A THOUSAND FUCKING QUID!!?

With this, and the £2500 tv reviewed earlier this week, i guess its "Recession? Not for us as we get shit for free" review week at The Reg.

"...and a decently produced DVD fully up-scaled looks so good that a Blu-ray drive looks superfluous..."

Exactly what was this tested on - a 10 year old 28 inch CRT ? Side by side with any Blu-ray drive ? How about a 50 inch 1080p plasma TV ?

How much was the reviewer paid, or did he get to keep the kit ?

Yamaha kit is normally excellent, but the above comment is plain silly.

if this machine can upscale dvds to the point where you cant tell the difference between blus and dvd's there is somthing very wrong with your tv......

also £1000!!! for 2 speakers a dvd player and a sub? and you recomend it? who to?

...I am VERY cynical about any suggestion that a system can give surround-sound without speakers behind or to the side of you. Seems to me that using a thumping great subwoofer just to make the room shake is hardly surround sound.

For a grand, I'd rather have a few more speakers in my home cinema.

Perhaps performance isn't too bad, but this clearly isn't a revolutionary product - it's a lifestyle product that caters for people too lazy to rewire their lounge.

At this price point consumers should be buying Bluray - and if you can afford a grand on a packaged 2.1 system, affording Bluray films is not going to be an issue.

I suppose yamaha should get some kudos for releasing a product that takes less than optimal formats (MP3, CD, DVD) and improves them with minimal hassle.

However, I can't help thinking that if I had a grand to spend on hifi it'd be better to either a) buy separates and install it myself or b) pay extra for someone to advise and install a decent solution. A fire and forget solution costing a grand sits pointlessly in the bland middle.

Have you heard of YSP-1100 or soundbar etc etc ?

For a moment there I thought this would be the one for me - then I saw the four-figure pricetag. I can understand why; that Head-related Transfer Function sounds jolly clever and the development costs have to be reclaimed somehow, but a grand is just too much. For 600 quid I'd be sold.

@Martin - you're right to be cynical, but try it. It really does work. After all, your ears interpret surround sound (with effectively infinite 'speakers') very competently, and all with only 2 of them.

@Blu-Ray vs. DVD comments, I have a 42" Samsung 'HD Ready' (not FullHD) which is probably along the lines of what the average Joe has. I have difficulty telling the difference (from viewing distance 4m or so) between my Sony Blu-Ray and my Sony DVD recorder playing a good DVD. Not that there IS no difference, my logical brain tells me there is, it's just that under normal viewing conditions, it's not really that big a deal.

Admittedly if you have a top-notch 64" FullHD Plasma you might see the difference a bit better, but I don't have one of these. Someone we know also bought that 102" Panasonic plasma monster (for 50 grand or so) and even Blu-Ray looks crap on that. Still don't know why he bothered.

Evil Steve because he is.

//Someone we know also bought that 102" Panasonic plasma monster (for 50 grand or so) and even Blu-Ray looks crap on that. Still don't know why he bothered.//

...maybe its because you need to be sat in the neighbouring county to watch it at the correct viewing distance?

"The ability to return to the point at which you left a disc, even if it has been ejected from the machine, is nice."

Nice like a video. Funny, the very first DVD player I bought (back in the early days when there were only 2500 DVDs available to buy!) had this function, but this was obviously considered far too useful by any future manufacturers. Instead, we have to watch the piracy warnings again and again and again. (I semll conspiracy)

Paris, because I would like to test her Head-Related Transfer Function

Take that thing out of the box and finish your damn review!!!!

One of the 1st things I thought of when I started reading this glowing review was "Wow, this sounds like the perfect product for my cramped New York apartment ("a flat" for you britfags). But then that thought was overtaken by the realization that just hearing "some crap somewhere out there behind you" might not be enough!

The obvious question is "Can this thing actually Position sounds where they are supposed to be?". Or does it figure your monkey-brain is too daft to discern points on a 360 degree soundstage anyway so if it sounds "somewhere out there" that's good enough...

This is very useful in First Person Shooter games since placing an approaching enemy's footsteps to the right of you or to the rear left can make the difference between virtual life and death.

So take that Demo unit out of the box (or more likely out of your house) and get a'reviewin'. Tell us the things that matter about this product, not just your oohs and aaahs.

A £1000 for a 2.1 stereo with upscaling DVD player that pretends to be a home cinema? A fool and his money...

Cant tell the difference between upscaled DVD and Blu-ray?

You decide if it is a decent electronics dealership or a doctor to have your eyes checked out you need..