http://www.walmart.com/Sony-HT-CT100...tem/ip/9447379

http://reviews.cnet.com/home-theater...-32923460.html

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1026566

I just picked one up for a bedroom. Great value for TV/gaming, IMO.

That's an HTIB, not just an AVR. If you like your speakers better I'd look on craigslist for AVR deals.

I've never looked at Blu-Ray seriously but now that its won the format wars and players keep dropping in price I need to consider this.

99% of the CDs I play are classical. For other music I mostly plug my iPod into the A/V receiver using the special cable recommended in this thread (the one that plugs into the bottom connector, not the headphone jack). Sounds great since most of my old CDs are accurately ripped using EAC and encoded into high VBR MP3s using the LAME encoder. Apple never seemed to get serious about AppleTV so I probably won't bother. I'll probably set up a simple wired network and get a cheap ($99) Roku player to stream Netflix to the TV (especially now that I replaced DSL with cable Internet - you need the raw speed for streaming).


Then faagetaboutit.

~ Rick

PS That soundbar option you posted below sounds like a good Christmas present for my Mom .

I just bought this blu ray player ~$320.
It has Netflix streaming and does an excellent job with dvd upconversion.
I do not know how good it is with music cds.

Thanks for bringing up this option. It's actually listed on the Netflix site (along with one other blu-ray player but I wasn't thinking blu-ray so it skipped my mind). Next decision is whether to go with a wired or wireless network. Cable runs are short so wired might work (and I'm in an apartment so for me wireless posses some security questions).

~ Rick

I am using a wired connection to stream. In my opinion wired is always superior to wireless. We gutted the house we just bought to the studs, so I had the luxury of running the Cat5 and speaker wire with no ceiling or walls.

As another option the newer and cheaper BD-P1600 also supports Netflix.

I suggested Blu because if you were willing to pay $170 for DVD alone, less than $100 more ($80 in this example) would get you high definition. With expressed interest in Netflix streaming it seems like a no-brainer to get a NFLX-enabled Blu-Ray player. The Samungs are better-regarded than the LG. The BD-P1600 wired-only by default, but I personally prefer to use wires whenever remotely convenient for reliability/security/speed anyway.

The 2500 has the HQV chip which will improve the picture quality of standard dvds and in theory non hi def streams. This may or may not be important in your decision.

Yea, it looks like a battle of lower price + faster speed against better DVD playback.

Slow disc loads drive me nuts and I no longer associate DVD with quality. Personal preferences.

These circa 2009 Samsung BDP-x600 players are already making my Panasonic DMP-BD35K jealous

Since I got drawn out from lurking I guess I might as well get some suggestions for myself. I just started building my AV setup basically from nothing. I wired my ceiling for 7.1 surround. In ceiling and bookshelf speakers were required as per wife specifications.

So far I have.

Samsung 50in Plasma

Aforementioned Samsung 2500 bd player

Energy C-100 Bookshelf Speakers

Energy C-C100 Center

4 of these for the surrounds


So I still need a receiver and a sub. I am not completely sure about the surrounds I bought. I have not installed them yet, but I don't really see the need to spend here.

I have been leaning towards the Onkyo TX SR606 for a receiver.

All suggestions about what I have, what I want to get, or what I need to get are welcome.

The mid-range AVR market looks like it's exploding. They're more and more like computers these days, so firmware updates are important to me. When I was in the market maybe a year ago I got scared off of Onkyo/Integra because there were some outstanding issues (1 2 3) and the firmware update process looked nothing if not painful (1 2 3), even requiring a waiver. I went with a Denon AVR-3808ci and net-updated its firmware without a hitch upon purchase. They added a "DLC" feature package a while later. Anyway I'd look for updatability via the internet, USB drives, or whatever after you've satisfied your personal feature concerns.

The SVS PB10-NSD sub more than fills my condo, but check out the famous craigsub rankings to get an idea of what's out there.

Hi all,

I have a Tivo Series 3 and an Xbox 360 Elite that feed into a Yamaha HTR-5930 via component cables, which then feed into some no-name wall-mounted 5.1 speakers and my shiny and new 60" plasma TV, a LG 60PG60. I also have a Neuros Link for all my local file and/or internet TV streaming needs, which feeds directly into the TV via HDMI. This connection obviously means it's stuck with the TV's internal speakers. (This has yet to actually bother me, since I haven't been watching watching action movies, etc., and I'm not much of an audiophile anyway.) I do not have a BluRay player, but think it's time to make the jump.

1) In your opinion, should I be buying receiver that can handle HDMI, or is it not worth caring about?
2) What BluRay players upconvert DVDs really well, but don't cost a lot of money? Do they still take a minute to load up a disc?

It looks like you could take audio from the Neuros Link to your AVR, so I'd do that. Your TV might have a digital audio output which you could take to the AVR too. If you're in the market for a new AVR I would definitely get 4+ HDMI ports: digital is good, less cables are good, cheap cables are good, and practically everything new is going HDMI. If both DVD performance and speed are points of concern for you I'd try to do some A/B DVD performance comparisons in a local shop - specific disc load times can be researched online. As for "a lot of money," that depends on your definition.

I'm probably going with this or the older model BD-P1500. Anyway just ordered a
Linksys wired router and a couple cables. This is my first network so once I get the iTunes only computer in the bedroom (which now has the 1080P LCD TV as a monitor) networked plan to add one of the Samsung Blu-Ray players with Netflix streaming.

