to your TV/receiver) to PCM (which should decode the DD+ internally before sending it out). Can someone confirm.

You are correct.

umm...why is this in this thread??? ;)

Thanks - I will try this.