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Need help - Basic, decent Home Theater Setup for Newbie

post #1 of 6
2/2/12 at 4:31pm
Thread Starter 
Believe it or not, but I was one of the early adopters of widescreen DVD. Had worked for years as a projectionist so knew how much was being cut off the sides of a standard TV showing.

Anyhow, mid 90s I hopefully contributed to the demise of DIVX and Circuit City, also showed as many people as possible how terrible pan & scan was and how much picture they were losing.

In 1998, purchased a fantastic Toshiba 36 inch 4:3 TV and great DVD player along with a so-so sound system.

Worked fantastic. Out of several thousand DVDs, on 3 were unplayable. But Ive been reading that more and more is going BluRay only, maybe or maybe not throwing in a DVD version, so looks like I'm being forced to upgrade.

Use Dish Network, and probably 90% of what I watch is letterboxed, so not losing picture. But want the flatness, HD capability and screen size of a 42" HDTV.

Fiinally ready dive into a 42" or so HDTV, switch to BluRay and bump up the sound system.

They main thing I've come across is make sure HDTV is at least 120Mhz and obviously 1080p. Beyond that I haven't done a lot of research, so why not ask the people who truly use the equipment.

I don't need a super high-end home theatre setup, but something nice, reliable and affordable but not some cheap HDTV that will break down in two years.

Any advice on where to start, what's good, bad, etc? Or is there a good resource that I don't have to spend two weeks reading through to compare models, etc.

Thanks,
Stan
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post #2 of 6
2/2/12 at 8:30pm
Hi, Stan. I don't know how much help I will be. I doubt you can go wrong with a Sony or Samsung (or any other major name brand tv, for that matter). I have a 2 or 3 year old 50 inch Sony (lcd, 1080p, etc.) and have had no problem with it at all. I mentioned Samsung, as my daughter/son-in-law have one, and they really like it, (no problems, a little newer than mine). Before this one, I had a 55 inch Mitsubishi dlp for several years (no problems). I think I would probably look at the newer thinner model led's(?). I think I would go to a big electronics store in your area, if possible, and compare them (Best Buy or Fry's Electronics or other).

For a Blu Ray player, I have a Sony (no problems whatsoever). I think Samsung would also be fine. If I had my choice, though, I would strongly look at the Oppo (never owned or seen one, but really love the reviews). My son just recently bought a Samsung dvd/receiver combination and really likes it. I have chosen to go separates and not have a boxed setup.

Get yourself a nice little AV receiver such as Denon,Onkyo, Pioneer, etc (I have a Harman Kardon). and some speakers and you are on your way to a nice little setup. There are lots of options this way.

You really haven't mentioned exactly what you want budget wise or whether separates or htib, or ????

Good luck, and maybe someone will come along and give you some good advice.
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post #3 of 6
2/3/12 at 3:50am
For the TV, find one that has the appropriate inputs and features you want. I know this sounds odd, but don't pay as much attention to the picture quality as you might think. The display models aren't set up properly in the store anyway. Once you get it home and calibrated it will look completely different.

I'm more than happy with my Samsung Blu-ray player. It has features like Netflix streaming and a built-in high def audio decoder since I needed that with my older receiver.

Frank is correct about a budget. You have done the equivalent of going to a car forum to ask about a vehicle and giving the only requirement as "it must have at least 4 wheels". There's too many options and you didn't specify how much you want to spend or what you want out of the purchase.
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post #4 of 6
2/3/12 at 8:56am
Stan the 120MHz refresh rate only applies to LCD/LED TVs. Plasma set do not need this because they are already fast enough to keep up with fast moving objects. LCD/LED are both LCD TVs with different back light set ups (LED uses LED back lighting for LCD TVs).
You can not get too big with HDTV, 42 is a nice size but 50 inches or larger is the way to go with 1080P. So with that said my suggestion for a TV would be a Panasonic plasma set the TC-P50ST30. Panasonic has announced the 2012 models as the 50 series as opposed to the 30 series so availability of this set could become scarce.
For receivers I like Denon but Onkyo also gets a lot a good press here.
As for speakers you will find as many opinions as there are models to choice from. I like Paradigm, Energy,PSB,and Martin Logan's Motion line.
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post #5 of 6
2/3/12 at 10:45am
Thread Starter 
I just spent about an hour explaing things a little more and fine tuning my questions, onto be dumped when I hit the submit button.

Lost all my text, comments, etc.

Will remost later when things seem a little more stable.

Thank you for your advice and pointing me in the right direction to learn more about how to handle this upgrade properly.
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post #6 of 6
2/3/12 at 3:01pm
For your list...here is what I go through...

Come up with a budget for your project first. Especially if you are asking for advise here (makes it easier for our fourm members to tailor their recommendations if they have a budget to work with). Ask yourself what is important to you - what kind of movies and/or music to you like to listen too, and what are you expecting out of your system?. What is the dimensions of the space you are going to be using for your system? Is there an ability to have complete light control and go with a projector system, or is there a lot of windows in your space and you will have to try to get a good picture despite of this?

You can save a lot of money by going with some of the direct buy companies for your speakers. They will cut out the middle man and pass the savings on to you. Of course, the downside of this is unless you have a friend that has already gone this rout, you will be relying on reviews and people here recommending systems. Do you like tower speakers, or is it more important to have 5 (or 7) identical speakers for a more even sound-stage?
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