Guys, Its been awhile since I have been here but it was the first place I thought to ask this question..

I just finished my basement. Put in a 106" 1080p Projector with high end audio (7.1). I went and bought a BluRay this weekend, and am trying to decide why I should keep it. The thing is slow to load, and while some of the bdlive and other content is "neat" I can live without it.

I want to make sure I am getting the best experience in AV quality, but I have yet to be completely wow'ed by BluRay. Granted, all I have watched is Wanted and Gran Torino. Do you guys have any thoughts on the following:

1) Blu Ray
2) Cable HD Pay Per View
3) Apple TV
4) Netflix streaming
5) Stanard DVD (HDMI Upconvert)

In the past few weeks, I think item 5 is still great. I guess the question is can I get 7.1 channel audio from Apple TV or other options outside of Blu Ray?

Look forward to you opinions.

Re; #1.
I will probably get this Blu Ray.
http://reviews.cnet.com/blu-ray-players-re...56.html?tag=tpr

Re; #5.
Either you got lucky or I was unlucky. I have 3 standard DVD upconvert units (one of them is a HD DVD) and they all stutter at some point.

Nothing to contribute on the other items.

Nice unit, but I can't see justification for $400 based on my needs. Wish they had just a fast loading bluray that supports profile 2.0. I don't care about wifi as I put 6 homerun ethernet cables in the rack. I don't much care of netflix or the other streaming services since I have Netflix streaming ability on XBOX. Which brings up the question if anyone has used this? I tried it off my Mothers Netflix subscription and the quality of the movie was terrible. Reminded me of watching a moving on VHS. I am not interested in any streaming movies unless it is HD. I spent too much on this theater system to watch crappy video/audio.

Forgot to mention on of my other potential options. Sell the Xbox 360 and get one of the new slim PS3's they announced for $299 (http://reviews.cnet.com/consoles/sony-playstation-3-120gb/4505-10109_7-33765068.html). I don't know much about PS3 (I know very little about the XBOX I have either). I was intrigued by the comment of no IR on the unit though. Not sure if that means I have to control the blueray via a game controller. Also, not sure what the overall quality of audio/video and load times on the PS3 will be.

Didn't even notice the WIFI. Wouldn't use it.
You can get it for $300.

Take a look at hulu.com.

Forget Cable... not enough bandwidth to go around.
Try Satellite.

Ski, how is your sat service during heavy rain and snow?

During a heavy t-storm or snow storm there are interruptions.
Typically they are 3 or 4 minutes. No9t frequent enough to be a real bother, although when it happens I always get upset.

Switching to SD from HD will get you through all but the worst Wx.

Dish alignment is paramount. here they do not have a meter that reads the HD sat, so they "dither" between 2 others...I have called them back 5 times to realign ever since they just HAD to install the dish themselves.

Any interruptions are more than made up for with the increase definition available over Cable.
1080 is not 1080.... you also need to take into account the actual bitrate.