New to HT and New Member - Lot's of Questions. (1 Viewer)

[Kenyon]

I don't quite have a home theater system yet but I'm working on it. I'm 53 years old and from the old school of audio and video.
I recently bought a Samsung LN-S4095D LCD and have it hooked up with a DISH Network HD Receiver and an up-converting Philips DVD player/recorder using component cables. The TV has 2 HDMI connections as well as the DVD player and the satellite box. I purchased 2- 6ft HDMI cables for $3 each and the picture on my LCD is not as good from either when using HMDI vs Component cables. Most people say it is because of the HMDI cables being so cheap. It can only be either the cables and/or the television right?
I am not crazy about the sound of my new TV which was expected and I am working towards a HT system. My problem is that I live in a garden home and my computer is in the back bedroom, my old stereo system is between the dining room and den and my TV is on the opposite side of the Den. The Den is horrible for an HT set-up as I see it. Only about 12' by 14'. On the 2 - 12' walls (opposite each other) I have a window and door. On the 14' walls I have a sofa and tables sitting 12' away from a large fireplace. Thankfully the TV swivels 30* but speaker placement for a 5.1 or 7.1 might be hard to do. The TV is at about a 45* angle from the main (sofa) viewing area. No problem watching the TV but I'm worried about speaker placement.
I don't really want the HT system to replace my old stereo but I would like something decent for the audio portion of movies. I often have a hard time hearing the dialog when watching DVD's - turning the volume up doesn't help. I'm a new member and I did read the by-laws and I didn't see anything about saying you couldn't talk about sellers or prices. If in error let me know?

I bought the Samsung LN-S4095D from Amazon about 2 months ago without any problems - $1499. I bought an Onkyo SR504 (75 watts/channel) from them a few weeks ago - $169.88. I know that the receiver I bought does not have HDMI connections but my DVD player and satellite receiver do. Does it work and make sense to hook both of them directly to my TV using HDMI cables or Component and just hooking audio up to the A/V receiver whether digitally or coaxially? Other than for convenience I see no reason to not to run my video signal directly to my LCD. I'm not there yet but I'm sure using a Universal remote might be a good reason. I don't plan on hooking my CD player up to the receiver (My stereo will remain separate at least for now). My TV remote has a SOURCE button which allows me to switch from OTR, 2 components and 2 HDMI sources so I don't really need an A/V receiver that does that as well right???

My stereo speakers are way too large and cannot be positioned in my small room for HT viewing.

At the time I was ready to purchase a 5.1 set of speakers most online sites were sold out of the ones I wanted. Polk Audio RM6750's. A nice set at a good price and fit a small room. Since then I have purchased but not received a set of Polk Audio R300 speakers for $49 each from Fry's. I figure I'm taking a chance on these for back surround but not too big of a chance? Looks like bookshelf speakers with the rest of the 33 inches as a stand. I'm also looking at the BIC America 6" bookshelf speakers and the same center speaker for the front. Does mixing and matching lead to problems? As you can see I'm very price conscious which is probably not a good thing.

I hate this word but (Basically) I need to know the best way to hook up what I have and what should I purchase next to complete a 5.1 system? 2 fronts, a center and maybe a sub.

Laugh at my old stereo system but It still sounds great and performs well.

Sansui 7070 Receiver - about 60 watts per channel (2). 1978.

Audio Dynamics Equalizer - 1980.

Savard Mini-Columns - 1980 - hard to believe they had mini in their name. I think they were a local speaker maker. Mine sound better today than they did 27 years ago. Won't say how I got them but they were a steal even back then. 4 ft. high by 18 inches wide by 2 ft depth. The surrounding cabinets are 1.5 inches thick. In each speaker 2 - 4" tweeters, 1 - 10" horn and 2 - 12" woofers. Crossover switches behind the removable foam grills. Not really surround sound speakers.

 

[Mort Corey]

Well kenyon, at 53 you're kinda young to be talking old school, but I'll take a shot at a couple of your querries.

HDMI "should" give you the best video from your sat box as well as the DVD player. Not familiar with the particular Philips player, but most all the up-converting players ONLY upconvert over a digital connection. You don't have to go whacko on cables, but a $3 cable is likely pretty low end and could be part of the problem. Radio Shack might be a good bet.....as long as they don't try to sell you Monster branded cables (too costly).

For speakers, you'll want the front three to be from the same manufacturer to match in timbre. Surrounds won't come into play quite as much as they are mostly for effects. Your room may be difficult to arrange the gear to realize the surround effect and you may end up considering combining stereo and HT all in one place.

Good luck. Lots of good info on the forum but a lot is going to be trial and error to some extent.

Mort

 

[Robert_J]

HDMI is a digital connection, you either get a picture or you don't. There's no difference in quality. Have you calibrated your TV? Your setting for the HDMI inputs may be different from your component and that's why it looks worse.

And you are correct in looking at universal remotes. The Harmony line from Logitech is great. I have a model 880 in both my living room and theater room. I have some pretty complicated setups in both rooms but switching sources is as easy as pressing a single button. The LCD screen makes adding button labels a snap. My wife can look at it and press "Watch HD Tivo", "Watch SD Tivo", "Watch DVD", "Listen to XM", etc. No need to know that the digital audio from the HD Tivo is actually being fed into the receiver's CD input.

-Robert

 

[joseph westcott]

This is not entirely true. HDMI allows for more bandwidth which provides a wider bit depth than component and DVI connections can handle. DVI is limited to 8 bit RGB color depth and HDMI can handle up to 12 bit RGB color depths. The difference can improve video quality by eliminating contouring artifacts found on some digital displays. Some of the newer displays and players are equiped with 10 and 12 bit video processors to take advantage of HDMI's full potential.