Buying theater-in-box....please help (1 Viewer)

[James_Kiang]

OK, just when I thought the story was over, it isn't...

I went ahead and bought the Yamaha kit at Best Buy on Friday. Didn't get quite the deal I was hoping for, but it was good enough. I didn't open it though as we are having some work done in our apartment over the next couple weeks.

Jump to tonight. I'm talking to my dad and mention that I picked this up. We had been talking before all this about a Pioneer kit that has wireless surrounds. He tells me to return the Yamaha and he'll help me with the Pioneer.

So...I need more help. I'm leaning towards doing this simply because it would be easier financially of course, and the wireless surrounds appeal to me and my wife. There's the first question - how good are wireless speakers? Since they operate at 2.4 ghz and we have phones at the same frequency, will there be any interference problems?

From what I can gather, the receiver in this kit is the Pioneer VSXD414S. I don't see much info on that on the net, but it doesn't have an integrated dvd player and has all the ProLogic II/DTS capabilities. The dvd player in the kit - DV-270-S - seems to be pretty well regarded for a lower price player.

Sorry for throwing this in a whole new direction, but again any info you guys can share will be appreciated. Thanks again.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Pioneer = good.

Wireless speakers = very suspicious. I'd never touch them.

 

[Dick Knisely]

Vote for what Philip said. Wireless is too prone to interference to get my vote.

 

[John S]

Best of luck with your system......

 

[James_Kiang]

Thanks guys.

After doing a little more research, I'm a bit leery of the wireless myself. For one thing, this set up has only one rear speaker simulating the surround. That just doesn't seem like it would sound nearly as good. I found a user manual online for the wireless and it mentioned audio drops and interruptions due to phones and such. Since I have 2.4 ghz phones that seems like it could be a problem.

I may just stick with the Yamaha...

On a different note: I was at a Good Guys that's closing and they have a few things still left. I saw a Sony dvd player that was progressive scan and had the hdmi output. It also mentioned something about upconverting (think that's the right word) the picture to 1080i. Now, if I understand correctly, using component connections (and having a capable tv) would get a picture at 480p. The tv I'm getting does support 1080i. Is this a feature worth looking at? I doubt I would buy this from GG because it is out of the box and doesn't have the remote; also, I think they are selling it at a somewhat high price (was over $200 but 50% off).

I hope my flip-flopping hasn't been annoying, but you have definitely helped me. I've learned a lot in this thread. And when I need to learn more (and I will ), I'll be asking.