Be Excellent To Each Other

As there seems to be a lot of film / music buffs here. I am new to the technology.

What do folks have AV wise, how is connected... etc

(sorry if this is a duplicate thread)

I have...

A 32" Toshiba 1080p LCD (about 3 years old and starting to get flaky, ie the power button doesn't work)
Acoustic Solutions 5.1 speaker set
Philips Blu Ray Player
Self Built Media Center PC running Windows 7 64bit
A Sony AV Receiver (Pretty low end, but does the job for my little living room)
all controlled with a Logitech Harmony 600 Universal Remote

I thought this was about "Alternative Vote" and then "Anti Virus"

Malc

I've got one of the older, lower-end Sony Bravia 40" 1080p LCD tellies - if I was going to replace anything, it would be this, though it does the job well enough!

- A Sony STR-DH810 AV receiver
- KEF 2005.3 5.1 speaker set
- Sony PS3 (original PAL 60GB model) for DVDs, BluRays, CDs and my one solitary SACD.

I've got a pretty good self-built PC that I do the vast majority of my gaming on, but it's not presently hooked up to the telly (though it's no hardship to get that set up) and needs a better sound card so I can hook it to the AV receiver for surround sound. Oh, and a better case!

I've got a Samsung 7000 series TV (this one) which plugs straight into the network to play stuff off my NAS box (and Lovefilm across the Internet, and iPlayer and stuff). For physical media I use either the 360 or the PS3, depending on which is easiest to get at. I've got Sky for "normal" TV - but that's it - no normal aerial. The Sky and PS3 connect through HDMI, the 360 via component.
Sound-wise it's all plugged in via optical leads to a Logitech surround sound system (an older version of this one) which is next on the "replace" list.

I have a mass of audio equipment that I still haven't bothered to unpack (from August).

I tried some 3D glasses with the TV the other day. It was shit.

Oh, and the TV, which cost just over £2k, is held onto the wall with one of these.

No fear.

I have an Onkyo 570 Amp, leading to a Samsung TV via HDMI.
360, Bluray player, and Sky box feed the amp via HDMI (and optical audio, in the case of the 360)
Windows Home Server box streams stuff to the 360.

PC-wise, the main one I run is still this.



Clicky for exciting build pictures!

I have:

Display
Panasonic 50" 1080p plasma
Optoma 1080p projector

Sound
Sony ST-DN1000 amp
Q-Acoustics 5.1 speakers

Source
Various consoles
Freesat HD PVR
Panasonic Blu-Ray player
Boxee Box (which streams downloaded content from my NAS, and internet content directly)

Controls
Logitech Harmony 555

Everything is routed through the AV Receiver using HDMI, and the output of that goes to a HDMI switch box which lets me choose to display on the plasma or projector.

Ooh, I'm thinking about one of them for the bedroom. What one have you got, and what's it like?

I'll have to take a JC-style photo of my PC at some point to demonstrate why a new case is needed - currently I'm going for the 'disembowelled' look in terms of cable management.

I don't actually watch much TV, other than Doctor Who and some other bits on iPlayer, which I use either my iPad or the PS3 for. I have Freeview built in to my telly, which I plugged in to the aerial socket in my bedroom wall when I first moved back in to my parents back at the start of February. Dad pointed out last weekend that that socket isn't actually connected to the roof antenna, or indeed anything. Which goes to show how much TV I watch.

I heartily recommend the case I've got. It's lovely.

I have one of these
http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/product.asp?ProdRef=10076

It's pretty good. Does everything a sky box does, but the interface can be a little slow and clunky at times. Mrs T can work it though, so it can't be that bad!

Yeah, it does look it, I must say.


My dad had an HD projector downstairs, but only some shitty PC speakers for sound. It's a tragedy. I half considered setting up my AV stuff down there so we could have a proper family home cinema, but then I came to my senses.

We recently bought a short throw HD projector at work and it's an amazing piece of kit, I'd love something like that for my bedroom! Though to be honest, I think I'd rather save the cash for actually moving back out.

I have a samsung 40" A5 series, with home cinema DVD system (5.1)
Virgin HD Box

Mulitmedia:-
NAS box
I use my XBox for playing TV, Films and Music from my NAS

I am not completley happy with the setup. Every thing is connected to the TV and optical out back to the HC system.

