AHHHH....All the choices!!! (1 Viewer)

[Ryan Leemhuis]

I am yet another helpless person to succumb to the powers know as HTS. All the choices that exist are all overwhelming me! My first step was to choose a HTiB.(I am gonna be a poor college student so I decided to get the receiver and speakers together an buy the DVD separately.) I have basically decided on the Kenwood HTB-505. I took the step up from the 405 model to get a little more juice! Secondly, I moved onto the DVD player. I was all set on my Sony DVP-NS715P(Best Buy Ad)until I went to Best Buy and one of their employees suggested the Toshiba SD-4800(Best Buy Ad) I examined this and I can't decide between the two. Any help here would be much appreciated.(Is the colorstream component any better than regular component?) Lastly, it was time to decide on a TV. I knew I wanted a manageable size, nothing larger than 24 in. and it would be a HUGE plus to have component inputs. Unfortunately, again I was stuck but this time with THREE! The 20' Sony WEGA, the Toshiba 20AF42( Best Buy AD) and last, but not least, the JVC AV20F703(Circuit City AD) The JVC received nice reviews and so did the Toshiba, However, I hear of a problem in the "Geometry" of the WEGA. Any Suggestions on which to go with would be helpful. Thank you for reading!

 

[John Garcia]

I picked up the NS755 for $242, and for the ~$40 more than the 715, you get SACD. Toshiba makes very good units, but I would go Sony here, personally.

TV - I would take a look at the Panasonic TAU sets. Excellent color, and not too expensive. I have a WEGA and 2 TAUs (a 27" and 24") and both the TAUs have better color than my WEGA (all of them calibrated).

My friend has that Toshiba in his bedroom, and it is not bad at all. I have never been a fan of JVC TVs, but I honestly have not looked at the new models.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

I would shy away from toshiba. I know a friend with a Toshiba HDTV, and a toshiba dvd player, and they're just cheesy feeling, all plastic, and the tv has some problems, and its pretty new. I know someone else with a toshiba DVD player and it smacks of crappiness. It rattles and makes noise when you play a dvd, we devised a duct tape solution, of taping the front of the tray really tightly to the machine once the dvd is in, but needless to say, why buy a dvd player that you need to hold together with duct tape :frowning: Oh, and I have a no-frills toshiba vcr, barely 6 mos old and it's whining and making noise, and it buzzes then it plays tapes, and there's tons of audio noise that comes off it, it sounds like i'm playing old scratchy records. I'm almost to the point of whipping out that OOOOLD mono vcr.

 

[John Garcia]

With Toshiba DVD players, it's kind of like a lot of tire manufacturers - their cheap stuff is crap, while their higher end stuff is very good. A buddy of mine has one of the nicest DVD players I've heard and seen, and it is a Toshiba (but it was $1000 too). In the price range you are talking about, I would stick with Panasonic or Sony.
The Sony TVs cost more, but they also have a few features the others don't, which is why I will stick with WEGAs for the main system.

 

[Adam Bluhm]

Good call on the Panny's. I've always been partial to Panasonic. Before I began researching HT extensively, I figured Panasonic would make up my entire system (speakers and all). After mucho research, my DVD player will have the Panny logo on it.. nothing else.
.. but that doesn't mean Panasonic doesn't make good products all around! I'm only going non-Panny for a 27" television simply because 32" is the smallest they'll make HDTV's.