This receiver is an SA806. There's a typo in the headline of the original article saying it is a SA706, but all the information in the article is about the SA806.

I wish BD would get their s--t together when it comes to menus. Until I experienced a menu system that allows you to select scenes, switch audio tracks etc. without stopping the movie, I had no idea how nice it could be. The vast majority of the HD DVD titles allowed this, while very few BD titles do. I've gotten in the habit of thining hit the menu button anytime, so it's especially annoying when an archaic BD menu kicks me out of the movie back to a DVD-style menu.

Studios should release titles on BD a few days before the release on DVD.

Price is a barrier, but wouldn't be a major barrier to uptake IF consumers had a strong incentive to buy a BD player. Picture quality clearly isn't enough.

I am somewhat surprised that the movie studies haven't been pushing BD as a way to limit piracy. If studies were to release new movies on BD a few days before they were released on standard DVD, sales of hardware would shoot through the roof.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no lover of DRM, but viewing things from the perspective of the studios, this would seem like a smart move. Although BD's DRM has been cracked, it would still make the movies significantly more difficult/inconvenient/expensive to crack.

An impulse purchase of a BD player will be much more likely if having a new machine is the only way people can see a new release.

Hmmmm. Why would there be an IR input if it isn't a switch?

The rant about how AT$T cancelled a home line and put in a business line instead is interesting and I understand why the poster was frustrated, but I suspect that kind of mistake is quite rare. In most cases you have to check a box on a new application stating that you give permission for the old service to be cancelled.

With that safeguard in place, its hard to see why people should have to stay on hold for hours and argue like a high-school debate champion before being 'allowed' to cancel their cable service.

Any idea how this compares to other medium-to-large size cities that are 'old' by US standards? One possibility is that the cost of running new lines through the dense underground infrastructure of a place like Boston (or New York, Philadelpha, Baltimore etc.) is just too tricky and expensive.

My father-in-law lives on a spacious lot in the 'burbs of Philadelpha. Despite having been given a schematic, in the process of running his Fios line, the Verizon crew cut through: the previous cable line, an electric line, and the lawn sprinkler pipe. They eventually fixed everything, but the challenge of running these lines (or the incompetence of the crew) was clearly illustrated. Imagine how much trouble there would be if they cut a major electric line or water main in a major city!

Could the actual goal of Apple and Microsoft's involvement in high-definition DVD formats simply to be to slow things down until their downloadable content platforms get a foothold? I find it interesting that: the two companies picked different sides, made a lot of noise around their involvement with Blu-ray and HD DVD (respectively), but actually did very little to promote the success of either format. Apple did nothing and has yet to put a BD drive into any of their computers. Microsoft released the Xbox add on-drive, but conspicuously failed to do obvious things (e.g., bundle the HD DVD drive with a cool new matched-color console) that would have driven sales. Doesn't it make you wonder whether there might be something to these conspiracy theories?

I wonder if this means NetFlix is finally going to start stocking a reasonable number of Blu-ray discs? I'm so sick of the top 20 movies on my queue all saying 'long wait' and then taking a week to get shipped in from a distribution center across the country. Remember the lawsuit where someone in CA sued because their discs didn't arrive within the claimed 2 days? They didn't know how lucky they were.

Another vote for a sub-$200 dual-format hi-def DVD player.

Given the current realities, remaining dedicated to just one format will simply mean that head-in-the-sand fanboys will miss out on seeing all the great movies that aren't available in their favorite format.

Some sociologist ought to try to figure out the fanboy phenomenon. It makes no sense that people pour so much energy/passion into supporting a group of companies. Where is their perspective regarding what is really important? It's pathetic.

What? Do you mean to tell me that putting a stamp that says 'Monster' on a piece of wire doesn't improve the rhythm, place, and slam of music, make subwoofers 'faster' and render the pluses and minuses of a digital signal significantly more plus and minus? :-)