Tech Gurus: need advice

[Explorer3253]

you may want to look into a HTPC (Home Theater PC). It'll be your PVR, and you can do a buncha other things with it as well. If its built right...you'll be very satisfied. I have my media center desktop right now and I love it, but I will def be building myself a HTPC very soon to add to my home theater setup...it just doesn't seem like it'd be complete without one nowadays =)

[tl_boy]

funny thing, i know the guy who owns a company that makes that stuff. I'm not sure how it all works out, maybe i should ask him. what do you think of snapstream?

Originally Posted by Explorer3253

you may want to look into a HTPC (Home Theater PC). It'll be your PVR, and you can do a buncha other things with it as well. If its built right...you'll be very satisfied. I have my media center desktop right now and I love it, but I will def be building myself a HTPC very soon to add to my home theater setup...it just doesn't seem like it'd be complete without one nowadays =)

[tl_boy]

those guys seem to really like the Oppo's. The older one is the 971, and a lot of guys on there rave about it, but I wonder if thats because they own them. The newer one is the 970, which was supposed to be an improvement, and thats the one i plan on ordering, but not as much rave reviews. I guess the number of reviews goes up with time.

Should i go ahead and get the oppo 970 or get the older 971 you think?
http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd_compare.html

Q: What are the main differences between the OPPO DV-970HD and OPDV971H DVD players?
A: While both the OPPO DV-970HD and OPDV971H are excellent DVD players with high definition up-conversion, the OPDV971H emphasizes more on the video performance and the DV-970HD emphasizes more on the overall performance and value. The main differences between the two models are:

from their site:

"The OPDV971H features video processing with "DCDi by Faroudja" technology and video chipset by Genesis/Faroudja; the DV-970HD uses a different chipset and technology for video de-interlacing and up-conversion. While both player produce excellent picture quality and the difference is subtle, the "DCDi by Faroudja" technology is able to handle some tricky video contents. On very large TV or projector screens, the difference could be noticed by experts or videophiles. When benchmarked with contents designed to test video performance, the OPDV971H will score higher than the DV-970HD.
The OPDV971H has a DVI output for digital video; the DV-970HD has an HDMI output for digital video and audio.
The DV-970HD supports Super Audio CD (SACD) in addition to DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, Audio CD etc. supported by both players.
The DV-970HD has a flash memory card reader and USB interface while the OPDV971H does not.
The OPDV971H front panel has a brushed aluminum finish; the DV-970HD front panel has a reflective mirror finish. "

Originally Posted by obLu

They're all bone cheap because they're made with the same chipset. Check out avsforums.com and see what those guys have to say. If they like something, it's gotta be perfect because they're a bunch of HT snobs (I mean that in a good way).

[Explorer3253]

Originally Posted by tl_boy

funny thing, i know the guy who owns a company that makes that stuff. I'm not sure how it all works out, maybe i should ask him. what do you think of snapstream?

snapstream? never heard of it... do you have a link to those products? I saw this HP one which was pretty sweet, but the best way to do it is to build your own...They have this one case ($500 just for the case) that has a built in LCD...the other parts would cost prob another 7 to 800. So for 1500 you have yourself a hell of a Home Theater PC

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by pacman

do u work for TI???

yep

[E92-Mark]

Get down to Barnes & Noble magazine section and look for 'What HiFi' from the UK. You wont see too many US brands but you will see accurate reviews of the Japanese stuff (including LCDs & Plasmas). Oh and some proper speakers from England too.

One comment on upsampling... It doesnt really improve the picture quality, it just rescales it from SD to HD. The problem then comes that if its been rescaled to a resolution that doesnt exactly match your LCD TV, the TV scales it again, so its been scaled (by which we mean filtered) twice, and each time that happens the picture gets softer. So its not always a good thing.

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by E92-Mark

Get down to Barnes & Noble magazine section and look for 'What HiFi' from the UK. You wont see too many US brands but you will see accurate reviews of the Japanese stuff (including LCDs & Plasmas). Oh and some proper speakers from England too.

One comment on upsampling... It doesnt really improve the picture quality, it just rescales it from SD to HD. The problem then comes that if its been rescaled to a resolution that doesnt exactly match your LCD TV, the TV scales it again, so its been scaled (by which we mean filtered) twice, and each time that happens the picture gets softer. So its not always a good thing.

