Making the switch to High Def Home Theater

[TheStromba]

Ok, I am starting to make a list of everything that I need BESIDES the Television.

1) The TV has to have a hi-def tuner or else I need a seperate box

2) I have direct TV, and I believe that they use a different dish for High Def.

3) There seems to be hundreds of home theater amp and speaker sets ! My buddy has the Bose one that is 3k and It really spoiled me. I have no intention of spending that kind of money, but am clueless about anything in the 500-1000 range.

4) If I understand correctly, if you have a TIVO (or similar), they do not record in high def. You need a high def recorder (300-500)

What else ? :)

[Bouncer]

To the home theater nuts, Bose is something that is laughed at. It is over priced about 10 times what it should be and does not compare to a good 5.1 system.

Your TV dosent really need an integratrated HD tuner unless you plan to hook up an antenna to it so you can pick up the locals in HD. This is a benefit to cable as all my locals are already in HD. My TV has a integrated HD tuner but I dont use it because I have the HD DVR box and there is no need for it.

A word of warning about DirectV and High Definition. They are boradcasting in something called "HD lite". Basicly what there doing is compressing the HD signle to save bandwidth. The result is a far less suppier HD picture with lots of pixelation. All satelite systems are doing this. C-band is the only one that not. C-band is the old looking 15 foot satelites. Most cable companys are sending out the full resolution also. If you concern is the best picture quility you can get, I would ditch the directtv.

As for audio. I would go with a Denon or Harman Kardon Reciever. This is the reciever that I have. http://usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/2111.asp

As far as speakers go, you need a nice 5.1 system. This is the system I have from a company called Axiom based out of canada. This system will blow down your house and do so with clean crisp sound if you want it to. lol. Not that you ever would want it to but its nice to know it can. http://axiomaudio.com/epic60_500main.html

You dont have to go with a higher end model that I have though, there entry level system will blow any Bose system out of the water. http://axiomaudio.com/epicmidi_125main.html

Keep in mind that these systems require some setup. The surround speakers need to be wired and hung on the walls slighty behind and to the side of the seating position. If you dont think you can do this kinda thing you could always hire someone to set it all up.

Let me know if need anything else.

[Bouncer]

And yes, you need a HD DVR box to record in HD. A basic DVR will not record HD. This is the HD DVR box I have. http://www.scientificatlanta.com/con...xes/8300hd.htm

P.S. Yes Directtv uses a different dish. Right now you either have a 1 or 3 LNB dish. The HD Dish is a 5 LNB dish.

[TheStromba]

The receivers and audio systems look awesome. I prolly will buy the Tv first and wait for a deal on the surround. It's tough to go for 7k in a single shot.