What to do to get the best out of high def...

[pacificvibes]

Okay I need some assistance on, well everything. I want to get the best picture and audio for my money. I have a PS3 but not a HDTV. Which brand is the best to get. And the audio, I thought Bose was the best but I guess not. All I want is a great t.v and great sound system. Need some help getting into the HDTV lifestyle.

[callas01]

See if I can help you. First what is your budget? How big is the area your putting this equipment into, aprox how far are you sitting from the TV, are you going to watch a lot of movies, do you play video games a lot?

[allstar780]

Average Budget:

Panasonic TV

Onkyo Receiver

Klipsch or Polk speakers


But like callas01 said, we need to know the specifics before we can tell you what exactly to get

[PanasonicPlasmaMan]

Originally Posted by allstar780

Average Budget:

Panasonic TV

Onkyo Receiver

Klipsch or Polk speakers


But like callas01 said, we need to know the specifics before we can tell you what exactly to get

that is exactly what i bought

[pacificvibes]

Okay...its an apartment. Going to be in the living room, I'll be sitting about 10 or so feet from the t.v. and the whole room is a good 20X40 ft. I have heard a lot about Onkyo.
Budget is hard to answer...no more than 4 thousand i guess. I dont know have to talk to the misses first

[allstar780]

46" 80 Series Panasonic Plasma $1799.99 (plus a free 26inch LCD for the bedroom!) or go with the 85 for $300 more

Onkyo 606 Receiver $399

Klipsch RF-62 Towers $329.99 each, $660

Klipsch RC-62 Center Channel $499

Klipsch RS-42 Surrounds $500


That leaves you about $400 for a subwoofer

[xAyoFoolx]

Get the TV from amazon.com thre price are lowered right now.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00142JKRM?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

[tntkain]

I hope the neighbors don't mind listening to all his movies. LOL

[callas01]

Allstar780 shows you a very nice, easy setup.

His receiver and speaker selections are good for getting started. Need something less expensive look at the Polk Brand, Driver King has a good beginner set up on his signature the Monitor 50's, CSi3 center and some Monitor 30's bookshelf speakers. Best thing to do is go look and listen, see what you like. I prefer LCD tv's cause I have kids that are always watching TV and I like to play a lot of video games, when they go to bed. Samsung and Sony are prolly the best there. Panasonic will make a very good plasma. Look in the 46-52" range for your tv size. Go to Best Buy and look then buy from Amazon or Crutchfield to save a few dollars, also Amazon has Sony LCD's that come in a bundle with a TV stand and an extra HDMI cable, in case you need that extra stuff that you don't think about until you get it home, and your like.... shit where is this gonna go?? Buy cables from monoprice they are much cheaper, will need at least 2 HDMI's, and speaker wire. You may want to get a decent surge protector.

All things you must now consider.

[pacificvibes]

Thanks everyone for all the help.

[Driver_King]

Originally Posted by allstar780

That leaves you about $400 for a subwoofer

The eD sub in my sig?

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by Driver_King

The eD sub in my sig?

[pacificvibes]

the misses said the budget is around 7000....

[allstar780]

Panasonic 800 Series 46 Inch $2174

Onkyo 805 Receiver $687

Klipsch RF-63 Towers $999 each, $2000

Klipsch RC-64 Center Channel $999

Klipsch RS-52 Surrounds $389 each, $780

eD Sub (from Driver King's signature) $315

Total price: Just under $7000

[Beta Man]

$7K can get you some pretty nice stuff.... I'd recommend going to HT stores at that price point, and avoid BB/CC/Frys/etc.

Also, at that price point, you would want to really determine the type/size, etc of the display you want.

And lastly..... of all the things you will buy, the speakers will be the LAST that you'll end up having to replace..... so I'd throw a big part of your budget into the speakers.

[pacificvibes]

HT stores, Im afraid I have never heard of that...

[Sith]

Originally Posted by pacificvibes

HT stores, Im afraid I have never heard of that...

You can always go to Frys...

[richteer]

Originally Posted by pacificvibes

HT stores, Im afraid I have never heard of that...

The OP was referring to dedicated Home Theatre specialist stores, rather than box shifters like Best Buy et al.

[pacificvibes]

Thanks

[Monkey_Boy]

What the crap is goin' on with the people sellin' these widescreen hi-def televisions?! Yesterday, I went with the wife to the home of a few friends of hers. They had a beautiful home theater set up --at first sight-- but upon closer inspection, I found that these people had NO CLUE of what they had! One of 'em was playin' Assassin's Creed on the PS3 and I noticed that there were black bars at the top & bottom of the screen and the circles in the game were ovals. I whispered to the wife that they hadn't set their Playstation for a widescreen television and she brung it up to her friend. The woman looked at us like we were idiots. So I asked the dude playin' if he could save 'n' quit and I'd show 'em what I was talkin' about. I got the controller (then explained to 'em that they really should get an actual remote) and went to the system settings and found that they were set at 420p on an LCD screen that was at least 45" (nobody knew exactly how big it was and I didn't feel like getting even geekier and grabbin' a tape measure. You shoulda seen their faces when I told 'em that that's what one of my friends did to prove to me that my television wasn't 52", but was actually only 50". Alright! So I have a few geeky friends.) and this was with an HDMI cable!!!!! I set it at 1080p and had them start their game back up and their jaws dropped. They couldn't believe the game was supposed to fill the screen!

