On the cable dilemna...I had a buddy that worked at Circuit City of all places. He hooked two identical tv's up (50" Plasmas when they were ALL 10 grand), two identical amps and speaker sets, two identical dvd players (about $600 at the time) and he hooked one up with about $100 worth of Monster cables and the other with $12 worth of the cheapest ones there. He popped Jurassic Park in each of them. I, nor anyone else in the store, could tell any difference AT ALL. He would ask people (that didn't know about the cable difference) which picture and sound was superior and there was no winner. Most people said they could tell no difference, some people picked the Monsters and some picked the crappy ones. Just my two pennies.
Like I said, the only difference I can tell is in audio, and even then the difference is only audible if you have high end audio equipment. For the most part, there is not much difference except that the Monster cables are tougher and will survive being un- and re-plugged much better. I acquired my high end cables when I was working at Circuit City and Home Entertainment (before they became Tweeter), so my expense was not all that great.
In my opinion Moster Cables are a huge waste of money. Just be sure that you use a well contructed cable rather than the free ones that come with the TV. I have a fairly nice HT system and almost all of my cables are radio shack gold series.
Just a note...in my opinion it is a waste of money to buy a TV with an HD receiver built in. Most people will probably be getting their HD from cable or satellite, and most cable and satellite companies will provide their HD box at a very nominal fee. Also, you probably want to make sure that your TV has as many component cable inputs as possible and a DVI input. DVI quality is pure streaming digital and more and more DVD players and HD boxes will use this as an I/O in the next few years. In component video, the output device (DVD player, ect) has to convert the digital signal to analog packets and send it over the component cable...the input device (TV) then takes those packets and converts them back to digital...there is a chance for quality loss over that span. In DVI, a pure digital signal is streamed over the cable without ever having to convert the signal to analog....so greater signal quality is maintaned. I have seen two high quality TV's and DVD players side by side...one using component, one using DVI...the picture quality is astounding. As it is, I think there are only 2 truly DVI capable DVD players on the market that are affordable...there will be many more in the coming months and years. Also, when looking for a TV, research on some of the sites already listed. AVS forum is a fantastic forum for info as there are some truly gifted home theater geeks that will help you out. Another thing...Monster cables are the biggest waste of money that you can possible have for a system of your cost. You are only going to notice a difference on truly high end systems...and even then, there are more cost effective brands out there. Just buy good, well constructed cable that you can find..but don't over pay...especially on a $2000 TV. By the way...your best bang for the buck is to buy a rear projection TV with some 8+" CRT's. A good CRT TV will still have better pure picture quality than a plasma, DLP, or any other TV out there...plus you get more for your dollar.
Also, when you get your TV...don't skimp on a crummy DVD player...you will be wasting your TV's quality potential. Also..buy this and run it: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...1/104-0729643-0887121?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846 This is a must have for anybody with a big screen.
How about the dvd players that have the DVI connection? The Sony TV I posted earlier has DVI, so I was wondering if the quality is really that amazing?
It is supposed to be better and component but not that many players have the feature. It keeps the signal in the digital format untill it gets to the TV. I havent been following DVD players very close since last fall but i imagine that more players are comming out with this feature. I know for sure that Samsung and Bravo have a budget player and Denon has a pretty high end one.
I should also add that ecost.com has some nice Denon refurb players. If you are looking for a universal player (SACD/DVD-A) they have the Denon 2200 for around $380 shipped. However it doesnt have DVI out.
This is a nice home theater in a box set from Denon: http://www.usa.denon.com/catalog/pdfs/DHT684DVD.pdf
Not a bad system but they make great electronics but pretty weak speakers. I should add one more thing about Denon since i mentioned them twice in two posts. I had a Denon reciever a few years back and loved it but more reciently my dad had an aweful experience with them. They recently merged with Marantz and their customer service is now brutal. He bought Denon 5900 DVD player back in October and it was defective. He called customer support and they told him it would be quicker to repair it than return to the dealer (was on backorder at the time). To make a long story really simple he is just now geting it back after an absurd battle with Denon for them to actually do someting.
Then you set up a home theater system for me. Denon receiver, then what sub, what speakers, what dvd player? I'm seriously help me.
Sub: Sunfire http://www.sunfire.com/ Speakers: Yamaha NS-777's for the front http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/HXseries/NS_777.htm Yamaha NS-555's for the rear http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/HXseries/NS_555.htm ACI Protege Center channel http://www.audioc.com/speakers/Protege/intro.htm DVD Player: Denon 910 Or go to Ebay and try to pull a Panasonic XP30, XP50 or RP82, all with the Faroudja chipset.
Keep I am big HT fan and inherently have a bias against home theater in a box systems. They are very reasonably priced but in general companies that make good electronics don’t make good speakers. There are a few exceptions but they are rare. I put together a fairly solid system in college a few years back by buying new speakers and refurb and used electronics. I don’t know the audio market nearly as well as I did back then but I may still be able to help. Are you set on getting a 7.1 system or would you consider 5.1? Is it for mostly movies or music? Also what is your budget?
Nomar, Just looked aroud for a few minutes and here is something that looks good. It would be around $820 but it would be a nice system. Also you may be able to get a better reciever than the one i included for the same price if you dont mind ebay. Speaker package: NHT And Phase Technology Excellent price on the NHT's which are very solid but have no clue about the quality of the sub. DVD:Denon DVD-900 has the Faroudja chip but may have chroma bug (minor decoding flaw) which may noticable on your nice HD set. Reciever: Denon AVR1403 One last point is when building a first system keep in mind that quality speakers dont go out of date like electronics do. If you need to skimp a little to get under budget cut into the cost of the reciever or maby the dvd player.
I looked around some on that sub and it seems like it would get the job done as long as you are not looking for really hard hiting bass. I figure it would definatly be enough if you are in an apartment.
Well I don't want something with a possible problem. Does Denon have any other good DVD players? Also - Do you know of some place that has good prices on speaker stands?
