ryanhendrixphoto

so we all know denon will always reign supreme in the audiphile loyalty market, but i was recently intrigued at my local sony store by their ES (elevated standard) lineup of receivers. i'm shopping around for a new receiver to upgrade from my denon 1705, and between sony's xbr lineup of televisions and their blu-ray players, i've lead myself to wonder if i would be pleased with an ES model receiver to run my forte II's and klf-c7. sony's 2400ES is the bottom level of the ES lineup, but the wife-friendly Bravia Sync technology and XBR-familiar features seem like they would be a good fit with what i'm already running. does anyone else have an ES series receiver, or know any pros and cons about these? obviously sony isn't known for receivers, and their retail level units seem more like man garage receivers, but the option of an all sony system seems like everything could run well in sync - with one remote, no less. sony str-da2400es: http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665486568

would be much more inviting room with 10 of these:

you definitely spear-headed that one right on the money. i just imagined having sony speakers in my living room, and it made me very sad.

Blu-Ray seems to be a better format for high-def content storage, and Sony pushed it effectively, especially through the PS3. In 2000, the PS2 was the cheapest DVD player on the market and they pulled the same marketing tactics then. As much as some hate Sony, they do make solid products and always put extensive effort into their R&D.

Toshiba Officially Drops HD DVD Tue Feb 19, 2008 at 03:15 AM ET Following several days of rumors, Toshiba has confirmed that it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders, effectively ending the high-def format war. In a just-issued press release, the company said that it reached the decision following "recent major changes in the market." Toshiba emphasized that it will continue to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products. “We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.” Toshiba said it will begin reducing shipments of HD DVD players and recorders immediately, with the aim of pulling all HD DVD players, recorders and disc drives from store shelves by March. The company went on to say that it would "continue to assess" the long-term viability of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives. Asked at a Tokyo press conference whether his company had any plans to adopt Blu-ray, Nishida said Toshiba had no such plans at the moment. HD DVD first hit stores in April of 2006, and enjoyed an early sales lead against rival format Blu-ray up until the release of Sony's Blu-ray enabled PlayStation 3 later that year. Though Blu-ray software outsold HD DVD throughout 2007, a series of tactical moves from the HD DVD camp kept the format in the game up until early this January, when Warner Bros announced it would drop its HD DVD support and would release its titles on Blu-ray exclusively, beginning this June. In the weeks that followed, HD DVD backers vowed to fight on, issuing a series of price drops and embarking on a new marketing campaign, but it wasn't enough to convince retailers to stick with the fledgling format. Faced with the prospect of diminishing prominence at such top US retailers as Best Buy and Wal-Mart, insiders say it was only a matter of time before Toshiba would pull the plug.

here are my shots from the first night. i must admit i found myself too busy enjoying the weekend to run around snapping photos. a larger version of the indy complex is available here: http://www.ryanhendrixphoto.com/IMG_9080-1900.jpg