This is to owners of Blu Ray players.  Do these players play regular CD's also?  I/m a huge Neil Young fan and read where his new archive series will only be released on Blu Ray discs.  Hate to buy a player just to play his discs, but would be worth it if they play regular CD's.  I/m not a big movie watcher.  Thanks.

 Most will, but some, such as the Sony BDP-S1 does not play CDs.  Actually come to think of it, that might be the only player I know of that doesn't play CDs.

 I no nothing about blu ray players. The only reason I am going to buy a blu ray is because I am a huge Neil Young fan to. I have seen him 27 times. Most recently on 11/30/07 at Shea's Theathre in Buffalo N.Y.. I paid a 1000.00 for our 2 front row center seats. Had to sell a pair of Cornwalls to pay for the tickets. Once you have had a front row seat at a Neil concert its hard to settle for anything less.  I decided to wait until l actually have the archive release in my hand before I buy a blu ray. Neil has a way of putting the archives on the back burner. Between the Euro tour and the battery powered lincoln no telling when it will actually be released. I hope that He will release some live recordings from the Chrome Dreams tour. I would think I died and went to heaven if I could get a recording of the 20 minute live verson of " No hidden Path" that he did in Buffalo.

tuned4life:

Had to sell a pair of Cornwalls to pay for the tickets.

Heritage owners all over the world are crying after reading this statement.  

Well that makes 3 of us big Neil fans on this forum.  I really laughed when i read Doug's comment:  "I'm going to wait til the archives are in my hand before I buy a Blu-Ray Player."  How true.

There are really 2 key things to look for in a blu-ray player for the Neil Young Archives.

1) You want to be sure your player can decode the new HD audio formats.  If the player can send the signals to your receiver in digital format (and your receiver can decode them), even better.  A minimum is for the player to be able to decode the new HD audio formats and send the signal out 5.1 analog RCA connectors on the back of the player.  You really need to get a player that can decode these HD audio formats to get the most out of the archives.  They will be high resolution digital audio.  The formats I'm talking about are Dolby Digital True HD and DTS HD Master Audio.

2) Get a Profile 2 player.  Blu-ray players come in 3 flavors, Profile 1.0, Profile 1.1 and Profile 2.0.  The archives will use the ability of the Profile 2.0 player to retrieve updates/additions to the musical/video material off the internet and store them alongside the original archive material.  I'm not sure if this storage will be on the blu-ray disk itself or on the hard drive of the blu-ray player.  I'm guessing on the hard drive.

I haven't done the research yet as to what players meet my requirements, so I cannot recommend any yet.  Hope this helps you get the most out of the archives! I currently have the Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray player.  This is an entry level Profile 1.0 player that I got relatively cheap.  My plan is to use it until I have to get a Profile 2.0 player (when the archives comes out is the most likely soonest)

Kimball

PS3 plays it all, though there is only one HDMI and one Optical out and you can not have both selected at one time and a lot of initial set up stuff.  But once all done it is good to go and sounds great.  Well I am happy with it.

 Look at the new PS3 machine.. 80 gb

It does it all, and looks and sounds fantastic!  

Sony hit a homerun with the PS3.  You won't be disappointed whether you're watching movies, listening to music, or playing games.

Don't forget the very cool media hub functionality!

Loud&Clear:

Get a Profile 2 player.  Blu-ray players come in 3 flavors, Profile 1.0, Profile 1.1 and Profile 2.0.  The archives will use the ability of the Profile 2.0 player to retrieve updates/additions to the musical/video material off the internet and store them alongside the original archive material.  I'm not sure if this storage will be on the blu-ray disk itself or on the hard drive of the blu-ray player.  I'm guessing on the hard drive

Most Blu-ray players out at this time are Profile 1.0.  As of October 2007, Profile 1.1 became the madatory standard.  Great blu-ray players like the Denon 3800bdci and new Pioneer elite BD-05 (due out in August 2008) are only Profile 1.1.  They internally decode DTS  MA and True HD.  The 2.0 players are not out until the Fall.

Panasonic BDP-50 and Sony BDP-550 are due out soon.  They too will be 2.0

Another vote for the PS3.  I've owned 3 different bluray players, one of which ran me about 800 bucks.  The PS3 is just as good as any of the others AND you can play videogames on it AND you can hook up an external HD to it and run it similary to a HTPC.  It allows you to watch about 70% of downloaded material through the hook up of an external HD.  Although I have my pc directly connected to my TV, for someone without a similar setup, the PS3 will do the job. 

I've sold all other bluray players and wouldn't have any other aside from the ps3.

NOTE - STILL I would prefer HD DVD to Bluray - just a personal preference w/ sound.  I don't know why but my HD-XA2 has a much better picture, sound, AND will upconvert better than any other player I have ever seen. 

Just my .02c

Brac:

 

does the PS3 have 5.1 analog output,of us can't use sound over HDMI???

The PS3 does not have 5.1 analog outputs, and the optical output can only do standard DD/DTS with it. You need a HDMI (any version) receiver to hear the lossless/HD audio soundtracks.

thecutter:

Most Blu-ray players out at this time are Profile 1.0.  As of October 2007, Profile 1.1 became the madatory standard.  Great blu-ray players like the Denon 3800bdci and new Pioneer elite BD-05 (due out in August 2008) are only Profile 1.1.  They internally decode DTS  MA and True HD.  The 2.0 players are not out until the Fall.

Another great feature is the ability to update the profile via firmware upgrades:

March 24, 2008: Sony released the 2.20 firmware update for the PlayStation 3 which is compliant with Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0, making it the first in the market to have it.

The XA2 is one of just a few hi-def players that does decent SD playback. Most fail miserably, and this includes the PS3. Please check out the reviews and benchmark tests at http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cd-dvd-player-product-reviews/dvd-players/

Most DVD players, even the very affordable -- will do a better job with SD playback than the best hi-def players. This isn't a big secret, but no one ever talks about it! Maybe it's not that noticeable on a normal television, but it sure is with my Panasonic plasma.