The AVS forum is unbelievable. Look at the view and post count on the The Official Samsung BD-P1500 Owner's Thread!

~ Rick

Almost ordered the BD-P1500 from Amazon since it's going for $180 or so. Just before loading it into my cart noticed the 1500 doesn't stream Netflix. Thought I saw that it could in an AVS forum with firmware update but was wrong.

~ Rick

Sigh, I wonder if anyone can help me...

I have just re-bought all my home entertainment stuff after a flood in my basement. We were on a bit of a budget to fit it in to what our insurance company would pay for, so I ended up with the following setup

Panasonic 50" Plasma

Harmon Kardon Receiver

Harmon Kardon Speakers

So...my question is...what's best to use as far as hooking up audio from the tv to the receiver? I see the tv has a "digital audio" out, and the receiver had a "digital audio" input, so I assume this would be the best method, but I'm admittedly fairly clueless in this department.

Also, am I correct in assuming (I know, I keep using that word) that I can hook up my PS3, HD Satellite Box and Wii directly in to the receiver, then connect the receiver to the tv?? Is there any loss of signal/quality by doing this?

Thanks for any help.
Brent

Took a quick look and your receiver has three HDMI connectors. The TV is hooked up using that. HDMI handles both digital and audio. As an aside buy your HDMI cables online, places like Best Buy make more on cables than they do on the TV (if this is an exageration, it's not by much).

Pretty sure these hook up to the TV. HD Satellite box usually has HDMI, the Wii hooks up to the TV (Google "Wii TV hookups") and uses a very basic scheme (yellow video cable, red and white for audio). The TV should pass this on the audio to the receiver (in most cases you can turn off the TVs on speakers yet use the TV volume control for TV related functions).

Don't have a PS3 but here's a video.

Things like the Wii aren't big on video or audio quality so you don't lose much anyway. Without watching the video my guess is the PS3 (which I think can play Blu Ray) integrates more directly with the receiver (or passes audio through the TV via HDMI).

~ Rick

thanks for the answer rick. i know the wii and ps3 can connect directly to the tv, but for mounting purposes I'm trying to run as few wires as possible to the tv itself, so I'm trying to figure out if I am able to plug all this crap in to just the receiver then run whatever cables I have to from just the receiver to the tv itself.

here's the pic we're working off of - mounting it above a fireplace, and going to build the components/receiver/etc in to a shelving unit just off to the side of it

I think your biggest problem is you made the whole corner of the room look so classy and nice any wire will ruin it.

~ Rick

That's just the model we're using for what we're designing. I'm going to put a box at either end of that to house all the components, then try and run the wires through the base of the unit and have them come out from behind the tv.

We haven't started building it yet, that's why I'm trying to minimize the actual number of things that I have to hook directly up to the television.

bdc,

I'm pretty sure that in the end all you'll want is 1 wire running TO the tv FROM the receiver, and that wire should be HDMI. There's no good reason to have anything running FROM the tv TO the receiver.

The Wii doesn't have an HDMI cable available that I know of, so you're going to go buy yourself a Wii component cable online, run that from Wii to Receiver, run the other video and audio inputs in to the receiver, and run one HDMI cable out from receiver to TV. (I'm pretty sure your receiver will do In via Component Out via HDMI.)

Simplest AVR wiring: HDMI from your AV devices to your AVR, HDMI from your AVR to your TV. If it's supported.

To get the whole symphony going you need a TV which takes HDMI for video input, an AVR that uses HDMI for audio/video input/output, and AV devices that use HDMI for audio/video output.

Your HDSAT box may or may not support HDMI. The PS3 does, and the Wii doesn't.

Note that a given "HDMI AVR" may or may not handle simultaneous audio and video over HDMI, so it's possible that you'd still need two cables for your AV devices (e.g. a PS3 with HDMI for video and an optical cable for audio). Depends on the AVR.

Also note that, as Citanul hints, a given HDMI AVR may not support sending analog (e.g. component) streams out over HDMI (digital). If you connect your Wii to your AVR with component cables, for example, the AVR will need to do analog-to-digital conversion on the video signal before it can send it out digitally.

I'd check the manual for simultaneous HDMI audio and video support as well as analog video conversion to HDMI.

From the faq's on the harmon kardon site it looks like I have to run separate audio and video from each device TO the the receiver itself. That shouldn't be too big of a deal as it will all be in the same shelving unit anyway.

I can't seem to find the answer to whether it will convert the different signals all in to one hdmi output, but I was under the impression from the sales guy that it didn't.

If that is the case, I'd be smart to run three cables through right? Component, HDMI and whatever the 3rd most basic type is called (that the wii uses)...Given that it will be a gigantic pain in the @ss to run wires after everything is in and set up, it would probably be smart to do that anyway.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Think I found what I was looking for in the online manual

Acutally...just brought up yet another question (I know...lol) but when I connect my ps3 to the receiver, is "Digital/Optical" the best way to do this, since the unit can't process video and audio both from the hdmi hookup?

If you can't get HDMI audio, SPDIF is your next best bet.

If you can't get analog-to-HDMI, component is your next best bet.

Like Citanul said, the Wii does have component cable kits. It makes a difference.

Step 1 is complete...base for the corner unit is assembled. Note: 3" pipe that will hopefully hold all the cables, and come out directly behind the tv, and underneath the shelving unit that will house the hardware. It's 2"x6" lumber, and from the corner to each end is 6'.