Home Cinema System

[Dujtech]

hello people! right first off im new to blu-ray kinda know what im looking for, i want to get myself a home cinema system for my 21st birthday my girl friend is buying it for me,her budget is around £500

i was looking at the Samsung HT-THX35R/XEU 800 Watt 5.1 Channel Home Cinema System With Tallboy Speakers HDMI And USB Host

this is the area were i am indeed a noob. i have a 52inch 1080p samsung and would love the system to be samsung also!but if im buying the wrong item ofcors i dont want it! Lol

any advice on what i should go for?

thanks for any help x

[CptGreedle]

Well I have a Yamaha 6090 AV receiver, but it is a discontinued item. I do love it though, it makes everything that goes through it look and sound better than perfect
Well I know that there is really 1 thing you need in your AV receiver to get the best quality, HDMI.
HDMI is both sound and video, and without it, you are loosing a lot of the quality your Blu-ray has in it. So a good AV receiver can actually up-sample lower resolution DVDs and TV to a 1080p signal, and it will look much better than if you hook it up directly.
My system cost me about $1000 (US), and I found it on a special sale and got it for around $700, but since it is discontinued, you will have to look to see something close to it. I know that there are great ones out there in that price range, just make sure it has HDMI input and output.

[Dujtech]

the samsung set im looking at has HDMI.birthdays not till 6 Aug lol so i got a few weeks to hunt around altho id like it on my birthday, buying from a retail dealer e.g Currys/Comet id be spending alot more lol...so i shall be hunting online for the next few weeks. if not ill go with the samsungs

[CptGreedle]

That's funny, my bday is Aug 2! I am hoping to build up my BD collection for it. (And maybe a PS3 game).
Well I would suggest using sites like pricegrabber, or bizrate.com to compare online prices for things since you seem to know what you like already.