Home theater system on a budget.

Artreus

Alrighty. I am about to move into my new apartment for my senior year of college (one more year to go actually so.. yeah). I have a really big room this year so I was going to set up half of it as a small home theater system. I'm thinking that something along the lines of what I want is a 46" HDTV, and a surround sound system.

As far as the sound system goes, from posting in the tv thread, it seems like I am not going to get anything decent for under $500. So ideally, I just want something that sounds better than the tv speakers, and actually does surround sound. I don't really need or want a system that is super powerful, seeing as how I am in an apartment, and don't want to be shaking my neighbors walls too badly. As far as inputs, I am going to be having a PS3, ps2, cable tv, and maybe my PC hooked up to it.

As far as the TV. I would like to spend under 1,300. And I have seen some tvs of the kind I am looking for for about that price. It was originally down around $900 or something but I don't think I am going to get what I am looking for for that. We might be able to bump up the budget on the sound system as well if I can keep everything under $2,000.

So. I might as well throw out what I have been looking at so far and see how bad an idea getting them would be.

TVs: Sharp Aquos LCD TV
Panasonic Viera? Maybe an older model or something
Toshiba

I realize some of these may not be the newest models, but they are within my price range. If you can suggest a newer one for cheaper, that would be cool too.

I realize stepping down to 720p would save me a lot of money, but I do have blu-rays I want to be able to watch all pretty-like.

Sound: Panasonic SC-PT770 5.1
I looked at Onkyo, but it seemed like they were a)hard to find and b)the HDMI was video-only for some reason, which added complications. I am probably wrong though.
Sony Bravia

Alright so. These are just a few examples from a bunch that I have been looking at. I'm probably not going to get the best performance from my budget but I am okay with that. I am thinking more and more about going down to 720p because nothing really displays in 1080 besides blu-ray right? And I only have 3 of those.

tsmvengy

I don't know about that Panasonic HTiB system specifically, but if it's anything like the wireless Samsung system my friend has, I suggest you run away. The sound cuts out randomly during movies, it's just annoying.

Artreus

?

Artreus

Um. How do projectors compare to tvs? I am thinking unfavorably. But there is one coming out soon that is supposed to be 1080p for around $1,000. which seems crazy. But I don't know enough about them.

http://www.projectorpeople.com/Projectors/Projdtls.Asp?Itemid=24764&Sid=Gavt&gclid=CPDXzcy0vZwCFSG1sgodzlyWCA

travathian

Artreus wrote: »

Alrighty. I am about to move into my new apartment for my senior year of college (one more year to go actually so.. yeah). I have a really big room this year so I was going to set up half of it as a small home theater system. I'm thinking that something along the lines of what I want is a 46" HDTV, and a surround sound system.

Half? What is the other half for? Are you saying that this is all going to b set up in your bedroom? If so, I wouldn't bother investing all that much. And I would check the TV thread for the nifty graph showing what size tv is best for what viewing distance you will be at. Chances are that 46" is overkill. If anything, just get a 32 or 36" tv, live with the crappy built in speaker for a year, and when you get your own place and can do things right, then plunk down the money. Toss the smaller tv in the bedroom and buy a new jumbotron for the living room. To be able to do truly good surround sound requires a certain setup and space and it doesn't sound as if you'll be able to achieve that.

edit: projectors are awesome if you need a truly large screen, but you don't so they'd be total overkill.

Artreus

Benefit of a projector is of course portability also. I'm going to need to go around planning stuff out in a few days.

Error

If you want total ghetto surround sound for your tv you could get something like tritton's surround sound head phones, which come with a dolby decoder that can be used by computer surround sound speakers. They have optical cable inputs, so both the ps3 and the 360 will feel right at home. Only problems being you can't exactly crank it, and only one input on the decoder.

Yes I've done this.

Pmoney

I was able to pick up an Onkyo HT-S6100 for under $500 tfrom Tigerdirect. Its 7.1 and from what I've read, its pretty sweet.

It was open-box, but I've yet to hear anything bad about refurbished/etc. from them. I think you can get it new for $532 from Buy.com.

Rigor Mortis

Artreus wrote: »

Um. How do projectors compare to tvs? I am thinking unfavorably. But there is one coming out soon that is supposed to be 1080p for around $1,000. which seems crazy. But I don't know enough about them.

http://www.projectorpeople.com/Projectors/Projdtls.Asp?Itemid=24764&Sid=Gavt&gclid=CPDXzcy0vZwCFSG1sgodzlyWCA

Projectors are awesome as fuck assuming you can easily and conveniently create the proper conditions. You'll want heavy curtains, a decent amount of space, and a light grey wall (preferably not white, definitely not colored) at minimum.

Chalkbot

I have an awesome budget home theater that I built for around $600. Of course I got almost everthing through Craigslist and ebay. I guess it depends on how much hassle you're willing to put up with versus how much you're willing to spend to avoid said hassles.

I went with a projector (Mitsubishi HC1600 HD) and built my own screen (90") with materials from Home Depot and the professional guidance of some tech nerds in a home theater forum (Google "Black Widow PFG").

Snagged a floor model Yamaha HDMI reciever on ebay for $145 which arrived in what appeared to be brand new condition. Picked up 5 used Yamaha speakers for a steal, $25. One was missing the little logo, otherwise perfect condition. Purchased 25' cables from Monoprice (obviously there is going to be a lot of distance between projector and entertainment center). Finally, I got a repo'd AIWA powered sub in an auction for about $40, the thing can rumble my house on 5.

I have large groups of people over for each PPV UFC event. You should see the looks on their faces when they see the setup. Then again when I tell them how much it cost to build.

I love projectors. If you have a dark room, the price/performance of a projector can not be beat.

Artreus

I move in in a few days. I need to measure my room to see if it is going to be viable. If it is too small I will end up going with a tv, but we will have to see. I am still trying to figure out the mechanics of hooking the projector up to the sound system. It seems like the sound will need to be up front.. or maybe I could just get long speaker cables and have the receiver in the back with my console and projector.

Well then. Basically this post was useless rambling but thanks for the info anyway. I am interested in doing a DIY screen, but I need to find out what size I can get on my wall before I get any screen. Miight also just buy one if it turns out to be cheaper.

edit: Oohhkay. I am going to be way too busy in the coming weeks to set up my own screen so I am just going to buy a screen I can hang on my wall and take down when I need to if I end up going that route.

Chalkbot

I was in your boat when I was looking to put together my system too. No idea where to start or how everything was even going to work together. Here's a tip that will take out a lot of the guesswork.


If you've got a room that's at least 12-15' (pretty common) in one direction, that should be plenty of distance to get a good sized picture on the wall. Buy the projector (preferably one that is ceiling mountable). Set it up using an ordinary white bed sheet as your screen. The picture will look good on a sheet and projector screens are very expensive, sometimes more than the projector itself. Now that you have your projector in its final place, you can simply measure the dimensions of the image it's projecting on the sheet. You can build your custom screen exactly the right size, and still be using your projector in the meantime so there is no rush to get it done.