Home theater hardware suggestions.

[Dragon_Cooler]

Ok. With some of the wedding money I am looking at finally settling down and getting my home theater setup. However as good as I am with computers i am terrible when it comes to media players and consoles. So here goes nothing...

Right now I am tossing back and forth between a ps3 and a MCPC, something like the new lenovo q700 (which looks amazing!!). Something small quiet and power efficient and that will play 1080p with out any issues. My tug with the ps3 is, I dont play console games. There is nothing that says I wont in the future, but for 300 bucks I essentially get a blu-ray player with the ability to stream videos using "ps3 media server" for the pc. Anyone prefer one over the other?

Also another wrench in the equation is I am looking at replacing my dead klipsch pro media ultras with the logitech z5500's. I know these speakers will interface with the PS3, but I dont know how well using the spdif. I know you are asking, WTF there are better options than those. Yes, but for 300 bucks I get a versatile speaker set that I can use with a pc too. On top of which they are better than most 'home theater in a box' sets. The speakers right now arent that important since those can be added on later...
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My other question is, do any of yall have a preference on a 32-37 in LCD tv? This of course will be for the PS3 or HTPC, so it must have a PC input. The TV will be for our bedroom since I already have a 50in plasma in the living room. Between the TV and PS3/HTPC I am not looking to spend more than $1000.



So in all:
PS3 or lenovo q700 like HTPC (blu-ray, GB network, HDMI, small, quiet, power effecient)
and
What 32-27in tv is recommended? ( for around 300-400)

[Major_A]

What is your ultimate goal of either of these options? Watch HD movies and the occasional video file?

[Dragon_Cooler]

Pretty much. I dont want to worry about playing any format along with having the ability to stream internet muic like pandora or di.fm. Also viewing pictures from a card would be nice too.

[Skippman]

I think I've pretty much established my home theater cred on here so let me jump in.

The PS3 is one of the best BluRay player on the market even today. It sports wicked fast (for BluRay) load times, great picture quality, and if you can find a 1st gen SACD audio support (may not matter to you). I've been using one for about 2 years on my basement home theater. That being said it does have a couple of noticable drawbacks. Chiefly you cannot use a universal remote like the Logitech Harmony with it as it has no IR ports since Sony decided to use Bluetooth for it. You can buy products from other companies that will add a IR port to the front via USB but you will have no control over the power on/off fuctionality. There are work arounds for it like the Toothfairy which is basically a hacked appart PS3 remote wired to a IR receiver, but they're expensive. Usually $100 or more.

A HTPC CAN be a reasonably fast BluRay player, will be able to do other things, and will be future upgradable. However build cost can be fairly high depending on the components you use.

There are companies out there like Oppo Digital who sell dedicated BluRay players that will support a varity of formats. The Oppo will even support MKV files which is extremely rare. The Oppo may be a bit out of your budget as I have no idea what the final MSRP for the player ended up being as I purchased mine as part of the Beta/Early Adopter program. I will tell you that it is one heck of a fine DVD upconverter and has been worth every penny as it support pretty much any format I can throw at it, DVD, BluRay, SACD, DVD-A, etc. The only downside it it doesn't support streaming media over a home network like a HTPC or PS3 would.

As far as speakers go, I don't PERSONALLY think you're going to get anything good for $300 but you might be able to find a couple bargin home theater in a box setups. I'd look at Yamaha as they tend to have a pretty good all-in-one solution. Just make sure you stay away from any speaker sets that use propriatary connectors like Sony tends to as you may find yourself wanting to upgrade one or more components in your sound system and being stuck with a vendor specific plug can such. Also make sure to check the ohm rating for the speakers annd amp. Make sure they're 8ohm and not some wierd 6ohm or 4ohm load as that can cause problems in the future.

[Dragon_Cooler]

Awesome! Thanks for the info. Do you stream videos to your ps3? how well does it do? You are right about the remote. It would be nice and would pretty much make it pointless to get a theater system and not have a remote.

How about tvs? is there any certain 32-37in LCD tv that anyone would recommend? If anything I will just go by the reviews at newegg or what I can briefly find on the net.

[Major_A]

Now take the Phenom II 965 and build you a HTPC. Congrats on the nice prize.

