Is this a good home theatre setup?

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timmmay

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#70369 22-Oct-2010 16:17

I want a semi decent setup for my reasonably large lounge at home. I don't need the best quality, I just need decent picture, decent sound, and a really good way to stream movies and TV shows from my PC to my lounge wirelessly. I don't watch sports, I just watch TV from the PC, movies, and play social games like sing star.

For the TV I think either a Samsung 55" LCD or a Sony 55" LCD, both full HD. The Sony has a better picture and is cheaper, especially things that are moving, but it has an ugly metal strip along the bottom that I really don't like. I haven't seen that particular Samsung, but I have a 40" Samsung LCD at home that works great. I preferred LCD to the plasma TV for any kind of motion, during panning or fast motion the plasma seemed to stutter at the edges, and just didn't pan smoothly.

For the sound a cheap Onkyo 5.1 receiver and speaker pack looks like good value. I know the speaker are relatively cheap, but they'll do to start with. Alternately the Edifier S550 that I have in my office sounds pretty darn good for the price, to me, if it would work with the receiver. I'm not an audiophile, I just want better than TV sound.

For getting movies/tv/music to my PC i'm told a PS3 with the free media server software running on the PC would work very well. I'll run it over the PS3 wireless, but if it doesn't work so well i'll use a Linksys WRT54GL as a repeater and plug it into the PS3. As a bonus it plays blu ray, plays games, and outputs HDMI to the receiver. My Telstra Clear digital cable box will no doubt output in some form that the receiver can handle and route to the TV.

Total price about $4500 or so, depending on this weekends sales. Any thoughts or suggestions would be more than welcome :)

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68 posts

Master Geek

#394874 22-Oct-2010 20:48

I preferred LCD to the plasma TV for any kind of motion, during panning or fast motion the plasma seemed to stutter at the edges, and just didn't pan smoothly.

Unfortunatly there is no helping you

very sad. Or no helping the store you saw these TV's in, very sad also

.

But wait......

If it was my $4500 to spend this weekend!

TH-P50V20 or PS50C7000 (comes with free 3D blu ray player) Around $2800-$3200 depending.

Cheap Onkyo or Yamaha Amp with HD audio and speaker package maybe pushing to get under $1200

If any change left over I would get (as I have now) Xbox360 for streaming (hardwired to my win7 pc) from PC.
Don't watch TV through it though so PS3 maybe the go for you?

Sick bickies setup!

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Shoes2468

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#394881 22-Oct-2010 21:04

If any change left over I would get (as I have now) Xbox360 for streaming (hardwired to my win7 pc) from PC.
Don't watch TV through it though so PS3 maybe the go for you?

Sick bickies setup!

Dont need the xbox for the PS50C7000 it has a good DLNA built in i have the PS58C7000 still waiting for my blu-ray player though :(

timmmay

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#394888 22-Oct-2010 21:29

Bolly:
I preferred LCD to the plasma TV for any kind of motion, during panning or fast motion the plasma seemed to stutter at the edges, and just didn't pan smoothly.

Unfortunatly there is no helping you very sad. Or no helping the store you saw these TV's in, very sad also .

But wait......

If it was my $4500 to spend this weekend!

TH-P50V20 or PS50C7000 (comes with free 3D blu ray player) Around $2800-$3200 depending.

Cheap Onkyo or Yamaha Amp with HD audio and speaker package maybe pushing to get under $1200

If any change left over I would get (as I have now) Xbox360 for streaming (hardwired to my win7 pc) from PC.
Don't watch TV through it though so PS3 maybe the go for you?

Sick bickies setup!

I don't really have any opinion on plasma vs lcd, I can only go by what I saw in the store. It was in J B Hifi, and they would only play their testing video, nothing else. I wonder if they've set things up to show what they want, so i'm going to look elsewhere too. The plasma they have playing a regular blu ray DVD looked fine.

Why would you choose plasma over lcd? I'll write those two TVs down and take a look if I can find them. I don't want another blu ray player, and $1200 for a receiver and speakers is getting kindof expensive.