Not sure I understand why would filtering mean softer picture -- smoothening the wave does not produce softer picture -- if softer means the same for both of us...

[enwhykiid]

one word------SONY

[325 Baller]

Basically the best thing ive heard in this thread was, "get a tv with a black border." It is soo true. I have a 26" lcd in my room and it looks huge compared to 26" that my friends have. Same goes for the DLP that i have and the plasma, basically make sure to find one with a black border. heres a pic of mine.

[E92-Mark]

Originally Posted by dr325i

Not sure I understand why would filtering mean softer picture -- smoothening the wave does not produce softer picture -- if softer means the same for both of us...

It applies a filter in the digital domain, so its not smoothing a signal wave, it applies a series of filter co-efficients to several adjacent pixels to 'estimate' the values of a set of pixels at a different resolution to the original image.

Since there is no more information than whats in the original image, it is little more than clever interpolation. This filtering reduces the contrast between adjacent pixels and causes smoothing to one degree or another.

[325 Baller]

thats a SD channel, espn not espn hd.

[tl_boy]

thanks for the tips. what do you think of the phillips that have the color effects in the back?

[CnoteMD]

I try to check out AVSforums every now and then to stay current on the audio and video equipment (I also built my system while I was in college) and I'm looking to do a complete rebuild within the next couple of years.

I have heard a lot of good things about the Oppo DVD player you mentioned, especially if you have a HDTV to take advantage of the upconversion.

As far as TV's go, it seems that LCD is probably better for rooms with a lot of ambient light due to the screen being more anti-reflective than Plasmas. But the LCD will usually carry a higher price with a smaller screen.

However, I have heard that NEC plasma screens work well for bright rooms (and also have a good image quality).

As far as audio recievers go, I don't think you can go wrong with a mid to high end Denon reciever (though, I am still using a 5 year old Yamaha reciever). The various levels of DTS/DD (i.e. 5.1, 6.1, 7.1) are only as good as the number of speakers you have. If you only have 5 speakers and a subwoofer, the extra numbers are going to be simulated as "phantom speakers". Many of the higher end recievers will have THX certification, but I don't think its all that important. Go with what sounds good to you.

I currently have a set of Polk speakers (also several years old), but I will probably go with B&W speakers and a good surround processor and amp combo with my planned system.

Hope that helps.

[tl_boy]

that helps, thanks. guys, i CANNOT read avsforum.com. My eyes go crazy. As an ex web developer, their site design blows chunks.


I very well may suffer from ambient light as I am placing it in my new homes family room that has high windows. I do not want an LCD because i want a big screen and don't want to sell my left leg to get an LCD with a big screen. I've decided on getting a plasma. I will have HDTV, and i since I will start from scratch, I will get as many speakers as i need to get the best sound system within a reasonable budget possible.

what do you think of paradigm? i've heard great things about them.

I'm going to Tweeter today probably. I luv going to home theater stores. its almost like going to a car dealership for me.

Originally Posted by CnoteMD

I try to check out AVSforums every now and then to stay current on the audio and video equipment (I also built my system while I was in college) and I'm looking to do a complete rebuild within the next couple of years.

I have heard a lot of good things about the Oppo DVD player you mentioned, especially if you have a HDTV to take advantage of the upconversion.

As far as TV's go, it seems that LCD is probably better for rooms with a lot of ambient light due to the screen being more anti-reflective than Plasmas. But the LCD will usually carry a higher price with a smaller screen.

However, I have heard that NEC plasma screens work well for bright rooms (and also have a good image quality).

As far as audio recievers go, I don't think you can go wrong with a mid to high end Denon reciever (though, I am still using a 5 year old Yamaha reciever). The various levels of DTS/DD (i.e. 5.1, 6.1, 7.1) are only as good as the number of speakers you have. If you only have 5 speakers and a subwoofer, the extra numbers are going to be simulated as "phantom speakers". Many of the higher end recievers will have THX certification, but I don't think its all that important. Go with what sounds good to you.

I currently have a set of Polk speakers (also several years old), but I will probably go with B&W speakers and a good surround processor and amp combo with my planned system.

