Help me decide on a Player

[mitchell2345]

Hi,

I currently have a A2 that I bought on Fire Sale. I was able to get my HD fix for 5 months or so while I waited for the format war to settle. Now that it has I am looking for a great player.

My Gear:
Optoma HD80 1080p Projector
Onkyo TX-SR503
5.1 Channel Athena speakers

Obvouisly I want the best player for the lowest price. I could really care less about all the profiles. Sure 2.0 the best and nice but I really dont see myself wanting to watch trailers via a slow player, also How much will it really be used?. That is why I have a HTPC. What I am concerned about is getting a great picture with great audio.


So, in a player it must do 24p. But the audio codec's are where the decision is made. I would really like to be able to use my analog inputs on my Onkyo so I dot have to upgrade my receiver. I don't ever see myself upgraded to 7.1 channels so 5.1 discrete analog outs will be sufficent.

So my questions:
1. Does bit streaming an audio codec and letting the player or receiver decode yield better audio?

2. How often is DTS-MA used, what about the future? if its not used much I could get buy with a cheaper Samsung BD-P1400.

3. If DTS-MA is used a lot or will be; maybe I should hold out for Sony's new players 350 or 550 or the Pana BD50.

4. if I go with the 350 or BD 30 I would need to upgrade my receiver. Paying the extra $100 and getting the onboard decoding in the 550 or BD50 would be overall cheaper. Suggestions?

i hope you see my dilemma. I am sure others are in the same boat. I just want to make sure when I invest in a new player I am getting a *future* proof player (Does this happen in BD/Sony?, maybe wishfull thinking).

Thanks,
Mitchell