Wake up people. Even if SED wasn't sidelined, it would have been too expensive to make a dent in the marketplace. Its now guaranteed to be uber-expensive and laughed at by the "What I have is good enough" general public. If you guys think Pioneer Elite is too expensive, wait to see SED's prices.

BTW, for all you newcomers, SED was feared to be too expensive for the marketplace as far back as 2005 (When 50" plasmas were $5000.00). Canon nor Toshiba ever reassured the media that it wouldn't be crazy expensive.

TomBBY said,"Which store did you get THIS imformation from? That was never part of any training I got from Best Buy!"

You never got this information in training, because Best Buy DOES NOT OFFER ANY FORMAL TRAINING to audio video sales staff, including Magnolia. I worked for Best Buy including its District Office for a year and a half, so I know for a fact. The plasma gas refilling was a common ploy to get consumers to purchase extended warranties. This occured when Best Buy first started selling plasmas. A simple google search will provide you with plenty of stories and commentaries my consumers and HDTV magazine reviewers.

The Processing chips are very cheap, but they are limited by analog output stage. So in that vane, audio grade output transistors aren't cheap. Large Toriodial transformers aren't cheap. Solid aluminum chassis for heat transfer aren't cheap. How about durable RCA connectors or building a full dual differential design? I'm not arguing that its a bargin, but virtually all Dolby TruHD, DTS-MA receivers don't sound as good as Krell's Dolby Digital 5.1 rigs.


Power trumps processing everyday of the week.

I typically defend Hi-end products, but not this one. $30K is quite a bit for a under-developed pre/pro. The Krell Evolution 707 looks like a steal in comparison to this; probaby sounds better as well.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/06/13/krell-unleashes-its-evolution-707-preamp-processor/

I also have a hard time buying into a brand where the person/family who's name is on the brand is no longer associated with the company.

"While we tend to view a built-in, non-upscaling DVD player as a bit of a waste..."

Did you fall for the Bestbuy sales ploy of refilling plasma TVs with plasma gas? There is no need to put two scalers in this product. This HDTV scales all images to its native resolution. Therefore, the DVD image will be upscaled. Now if you want to complain that the internal scaler is not adequate, that may be a fair gripe if true, but asking for the addition of a dedicated DVD scaler only displays your lack of video knowledge.

Now the true downside to internal DVD players in HDTVs is that optical drives such as CD and DVD player are considered the most unreliable devices in consumer electronics. So the manufacturer is marrying consumers' most reliable product (TV) with their most unreliable product (CD/DVD Player). So if you have to send out your DVD player to be repaired, you end up sending your HDTV along as well.

Klipsch has no dealer network to support their hi-end loudspeakers. Does anyone expect Magnolia @ Bestbuy to sell $8000 loudspeakers? I can't imagine any established hi-end dealers taking on the klipsch line even if klipsch gives them free demo units. Furthermore, why would any dealer in their right mind promote a non-protected brand like Klipsch over a protected brand such as B&W, Thiel, Wilson, Dali, etc. Love them or hate them, you can't buy them if no one sells them. Pioneer, Yamaha, Sony, and Monster Cable, all produce Hi-end loudspeakers. Try finding a dealer for them.

Champagne finished components never went out of fashion in Japan. Marantz, Accuphase, Conrad Johnson, etc all have been making champagne finishes since day one and haven't stopped since. This finish will probably never make it stateside, just as years to get silver finished Onkyo products stateside.

I'm convinced that the Matrix is the all time best selling DVD. Granted, I have not seen Wanted yet, but I doubt it will revolutionize the movie industry nevertheless Blu-ray on the same scale as the Matrix.

I second the AnyDVD HD by Slysoft. Anyone with a HTPC prefers to archive and stream content over playing content off of an optical disc.

@Byrdman

DVD was the fastest adopted product in consumer electronics history. Predicting that something else with supercede DVD requires solid evidence in order to not sound idiotic. Well over a dozen DVD titles outsold all BD titles combined for 2007. My prediction is that Blu-ray will not be break 30% marketshare by 2012.