Blu Ray or Oppo?


It so happens that my VCR and DVD player are nearing their end together, in a coordinated sort of way. To replace them I am thinking of two componets:

(1) A DVD recorder + VCR combo. Considering Panasonic DMR EZ47VK, because it seems to get good reviews, but other recommendations are welcome (should have built in tuner).

(2) A better dvd player. This is where I am confused.

The best regarded dvd player seems to be Oppo. But they don't make Blu Ray.

If I get Oppo, it would be great quality and I can live with it until they or somebody else comes out with a well-built Blu Ray. Downside: I have to keep buying standard resolution dvd's, and I won't be happy with those when I do get my Blu Ray player.

If I get Blu Ray, my fear it will be a cheaply made machine which might start flaking on me (Amazon reviews). Upside: I can start building up my Blu Ray collection right now.

What would (or did!) you do?

All comments and advice appreciated.
aktchi

Showing 1 response by mezmo

There's a good argument to be made that the whole HD-DVD "craze" will never actually catch on. Indeed, could be argued that Toshiba made an excellent business decision by bowing out of the war of attrition and ceded to Sony an essentially phyrric victory. Blueray, since winning, really hasn't done much. I'm convinced, and I admit that it is noting more than my opinion and somewhat impressionistic, that HD video will indeed shift to an online delivery format in the relatively near future, and that Blueray will relatively quickly become obsolete. Personally, I have a relatively large DVD library, and have decided not to invest in Blueray at all. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to very badly and patiently awaited the resolution of the format war. But now that it's over, the next format revolution looms way too close on the horizon for me to jump into the last one.

That said, a Blueray player will reportedly do real nice upconversion on its own, so there's no real loss on that front if you need the new new thing. But so will the Oppo. I simply won't invest in Blueray software, so I have no use for a player. I bought the Oppo. Your mileage, however, will certainly vary.