Bolly

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Master Geek

#394909 22-Oct-2010 22:43

timmmay:Why would you choose plasma over lcd?

5-6 Times more colours
Better blacks (Contrast)
Better viewing angles
Better motion processing in top model plasmas (as ones mentioned)
Cheaper, More bang for your buck.

Reasons not to buy plasma....

Use more power (when you work it out not worth worrying about when deciding on a TV)
Screen burn (worth worrying about if using as full time computer monitor)
Reflection? (silly reason, close the curtains. Matte or semi gloss screens reduce reflection but put white haze over the picture making colours and blacks even worse).

LCD/LED tech seems to be just money making marketing hype nowdays as far as TV's go (slim etc), its a shame

.
But in saying this LCD/LED still pref for computer monitor and hardcore gaming, just for screen burn and reflection reasons.

My 2cents

timmmay

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#394918 22-Oct-2010 23:02

I've read all those when I googled plasma vs lcd, but looking at them in the store it was really obvious that the plasma screens (panasonic and samsung around the $2-3K mark) just didn't handle panning as well as LCD. I wonder if that was their setup, settings, or the material they chose to play to steer people toward the more expensive TVs.

In terms of motion I couldn't tell much difference, but they said LCD was better for games. I rarely play games though. I definitely want to look in another store though, playing a regular movie not their high def sample track.

Overall, other than the stuttering on the plasmas and the ghosting around fast moving objects on one of the LCDs, they all looked fine, really. My 3 year old Samsung 720p LCD works great for what I watch.

Dunnersfella

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#394922 22-Oct-2010 23:34

Wow - you'd have to be the only person I've ever met who has preferred a Sony 55" LCD over a half decent plasma... JB Hifi must have one heck of a skewed demo in order to achieve that. The V series Panasonic's and 6 series Samsung's should blow them away in any test you throw at them, whether it's 24p playback via BluRay, or on standard TV.
Oh and if a store won't move a TV to demo it on free to air or Sky TV - do not, I repeat, do not buy from them... they're just being lazy and fishing for suckers.

The V20 series plasmas from Panasonic (silver trim, DLNA via an optional USB Wifi (802.11n dongle) is a superb TV. I chose a 46" earlier this year, and it's sweeeet. Calibrate it properly and it only gets better.
Re: amplifier, get a Denon, Yamaha, Pioneer, Onkyo or a Yamaha 5.1, make sure it can offer you all HD audio formats and then pair it up with some decent speakers. At the price point you're considering, go for the best bang for buck.
But as fast as 'cheap speakers' go, they shouldn't be on your hit list IMHO... heck, sound is half of the home theatre experience, and the cheap packaged Onkyo / Kef / Yamaha speakers will ultimately disappoint.

As a media server, the PS3 is only good when you're hard wired, over Wifi, it doesn't seem to handle video particularly well... what with the buffering etc. There is no magic bullet at this stage, but the in-built DLNA will go part way, so will a (relatively) cheap Apple TV...
My $0.10.

timmmay

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#394986 23-Oct-2010 11:22

Do you mean the only person you've never met? ;)

I went into LV Martin this morning, the PS50C7000 (Samsung 50" 3D Plasma) that Bolly recommended was very nice. I did notice that it has anti jitter on the feature list, so it pans smoothly, unlike the cheaper plasma screens.

The Samsung 55" LCD (LA552650 non 3D) also looked very nice. I think i'll take the plasma over the LCD though, even though it's 5" smaller it has 3D and the blacks looked better.

The have a Marantz SR3053 with an Accusound SA2000 speaker pack for about $1100. Would I be better off with that, or the Onkyo receiver and buying some other speakers for $500-$600?

timmmay

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#395050 23-Oct-2010 17:00

The final setup:
- Samsung 3D 50" Plasma
- Onkyo TX-SR508 (7.1, not the bottom of the range, has "Audysse" equlization, supports 3D TVs, more inputs and outputs than I think I could use
- Wharfedale Vardus 5.1 speakers (good entry level)
- PS3 to stream content to the TV over a wireless network

I have the receiver, i'll pick up the TV, speakers, PS3, and cables tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for their help, especially Bolly for making me reconsider the plasma. It turns out J B HiFi only have the cheap plasma's, not the nice ones, which is why I liked the LCD better.