Is there a better way, Change to a seperate AMP, DVD player and speakers, etc..

I love short throw projectors and their magic mirrors!

I was hugely impressed with it - it gives a massive, pin-sharp picture over a tiny distance. Conjecture and all that, I wasn't measuring it, but in the brief test we did of it when it arrived, it projected what was easily a 50" picture, possibly larger, from no more than a metre away.

I still haven't set up on old surround sound from when I moved last year due to having laminated floors and not wanting cables everywhere. Does anyone have any good tips for hiding or buying something to get around this problem? or am I just being too fussy.

Thin white trunking around your skirting boards?

I love that the fact on the JL website you can buy a Skype camera for this TV! Crazy!

Good point. Ideally I'd rip them off and stick the wire behind but I forgot to do that. I'm very tempted to run the wires underneath the floor as I have enough crawl space but I also have a large body of water underneath and not sure I like the idea of dampness and holes. Well not in my floor.

So white trunking might be the best option.

I'm quite tempted by one, to be honest.
But not for that price.

26inch Philips, Xbox through HDMI, Wii through Component, Sky through SCART, I think. That's it.

Does your TV actually output 5.1? If not, you're wasting your HC system.

I remember we've been through this before and Kov was happy with the Dolby Surround that he gets

I am not sure, I will have to check.

The 5.1 works with DVDs

Like I said, I am open to suggestions on what I should do..

I was happy, but now I think it could be better, plus I have no way of watching MKVs now

So looking to change in stages..

I seriously doubt the TV is outputting actual 5.1 - I know the optical out on my telly, and the 32" Samsung I had before it, only outputs stereo or 2ch Dolby Surround. Kovacs, you should connect the audio from your Xbox and other bits directly to the Home Cinema system. If you're using HDMI, you'll unfortunately need the official Microsoft HDMI cable, as it includes the optical out dongle.

Quick, JC has broken into Grim..'s house, has his credit card and has access to the admin controls. Run!

The are not the conenctors available on the HC.. 1 DV out, 1 optical in. This HC System

I do have a optical spliter (3 into 1, with a dial) one of these optical splitter which I don't use..

It's okay, he appears to have broken into my old house.

I got:
40GB PS3 - does DVDs and Blu rays nicely.
XBox 360 Elite with HD-DVD drive - noisy bastard, so only used (apart from for games, obviously) to watch stuff on HD-DVD, which is almost never.
Panasonic DMR-BS750 Freesat PVR / blu ray recorder - doesn't do quite as good a job at playing blu rays as the PS3, but does multi-region DVDs, which is handy, and does iPlayer quite nicely.
Sony Vaio AR51SU laptop - replaced an abortive attempt to build a silent PC (which would have been cheaper but more of a pain in the arse) - over three years old now but still works nicely for playing music, video that nothing else will handle, web browsing, games (just played Portal 2 on it without a problem) and general computer-on-a-big-tv-screen stuff.
Wii and PS2 - not used for video, but still connected to the same amp/tv.

Those are connected via HDMI (mostly) and component (where there's no HDMI, i.e. Wii and PS2) to:
Onkyo TXSR608 amplifier - oddly I ended up using optical out from the laptop to the amp, as when I tried using the sound over HDMI, the sound would disappear when the tv was switched off - not a huge hardship, as I mostly leave it outputting stereo for music.

This is connected to:
Sony Bravia KDL52X3500 52" LCD TV - over three years old but still happy with it, which is just as well as it was embarrassingly expensive at the time and any mention of a new tv and my wife looks at me in a troubled way.
KEF KHT-2005.2 5.1 speakers - again, no regrets with these, despite having had to replace the subwoofer twice (the first time I got a full refund for the set, meaning the satellites were effectively free!).

Telly - Panasonic 42V20 plasma. An excellent telly, I'm really pleased with it, lovely picture, lots of inputs, decent looking unit. There's also a Skype camera available but it's quite spendy and I'm not sure I want to see my wife's family on the big screen. It has some other internet connectivity too but it's a bit shit, so it's not hooked up to my router.

