*bump*

This setup was a year in the making. Money that is. My dad finally got the money this year. He quit his job and got a large sum of commission for all his orders. First thing we did was buy a home theater system.

TV: Sony 60" SXRD Grand WEGA LCD Projection
http://www.datavis.com/images/PJTV/027242697799L.gif

DVD: Sony Progressive Scan with HD Up-conversion
http://img304.imageshack.us/img304/7...86024racd0.jpg

A/V Receiver: Sony 800W A/V Receiver with DTS/Dolby Digital Decoders
http://www.lacuracaostore.us/images/...00_320x320.jpg

Gaming/Blu-Ray: Sony PlayStation 3
http://www.techtickerblog.com/wp-con...8/ps3black.jpg

HD-DVR: Motorolla Dual Drive/Dual Tuner DVR Cable Tuner
http://broadband.motorola.com/dvr/im..._bigview_1.jpg

As you can see, I really like Sony. I was the one responsible for picking all of this out and I wanted to do it right so I got everything digital. Also, all the cables that hook these devices together are top of the line Monster Cables.

I see a bunch of us have the same Motorolla dual drive DVR cable box. We love it! I'm so hooked on DVR now.

I'm approaching this thread from a different angle: how fun the setup is COMPARED TO THE PRICE. :) I've spent a lot of my adult life on the wrong side of the poverty line, so even though I'm comfortable now, I still have that thrift-store-and-coupons mentality. So, in my case (and maybe I'm the only one), I'm as proud of what we didn't spend as I am of what we ended up with. Perhaps we'll upgrade someday, but I'm still driving a 1989 Escort, so I'm thinking the car upgrade is kinda next in line. :)

-- Same Motorolla Dual Drive/Tuner everyone else has (free upgrade but we pay $9.95 for the DVR features)
http://photo-origin.tickle.com/image...O593441152.jpg

-- 27" Phillips Magnavox television (free upgrade from my parents when they bought a new TV)
http://www.losalamos.com/classifieds/images/tv.jpg

-- Samsung DVD/VCR combo ($80 after rebate about a year ago)
http://www.shopuk.co.uk/media/images...1113235390.jpg

-- Durabrand home theater set ($39.99 at Wal-Mart)
http://i.walmart.com/i/p/00/01/79/99...17_215X215.jpg

-- D-Link media player DSM-320 ($100 after rebate). This will play any media file of any type (except iTunes) from any computer in the house on the TV and speaker setup ... without actually "bothering" the original file. Meaning, it doesn't open the file on your computer -- it has its own hardware to play/display the file on the television/speakers. This means: all our albums, all our digital photos, all media clips, etc., on our home computer network. It's a cool device! It was my Christmas present last year.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Total cost of entire setup: $220.
Pimping out da shizzouse wit'out breakin' da bank: priceless

I can't believe that I was able to survive without it for so long. But yea, it's a great piece of equipment.

http://images.ciao.com/ies/images/pr..._3__458233.jpg
Sony KP 44PX3 44" LCD Rear Projection (£2199.99 3 yrs ago)
http://www.monsieurprix.com/photosPr...00422614_1.jpg
Sony RDR GX210 DVD Recorder (£299.99 18 month's ago)
http://techdigestuk.typepad.com/tech_digest/skyplus.jpg
Sky + (£199 Last Year)
http://www.digita.ru/mimages/126620.jpg
Pioneer VSX 2014 THX Receiver (£599 Last Xmas)
http://www.widetv.ru/product_images/main_kef-q5.jpg
KEF Q5 Speaker's (Plus matching rear's, Centre & sub)( Bought them off a m8, £600 would have cost £1000 or more!!)
http://www.playerdomain.net/img/ps2/ps2-o.jpgPs2 (£299.99 on release day!)
Plus a Snes, a Megadrive, a Dreamcast, a Saturn, a Nes and a Master System (Gotta love retro gaming!)
Total cost £Too much to even consider!!

The TV is soon to be upgraded, dunno what to go for though! and i'm probably gonna add a PS3 aswell

With all the reviews I read on my sound system, I was a little bit worried that it was going to suck. But considering it's my first true surround system, I love it.

We have nothing to compare ours to, either, so we're having a great time with it. Perfect timing with all the horror movies on too. The girls are still getting used to hearing "things" sneak up behind them from the back of the room! :D :D

The last sound system we had was only Pro Logic. And at one point it wasn't even set up correctly. So it kind of just sat there for show. :laugh: :)

Ours felt like Christmas morning. Hubby's working overnight shifts, so on his night off he stays up. He'd gone out shopping and came home with this around 1 a.m. just as I was going to bed. When I woke up at 8:30, it was all magically set up! :)

Then again, it was like catching your parents playing Santa when I woke up in the middle of the night and came out to find hubby hip-deep in different-colored wires and cables all over the floor. :D

P.S. I must admit ... I disliked Batman Begins the first time I saw it (on HBO a while ago). Just didn't strike me right. I'm watching it again now with the sound system, and it's a LOT more fun with all the action noises coming from all over the room! :)

This might change my opinion of a LOT of movies in the future. :D

Re: The Home Theater Showcase Thread
 

Well, if you hook up the DVR the right way you can get surround sound from your cable. I don't have it hooked up that way because I only have two digital inputs on my AUX system and they are taken by the DVD player and PS3.

