Complete beginner. Looking to make an informed choice. (1 Viewer)

[dave2012]

Good morning folks.
First post here. Although I've browsed through threads to get an idea of questions to ask.
I'm looking for AV equipment to do the following:
Play Blue Ray movies, and ideally still play my HD movies, and also my older non-high def discs.
Have the kids' BOX 360 to output through the surround sound.
I also want to have my regular cable TV going through it (sports, movies etc).
I also want to be able to connect my laptop, to play downloaded video content.
I also want to plug in via USB to play music off portable devices - Zune etc
All I have right now is a Dynex TV, with HDMI, that we play the XBOX through. Using the TV speakers.
The room is approximately 14' x 14'.
Budget: it's hard to say until I know roughly where the performance/$ points are - but say $200 - $300. We're not massive audiophiles and we have other things that need money right now.
I'm afraid I don't even know what the best way to interconnect all these things is.
Cheers,
Dave

 

[gartronics]

Might be asking a bit much for 300 bucks. You may be able to find an all in one system with bluray player. The down side to those are a serious lack of inputs. They usually only have 1 or 2 and only 1 is digital. Then you would have to use an input source switch. I would suggest looking for a standard a/v receiver and buying a separate bluray player, I believe they play dvd too. If you get a bluray player that has a usb port on it for flash drives, chances are that it plays media files of many formats. You may be able to get a decent surround receiver at a pawn shop. I got one for 60 bucks at cash America pawn. You may have to hunt ebay and craigslist for speakers and a sub. As far as playing back media from zune and ipod etc. I would just buy an RCA "Y" Cable and hook directly to the receiver. Basically the cable plugs into the headphone jack of your mp3 player and the other end plugs in via RCA jacks. Couple bucks to solve that. As far as connecting your laptop to the tv, your tv has to support this feature. If your tv has a VGA input on it then you should just have to run the vga cable from your laptop to the tv. If not then playing downloaded content will be limited to the bluray player's flash drive playback. Lastly, to get that sound from your xbox you will need to find your tv's audio out and run the appropriate cable from the tv to the receiver. Will probably be an analog output, but if it's a good tv it will have digital too. So yeah, you can probably just squeeze by with 300 bucks, but making a few small compromises. So my final recommendation (1.) A / V Surround Receiver (2.) Five satellite speakers (small 40 to 80 watt bookshelf speakers) and a powered subwoofer (60 to 120 watt) (3.) Bluray player with front mounted usb port. Capable of playing formats like .mkv .vob .divx .mpg .mov .mp4 .h264 .mp3 and what ever else it might play. (4) A Stereo minijack to rca "Y" Cable (5) A VGA cable (Male to Male 15 pin d-sub) Providing your tv supports VGA and your laptop has a VGA port on it.
That's it, hope this is helpful to you. Others here may have better advice, but as I said before $300 bucks is not a lot to build with. Any more questions, feel free to ask.

 

[MIchlandir]

Really appreciate those links/tips. . . I'm a Blu Ray nubie, too, and have been trying in vain to get my PS3 to play through a Sony Bravia 5.1 HTIB system with a new Panasonic Plasma 1080i to no avail . . . that Denon system seems pretty sweet. Bought an optical cable, but the SONY is the weak link in the chain . . . I have an HDMI connecting the Sony and the TV, and the PS3 and the TV, but I can't get the sound to play out of the system when playing a blu ray disc on the PS3. Have resigned myself to just getting a new system. . .

 

[gartronics]

Really appreciate those links/tips. . . I'm a Blu Ray nubie, too, and have been trying in vain to get my PS3 to play through a Sony Bravia 5.1 HTIB system with a new Panasonic Plasma 1080i to no avail . . . that Denon system seems pretty sweet. Bought an optical cable, but the SONY is the weak link in the chain . . . I have an HDMI connecting the Sony and the TV, and the PS3 and the TV, but I can't get the sound to play out of the system when playing a blu ray disc on the PS3. Have resigned myself to just getting a new system. . .

Sounds like your HTIB system doesn't have the DTS True HD audio decoder. Most bluray movies are encoded With that format. On some you may find a standard DTS track or an AC3 track but not very common. Just make sure your new A/V system has the DTS True HD Decoder and you should be good.

 

[schan1269]

HTiB(nor anything else EVER MADE for that matter) can decode Dolby True HD or DTS HS MA/HR via toslink.
If this "Bravia 5.1" isn't a BD player(what model is it?) you'll never have ANYTHING but DD via toslink.
Every HTiB(one piece throwaway) I can think of only accepts 2.0 PCM and 5.1 DD via toslink(in other words, the only two sound modes used in OTA)

 

[MIchlandir]

Thanks Guys . . . I saw McCambley posted a link above to a Denon DHT1513BA. Would that solve all my problems? Anyone have any feedback on that HT system? Also, I shopped it around priced at between $550 - $599. "Accessories for Less" was advertising the whole system above, WITH Boston Acoustic speakers in 5.1, for $345 or similar. WTF?! Real deal? Anyone bought from them before?
Thanks - - -
Mike

 

[schan1269]

A4L is an authorized re-seller of "refurb"...Refurb won't come with the "original" warranty of(Denon typical...) 2 years. It will have(I've never looked, so I suggest you look) 90 days, 6 months or maybe a year.
"Yes" the 1513BA will solve the issues you are having with your current HTiB, as the 1513 is a REAL receiver...not a "throwaway"...
By the way the "BA" in the 1513BA stands for Boston Acoustics...
Denon, Marantz and Boston Acoustics(amongst a few other things) are owned by the same umbrella company.

 

[gene c]

I've bought refurbished things from ac4l a few times. Most recently in April for a Marantz 5005 receiver, 7006 Bluray player and 4003 cd changer. All were good as new without a mark on them. You can also get a 2, 3 or 5 year extended warranty from a third party through ac4l.com. $25, $35 and $50 for items under $500.

 

[MIchlandir]

Gene, Sam, THANK YOU!!!!

 

[MIchlandir]

Is there another comparable make/model that you might recommend at or around this price point?