Is this a good deal? (1 Viewer)

[paezrobert]

Hi. First of all I just want to let you all know I'm new to this whole home theater deal so please bare with me.

Two days ago I was researching HDTVs and I found a Samsung 40" LCD LNT4061F with a Samsung HTIB HT-AS720 and Geek Squad home installation for $1,599. I went to a local Best Buy and the guys there weren't very helpful, plus the PQ did not look good on their display model of that TV.

I went to a Circuit City accross the street to get a price match, except that they didn't have the Samsung HT-AS720, so instead they matched a Denon AVR 588 receiver with Polk RM6750 speakers for the same price. It seemed like a good deal so I bought it without much research, while knowing that I do have plenty of time to cancel installation and return everything if I didn't like it after some research. So I've been looking up reviews and trying to compare it all online but it gets confusing to a noob like me.

I also bought an XBOX 360 Elite while I was there, which I hope will be a good match with this TV.

My questions are:

1. Did I get a good deal?
2. Should I stick with what I got or return it and get the deal at Best Buy, or something else entirely?
3. Should I keep or return Circuit City's 3 year extended warranty on the TV for $219?
4. What cables do I need to hook all of this up, and where should I get them?

The installation is set up for this Tuesday, so any help or suggestions before then are truly appreciated.

Thanks a lot in advance,
Robert

 

[paezrobert]

Oh, one more thing, I can probably get another $110 back from Circuit City under their 110% Lowest Price Guarantee because Fry's has the same speakers advertised for $100 less than what I paid. Just FYI.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Hey Robert. Welcome to HTF!

First - I think you got a superior system. Samsung/Phillips/Sony make some pretty lame 'systems'. Going with a separate receiver from a well known receiver company, then separate speakers from a well known speaker company is the way we prefer to go.

The only thing - the xbox. I have a 360 and love it for games. But the PS3 has a built-in blu-ray player which is a big bonus now that most studios have gone BluRay. That might be a better choice if you have not cracked the seals.

You need to call your cable or sat company and upgrade to HD service. That TV (and all HDTV's) will look like crap with only standard def signals. My cable company offers 'basic' service that comes with 7 HD channels and the cable box is a DVR. This is a great package for $25/month.

Ideally HDMI cables are the way to go because they are digital and carry both video and analog in 1 cable. www.bluejeanscables.com is a favorite place around here. The owner is a member and takes good care of us. My 10 ft cable was $38 for example.

I would return the warranty. While they do break - HDTV quality is much better than it used to be and LCD sets are fairly rugged. Only if you have kids/harsh environment might I consider a warranty.

Again - get HD service for that TV. You will be astonished how good it looks.

 

[paezrobert]

Thanks for the answer Bob.

I still have some questions though...

For the system I described in the original post, how many HDMI cables will I need?

And for audio, is there a preference here between the digital coax or fiber optics cable?

As far as the XBOX 360, I have already opened it. Now I'm trying to decide whether to buy a cheap upconverting DVD player (I have about 200 regular DVDs) or a blu-ray player with upconverting ability. I couldn't find any reliable sources on whether or not PS3s can convert to 1080P, but if they can, that may be an option as well.

Again, any help/suggestion is appreciated.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[paezrobert]

Also, I've noticed that most people on this forum seem to recommend buying their cables from bluejeanscables or monoprice, but Circuit City's guy will be coming in tomorrow to install my system, and I was just wondering if there are any retailers that you guys know of that will have these cables at reasonable prices.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

My advice would be to wire both the xbox and cable box straight to the TV with HDMI. Run optical from both of these devices to the receiver.

Just use the TV speakers for casual TV watching, but turn down the TV speakers and fire up the receiver for more serious movie watching.

You are pretty much stuck with optical but optical and coaxial-digital sound the same so it does not really matter.

Cables:

If you are burying the cables in-wall you are stuck with Monster for short notice. If the cables are running un-buried, go get some AR Pro cables. Cheaper than Monster. I would even go with the "Rocket Dog" cables from Best Buy.

You do want at least 2 HDMI cables coming from the TV. Right now you only have 1 source (the xbox) so you can get away with 1 cable and order another for the cable/sat box you are about to get.

Just as long as you can reach the HDMI jacks after the TV is installed. If they are running in-wall, have them hook up 2 cables for future use.

Note: Your TV will up-convert video to it's internal format so dont worry about buying a up-converting player. Just use the xbox for the moment and get a BluRay later. (Or see if you can return the xbox and get the PS3 unless you are hard set on Halo and other Microsoft exclusive games.)