Speaking of the PS3, I've had it for a while but forgot to update it here.

Gaming/Blu-Ray:
http://www.techtickerblog.com/wp-con...8/ps3black.jpg

Re: The Home Theater Showcase Thread
 

Finally completed:

http://www.butterflyphoto.com/assets...D09C746AA8.jpg
Pioneer PDP-5070HD

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/...288_AA280_.jpg
Onkyo TX-SR674

http://www.aperionaudio.com/ImageCac...ailsImage.jpeg
Aperion Audio Intimus 532 Cinema HD set

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/...ZZZ_AA280_.jpg
Logitech 880

That's all the important stuff. Fed to the monster are: one 360/ 360HD-DVD drive, one LG DVD player with upconversion and region free goodness, a Scientific Atlantic HD box of some sort and my precious little Shuttle packed full of goodies.

Re: The Home Theater Showcase Thread
 

John, not sure what you mean about getting surround sound from your cable. We do get the sound through the home theater speakers from any device we have hooked up: cable box, DVR, DVD players, VCR... (Hubby's an electrical engineer so he probably has everything hooked up the best way possible.)

Or did you mean something else?

Re: The Home Theater Showcase Thread
 

I think he probably means hooked up with the right cables to the right ports for correct digital decoding. You need to be running either digital co-ax or digital optical to get true digital processing the way it was meant to be heard. Standard White/Red analog audio cables don't cut the mustard.

Re: The Home Theater Showcase Thread
 

Yup, that's exactly what I was saying. :yup:

I'm sure he probably has all the digital ports filled on the AUX and that's why you don't get surround sound with cable. That's the same reason with me, I had to weigh which devices needed it more and cable just didn't really cut it. :yup:

Re: The Home Theater Showcase Thread
 

Ah, bummer man. Yeah, I am a long way off from having to deal with that, as I have plenty of ports left, with all my devices set up. Still, for true digital, I just have my cable and my DVD rig running, for the moment, as that is all I that own that needs the ports (Rarely use my PS2, so I haven't grabbed the optical cable for that). Plenty left to expand, as my AVR has 3 Digital Optical,
3 Digital Coax, 5 S-video, 8 Analog Audio, and 3 Composite video ports.

After over a year with the Harmon Kardon 630 AVR, I must say it was worth every penny I paid for it. High end DSPs, High-Current amps, and ridiculous cross-over control put this on the short list of "Best of the $1000 AVRs". For those in the market to get out of low-current, big box HT packages, I can't say enough about this rig. That said, Denon (AVR-3805) and Sony (ES line only) make some quality competition for my HK, so give those a look, too!

Re: The Home Theater Showcase Thread
 

Yea, two ports is all I got but, I really don't need anymore then that. The PS3 is hooked up through optical and the DVD player is hooked up through coaxial. That's all I need. :yup:

BTW, it's pointless to ever hook up the PS2 through optical because the only thing that gets true surround sound are cut scenes. Best bet is to get a really nice analog cable for it and run it in Pro-Logic II. It's rather sick, actually.

Re: The Home Theater Showcase Thread
 

Well, keep in mind my hubby also added a few, well, I don't know their official name, but I keep calling them "switcher boxes" into which you can plug other things. I know he "upgraded" all our cables, saying that the regular red/white/yellow things were crap, and then he added these several switcher/aux-type boxes too. I think that was in order to do multiple tasks with the same equipment. Or something like that. :)

All I know is I've finally figured out how to make everything work because I made him promise to make it easy to actually use.

Re: The Home Theater Showcase Thread
 

I don't know why you'd stick with analog audio for cable while upgrading to an HD display and high(er) end speakers, considering cable is most likely going to be your most watched input. Unless you really do watch DVDs around the clock.

Many, many channels - including non-HD - have had 5.1 mixes available for years now, why degrade that just because its cable?

Re: The Home Theater Showcase Thread
 

Well, cable is the most watched thing on the TV except, it's the parents or sister that do that. If I'm watching something on the TV, it's either DVD or Blu-Ray. Like I say, forget the family and take care of myself. :D

Re: The Home Theater Showcase Thread
 

It was a birthday gift and here it is. Oh by the way it sounds great.;)

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...52921665361519


:yup: :yup: :yup: