Msn's Idea Of Home Theater (1 Viewer)

[david stark]

Since most (all?) HDTV sets support 1080i then I think this is indeed higher than most DVD's have on them so this statement is indeer true.

I would certianly agree with the speaker advice of buying front the two then back two since the fronts can be used to create a phantom front and some people prefer this to actually having a dedicated central (there has been a thread on here on that very subject). I would also agree with the idea of buying the sub last (unless you buy all sattelite speakers), but maybe before a dedicated centre channel.

The only things at odds with the rest of the article is the carousel player which others above have mentioned is of course more expensive than a single player.

Finally you have to remember everyones budget and I think there is some good advice in there for people on a very low budget. It is lower than most of the people here on HTF, but after following the forums on here for sources and projectors most the stuff discussed on here is pretty much entry level for decent home theatre this article is aimed at people with a little less money and/or interest in the area of HT.

 

[DaveF]

There's no question about that. The problem is the erroneous (and illogical) conclusion that, "so your image quality will likely be better with that old set."

There is good advice in the article, but there are some poor suggestions, as I and others observed.

 

[Yee-Ming]

I'd have to say I agree: why didn't they recommend HTiBs? When I got my first HTiB, even that dinky sub added a whole new dimension to movies absent from plain old TV speakers. And of course straight out of the box (pun intended) I had a 5.1 setup.

As for carousels, you can see the argument they make, which is not unfair: convenience. At low price points, I don't think it makes a huge difference in PQ anyway, and you might not see the difference anyway on a 29" (or smaller) TV. And to combine both these points, there are HTiBs that come with disc-changers too.

What intrigues me are HTiB sets that play hi-res audio as well: just how well do those little speakers reproduce hi-res audio? Is there really any point? Or is the object of the exercise multichannel music?

 

[MattDL]

That DVD resolution statement isn't entirely hogwash: DVD's do indeed look better on EDTV resolution widescreen displays than HDTV displays, since EDTV is the native resolution of the material on the disc (480P). However, I don't think they were referring to EDTV when they said 'your old TV'.

I'd recommend a 2.1 setup above a 4.0 setup any day though. Good bass from a subwoofer improves the movie experience more than the limited material that would come from the rear channels.

 

[MattDL]

That DVD resolution statement isn't entirely hogwash: DVD's do indeed look better on EDTV resolution widescreen displays than HDTV displays, since EDTV is the native resolution of the material on the disc (480P). However, I don't think they were referring to EDTV when they said 'your old TV'.

I'd recommend a 2.1 setup above a 4.0 setup any day though. Good bass from a subwoofer improves the movie experience more than the limited material that would come from the rear channels.

 

[Philip_G]

woah, dug a little deep for this one didn't we.

 

[Philip_G]

woah, dug a little deep for this one didn't we.

 

[Greg_R]

I agree with Mike... that article is factual for casual HT purchasers IF YOU READ IT CAREFULLY.

This forum is not filled with typical users. My parents are typical users and they are happy with 2 "full range" main speakers. It would be nice if they mentioned that 2 sats + sub can be better performers that a pair of towers in the same price range. Still, JSP would still be happy with the tower speakers...

Compared to other online articles on HT, I think this one is less offensive (to our HT sensibilities) than most.

 

[Greg_R]

I agree with Mike... that article is factual for casual HT purchasers IF YOU READ IT CAREFULLY.

This forum is not filled with typical users. My parents are typical users and they are happy with 2 "full range" main speakers. It would be nice if they mentioned that 2 sats + sub can be better performers that a pair of towers in the same price range. Still, JSP would still be happy with the tower speakers...

Compared to other online articles on HT, I think this one is less offensive (to our HT sensibilities) than most.

 

[Thomas Newton]

I don't see that statement in the article -- maybe they've edited it?

There is one type of TV for which lower resolution might be better: LCD-based TVs. A progressive-scan LCD TV that had a 720 x 480 grid of rectangular-shaped pixels would match DVD resolution. A 1920 x 1080 set would need to scale pixels by a non-integer amount -- presumably creating opportunities for scaling artifacts.

 

[Thomas Newton]

I don't see that statement in the article -- maybe they've edited it?

There is one type of TV for which lower resolution might be better: LCD-based TVs. A progressive-scan LCD TV that had a 720 x 480 grid of rectangular-shaped pixels would match DVD resolution. A 1920 x 1080 set would need to scale pixels by a non-integer amount -- presumably creating opportunities for scaling artifacts.

 

[Greg_R]

Thomas,
You are correct... it appears that they've edited that segment of the article!