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Home Theater
khain
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I recently bought a Sony 46XBR HDTV and I have ton questions on how to go about buying and setting up a home theater.
Sound System
I'm basically clueless when it comes to sound systems. I'm willing to spend between $1,000 to $2,000, but would prefer to keep it towards the middle unless you get large jumps in quality. I know in another thread ElJeffe suggested Paradigm and some of my friends have suggested Klipsch and Polk. Is there any reason to go with one brand over the other and what exactly do you look for when comparing different speakers? Onto the receiver and once again I'm pretty confused, I know I need 2-3 HDMI inputs and two component inputs as well as whatever a PC would use (miniplug? RCA?), but what else do you look at.
Here's what my room looks like and what I plan on doing if that makes a difference or if anyone has a suggestion on placement:
HTPC
I recently bought a PS3 that was I planning to use as a HTPC by using TVersity on my main computer and then having the PS3 access it, however in another thread some one mentioned that the PS3 didn't support surround sound if you do this. Is this true and if so is there a way around it? If not, I have a older PC, a P4 3.0 GHz with a NVidia 5900 Ultra is that powerful enough to push 720p and 1080p videos at a consistent frame rate?
Calibration
The basic settings for most TVs are sub par, however is it worth it to get a calibration disc or just go by eye? If so is there a specific one that is better than the others and I found multiple when doing a Google search. Same question for the sound system, is it worth it to get some kind of gadget that helps calibrate it or just go by ear.
Universal Remote
I was looking at the Logitech Harmony 880 remote and wondered what people thought of it. Is it easy to setup and use compared to multiple remotes and does it work with the PS3?
tl,dr: Looking for a speaker system, a receiver, and a universal remote.
Sound System
I'm basically clueless when it comes to sound systems. I'm willing to spend between $1,000 to $2,000, but would prefer to keep it towards the middle unless you get large jumps in quality. I know in another thread ElJeffe suggested Paradigm and some of my friends have suggested Klipsch and Polk. Is there any reason to go with one brand over the other and what exactly do you look for when comparing different speakers? Onto the receiver and once again I'm pretty confused, I know I need 2-3 HDMI inputs and two component inputs as well as whatever a PC would use (miniplug? RCA?), but what else do you look at.
Here's what my room looks like and what I plan on doing if that makes a difference or if anyone has a suggestion on placement:
HTPC
I recently bought a PS3 that was I planning to use as a HTPC by using TVersity on my main computer and then having the PS3 access it, however in another thread some one mentioned that the PS3 didn't support surround sound if you do this. Is this true and if so is there a way around it? If not, I have a older PC, a P4 3.0 GHz with a NVidia 5900 Ultra is that powerful enough to push 720p and 1080p videos at a consistent frame rate?
Calibration
The basic settings for most TVs are sub par, however is it worth it to get a calibration disc or just go by eye? If so is there a specific one that is better than the others and I found multiple when doing a Google search. Same question for the sound system, is it worth it to get some kind of gadget that helps calibrate it or just go by ear.
Universal Remote
I was looking at the Logitech Harmony 880 remote and wondered what people thought of it. Is it easy to setup and use compared to multiple remotes and does it work with the PS3?
tl,dr: Looking for a speaker system, a receiver, and a universal remote.
khain on
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Posts
an EXCELLENT resource for HT setup, buying, calibration is http://www.audioholics.com/
Also fuck monster, do not buy that shit.
In terms of brands, I know Klipsch is good, but usually pretty pricey I think. I have Athena speakers, they're quite nice for the money. I think Polk also makes speakers in that "good quality, better price" sort of bracket. To be honest, unless you're a big audiophile I recommend looking at speakers that are sort of in the second tier. Don't buy the cheapest things you see, you'll probably get low quality to match the low price. There tends to be a big jump in quality when you move up in price ~$100 or so per speaker, but beyond that you usually have to have a pretty discerning ear to distinguish the differences. Read reviews online for anything you look at, but more importantly give it a listen in store if at all possible.
Wattage per channel is important. Something that does 100W per channel is what you should shoot for. Something that's able to upconvert a component input and send it out the HDMI output would be useful to you. Anything that has 3 HDMI inputs and 2 component inputs will have more than enough audio inputs for you to use with your PC; you're probably looking at a 3.5mm minijack to RCA cable, that's what I used with my HTPC.
In terms of receiver brands, I have a Yamaha receiver and have been very happy with it. I've also heard good things about Onkyo receivers, they seem to be very solid in terms of bang for the buck. Sony also has some receivers that are pretty competitive on price, though the impression I've gathered is that their sound quality and feature set is a bit lower, but I could be wrong. See what's in your price range, and check out reviews for that receiver online.
I don't think the 5000-series cards have native HDTV support. It doesn't take a lot of graphical horsepower to output HDTV, but I'd recommend bumping up to a 6000-series card. I have a HTPC I built that's doing 720p output using a 1.8GHz Athlon and a Geforce 6200. The 6200s are great for HTPC applications, some models don't have a fan, which makes them nice and quiet, it comes in both AGP and PCI-E flavors, it has native support for HDTV resolutions, and it can be had for as little as $50.
My Yamaha receiver includes a microphone that you place in the center of your listening area during setup. It calibrates itself using the microphone, playing a series of tones that it uses to tell if any of the speaker channels are wired backwards, and setting levels on individual channels. I found it to work pretty well, might be a feature you want to keep in mind when shopping for a receiver. I have no idea what the quality or usability would be like for a calibration gadget separate from the receiver.
The Harmony 880 is solid gold as far as I'm concerned. My home theater setup has 3 game consoles, a DVD player, my HTPC, and a VCR. I could barely remember which inputs were used for which devices, my girlfriend had no hope whatsoever. The automation on the 880 is fantastic, it's saved me so much time and hassle. Even if the automation doesn't quite work, it has built-in troubleshooting, so if anything goes wrong she can just hit the Help button and answer some simple Yes/No questions to get back on track.