 

[paezrobert]

Hey Bob,

Thanks a lot for your help again, I'm really glad I found this site.

There's a wholesale electronics overstock warehouse nearby so I just went ahead and bought two HDMIs for $10 each from there for the time being. I won't be running them in the wall or under the carpet, so I can exchange them for higher quality ones later if necessary (unless I find that these work just as well, of course)

Good thing I haven't bought a DVD upconverter yet, it's good to know my TV will do the upconverting for me. For now I'll stick with the 360 for DVDs, unless I can exchange it for a PS3, and decide to do that instead. Otherwise I'll wait for bluray player prices to go down, which I'm sure they will soon enough.

I guess the only other question I have for now is what did you mean when you said I was stuck with optical for now? Can't I just use coax? The guy who sold me the HDMI cables said that if I plug in RCA cables to the digital coax they all work the same, and I also read something similar in another thread. Is this true?

Well, I probably won't be posting here again until after I get everything installed around 10AM today. And sadly, I'll probably have more questions then.

Thanks again!

 

[paezrobert]

It's nearly 1PM and the firedog installer that was supposed to be here between 10AM and 12PM still isn't here. They didn't even bother calling to let me know they'd be late. I had to call them about 4 times to get someone to help me with this issue. The installer said he'll be here around 1:30PM... We'll see...

 

[Al.Anderson]

Since Bob looks like he's on 3rd shift today, I'll chime in - yes, you can use coax. What I believe he meant is that your receiver doesn't process audio through HDMI, so to get the best sound you have to go through either optical or coax to the receiver. Given that, he gave you a great way to set it up so that you don't *have* to have your receiver on. (The TV will process the audio through HDMI.)

Ideally you'd want to have the HDMI processed by the reciever, it's just easier, and opens you up for better audio when playing HD content. But it's not a big deal, especially when starting in. (I don't have HDMI and I've very happy with optical and coax. (Different set-ups.))

 

[paezrobert]

Thanks Al, I get it now.

Ok, so this is what happened: The firedog guys didn't show up 'till around 2PM, FOUR hours late, and they weren't able to set up my system because my Polk RM6750 speakers didn't come with speaker wire!!! I specifically asked them what I would need for this set up, and they never, ever mentioned that this particular speaker system did not come with wires! The guys from firedog opened up the boxes for my Denon AVR 588 Receiver and my Polk speakers, and when the time came to run the wires they rummaged through the packing material searching for the non-existent wires!!

So now my choices are:

1. Buy the wires and reschedule an installation with firedog (highly unlikely considering the first attempt)

2. Buy the wires and do it myself

3. Return the receiver and/or speakers and get something else

I paid:

$199.99 for the receiver
$299.99 for the speakers (which I later saw at Fry's for $199.99)
$169.99 for the home installation (what was I thinking??? Well, it was part of a package deal...)

I can return it all and have $670 at my disposal...

What do you guys recommend?

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Sorry you are having such a tough time.

My advice: Got to Parts Express - Amplifiers, Head Units, Speakers, Wiring Kits, Subwoofers, Dampening and buy a spool of 12 ga speaker wire and do it your self. It's not hard to do as long as you are not running in-wall. Or spend a few $ more and get "Carol" 12 ga speaker wire from Home Depot (they used to carry it). It's budget but decent quality. Anything around $0.50/ft is good.

Chalk up the annoyance factor to poor communication, but see if you can get your install fee back from Firedog.


Optical - for some reason, my xBox, BluRay and HD-DVD players all come with only optical connections. So I made an assumption your gear had optical. Thats all I ment. I have used both coaxial and optical and they sound the same.

Note: The coaxial-digital cable is just a video cable (yellow RCA plugs).

 

[Al.Anderson]

I think you got a fair deal for your equipment, but nothing outstanding. They charged too much for the speakers. The receiver was a steal, but that's because they just tacked on the installation, which seems to be worth about $9.99. (An installation service that doesn't bring speaker wire with them? Come on now.)

But I like Polk and Denon, both are good products.

If you're cost driven, you could probably do a little better. On the other hand, the equipment is in your possession; I'd find that hard to resist. If you can get money back on the installation, that would be the way to go. This is easy stuff.

I've always just used electrical cord for my speaker wire. I'm sure there's some hardcore objection to that based on oxidation or some such thing; but I've never had a problem and some of my wires have been there for 10 years (and some run outdoors).

Also, unless you're making a long run, I think 14 guage is plenty. (Not that 12 guage isn't better, but I'd only use 12 guage if you are making a run that is hard to re-do, though multiple walls and such.)