Well within the next couple of weeks it looks like i will be without a dedicated CD player in my AV setup for the first time in around 20 years.

I'm looking at getting a blu-ray player which i'm going to use as a replacement for the CD player (Cambridge Audio Azure 640c). I really can't remember the last time i even used the CD player. The mrs has used it once or twice over the last month or two but nothing more. Recently it's been a case of streaming music over the home network to the Xbox360 or using the ipod in it's dock which is also connected up to the amp.

So i thought i might as well see how much Richers will give me for it and use it to pay towards the Sony BDP-S350 blu ray player. So it looks like the Sony player will be replacing not only my DVD player but also the CD...... At least the xbox360 will be able to fit on the AV unit now under the TV.

How things change!!!

Cheers

Dave.

Haven't had one for sometime now.. I'm now considering ditching the DVD player (or at least putting it in another room) and just using the PS3 instead.

All in the name of progress eh?

Oh and the TH42PZ81B is very nice.

Although I have a CD player, the first Pioneer 6 CD changer. The PDM-6, quiet a nice piece of kit and still works faultlessly, I hardly use it these days.

My music is now played via an external USB audio device (Sony) which provides a totally digital connection into my yamaha AV-amp via optical from my laptop and vista mce.

Edited 5 October, 200817 yr by mannyo

At least the xbox360 will be able to fit on the AV unit now under the TV.

It may have been a complete coincidence but when I moved my Xbox from an area where it had 3 or 4 inches of ventilation all around to where it only had a couple of centimetres above and sat on top of a sky box, it expired after a couple of days!

So keep in mind the ventilation!

Whay not go for a PS3 instead of a dedicated BD player?

Yep, xbox needs ventilation, it maybe to closed up in an av cabinet. The air intake is on the top when horizontal, and if these have restricted airflow it soon overheats.

It may have been a complete coincidence but when I moved my Xbox from an area where it had 3 or 4 inches of ventilation all around to where it only had a couple of centimetres above and sat on top of a sky box, it expired after a couple of days!

So keep in mind the ventilation!

Whay not go for a PS3 instead of a dedicated BD player?

Yep, xbox needs ventilation, it maybe to closed up in an av cabinet. The air intake is on the top when horizontal, and if these have restricted airflow it soon overheats.

The AV unit is an open glass unit so with the 360 on a shelf it would still be in the open on all sides with at least 2 inches all round. When we got the new plasma (TH42PZ80B) we went for a larger glass unit so as to get all the eqpt on there without the need for stacking anything. The only problem came when we realised the centre speaker was just too big to fit in front of the plasma so the 360 got moved to along side the stand.

If you look at this pic the Blu Ray will be top right where the DVD is now..... The CD will have gone from bottom left which is where the 360 will go...... Then towards the end of the year when all their teething problems have been sorted out there'll be a shiny new Pace or Samsung SkyHD box top left. ...... (There's also a wii now installed to the right of the amp).

As for a PS3...... I need multi-region capability for the DVD side of things so the blu ray player can replace the DVD player.... The Sony S350 is BR v2.0 complient as well as being DVD region free so has everything the PS3 has to offer plus is region free and as far as i can tell also has newer technology inside. Also has a BR fire up time of only 6 seconds!!!! I was originally going for the Panny BD-30 as it also has divx support but the extra cost and lack of BR V2.0 moved me to the Sony and i'll just use the xbox360 to play my divx files & HD mpeg's.

Cheers

Dave.

I've never had a stand-alone dedicated CD player!

Always used a DVD player, since I first entered the depths of home AV

Hi Waveydavey, Coincidentally I ordered the Sony 350 Blu-ray player

today (Amazon £192, in stock) Just a couple of things, it's only profile 2.0

via a firmware update, as you may know. Hold back flogging your Cambridge

though, as these Sony 350's are reported to be very harsh on cd playback, those Cambridge's are good kit. Best of luck, will let you know

what I think of the 350:thumbup:

Cheers Leeland noticed your posts in the S350 section of AVForums........ I know about the firmware update...... Looks like it auto updates to v2.0 as soon as you set it up from what i've read on AVForums.

