I'm in the process of building my 1st Home Entertainment/Theater system and would greatly appreciate comments.
1st the room: Size is 11 ft wide by 16 feet long with fireplace. Plasma TV will be mounted to fireplace (I did a heat check and that should not be a problem) and viewing will be about 13 feet from screen. System will be used primarily for HDTV, watching DVDs, occasional music and probably some gaming (XBOX).
System wise here are my plans so far. They are just plans, nothing has been purchased yet and I'm basing it solely on reviews off the web. I've been to a few stores to actually view some systems and I must admit most of the clerks were of no help.
TV: Panasonic TH-50PX500U 50" Plasma TV; best price I've seen so far on the web is $3725 (shipping included)
HTIB: Onkyo HT-S780 best price $440 (ship incl.)
DVD: any suggestions??
Any recommendations on best cables, wall mounts, etc. or comments on the above would be greatly appreciated. If you suggest other equipment than what I have listed please explain why. And if you know of better pricing let me know.
Forgot to add, I currently have digital cable, but am seriously considering switching to satellite, probably the Dish network. Would like to be able to do DVR, would I be better off using the Dish equipment or getting my own?
Can I ask a question? Don't be offended. Why would you spend $4000 on a TV and $400 on everything else? I think you might like a more balanced system. As with everything I say this is just my opinion, eat the meat and spit out the bones. Just a suggestion. I would look at some solutions to compliment the stunning video.
You said you have digital cable. Who is your service provider? What HDTV options do they have? I am prolly the worst person to promote sat TV. I HAD Dish and DirecTV..... :-( but that doesn't speak for them at all, they have a LOT of happy customers.
The DVD player will be mostly based on what you choose for speakers and reciever. If you just buy the best it'd be like $10k rims on a $1k car. On the flip side you should at least look at an upconverting DVD as a bare minimum.
I agree you are not going to get much with that Onkyo. If sound is really important to you invest in a higher line Denon or Marantz and get better speakers. Either way you must, I repeat must get an HSU STF-1 or STF-2 subwoofer, if you want to get any decent sound out of a HT system.
I have had the sub for over 6 months and was watching Batman 2 on it last night. It never ceases to amaze me.
BTW if you are going to spend that much on the TV, you may wan to wait a little longer until some cheaper receivers come out with HDMI switching. There is supposed to be a few coming up from Yamaha and Panasonic in the next few months.
That's not what I am saying at all. The speakers and reciever are really up to what you want to use the home theater for. Do you want to shake the house off the foundation? $2k can buy a VERY nice audio system. There are a few recievers that have hdmi switching but is that a necessity? I chose it because changing video inputs got annoying for me. I am not going to push a specific product your way, its a matter of keeping everything in perspective.
Cuylar, no offense taken. To be honest, I've never owned a really decent audio system to compare to. Do I need to shake the foundation? Not really, but when I'm watching the Matrix, I want to hear the shell casings as they hit the floor. As for the $3700+ on the plasma, to get something in the 50 in. range I thought that was a pretty decent price, right? But with audio systems, I see prices ranging from $200 to $2000 and up and even though I know the old saying, "you get what you pay for", what's considered a decent system at a good price? A couple friends have Onkyo and are happy, but they are probably like me; that was their first "decent" system. CNET rated the Onkyo pretty high as well, so that's why I was leaning that way, but again not knowing enough is why I posted here so that I could get the opinion of others. So any audio/speaker recommendations? Again please keep in mind my room is not that large only 11 X 16. I don't have to worry about disturbing any neighbors and I think it's cool to get immersed into a movie or ballgame via the sound, but I also don't want the kids to think they can keep us up til the wee hours of the morning either.
As for digital cable I have Suscom, who was just bought out by Comcast. I'm not 100% sure of all the HDTV options, but some of Suscom's customers that I've spoken with haven't been overly impressed and now woth the Comcast buy out, not sure what I'll be gaining.
Nick, I have the onkyo system in a 17x20 room and it fills it very well. I bought it to upgrade from a yamaha 5.1 htib. Yes its not the biggest and the best but it will do for the next few yrs as i save for my all out media room. I had to have something to get me through, the ears could not take the neglect any longer. Go to circut city with a dvd that has a thx trailer on it pop it in the 780 and crank it up to about 40 it will make you grin.
if i may say so if you plan to go the satilite route, go with Directv and not dish. Directv is probably the most aggressive when it comes to wanting to get hd content to the consumer, so much in fact that this year hey launched 3 more sat's to deliver more hd channels. Also directv isnt bound by a set manufacture for their recievers like Dish or cable companys are. You can choose who's box u wanna use I.e. sony, samsung, phillips,panasonic, ect. this is just my suggestion though you are free to choose who ever you like.
Cury might i ask why u were unhappy with both dish and directv? im just curious because i refer alot of my friends and family to directv ( my mom and i had cable here in northern va, it was media general which got bought out by cox and we hated it) All the people i have referred to directv have been really happy with the service as are my mother and i. However i do always point out that the one major flaw any sat service has is rain fade, which if the providers looked at more carefully im sure could be easily solved. so what did you not like?