At what price point does Blu-Ray players start that will pass TrueHD and DTSHD-MA? Of what I have read PS3 doesn't? What players will and what are the prices?

The PS3 does not due to an apparent hardware limitation. However, it will decode TrueHD to PCM and pass that, which is supposed to be of identical quality. It won't do DTS-HD MA, yet, but it should get that ability before too long.

I can't speak for the standalones, but I think the later ones will pass them. If you see a player that isn't at least HDMI 1.3, you know for sure that it won't pass them (though 1.3 isn't necessarily a guarantee it will do it). I believe more of them will pass TrueHD, with some of those also passing DTS-HD MA. Anyway, I don't know much about the standalones, so someone else will have to weigh in.

Hopefully. Word is that the reason the PS3 doesn't handle DTS-HD MA now is political rather than technical.

Very few players can pass Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD-MA. The coming Panasonic BD50 is supposed to have that capability and will also be Profile 2.0. MSRP is thought to be in the $600 range, from what I have read.

The Panny 30 bitstreams both TueHD and DTS-HD and goes for $499. Great player.

The Samsung BDP 1400 bitstreams both DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD right now. It can be bought right now for as cheap as $318 shipped to your door

http://www.nextag.com/serv/main/buye...itle=559585331

Since DTS-HD and DTS-HD-Master Audio are not the same, I will point out that the BD30 also bitstreams DTS-HD-MA. It is also Profile 1.1.

The BD30 is probably the best player currently available that meets the OP's audio requirements, though perhaps not the least expensive. Available for $445 shipped from Amazon/J&R.

It was 369 at frys for a while. the panasonic 30 player. I got it at that price.

Jacob

Yes I have the HD-A35(Toshiba) and run it thru Denon's 3808 and man I did not think it was going to be that big of a difference. Boy was I WRONG,the sound is INCREDIBLE. I was curious what player and price range I would need for Blu-Ray.
I'm not sure it's worth it right now at those prices. The A35 does a pretty good job with SD-DVD's

I'm not about to try to verify this information or look for prices, but according to this chart from the UK the following players can (or will, when released) bitstream Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD-MA:

Profile 1.0
Pioneer BDP-LX70/A
Pioneer BDP-95HD
Samsung BD-P1400

Profile 1.1
Pioneer BDP-05FD
Samsung BD-P1500
Samsung BD-UP5500
Panasonic BMP-BD30

Profile 2.0
Panasonic BMP-BD50
Sharp BD-HP50U

That chart looks correct. The new Denons will be available to bitstream everything also. The lower end Denon is going to be widely available very very soon(like in the next week or two).

^Any idea of what price range Denon will be in?

I thought I had heard that the Samsung BD-UP5500 was for some reason having problems in extracting the DTS-MA into two channel only and that a firmware update would correct this to playback 7.1.

will the mid 2008 release of the new Samsung dual player be 2.0?

The Denon DVD-2500BTCI has a suggested retail price of $999. Some people have already gotten this unit though I hear the supply will be constrained for the next month.

^Thanks.

That thing looks pretty sweet. Too early in the format's life for me to be dropping that kind of cash on hardware though.

No analog audio outputs, unfortunately. Not that I could afford one anyway. Of course the Denon DVD-3800BDCI has analog outs... for a mere $1999!
http://www.usa.denon.com/DVD-3800BDCILit_1219.pdf