Hope that helps.

[325 Baller]

I was at my friends to watch the OSU vs TEXAS game saturday, and the ambient light feature from Phillips is designed very well and even though it doesnt literally, it seems as if it enhances picture quality. If you can get one for a reasonable price im all for it, they are nice TVs.

[obLu]

what do you think of paradigm?

BTW, the set I bought was the Cinema 90CT ... if I remember right, it was around $800 for the whole set, which is dirt cheap for me. My budget for speakers at the time was $2000 and I couldn't find anything that sounded as good.

But for my space I had to have bookshelf speakers so that limited my choices.

Cinema 110 is wall mount.

[tl_boy]

shiet... i didn't like that game much. Anyhow, i read the reviews of those phillips, they are really nice.

supposedly a friend has a hookup at Circuit City, a phillips/magnavox 50" plasma for $1,500!!

i need to find the model number first tho...

Originally Posted by 325 Baller

I was at my friends to watch the OSU vs TEXAS game saturday, and the ambient light feature from Phillips is designed very well and even though it doesnt literally, it seems as if it enhances picture quality. If you can get one for a reasonable price im all for it, they are nice TVs.

[tl_boy]

I was at Tweeter yesterday evening.

I see what you guys mean by getting an all black tv. Pioneer Elite has that. Nice TV, but too pricey. Panasonic is a brand I trust, but they had a lot of gray color in the t.v. Samsung was sleek and almost all black, so i am leaning towards that in terms of looks.

Price wise, I'm looking at Samsung Vs. Panasonic....

About 2k for a 43-50" plasma.

Man i saw a TV stand like in MTV Cribs there. you can pull it out, up down, left right, its fckin bad. But it was 700 bucks! anyone know where i can get one for cheaper??

okay so Samsung or Panny?

[txusa03]

I go with Panty (i mean Panny)...How many color can the samsung display, Panny can display billlliiooons colors which produces very nice vivid images...Yup, there are alot of thing to consider, value for $, looks, options like HDMI and built in hdtv turner... good luck. I should add that I am not a tech guru but I have been following panny for a while but have not bught one cuz I think they will come out with a better one from looking at their history, they have been 1 of the leading plasma vendor. True, they buy their screen from another vendor but it is the processing chip that they and other company like sony that gives the TV it appeal...

[tl_boy]

I didn't learn a lot from Tweeter. Yesterday I went to BestBuy. I used to crack on those BestBuy kids (as a computer expert if I may say so myself). They didn't know SH*T bout computers....

Anyways, this guy knew his stuff! He spent 2 hours explaining everything to me. BestBuy also gives in-home consultations, which I am thinking of taking them up on. You have to put a $100 deposit, that will be applied towards any purchase, but then its free.

I have outlined my findings below:

1) "Value" option: I get a black Samsung 42" 1080i plasma television set (STAY AWAY FROM 720p sets, not as good quality when watching HD/DVD movies with upconvert or BLU RAY). About $1,800 bucks.

2) "Middle" option: I get a Panasonic 600 SERIES 42" 1080i Plasma set. The 600 series is superior to the other 1080i Pannys because it has a LOT of phosphorus gas, esp. its blue color is the best (better than pioneers). Although this is another 1080i, it is the next best thing after a true 1080p, which we cannot see right now anyway unless we have a 1k blu ray dvd player. About $2,600 bucks.

3) "High End" option: I get a 42" Sony XBR 1080P LCD set. It is 1080p, so will be the best quality available if paired with a blu ray disc. Direct TV will start broadcasting over 100 channels in 1080p in a year or 2. About $3,200 bucks.


THOUGHTS?????

Originally Posted by txusa03

I go with Panty (i mean Panny)...How many color can the samsung display, Panny can display billlliiooons colors which produces very nice vivid images...Yup, there are alot of thing to consider, value for $, looks, options like HDMI and built in hdtv turner... good luck. I should add that I am not a tech guru but I have been following panny for a while but have not bught one cuz I think they will come out with a better one from looking at their history, they have been 1 of the leading plasma vendor. True, they buy their screen from another vendor but it is the processing chip that they and other company like sony that gives the TV it appeal...