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[chilin_dude]

Ok, the time has come where my family is looking into buying a total new Tv setup(TV,DVD, Speakers) - So obviouslly I've been doing some research on what we want, and I have come up with a list of the stuff I think we need for our new set-up. So I was wondering if you guys could help me come up with some equipment that would suit the needs and the costs?
Ok heres the details:

Television
Required Features

Must be an LCD - I've looked into LCD vs Plasma debate and it seems that up to 35" LCD's seem to be better... And there's the fact plasma's are so much dearer!

Must be at least 28" big - Can't be any bigger than 35" or it will look stupid in the room.

Mustn't have speakers to either side of it, prefferably underneath it instead - This is because to the side of it adds on width, we don't have width to spare

Prefferably HDTV as this is coming to UK in 2006 and we don't want to have to buy another TV then!
Cost Limit - £1500 - This is a stone cold top limit, anything around £1200 would be best though, but if we have to spend more so be it.

DVD
Required Features

Must be a Dvd Recorder - Looked into it, and decided we want a dvd-recorder rather than a VCR, probably going to get Liteon 5005, however you guys obviously know more than me so your thoughts are appreciated!

Must output to surround sound - Here's where I don't know much, I lack in the sound department so I need to know that the recorder/player I get supports surround sound (for that cinema effect )

Cost limit - £250 however I want it to be around £170 ish if possible.

Speakers
Required Features

Must be surround Sound - as I want that authentic cienam effect

Must have at least 5 speakers - I dunno if you have to have 5 for surround sound, but we want at least 5 speakers... And hopefully one subwoofer - Although I don't know what one of these are, could someone inform me of what they are please?

Cost Limit - £150 But hoping to spend no more than £100



So there you have it, thanks a lot for reading and for any information you give, it will be greatly appreciated!

[Dolfhin]

I would spend less money on the TV and get a ''out of the box'' home cinema system with DVD recorder (are you sure you don't want a HDD recorder?).

[chilin_dude]

QUOTE (Dolfhin @ Oct 24 2004, 10:14 PM)

I would spend less money on the TV and get a ''out of the box'' home cinema system with DVD recorder (are you sure you don't want a HDD recorder?).

I can't get a good Tv for less I don't think .
I was thinking about getting a 'out of the box' home cinema system, but it seems alot dearer, e.g. £500 is cheapest and the DVD-Recorder doesn't look particularly good!

[Mr Ed]

You're willing to spend more on a DVD player than a sound system?

Everyone needs to make their own mind up, but I bought a 60" HDTV that was pretty expensive and my sound system cost about twice that.  I'm not saying you should spend these amounts, but it seem to me like any decent surround sound system is always going to cost more than your TV and DVD player combined.  

Anyway, your choices for TV and DVD player seem good based on your desires.  Personally for something as small as 35", It'd just get a CRT TV.

But for surround sound, at least look into some of the Yamaha home theaters in a box.  The speakers aren't great, but for the money they are hard to beat.  You can always upgrade speakers later.  I can't imagine matching up a surround sound system for less than $500 USD (300 UK?) to a TV that cost over $1,000 USD.  Again, to me, the sound system (if you include the price of 5 speakers + a subwoofer) will always be the most expensive component.

Lastly if you really want to do surround that cheap, Kenwood I believe has had some decent speaker/amp systems for around that price.

[parkerbender]

i bought a yht-440 yamaha system in a box, and it's the best 400$ i ever spent, althog after having it for a year, i do wishi the reciever was better, but other than the the subwoofer, i dont think the speakers are that bad, as the main reason that this system is better than the others in it's price range is the speakers imo.  also if you scrounge you can also find pretty decent 52" hdtv's capable of 1080i for the 800-900 range.  at least you can here in nebraska, but i have nothing but good things to say about yamaha.

[chilin_dude]

QUOTE

You're willing to spend more on a DVD player than a sound system?

Well it's the fact that it records dvds more than anything... You think we should spend less on the TV and more on the sound system then? I'll have to look into that then  

QUOTE

Everyone needs to make their own mind up, but I bought a 60" HDTV that was pretty expensive and my sound system cost about twice that.  I'm not saying you should spend these amounts, but it seem to me like any decent surround sound system is always going to cost more than your TV and DVD player combined.

