Cameron McGaughy

Hey all! I’m thinking of taking the HD plunge in the next few months or so, and had a few questions. My top TV choice is the Panasonic Viera TH-50PZ800U plasma TV, although I had been considering the Samsung LN52A650 LCD model. Any general thoughts on those (or other similar models) are appreciated. One concern I have is making sure standard definition broadcasts and DVDs still look decent. I’m not into gaming, but love watching sports. Also, my room ain’t huge…from my butt to the TV screen would be about 8 feet…is that enough for a 50 incher? Is seemed fine when I looked at them in the store.

Currently, I have 5.1 Bose speakers and a Tecnhics receiver. I don’t plan on upgrading to 7.1 sound, but was thinking of getting a new receiver with HDMI capabilities. Pardon my stupidity, but I always assumed my receiver was solely there for its audio capabilities. What video processing effect would it have on my new TV, if any? Is something like the Onkyo TX-SR806 good, or is it not enough (or too much) for what my needs would be? I’m not an audio expert, so probably wouldn’t notice many of the small differences, but I would like to upgrade within reason if a decent benefit is there. But I don’t want to spend too too much on the receiver.

I also have TiVo…is HD TiVo worth the upgrade? Their newest box has tons of memory, which is attractive, but with the service plan added that would be an extra $900 total. Are DVRs from Comcast decent?

As for a Blu-Ray player, I was thinking Playstation, although I don’t care at all about gaming. Is that my best option, or are “regular” Blu-Rays just as good?

Another big question: I currently have a Panasonic DVD recorder/player (DMR-E80H). I still want to be able to record shows/sports that I can save on a disc. With an HDTV, does that prevent me from doing that with a normal-looking picture? My brother has recorded stuff for me that ends up being compressed on the sides, so I have black bars on the left and right of the "squeezed" image. Do any particular discs/recorders enable you to record in anamorphic widescreen (I know they won’t be in high def), or at least widescreen so the image isn't messed up?

So to recap, I’d have an HDTV, a (new?) receiver with my current 5.1 Bose speakers, a regular DVD player/recorder, a TiVo and/or Comcast box, and a new Blu-Ray player. Any advice on recommeded flow of the connections would also be helpful.

Thanks all, and sorry for my stupidity! :-)

Brian Shannon

The Panasonic plasma's are great, I love my 42.

As far as SD broadcasts that will be hit or miss depending on how you get your material, ie., what source are you using? You mention Comcast, is that your service? HD DVR's are nice depending on what you want to watch. If you have HD content available your tv will look even better.

Although many will disagree, if you are not going to play games why get a Playstation 3? The Panasonic 55k, the Sony 550 are excellent players and the Oppo BD83 will be coming.

SUPERMANROB

On the TV's each have their pros and cons but alot of people like the Panny Plasmas. As for the BD player I agree with Brian unless you want a BD player and game system in one or use it as a media hub then I would go with the BD55k,second choice would be the S550. If your AVR doesn't have analog audio inputs on the back then save your money and get the BD35.

Spiky

The Onkyo is well above Bose in quality, which won't be evident with Bose (forget the price tag, they are some of the lowest quality speakers ever made), you certainly don't "need" it if you plan to stick with Bose. But there's no denying it is a huge upgrade to your receiver. I would bet better speakers would improve your sound faster than a better receiver. But both of those products you have are pretty big quality holes.

As to video, modern receivers usually have upconverters built-in. If it is better quality than your TVs processing, it will probably throw a better SD picture. But that is totally model-dependent.

Yes, Tivo is great. (value is up to your wallet) No, Comcast doesn't currently offer anything "decent", except in Chicago and wherever else they are rolling out Tivo models. I much prefer DirecTV or Dish Network DVRs over Comcast.

No reason to spend so much if you don't want to game. And if you do upgrade to a new receiver, no reason to spend on the 55/550 models mentioned by Brian. You could do just fine with the $230 models, that are often on sale for under $200.

Yes, you can still record via Svideo from your cable box or DVR. Your brother used the wrong output settings on his source (or maybe they are not available, but should be) for playback on a widescreen TV. Change those settings and you should get a nice non-anamorphic 16:9 recording that will look like an excellent purchased DVD for video quality. But then it will be stretched vertically on an SDTV.

The only DVDRs that allowed for a proper anamorphic setting were some of the HDD/DVD models like yours. (it's a software flag that has to be encoded on the disc) But I don't know which ones offhand.

Spiky

Oh, another thing. If your current Tivo already has Lifetime, you can transfer that for $200 instead of the normal $400. Also, I believe there is an HD model for around $200. (you can always bump the capacity yourself far cheaper) So it should only be half of what you estimated if you want to upgrade to a standalone HD Tivo.

Still not exactly cheap.

mrhan

Upgrade your speakers.

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

Sdallnct

IMO, yes, the surround receiver is still, mainly about the audio. People I think forget that.

Some use the surround receiver a their "hub". Hooking all video thru it a well. Some feel this allows for easier switching between sources (I disagree). Or if your equipment is on the other side of the room, the need to run only one wire to your display. Also if your source are HD, you likely would only have to run one HDMI wire from your source to the receiver as it will handle both audio and video. Lastly the receiver can in some cases process the newest audio formats on BD (or HD DVD if you have it).

I still think it is best to go directly from your source (BD player, HD dish receiver, etc) to your display. Most displays have plenty of inputs and a good all in one remote can handle all the switching seamlessly.