Then I asked them to pop in a movie that had an aspect ratio of 1.85:1... and once again I was met with blank stares. Soooo, I grabbed "Hollow Man" on Blu-ray and popped it in. They all freaked because they had never seen a movie on this television without the bars at the top and bottom of the screen. I told them that this is because, if you don't have your settings right, the picture will become stretched or squished, distorting the image. They were only using 400-freakin'-lines of resolution when they shoulda been using ALL 1,080 of 'em! I don't know how anyone can enjoy a movie that isn't being shown the way it should be. I remember, when I first got my widescreen HDTV, I had a hundred questions for the salesman with "How do I adjust the picture size?" being my FIRST one. (I used to deliver pizza and you wouldn't believe how many folks had stretched out images on their widescreens! I was actually kinda scared that you couldn't change the picture size. ) The dude showed me how to do it, but then added that I would probably get used to a stretched out picture and never bother with it. I gave him the blankest stare EVER! I've had this t.v. for about 5 years and I STILL adjust the picture size to correspond with every program I watch!

A good example of exactly how much I'm bothered by this: When I was waitin' in line for a PS3 in '06 for a buddy of mine (he had to work and he told me he'd give me his PS2 if I took his place in line for 8 hours. He ended up buyin' me a BRAND NEW slim one! He's such a good guy. ), the store decided to cater to those about to spend over $600 a person at their location and they rolled out a widescreen telly with a DVD player so we could watch some movies while we waited. (We all decided on the "Rocky" movies.) Right when it started I could see the picture size was messed up. I didn't wanna seem like a geek, so I kept quiet, but halfway through the second movie I couldn't stand it anymore! After it was over, I ran to the t.v. and quickly changed the size as the clerk was changing the DVDs and I was met with lots of confused stares. (Maybe it was 'cuz I didn't explain what I was doin'.) However, a few people actually thanked me because they didn't know what was wrong until I fixed it. What's weird is that some of the folks in line actually had the nerve to say that they owned one of these t.v.'s and yet nobody really thought to fix the picture? I also "fixed" my own sister's t.v. when I went to her place on Thanksgiving. (How do stretched out faces not give anyone a clue that sumpthin's wrong?)

Back to my wife's friends' house, we're all sittin around watchin' the movie and it still didn't look right. When it came to the scene where they're bringing the gorilla back from invisibility, I asked for the t.v. remote and found that their visual settings were the default settings! So, I fixed that for 'em. Then I suddenly realized that the sound had an echo to it and asked for their surround remote. IT WAS SET ON 'ARENA'! (What programs would you watch on that setting anyway? ) So, I set it on 'Theater' and everything sounded so much clearer! Just for kicks, I decided to perform a "tone test" on their speakers and found that THEY WERE IN THE WRONG PLACES AND THEIR LEVELS WERE ALL WRONG TOO! GOOD FREAKIN' GRAVY! In the end, I spent over 2 hours setting up their home theater and I still wasn't finished! Their main problem now is that they put their t.v. in a corner. This puts their left, right and center channels in the same area, defeating the PURPOSE of surround sound. They didn't even KNOW how surround sound worked! I actually had to explain it to 'em!

This brings me back to my original question: Why aren't t.v. salesmen educating folks like they used to? Back in '96, I got my hands on a large sum of money and ran into Circuit City exclaiming to the nearest salesman, "I want the biggest and the best t.v. you have!" and he told me, "I'll tell ya what, I'll show you the biggest of the best." I went in wanting a GIGANTIC TELEVISION that took up as much of my wall as it possibly could (and I could've afforded it. I hadn't bought my monkey yet. ) and I walked out with a 27" Sony Trinitron because this guy convinced me that size isn't what matters, it's the picture that's MOST IMPORTANT. Because of him, I was able to turn up my nose to LOTS of "bigger is better" folks who tried to throw their t.v. in my face because I only had a 27". I was ALWAYS able to say, "Yep, it's a bigger t.v., but mine still has the better picture." Where are guys like the one who sold me my Trinitron (which I still have and the picture STILL looks great)? Why don't they figure the more a person knows on a subject the MORE MONEY they'll end up spending on it? I've put in soooo many apps at places like Circuit City and Best Buy, but I never get a call back. It could be because I spent 12 years of my life workin' at Pizza Hut (started as a part-time job when I was 16 and ended up being the one that paid the bills after I moved out of mom's at 18) and they probably think I know nuthin' of electronics. Man! I HATE that you can't hand in your app in person so you could let 'em know more about ya. I used to get a job-- *SNAP!* Like that!-- doin' it the "old fashioned way". These days it's "go to our website and fill out an app". It's so stupid!

I don't know why I felt I had to type all of this up. No one will probably read it all, but at least SOMEONE is typing that SOMETHING needs to be done about this kinda ignorance. It bothers me to no end to know that there are actual homes, just like my wife's friends, where the picture and sound are so far below what they COULD/SHOULD be and the owners don't even know it. It's actually pretty darn sad to spend all of that money and not even know what you're gettin' or even how it all works. Very sad indeed.

Although, it was nice being the smartest guy in the room. I don't get to experience that too often!