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[GDJustin]

Alright, so maybe I'm not COMPLETELY ignorant when it comes to this stuff, in the sense that most people's parents or grandparents are.... but I wouldn't be insulted if you guys talked to me like I was.

Basically, I know that a lot of you guys in here are very into home theater and home audio setups, so I'd like you to give me a crash course, so I can be an educated buyer. I probably won't be buying until this coming fall, so I know that prices and whatnot will change between now and then, but if you educate me in the basics, I can then follow the scene myself and know exactly what to buy in October or so when I'm ready.

I finally landed a "real" job, and getting my living room perfect has become the top priority, once I've done some saving.

First off, TVs. I'm looking to get something widescreen/high def. Its primary use would be for gaming. Movies secondary, although it would get good movie use. Very little actual TV show watching. I've read that Plasma TVs are the best, while other people say that they burn out quickly??? What are the pros/cons of Plasma/LCD? It being flat isn't necessary, if its going to add like $2000 to the price, although a thin-ass TV would be pretty awesome. I'm probably going to be looking around the $2000 range... is that really enough to get an "impressive" TV from a hardcore gamers' point of view, even if it isn't the absolute biggest most badass there is, or will I have to spend a little more?

Next, audio. Do I really need anything other than Dolby 5.1? Speaker set prices range wildly; is paying more actually worth it, or will a cheaper set offer comparable sound? Can someone point me to some of the better values out there?

Thanks to those of you who help me out!

 

[seanoff]

dammit, u put a price range. I was going to suggest a Sony Qualia 006 RPTV @ $13000.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5004722#post5004722 go here for a review from a guy who works with the stuff.


CNET have a very good HDTV section, go and check it out. They don't play favourites and there is plenty of FAQs about the various screen techs.


At 2k u could get a Sony XBR960 Super fine pitch CRT. These are fucking awesome TVs, and at 1920x1440 will take hdmi from your pc if u have it and display it very crisply. They also scale pretty well so 480i stuff looks ok at full screen and it scales 720 beautifully given that it is exactly double the horizontal res. edit - and at 190lbs+ almost burglar proof http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...r_tube&Dept=tv&ProductSKU=KD34XBR960#features

edit - CNET use this as their reference tv

audio, get a reasonable ht in a box. avsforum have a whole bit dedicated to this. but remember speakers can't defy physics, if u want bass u need size.

good luck

 

[GDJustin]

Thanks for the advice. I'm reading some of the advice at CNET now. Can anyone give me some tips to not get burned? Any noobish mistakes to avoid? I'd assume things like "more inches isn't always better, be sure to look for _____" or whatever.

Also, whats the concensus on plasma vs. LCD, for gaming?

 

[seanoff]

always check the resolution. cheap plasmas may only have 480 lines.

i know its for gaming mostly but check what the tuner can do and the inputs.

trust yourself, not me, not klee. I'd tell u to get the xbr but that may not suit u.


LCDs can suffer from lag, so u get the ghosting effect on quick moving things. Plasmas can get a screen door effect, where u are aware of the joints between the pixels. and both techs are expensive compared to crt.


But set yourself a budget, read whatever u can including reviews, look at the screens in motion and make your choice.

 

[Dilbert]

DLP kicks the ass of both plasma and LCD.

 

[human5892]

I can't stress reading reviews enough. If at all possible, bring your game system to the store and try it out on the equipment before you buy it. I would've saved myself a huge headache had I done this with my most recent set.

 

[Koopa]

I have the Panasonic 50" DLP PT-50DL54. Holy fucking shit. One would never think the abilty to tell the difference in image quality between that and my 60" LCD projection which in its own right is an awsome TV, DLP might be out of your price range, I paid alittle under 2700 for mine but I get huge discounts on Panasonic.

I looked at different plasma's with HDMI and even true LCD's man. DLP floored me more than anything, especially with a HDMI setup.

 

[borghe]

DLP kicks both plasma's and LCD's ass.. no questions at all... the new 3-chip LCOS (D-ILA) sets from JVC aren't too bad either.. CRT IMHO still beats both by a noticeable bit, is cheaper, though is bigger, heavier, and you still have to deal with convergence and geometry...

as for stereos and speakers... you can match great speakers to a crappy stereo but you CAN'T match crappy speakers to a great stereo.. to put it another way, great speakers will make a crappy stereo sound great but crappy speakers will always make a good stereo sound bad...

for good speakers, arguably there is no better value in the audiophile world than Paradigm (www.paradigm.ca) If you are on a budget their Titan and Atom lines are where you want to be looking. If you aren't on a strict budget the Monitor series are just great.

as for stereos, I stick with Denon, Marantz, or Rotel.. all three have receivers starting around $500 or so and can take you up to the $5000 range. and they sound pehnomenal.

 

[Dilbert]

CRT IMHO still beats both by a noticeable bit, is cheaper, though is bigger, heavier, and you still have to deal with convergence and geometry...

...which is why I don't think CRT beats DLP by a "noticible bit." CRTs are big, heavy, a bitch to keep looking good, and as digital sources become more commonplace, technologically not as good as a digital set.

as for stereos and speakers... you can match great speakers to a crappy stereo but you CAN'T match crappy speakers to a great stereo.. to put it another way, great speakers will make a crappy stereo sound great but crappy speakers will always make a good stereo sound bad...

I disagree. If you're on an overall budget, speakers are one of the areas you can save. Yes, a system with truly bad speakers is going to sound like ass. But if you get a good sat/sub system NOW, paired with a great receiver, you're all set for future upgrades as you can afford them. You can replace your front two speakers first with better-quality replacements (great for 2-channel audio), then work on improving the others when your budget permits. On the other hand, great speakers will reveal the limitations of your crappy receiver painfully well...and when you have to upgrade your receiver, it's a PILE of money all at once.

as for stereos, I stick with Denon, Marantz, or Rotel.. all three have receivers starting around $500 or so and can take you up to the $5000 range. and they sound pehnomenal.

What's wrong with Harman Kardon?

 

[borghe]

I disagree. If you're on an overall budget, speakers are one of the areas you can save. Yes, a system with truly bad speakers is going to sound like ass. But if you get a good sat/sub system NOW, paired with a great receiver, you're all set for future upgrades as you can afford them. You can replace your front two speakers first with better-quality replacements (great for 2-channel audio), then work on improving the others when your budget permits. On the other hand, great speakers will reveal the limitations of your crappy receiver painfully well...and when you have to upgrade your receiver, it's a PILE of money all at once.

wow.. we couldn't possibly disagree more on this....... :lol

first, all sat/sub sets need to go away. more people have just downright shitty sounding "home theaters" than I can count because of cambridge, bose, etc... satellite speakers DON'T sound as good as loudspeakers. with smaller magnets, smaller and fewer cones, and a smaller cabinet to handle and transform the acoustics satellite speakers have no place in the home theater. I suppose they are fine for the office or hidden outside or something, but if you want a home THEATER, you need THEATER quality speakers which means going with a quality loudspeaker. a tweeter, one or two midranges, and one or two woofers...

as for great speaker compared to a great stereo... it isn't even arguable.. you throw a $10,000/piece loudspeakers on a $300 stereo and guess what... that stereo will sound absolutely gorgeous.. yes, a $300 stereo will sound unbelievable.. you stick a pair of $400/pair speakers on even a $1200 stereo and frankly you are going to be wondering where your money went. Yes the receiver controls the digital to analog conversion and handles amplification of the analog signal (though it better not be adding any effe3cts or EQ onto it, another pet peeve of the audiphile), but none of that means anything without a quality set of speakers. take a $1200 receiver and pipe that through a set of satellites and you will be laughed right off the board at any respectable AV forum...

as for upgrading speakers one pair at a time.. don't even think about it.... on today's digital surround system there is only one option. buy the same speaker for every channel on the receiver. With today's soundtracks being full range on all 5 (or 6 for DTS ES Discrete) channels, it is important to not only have full range speakers on all the channels, but to have timbre matched speakers as well... there isn't a bigger annoyance in the world than having someone talking in the center channel and then as they move to the left right or rear the characteristics of their voice changes because you have KLH speakers in the front and bose satellite in the rear or some such...

anyway, go to www.paradigm.ca and find a dealer near you. it is moot because as I said, they have reasonably priced packages that sound just amazing for the price.. and if you can afford a little more then those more expensive speakers sound incrementally better also.. these speakers are just awesome...

What's wrong with Harman Kardon?

Nothing, I just have always been happy with the other three so never pursued HK. If it is good then pimp it up here

 

[Jotaro]

What about rainbow effects on DLP?

 

[borghe]

they are there.. you can't get around them.. people who say they aren't that noticeable are downplaying it... not bad enough to absolutely not buy a set but bad enough to say that CRT looks better... and the rainbow effect is still better than plasma and LCD's complete inability to generate the "color" black (or more correctly, any backlit technology to do so).

3chip DLP takes care of it though (when that finally makes it to consumer priced RPTVs later this year).