I didn't realise anyone spent that much on a sound system, I thought it was always less than the TV for sure - For the novice listener, do you think that we will be able to tell a lot of difference between £100 or £500? Because I can understand if you totally loved the audio, however my family and I are pretty basic when we come to needs - Just surround sound really.

QUOTE

Anyway, your choices for TV and DVD player seem good based on your desires.  Personally for something as small as 35", It'd just get a CRT TV.

Thanks, the reason I don't want CRT is because the room it is going in isn't the biggest ever, so a 35" CRT would look very out of place, I've had a job on trying to get the family to agree to get above 30" so I definately won't get any bigger than 35"

QUOTE

But for surround sound, at least look into some of the Yamaha home theaters in a box.  The speakers aren't great, but for the money they are hard to beat.  You can always upgrade speakers later.  I can't imagine matching up a surround sound system for less than $500 USD (300 UK?) to a TV that cost over $1,000 USD.  Again, to me, the sound system (if you include the price of 5 speakers + a subwoofer) will always be the most expensive component.

The yamaha home theatres sound pretty good then, however a google could only bring up 1 version that was a dvd player and surround, are there any that come with dvd-recorders do you know?

QUOTE

Lastly if you really want to do surround that cheap, Kenwood I believe has had some decent speaker/amp systems for around that price.

Sounds good, I'll definately look into kenwood products then.
Thanks a lot for the help Mr Ed, if only prices in the UK were as good as in USA!

QUOTE

i bought a yht-440 yamaha system in a box, and it's the best 400$ i ever spent, althog after having it for a year, i do wishi the reciever was better, but other than the the subwoofer, i dont think the speakers are that bad, as the main reason that this system is better than the others in it's price range is the speakers imo. also if you scrounge you can also find pretty decent 52" hdtv's capable of 1080i for the 800-900 range. at least you can here in nebraska, but i have nothing but good things to say about yamaha.

Thanks for the information, I'll definately look into that specific model!

[Dolfhin]

What about skiping the entire DVD recorder idea and bying a decent Satelite HDD recorder? Most of the time you just record something to watch it at a other time but not to watch it over and over again.
A satelite HDD recorder will allow you to delete things you have seen before and has plenty of space to store (upto) 120 hours of video!

Besides that a decent satelite reciver will give you a really nice image. It will be so much beter than a normal cable service. As an extra it might give you the option to output digital sound to your brand new reciver.

I have a satelite reciver myself and I have to say that it looks awesome! Really nice colors and with loads of details, it's almost like watching a DVD! Give it a try a decent satelite reciver doesn't have to cost more than 200 euro and that will leave some room to buy a cheap DVD player.

[Mr Ed]

QUOTE (chilin_dude @ Oct 25 2004, 02:11 AM)

The yamaha home theatres sound pretty good then, however a google could only bring up 1 version that was a dvd player and surround, are there any that come with dvd-recorders do you know?

Yeah there are some.  In fact, I recommend against getting a surround sound system that includes a DVD player.  Usually you get higher quality components buying separately, and no one is going to bundle a DVD recorder in a surround sound package.

...did some searching...

Wow, Ok, there aren't any targeted for the UK  

This is from the Yamaha US website:

http://www.yamaha.co...htib_direct.htm

The UK website only lists the one you found.  Weird.  

[Mr Ed]

QUOTE (chilin_dude @ Oct 25 2004, 02:11 AM)

I didn't realise anyone spent that much on a sound system, I thought it was always less than the TV for sure - For the novice listener, do you think that we will be able to tell a lot of difference between £100 or £500? Because I can understand if you totally loved the audio, however my family and I are pretty basic when we come to needs - Just surround sound really.

Yeah, I'm sure not everyone agrees with me, but if the sound is important, amps and speakers cost some money.