Blu-ray/surrounding* sound - Panasonic SC-BT230. The speakers are nice and compact, not ugly, and the sound is pretty decent. Not mega high quality but good enough for basic use, same for the picture quality. It takes AGES to turn on though, and the 'quick boot' option makes it get worryingly hot.

Xbox 360 - HDMI into the telly, optical into the surround unit (I cracked open the casing around the AV cable that came with the 360 so that both cables would fit). I used to use the 360 for streaming video but it was a bit clunky.

Wii - Er... component I think, dunno. Don't really care too much.

Austar 'MyStar+' - it's pretty much a SkyHD box... but with a shitty, uglier UI. HDMI into the telly.

HTPC - A Revo 3700 running win7 64 (ultimate), HDMI to telly and optical to the surround sound. Can connect to the desktop PC in the office, but mostly pulls media from a WD NAS (a 'mybook world' or something). I'm really quite pleased with this. I use XBMC and it seems to do what I want and isn't too fiddly, so Lady T can use it.

I've got a Harmony One that can control everything apart from the HTPC, I need to get an IR receiver for that.

I imagine this will last us (barring unfortunate breakdowns or the like) for quite a few years. It's a nice setup and wasn't too expensive. The TV and surround sound do have the 'audio return channel' functionality but I don't think it puts through proper DD5.1 - so it's OK for regular telly if we want it a bit louder, but not so good for gaming, hence the bodge to get the optical out from the 360.

*Lady T's dad calls it 'surrounding sound' which I found funny, so it stuck. He also says 'dobly digital'.

1) Lib Dem
2) Conservative

Unless we got a green candidate here I probably wouldn't change that.

I have a sony 32s3000 tv. I have a 250gb 360. I have a 250gb ps3. (as my 60 and er 60 ones got stolen. Maybe I feel the need to always have a matching pair of games consoles in that regard....)

I have a Quad Core PC Intel Q9400 4gb ram and a radeon HD5500 gfx. This I have connected to the TV via HDMI and have some crappy pc speakers connected for sound. That's quite adequate. I am not interested in surround sound and I don't want to upset my neighbours with booming loudness as they are nice quiet people. My PC can play Blu Ray and HDDVD and is often used for the playing of MKV files.

I've been considering getting a projector but being as I'm overly cautious I'm largely putting all my spare money into my mortgage and home improvement.

I do quite a bit of AV stuff, mostly using PD & Processing, doing most stuff with the OpenLab crew. I have also gone by the moniker slick lister.

Because you lick your sister?

Phil Pfister?

turns out I have no method of getting digital media onto my lunge tv short of burning it onto a dvd.

Mrs Kov is not happy with the sound from the HC when playing music "not as good as her old stereo"

What is the best first step, get a semi decent AV amp and new speakers?

HC?

Home Cinema, it is a samsung thing, but I can't quite get it to sound right for music..

One of those that comes with a speaker package?

Yeah, spend shit loads of money on a new 5.1 AV amp, speakers an sub.

You can get decent AV amp from Richer Sounds from £130. Do you already have speakers?

This may be one of my favourite posts ever.

Yes This one - http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/samsung-ht ... 5-pdt.html

I prob would say I needed decent speakers.

The small sub / smaller satellites approach so common in home theatre bundle kits are never going to be much use for music. There's literally no mid-to-low-range reproduction. You're going to have to man up and replace the entire system.

I thought I might... hence the request for help

Yeah you want some nice bookshelf sized speakers at least for the fronts (smaller satellite type ones are fine for rears).

Cool, so a trip to Richer Sounds..

Any recommendations on the speakers?

Bought one of these little trannys the other day:

http://www.pure.com/products/product.as ... t=VL-60884

Dead happy with it, picks up loads of stations and sounds really nice for what it is (even though it just sits there on BBC Radio 6 with a bit of Radio 4 and 4 Extra). Got an "outlet" one from ebuyer for £50 but it seems brand new. Also bought the battery pack for it (which having seen it I think I could make for a lot less).

Seems to be a gap in the market these days between the small sets (£99) and OMFG sets (£400+) of speakers. I bought my Eltax surround set for £250ish including powered sub and floorstanding front speakers a few years back.