Bolly

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Master Geek

#395082 23-Oct-2010 19:15

timmmay: The final setup:
- Samsung 3D 50" Plasma
- Onkyo TX-SR508 (7.1, not the bottom of the range, has "Audysse" equlization, supports 3D TVs, more inputs and outputs than I think I could use
- Wharfedale Vardus 5.1 speakers (good entry level)
- PS3 to stream content to the TV over a wireless network

I have the receiver, i'll pick up the TV, speakers, PS3, and cables tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for their help, especially Bolly for making me reconsider the plasma. It turns out J B HiFi only have the cheap plasma's, not the nice ones, which is why I liked the LCD better.

That sounds like a sweet setup dude! Great value and great gear for your budget!

Plus you get the bonus 3D blu ray from samsung if remember correctly.

Let us know how it looks after your first Blu ray movie! Think you will be stoked!

The trouble is alot of these places, JB's,Dick Smiths,Bond and Bond etc Just think its the cheap deals that sell gear and every TV is fantastic. And all they want is turnover to hit their supplier targets to get fat rebates!
Its easy to make the best TV's look like crap and the worse or ones they need to sell (Or stupidly expencive LED TV's) look good right next to them.

Wade through the muppets to get to someone with experience and knowledge and correct advice to take your hard earned cash! No matter what company you pick because they will all match each others deals its the PERSON you deal with that makes the difference, I've always believed that.

Again well done!

Hobchild

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#395092 23-Oct-2010 19:45

I completely agree with you about that ugly grey strip at the bottom of a lot of sony TV's. It puts me off too and I'm a self confessed sony fanboy lol. Sounds like you got yourself a pretty good setup there, well done.

Dunnersfella

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#395095 23-Oct-2010 20:05

Nice final setup - good move in getting the Onkyo + Wharfdale combo over the Marantz / Accusound option...
Make sure to get the plasma calibrated well (they can push the reds a little hard out of the box) and you should enjoy your new rig.

timmmay

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#395110 23-Oct-2010 21:38

What's the best way to calibrate the plasma? I have a color calibration system for my PC, a DTP-94 with Monaco software, but I don't know how that would work with a standalone TV.

That Onkyo receiver looks pretty impressive... plenty of connections. I think it has a socket to connect my fridge.

Dunnersfella

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#395111 23-Oct-2010 21:49

You can go about calibration in a few ways...
First up, allow the TV to bed in... roughly 100 hours of use is a safe place to start. Try and watch full screen shows without station logos in the corner - the Freeview demo channel works well for this (Channel 100 on Freeview Terrestrial).
Next up, turn off all the extra 'bits and pieces' like 24p processing, digital noise reduction etc. This will get rid of any extraneous additions to the picture - and give you a truer looking panel.

You can get the TV professionally calibrated. I'm not sure on the price of this, but you can certainly insist on perfection as the service is not cheap. Masterpiece on this site does it for a living I believe?
You can buy a BluRay calibration disc from the likes of Rapolla's website. These discs can be great... or, they can leave you with a somewhat 'out' picture. This will often depend on your patience, the quality of the disc... and that test patterns may not actually match a picture that suits your personal preference. The first time I used one, I was left with some fairly foul greens...
Alternatively, you can look up settings on-line and copy them until you find a version that suits you.

Remember, a well calibrated TV will not only look great, it will

As an aside, no TV will be made the same, different rooms effect the way the panel looks (due to ambient / direct light etc) and the age of the TV will also change the results.
Good luck.

pistolpower

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#395115 23-Oct-2010 22:26

Final build looks much better

timmmay

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#395179 24-Oct-2010 10:54

I might have a go at calibration some time, once it's all set up. I'll see if I can use my calibration hardware somehow, since I already own it for my PC screens.

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