When it is important:
If you like to listen to a movie like U571 and feel the depth charges.
If you also will use this to listen to music.  Many surround sound systems don't play music well.
If you throw parties where the movies/sound will be the center of attention


When it isn't important:
If volume is an issue (i.e. you live in a condo or apartment)
If you have young kids (now that I have a 2 year old, the volume only goes high when she isn't home, because the movies I want to listen to loud are R rated action movies I don't want her to hear, plus she's usually sleeping when I'm watching a movie).

A high quality system isn't just about volume, but that's certainly a key aspect.  It's about clarity in the sound, however, it doesn't appear going into this you are going to be really picky about sound quality, so that's not as big an issue to you.  For me, I want to be able to reach volume levels of a movie theater without any distortions or audible strain on the speakers.

[chilin_dude]

QUOTE (Dolfhin @ Oct 25 2004, 04:23 PM)

What about skiping the entire DVD recorder idea and bying a decent Satelite HDD recorder? Most of the time you just record something to watch it at a other time but not to watch it over and over again. A satelite HDD recorder will allow you to delete things you have seen before and has plenty of space to store (upto) 120 hours of video! Besides that a decent satelite reciver will give you a really nice image. It will be so much beter than a normal cable service. As an extra it might give you the option to output digital sound to your brand new reciver. I have a satelite reciver myself and I have to say that it looks awesome! Really nice colors and with loads of details, it's almost like watching a DVD! Give it a try a decent satelite reciver doesn't have to cost more than 200 euro and that will leave some room to buy a cheap DVD player.

Well, I don't really want a hdd-recorder because we like to store things for the future, so I will be buying plenty of dvd-rs and dvd-rw's for that. Also there aren't any in the UK that come with sattelite built in  

QUOTE

Yeah there are some. In fact, I recommend against getting a surround sound system that includes a DVD player. Usually you get higher quality components buying separately, and no one is going to bundle a DVD recorder in a surround sound package.

Cool, I'll make sure I buy them separatley then!

QUOTE

...did some searching... Wow, Ok, there aren't any targeted for the UK  This is from the Yamaha US website: http://www.yamaha.co...htib_direct.htm The UK website only lists the one you found. Weird.

Thanks for doing some searching it's appreciated, doesn't it suck to be in the UK??? The other option I have is that I may be able to find a site that is willing to ship to the UK if I find a really nice set, speakers wouldn't make any difference as long as I got a power adapter would they?

[chilin_dude]

QUOTE (Mr Ed @ Oct 25 2004, 05:48 PM)

Yeah, I'm sure not everyone agrees with me, but if the sound is important, amps and speakers cost some money. When it is important: If you like to listen to a movie like U571 and feel the depth charges. If you also will use this to listen to music.  Many surround sound systems don't play music well. If you throw parties where the movies/sound will be the center of attention When it isn't important: If volume isn't an issue (i.e. you don't live in a condo or apartment) If you don't have young kids (now that I have a 2 year old, the volume only goes high when she isn't home, because the movies I want to listen to loud are R rated action movies I don't want her to hear, plus she's usually sleeping when I'm watching a movie).

 Thanks for the list of things... I'll point it out to my family and see what they think, we may end up spending more on surround sound because we mainly want it for movies like U571.

[Mr Ed]

QUOTE (chilin_dude @ Oct 25 2004, 10:48 AM)

Thanks for doing some searching it's appreciated, doesn't it suck to be in the UK??? The other option I have is that I may be able to find a site that is willing to ship to the UK if I find a really nice set, speakers wouldn't make any difference as long as I got a power adapter would they?

 Yeah, but I'm hoping Yamaha makes decent enough equipment to include switching power supplies for Europe, however, don't quote me on that.

[hockeyguy]

Mr. Ed, what does your audio set up look like?  I enjoy living vicariously through others for the time being, until I can justify dropping a few grand on some high end components and cables.

For the record though, I am in love with monitor audio speakers.  They are not the most expensive by far, but they are the best sounding of the speakers I have listened to.

[chilin_dude]

Anyone know any good LCD 30" models then please?

[Mr Ed]

QUOTE (hockeyguy @ Oct 25 2004, 12:26 PM)

Mr. Ed, what does your audio set up look like?

Do you mean pictures or just component brands/models?

You aren't the first person to ask me, so I guess I should break down and make a thread about it.