[Skippman]

I do stream video to the PS3 via it's built in wireless NIC and my TVersity media server in my office. It works OK. Not great, but OK. That might be due in large part to the mish-mash of video files I have on my server. I know it totally will not support MKV at all which is what many of my DVD rips are in. I do not like the PS3 as a MP3 player as there is a substantial lag time while browsing my MP3 collection. My X360 defiantly seems to edge the PS3 out in that regard.

As for TV's I don't really know about LCD TV's in that size range as I've not looked at anything that small to be honest. I generally prefer plasma TV's for their superior black levels. I know Samsung is extremely well regarded in the 40+ size range due to they're use of zoned HILED's in place of the traditional light bars for back lighting. This gives them the ability to better reproduce black levels that actually LOOK black rather than gray. When a LCD screen tries to reproduce black it does so by opaquing the cell and making it block all the light from the back lighting of the screen. With traditional LCD's this lighting usually comes from the edges resulting in lighter/brighter spots around the border of the screen as the light bars' intensity cannot be adjusted or the whole picture would dim. Using the HILED banks they can darken each section of the picture independently which helps compensate for the LCD screens inability to completely block out the light.

Now there's been a lot of talk about the 120hz and now 240hz LCD panels that have come out recently. The faster the refresh rate, the smoother the image. Just like an old CRT monitor. I've not seen a side by side between the 60hz, 120hz, and 240hz sets to tell you if there's a perceptible difference but I imagine between 60hz and 120hz it's dramatic. 120hz to 240hz I dunno... that's AWFULLY fast. Most research I've read says the human eye can see 30-48 distinct frames per second. However our perception may actually be greater than that. Much like human hearing which extends only to 22khz but can perceive inflections in sound generated all the way to 48khz or above. Refresh rates really going to depend on what you're using the screen for. For a normal theater setup (IE non-gaming) I tend to recommend any display which is capable of locking in at 24fps. You'll start to see more and more TV's with this as a feature as that's the rate at which films are recorded. By locking the display to the same rate of speed as the media it's playing it reduces flicker and ghosting, just like VSync in 3D games.

Now if you plan to use your TV for gaming I'd recommend a 120hz set or even a 240hz set if you can afford it. Not just due to the smoothness of the image but due to the emergence of 3D technology (see RealD). Using a 240hz display you can give each lense of the 3D glasses a 120hz picture. This means your 3D video and games will appear more flicker free than if they were at 60hz. Since the image is polarized you take the displays maximum refresh rate and divide it by your number of filters; in this case 2 - one for each eye. So thus a 240hz display gives each eye a 120hz picture.

I hope that makes sense.

[HONkUS]

I am very happy with my Insignia especially since I got it on sale for $400

When my Klipsch 4.1's died I bought a Yamaha HTR-5750 and some old Technics 3-way floor speakers off craigslist. No matter how nice the pc speakers nothing quite sounds like bass from 12 inch (or bigger) woofers. Ive decided buying a home theater in a box is like buying a Dell, its so much more satisfying to pick your own parts!

I have a small apartment so my desk pulls double duty as my home entertainment center kind of like what your talking about. Here is my setup, hope it helps!



If you do this though be careful, lots of people get great deals but lots more get jipped.

[Major_A]

Holy schnikies that keyboard is old school.

[Dragon_Cooler]

Holy schnikies that keyboard is old school.

But it clicks soo loud which makes it sooo awesome!!

I am leaning towards a little HTPC. I will leave the PS3 out of the question since I think it will be a waist of money because I dont play console games. The reason I wanted a super small and quiet machine was because its going in the bedroom. I didnt want to heat the room up or make it sound like our computer room. I have a decent HTPC in the living room which needs new speakers. I really dont know what route I am going to take yet with those. oh well. I will keep an eye out.

My TV wants are a 37-40in, but I am thinking my wallet can only dig into a 32in. I will have to keep looking. There are sooooooo many choices its sickening me.

[Skippman]

Have you done any reading on AVS Forum? That's pretty much the go-to site for all things home theater related and where I've picked up a good deal of my knowledge other than just cruising the local home theater specialty stores here in town. Is it bad when you're on a first name basis with almost every home theater professional in your city?