Need help finishing my system

congrats on the new gear! lemme see if i can help you out...

1) for your purposes, cables will not really matter. i seriously doubt you'd notice any difference between Monster and Radio Shack cables in your system. Monster isn't that good anyways.

2) AR's cables are quality components for the price. however, unless you can get them cheaper than RS cables, just stick to what your local Rat Shack has to offer.

3) use component if you can. even though your TV is not HD, you will notice a difference between s-video and component. it will not be as large a difference as jumping from composite to s-video, but it's definitely noticable.

4) i'd suggest either a Panasonic RV-32 (~$150 from Best Buy). nothing fancy or anything, just a solid player from the best DVD player manufacturer (IMO). get the RP-56 if you plan to move to a HD unit in the next 2-3 years.

good luck!

 

Thomas gave you most of the answers. But since you are talking to a "friend", let me give you some details to discuss with your friend.
Do cables matter?
Yes, but it depends upon your system.
Radio Shack/AR video cables are great for the money. A "modest" system should see no difference between these and Monster brands.
But a more sensitive system will show a difference.
A "sensitive" system is any one of these:
- Display size around 50" or larger
- Display is a HD/HD ready television
- Cable run somewhere over 12 feet
- Pushing Progressive or HD signals
And we can tell you where to buy professional grade cables that are cheaper than Monster, but perform as good/better.
What type of video connection
Home Theater Magazine compared the 3 connection types and came up with these results for a reference 50" RPTV:
Composite (single cable with RCA plugs) - baseline
SVideo (funny 'keyboard' connector) - 20% improvement over Composite
Component (3 cables with RCA plugs) - 25% improvement over Composite
They noted that the difference is LESS with a smaller TV, and MORE with a larger one.
Hope this helps.

 

Pablo,
Not necessarily better, but certainly cheaper than Monster, you can find Acoustic Research Pro cables at sites such as Accessories4Less.

 

Try this Thread
for some web sites.
Most of these sites use Canare or Belden coax - the same stuff used in the professional production studios. The prices do vary so shop around.
Good Luck.

 

Hi Pablo
Cables do matter. What ti all boils down to is resistance.
True Radio Shack cables can sound as good as Monster cables. You really have to hook them up to see which one sound better on your system. I have monster connection between one set of components (my amp and pre-amp)that sounds good but it does not sound good between my dvd player and my pre-amp, there I use Cambrige They sound good there, so you see you just have to try trial and error.
About your video hook-up,you have to have a progressive scan tv and dvd player in order to have a progressive picture.
As far as a good dvd player between 100-300 dollars many to chaoose from Denon,Toshoba,Pioneer etc.

Hope I was of help.

Mike Bledsoe