Also realise about the poorer sound quality but that's one of the things i'm prepared to live with for the odd occasion we seem to be listening to CD's these days. People do seem to be having the issues when running over HDMI and with the Onkyo amps.... At the present time i'll be running over Optical to my Yamaha amp so we'll see what it's like. I forgot to mention the CD has even seemed to drop behind the Pure evoke-3 we have in the kitchen / conservatory when it comes to listening to music / mp3's nowadays too!!! :eek:

I'm toying with going for either Richer Sounds, as they will beat the Amazon price by £10 which would mean with the extended warranty it only makes it £10 more than the amazon price, Or depending on how much they drop by over the next month or two in the shops rather than on-line i may get it from JL and price match someone like Richer Sounds as JL have a free 2 year warranty.

Cheers

Dave.

Edited 5 October, 200817 yr by WaveyDavey

Hi Wavey, you've done your research and I know what you mean about

listening to a dedicated CD player, I like my music but seldom sit down just

to listen to music, normally reading something or doing something else.

'Glasvegas' album sounds 'jangly' on my old dvd player, so I know what they mean.

Am hoping there are no connection problems with the 350, my amp is a

Sony so should be Ok (has hdmi input)

John Lewis are normally Ok with price match, they'd be my choice.

My 350 has been confirmed for delivery for Tue before 1pm, will rent out

'I am legend' when it arrives, my TV is only 720p not full HD but picture

should still be a marked improvement over normal dvd, I hope:O

Will post back my findings..

Cheers.

Gave Richers a bell today to check if they had the S350 in stock..... Looks like they will have some in by the end of the week..... Also asked them about trading in the CD player (It's only 18 months old) and it looks like they don't do this anymore!!!! Looks like i'm gonna have to go through the ball ache of selling it on myself.

Cheers

Dave.

Interestingly, my setup for audio CDs is rather specific - using firewire connection to carry the audio from an old Pio dv-757 DVD player to a digital amp. The transparency of sound is just amazing and there's a clarity and dynamic on SACDs that needs to be heard to be believed.

Unfortunately, this was a year or two before HDMI really took off, and so after spending a fortune in developing it, Sony, Pioneer & Co are now ditching it in favour of HDMI.

So despite the technology being only a few years old, and IMHO, technically superior, it's already defunct.

If you go down that route, you could argue that vinyls sound better than anything else on a good setup. Some classical music is chillingly well reproduced if you can bear with the odd crack and pop :eek:

Wavey, got 350 today, easy set up and fantastic picture:thumbup:

Ignore some reviews that say construction is flimsy (home cinema choice)

its well made, with reassuringly heavy feel to it:)

Wavey, got 350 today, easy set up and fantastic picture:thumbup:

Ignore some reviews that say construction is flimsy (home cinema choice)

its well made, with reassuringly heavy feel to it:)

Cheers for that matey..... Must admit i was surprised about the comments about it's build quality as the mrs and myself had a look at a couple of them in the shops yesterday and thought they seemed put together ok. Also the mrs was a bit unsure about the looks from pictures on the net as they all seem to give it a very blue look to the front...... This is nothing like the case in reality and it just looks black like any other blu ray player!!!

I'm gonna give Richer Sounds another go probably tomorrow on the way home from work regards the trade-in thing..... The guy i spoke to just seemed as though they would accept a trade-in but he just didn't want to..... The manager of the Sheffield branch is an old friend of a mate of mine so i might try and collar him tomorrow evening and see what he says if i tell him what the CD player actually is..... (Still on the market and selling for £249 at Richer Sounds). Also that he's got a defo sale for the S350 if they will let me trade in. I just don't have the time at the minute to have to sell it privately and have to look into and sort getting it sent off to someone etc..... The other thing i've got to check is that the Richer Sounds extended warranty used to include both a money back for unused warranty option and also a 50% trade-in deal too..... I can't see anything about that bit on the website any more so am going to find out my warranty to see if it was still going when i bought it etc...

Cheers

Dave.

I've been in to Richer sounds and ordered the S350 today. They will hopefully have a delivery tomorrow if not next week..... I'm not fussed if it's next week as me and the mrs are off to Dublin on Friday through till Monday night and then i'm off work another week and a half after that too.

I spoke to the Manager, Stuart, about the trade-in of the CD and he confirmed that they have indeed stopped doing the trade-in kinda thing officially.... He has though put my CD through as a trade-in against the S350 so it's costing me a grand total of £99!!!! They've given us £100 for the 640C v2..... Around £50 less than i could have got selling private but the mrs is really wanting to get rid quick and knows if it doesn't go in a week or so i'll end up keeping it aswell.:rofl:

Cheers

Dave.

Sounds like you got a good deal:thumbup:

You won't be dissapointed, I'm guessing your Panasonic panel is full 1080p

(Z80/800??) so pic quality should knock your hat off, mines an older Sony

720 resolution and even at 42" I'm impressed.

With regard to 350 facia, yes I was expecting it to be more blue, and yes

tucked away in the shelf it looks more or less black.

The menu system takes a little getting used to, a sort of 'cross-hair'

navigation thing which is user friendly enough once mastered.

If I had to say one bad thing about it, and this is nit-picking, the disc

tray operation is clunky and a little crude sounding, in the same way

the 1st generation top loading vcr's were, but it's a minor point.

Also on switching off the LED screen says 'See Ya'

So far I've watched 'One Missed Call' (bobbins film) picture not brilliant,

and last night '21', an enjoyable enough film and picture quality is spectaculary good,

some really good 'City-scape' shots of Vegas, shows off the picture really

well. Keep me posted, if you get any set up issues feel free to PM me,

I'm no expert but my experiences of it may help.

Cheers.

Cheers for the info mate.

Spoken to the store again today but no S350's on today's delivery. :( Looks like it'll be next Thursday at the earliest.

Yeah our plasma is the PZ80..... Can't wait to get the BR up and running with it. Don't forget to register your player to get the two BR discs.

Cheers

Dave.

Well got a call from RS this morning saying my S350 had arrived so went to collect it this afternoon. Took the CD player in and caused mass confusion to the guys in the shop buy telling them i'd arranged a part-ex etc.... After a quick talk with the assistant manager about what i'd agreed with Stuart (manager) as a one-off all was ok. So payed £120 for the S350 and the 5 year super-care after the trade-in of the CD. Also got I am Legend & Oceans 13 for £20 while i was there to test the player.

Got it home and set it up, audio via digital coaxial to the amp and then video set to 1080p/24p. A couple of other options and that was it..... Didn't bother with the stand-by feature that speeds up the power-on process as that's not an issue for me... Then connected to the router and updated to the latest firmware which enables the blu-ray v2 features. Gave both the discs a run through and it looks great. Tried my BBC planet earth DVD and that looks stunning too upscaled to 1080p.... It actually looks as close to HD as i've seen a standard DVD look!!!!! :eek:

I'm actually appreciating what my plasma can really do and understand what people mean when they rave about it's HD performance!!!

Then tried the music side of things which i was slightly apprehensive about...... Bloody 'ell the music sounds great too..... It's connected to the amp via dig coaxial and tyhe sound is just as good as the Cambridge CD it replaced.

I've registered the player and gone through the survey so should be receiving Casino Royale & Batman Begins on BR within the next few weeks courtesy of Sony.

I got hold of a one4all 5-way remote off ebay for £15 inc. postage so that i could de-regionalise the DVD side of things, which i've just done successfully.... Rather than just use the remote for this process as the remote is 'as new' i've setup the amp, TV & Sky+ so that we can have control of all eqpt from either sofa without having to pass remotes etc....

All-in-all i have to say the reviews for this player are all correct it really is a stunning piece of kit for a great price..... (Can now be bought for £189 from amazon.co.uk if anyone is interested!!!!)

Cheers

Dave.

Edited 16 October, 200817 yr by WaveyDavey

Glad you're impressed mate, it's suprising once you get over massive

picture improvement, you'll soon start to appreciate how good sound is on

movies, all that extra disc info I guess.

Pop-up menus during playback are pretty cool too.

Got day off tommorow, car goes in for 1st big service (£490:() might pop

in HMV and try to get 'I am legend' in my Fabia2 1.2 petrol:O courtecy car.

I didn't bother with quick start up thing either, normal is quick enough, and

apparently quick start is juicy on electric even on stand-by.

Have rented 'Doomsday' for tonight.

Nice one Wavey, enjoy:thumbup: