SkyYan Posted March 25, 2006 Posted March 25, 2006 Hi people, Just got the go ahead from my dad to set-up a home theater (Yes, finally!!) for our house, but budget only 10K. I know a little about home theater but need fellow forumers expert advise and experience. ;) I will give myself 2-3 weeks before I make my final decision.. hope you guys will give whatever advice/comments you can.. and share in my decision making.. ;D Room size: 2.8m x 4.2m (bedroom) or 2.5m x 3.5m (living room) After some research, this is what I have narrowed it down to: Projector: Budget : 3K 1) Panasonic AE900E (read here from forumers & owners that it's good) 2) Epson TW-600 (read here from forumers & owners that it's good) 3) Sharp Z4 (New, read from internet sites that it's as good as the AE900.) 4) Infocus IN74/76 (New, and because it looks gorgeous !) ;) 5) ? Screen: Budget: 1K. 80" - 100" fixed screen. 1) Remaco (Local brand) 2) Dalite (US ?) 3) LAV (saw it at my fren's place but can't find much info..) 4) ? AV Amp: Budget: 1K. All have similiar features.. so get the cheapest.. ? ??? 1) Denon - AVR-2805 2) Marantz - SR7500 3) Yamaha - ? 4) Sony - ? 5) ? DVD Player: Budget: 1K. Must have HDMI, the rest don't know what to look out for.. ??? 1) Denon - DVD-2910 2) Marantz - DV7600 3) Yamaha - ? 4) Sony - ? 5) ? 7.1 speaker systems: Budget 3K. Think the speakers are very important in a HT system, no? ;D No bookshelfs please, my dad and I both thinks floor-standers looks more 'grand'. heh.. :P 1) KEF - Which models har? 2) ? 3) ? Cables: Budget ??? 1) HDMI - ? 2) Component - ? 3) Video - ? 4) S-Video - ? 5) VGA - ? 6) Optical - ? 7) ? Did I missed out anything? ??? Any advice is welcomed. Thanks in advance ! ! ;D
dbchoong Posted March 26, 2006 Posted March 26, 2006 My recommendations: AVR: Panasonic SA-XR55 (if you can find one) - $500. Marantz SR7500 Denon AVR3805 (> $1k though) Speakers (yes, probably the most important part of the HT): SVS SBS-01 7.1 with PB10 - $2k+. (but these are bookshelfs) Accessory: Bass Shaker Pro ($160) + 50Wx2 stereo amp (maybe $100-$200) ;D
varun1624705824 Posted March 26, 2006 Posted March 26, 2006 Sky, a few recommendations: Projector: Panasonic AE900 Screen: Dalite has MANY variations depending on your room lighting conditions (can you get it totally dark, what amount of ambient light will there be, etc). For both of the above, I recommend a visit to HawkPro (I hope I got the name right...) at level 2 of Sim Lim Square. Unlike the usual grumpy retailers, these guys will take the time to demo different projectors to you, play with the settings to your heart's content, advise you on the screen, and help you with custom cables should you need them. You might end up spending around $100 - 200 more (all-told) with them than with others, but it's worth it for the amount of time they spend with you and the satisfaction of seeing the projectors (and the images they project) in the flesh. I bought a Pana AE700 from them and a DaLite screen for my Dad's home theatre. Other than that, I have no connection with them. AMP: They are NOT all the same. Some are better for music than others. Some (like the Denon 3805 that another user recommended) have the ability to turn off all video-related electronics if you just want to listen to music. They also have different power-handling capacities, numbers of simultaneous speakers / zones, levels of distortion, and much much more. I got myself a Denon 3805 at a fairly good price (< S$ 1500) when it was going out of production (replaced by the 3806 which includes HDMI switching) from KEC at Adelphi. DVD player: Instead of the Denon 2910, I bought (and, after months of use, happily recommend) the Denon 1920. This is about 450 (around there) at KEC, supports DVD-A, SACD and DivX (the 2910, if memory serves me right, does not support DivX - this should not be an issue for you if you do not intend to view downloaded DivX material). In addition, it includes Faroudja processing and up-sampling, and includes the HDMI port you're looking for. Award winning player. The money you save here can be put in towards a better amp... Speakers: KEF are good and can be auditioned at KEF's dedicated store in Adelphi. For other alternatives, I suggest leafing through the most recent What HiFi Awards issue (KEC will probably happy lend you their copy for in-store browsing) and then ENSURE you audition those speakers. Better yet if you can audition them HOOKED UP to the amp you decide to purchase. Listen at low volumes and loud, with music that you're familiar with (if music is important to you) AND movies you're familiar with, soft passages (with plenty of dialogue) and action sequences. Buy what you're happy with. I got the Mordaunt-Short Genie set as this had to go into my living room and there's really no place for full-size speakers. I'm told the KEF iQ5's are particularly good and reasonably priced (bearing in mind that there's only one retailer that carries them and they could have been cheaper had there been local retail competition). Also listen to some of the B&W speakers at KEC. Hope this helps. Let us know what you finally buy. :-) Cheers, - V. Hi people, Projector: Budget : 3K Screen: Budget: 1K. 80" - 100" fixed screen. AV Amp: Budget: 1K. All have similiar features.. so get the cheapest.. ? ??? DVD Player: Budget: 1K. Must have HDMI, the rest don't know what to look out for.. ??? 7.1 speaker systems: Budget 3K. Think the speakers are very important in a HT system, no? ;D
louco73 Posted March 26, 2006 Posted March 26, 2006 Room size: 2.8m x 4.2m (bedroom) or 2.5m x 3.5m (living room) After some research, this is what I have narrowed it down to: Projector: Budget : 3K 1) Panasonic AE900E (read here from forumers & owners that it's good) 2) Epson TW-600 (read here from forumers & owners that it's good) 3) Sharp Z4 (New, read from internet sites that it's as good as the AE900.) 4) Infocus IN74/76 (New, and because it looks gorgeous !) ;) 5) ? No BenQ projectors to consider? If you have done your research you may have already thought about where you will put the projector and the size of the image that it can project on your screen. The specification of each projector are different in terms of the size of the image they can produce at a given distance from the screen. The other point to consider is the angle from the screen that projector needs to be placed to minimize the use of keystone correction. For example, my BenQ projector sits nicely on a coffee table to project up to a screen. When I moved it to the rear of the room and out of the way, I had to place it VERY high to get the image in the right place. These factors will limit where you place the projector and the size of the screen. Therefore you may already have the answer for the screen size you need :). Screen: Budget: 1K. 80" - 100" fixed screen. 1) Remaco (Local brand) 2) Dalite (US ?) 3) LAV (saw it at my fren's place but can't find much info..) 4) ? I have a Lav (http://www.lavscreen.com/ also local) tripod screen (4:3) and a Remaco fixed screen (4:3 90"). I can not stress enough the difference of having a fixed screen. The black border adds so much to the picture. I'm very happy with my Remaco, but I've not compared it to other brands or materials. For me it was more a price decision as I considered that matt white screen can not be THAT different :). I'm a bit concerned that you may have not budgeted enough for your screen. I would go to around 1.5k. AV Amp: Budget: 1K. All have similiar features.. so get the cheapest.. ? ??? 1) Denon - AVR-2805 2) Marantz - SR7500 3) Yamaha - ? 4) Sony - ? 5) ? There will definitely be a difference, especially in 2 channel stereo performance, so you will need to audition them. My personal opinion is that things are changing all the time with AVRs (composite -> component -> HDMI and Dolby and DTS "god knows what" next week ;) ), that you should buy one that suits your needs now and not worry about future proofing. I'll leave the remaining areas to more experienced people. My DVD player is a Panasonic DVD-Recorder and I have a combination of different speakers :).
benzx Posted March 26, 2006 Posted March 26, 2006 7.1 speaker systems: Budget 3K. Think the speakers are very important in a HT system, no? ;D No bookshelfs please, my dad and I both thinks floor-standers looks more 'grand'. heh.. :P Huh? you want floorstanders for all 7 channels ah? or you referring to the front speakers only? ;) If your family does not have history of heart attacks..... go for the SVS sub-woofers man!.
SkyYan Posted March 27, 2006 Author Posted March 27, 2006 Hi all, Thanks for all the recommendations and comments from fellow forumers, really appreciated. One question, can the Aura Bass Shakers/Buttkicker replace the traditional subwoofer, or just an 'add-on'?.. coz my budget may not allow me to have both. :( Latest updates after a weekend of reading... and a little auditioning.. ;) Projector: Budget : 3K 1) Panasonic AE900E - A friend highly recommend this, but have not seen it 'in action' yet. :) 2) Epson TW-600 - Audtioned. Excellent PQ ! 3) Sharp Z4 - Where to audition this? 4) Infocus IN74/76 - Auditioned. Nice, but for some reason, prefer the overall PQ of the TW-600.. 5) BenQ PV7700 - Where to audition this? Screen: Budget: 1K. 80" - 100" fixed screen. 1) Remaco - Good feedback, Where to audition? 2) Dalite - Saw it at SLS. Not really impressed, maybe it's the projector used for the demo, lightings etc.. dunno.. ??? 3) LAV - Scraped. Not much info from anywhere = not good.. ? ::) 4) 'Custom-made' screens. - Any brands and place I can audition this? AV Amp: Budget: 1K. All have similiar features.. so get the cheapest.. ? 1) Denon - AVR-2805 or AVR-2807 (a bit above my budget) 2) Marantz - SR7500 3) Yamaha - RX-XL80. From post. WHat is the price? 4) Sony - Over-priced and over-rated ? 5) Panasonic SA-XR-55 - Heard not available here.. so how to buy?? ??? Will Panasonic (Singapore) honour an 'export' set? DVD Player: Budget: 1K. Must have HDMI, the rest don't know what to look out for.. 1) Denon - DVD-2910 or DVD-1902 (recommended by a forumer here) 2) Marantz - DV7600 3) Yamaha - Heard they make 's***ty' DVD players? or do they make DVD players at all.. ? ;) 4) Sony - Heard they don't make good DVD players and/or they are good, but grossly over-priced.. :( 5) Samsung HD850 - Got from posts here. Any good? How much is this? 6) GIEC GK-3188 - From posts 7) Helios HVD2085 - 'HD" Player? or are all the above also HD players? 8 EVD - From post. What the F*** is this ? ;D 7.1 speaker system: Budget 3K. No bookshelfs for front L/R, my dad and I both thinks floor-standers looks more 'grand'. heh.. 1) KEF - iQ5s. How much are these? Floor-standers? 2) Mordaunt Short Genie and avant premier - Floor Standers? How much? 3) Mission - Which models? 4) SVS 7.1 - bookshelfs... 5) TruAudio - Floor-standers and fits my budget.. ;D 6) B & W - Heard from friend super ex.. any 7.1 fits my budget? Cables: Budget 1) HDMI - BetterCables, Monoprice, Monster, QED 2) Component - BetterCables, Monoprice, Monster, QED, Belden 3) Video - BetterCables, Monoprice, Monster, QED, Belden. 4) S-Video - Any brand? 5) VGA - Any brand? 6) Optical - Any brand? 7) ? Accessories: 1) Bass Shaker Pro ($160) + 50Wx2 stereo amp (maybe $100-$200). Someone recommend this. Is the amp from 'bass shaker' or must buy seperately? If so, what amp brand cost only $100-$200 ?? 2) Buttkicker ($ 800) - Available here? If anyone reading this have any comments, please advise. ANY feedbacks is welcomed. ;D
synthesis1624705793 Posted March 28, 2006 Posted March 28, 2006 Your budget seems to emphasise on video. 4K on projector and screen while 3K for the whole 7.1 speaker system with floorstander. And it seems you left a healty 1K for cable and accessories. If you want good sound, put more budget on speaker and skim your pj/screen/cable.
dmateo Posted March 28, 2006 Posted March 28, 2006 Sky, Just some additional feedback to add to other great comment from the other poster Receiver: yamaha : try to see also RX-V657 and the upper model (probably not at 1K) RX-V2600 / 4600 DVD player: I believe that should be Denon 1920 model instead of 1902. read good review on yamaha 2500/2600 DVD player, not sure on budget or local availability Speaker : Mordaunt short genie are definately not floorstander. Check out the website if you're not sure. B&W: agree with your friend, expensive, but some people also believe that it's the best speaker sound they've ever heard. I like the MT-30 sub, looks kewl and has 500 watt in it, but then again they are non floorstander.... Yamaha : never auditioned it, and not sure if they are good, you can try and go to any of best denki outlet and be able to audition them.
varun1624705824 Posted March 28, 2006 Posted March 28, 2006 Hi all, Projector: Budget : 3K 1) Panasonic AE900E - A friend highly recommend this, but have not seen it 'in action' yet. :) 1) Denon - DVD-2910 or DVD-1902 (recommended by a forumer here) 2) Mordaunt Short Genie and avant premier - Floor Standers? How much? AE900: Try Hawko at SLS... with projectors, two important things to watch out for (apart from usual brightness, contrast, colour, et al): with LCD-based projectors, look out for the chicken-wire effect... you'll have to go REAL close to the screen to see this on the AE900. With DLP-based projectors, look out for the "rainbow" effect (view from the corner of your eye, without looking at the screen directly, and see if you notice colours breaking up - if not, either the projector is of good quality and/or you're not susceptible to this potential problem). The DVD is 1920. 5-star What Hi-Fi award winner. The Genies are NOT floor-standing - I mentioned those in passing as the speakers I use. The KEF iQ5 are. Cheers, - V.
benzx Posted March 28, 2006 Posted March 28, 2006 Maybe to trim your lists for cables abit, you can use HDMI or component will do, no need video/S-video/VGA. Most sub-woofers do come with stock cables, but you may wish to get an aftermarket 1. Also, you do need speaker cables don't you? :)
dbchoong Posted March 28, 2006 Posted March 28, 2006 One question, can the Aura Bass Shakers/Buttkicker replace the traditional subwoofer, or just an 'add-on'?.. coz my budget may not allow me to have both. :( 5) Panasonic SA-XR-55 - Heard not available here.. so how to buy?? ??? Will Panasonic (Singapore) honour an 'export' set? 7.1 speaker system: Budget 3K. No bookshelfs for front L/R, my dad and I both thinks floor-standers looks more 'grand'. heh.. 4) SVS 7.1 - bookshelfs... 1) Bass Shaker Pro ($160) + 50Wx2 stereo amp (maybe $100-$200). Someone recommend this. Is the amp from 'bass shaker' or must buy seperately? If so, what amp brand cost only $100-$200 ?? 2) Buttkicker ($ 800) - Available here? - The Bass Shakers or Buttkickers will not replace a subwoofer. It's use is to add an additional sensation to your HT. - Panasonic SA-XR55 has to bought online from USA and shipped in (but it's currently sold out everywhere). Panasonic Singapore will not honour any warranty against it. - SVS SBS-01 are bookshelfs so it's out for you. But you can still consider a SVS subwoofer (from $900 to $3k). - The amp for Aura Sound bass shakers are just your ordinary stereo amps. Just about 50w/ch is enough. You can pick up some 2nd hand units for less than $200 in the classifieds. - Buttkickers are also not available here. :)
armoury Posted March 28, 2006 Posted March 28, 2006 DVD player -- have a look at the new Pioneer 989, supposed to be a step up from the 969 PQ wise. Speakers, have a look at the Def Techs, available at KEC. Or the Energy Connoiseurs
sarsi Posted March 28, 2006 Posted March 28, 2006 Projector Epson TW600 about $2.6-$2.8K let says $2.7K Remaco Semi-auto Screen about $300 HDMI good Taiwanese made about $150 Marantz SR8500 about $1.3K (good receiver 2nd from top and come with the RC3200 programmeable remote) Marantz DV9500 about $1.3K (no need 9600 just for 1080p save a few hundred bucks) B&W 600 Series 5.1 about $3.5K (excellent speakers better than satellite, good for hifi as well and pretty in your living room) QED Silver Anniversary 11.5/m depend on your layout maybe 20m $230 QED Qunex 2 Interconnect 1 pair for stereo $69 QED Qunex 1 Interconnect 3 pair for 5.1 connecting from DVD to AVR maybe about $150 Estimated total about $10K. I think can go check out KEC should be enough. Good luck and enjoy shopping for your new toy.
SiriuslyCold Posted March 28, 2006 Posted March 28, 2006 DVD Player: 3) Yamaha - Heard they make 's***ty' DVD players? or do they make DVD players at all.. ? ;) I wouldn't say Yamaha DVD players are sh!tty, what is is that the local distributor won;t bring them in. The DVD-S2300 and 2300MkII, the DVD-S1500 are all well reviewed universal players. just not available here.
SkyYan Posted March 28, 2006 Author Posted March 28, 2006 okie, latest update: Your budget seems to emphasise on video. 4K on projector and screen while 3K for the whole 7.1 speaker system with floorstander. And it seems you left a healty 1K for cable and accessories. If you want good sound, put more budget on speaker and skim your pj/screen/cable. hmm.. how ? someone here even asked me to up my budget for the screen ! I definitely wants a fixed screen, those semi-auto and motorised screens, even the expensive ones, will get 'wavey' after some time, right? Total Budget: 10K Projector: Budget : 3K 1) Panasonic AE900E - Auditioned. On par with TW-600 ! ( or at least that's what my eyes told me since I can't see them side by side..) ??? 2) Epson TW-600 - Audtioned. Excellent PQ ! 3) Sharp Z4 - Where to audition this? 4) Infocus IN74/76 5) BenQ PV7700 - Nice PQ ! A bit BIG thought.. >:( Screen: Budget: 1K. 80" - 100" fixed screen. 1) Remaco - Good feedback, KEC, here I come... ;D 2) Dalite - Not really impressed, maybe it's the projector used for the demo, lightings etc.. dunno.. 3) LAV - Scraped. 4) 'Custom-made' screens. - Any brands and place I can audition this and are they cheaper then the above? AV Amp: Budget: 1K. All have similiar features.. so get the cheapest.. ? 1) Denon - AVR-2805 or AVR-2807 (a bit above my budget) 2) Marantz - SR7500 3) Yamaha - RX-V657, RX-XL80 (What is the price?) 4) Sony - Over-priced and over-rated ? 5) Panasonic SA-XR-55 - Scraped. Not available here and agent don't honour warranty. DVD Player: Budget: 1K. Must have HDMI, the rest don't know what to look out for.. 1) Denon - DVD-1920 2) Marantz - DV7600 3) Yamaha - Scraped. The 'better' models not available here. 4) Sony - Scraped. 5) Samsung HD850 ($299) - Best for this price range? 6) GIEC GK-3188 - Scraped. Heard out of stock. ANd how come a "Hitachi" player don't have a Hitachi logo on the player and box ??? 7) Helios HVD2085 (US199) - 'HD" Player? or are all the above also HD players? 8 EVD - From post. What the F*** is this ? 7.1 speaker system: Budget 3K. No bookshelfs for front L/R, my dad and I both thinks floor-standers looks more 'grand'. heh.. 1) KEF - iQ5s. How much are these? 2) Mordaunt Short - avant premier - Floor Standers? How much? 3) Mission - Bookshelfs? 4) SVS 7.1 - bookshelfs... 5) TruAudio - Floor-standers and fits my budget.. 6) B & W - The best amongst all the above? Above my budget though, unless I can 'squeeze' extra budget from somewhere... :) Subwoofer: No need to consider others? SVS is my choice if my budget allows.. 1) SVS - PB-10. Is this the cheapest model? How much is this, including shipping, GST, etc. ? Cables: Budget ? 1) HDMI (10-12M) - BetterCables, Monoprice, Monster (Over-priced and over-rated), QED 2) Component (10-12M) - BetterCables, Monoprice, Monster, QED, Belden 3) Video (10-12M) - BetterCables, Monoprice, Monster, QED, Belden. 4) Speaker Cable - Belden... and .... ? ? ? Accessories: Scraped. Not enough $$ to get both sub and these... :( 1) Bass Shaker Pro ($160) + 50Wx2 stereo amp (maybe $100-$200). 2) Buttkicker ($ 800) - Scraped. Good but... not available here ! * Underscore = Auditioned, or not available here to audition. ;) * Fonts in Blue = Confirmed. ;D That's all for now.. please keep the advice coming.. ;D
Guest jonlee Posted March 29, 2006 Posted March 29, 2006 For speakers, maybe u want to pay X-audio at bukit timah plaza a visit to audition the usher speakers. Very nice looking, sound not bad also.
synthesis1624705793 Posted March 29, 2006 Posted March 29, 2006 ... hmm.. how ? someone here even asked me to up my budget for the screen ! I definitely wants a fixed screen, those semi-auto and motorised screens, even the expensive ones, will get 'wavey' after some time, right? ... It's up to you whether you listen to music more or watch movie more. With PB10 you will left just over 2K for the 7 speakers with floorstander front. For me that's quite tight. It's your preference.
DIRTRUN Posted March 29, 2006 Posted March 29, 2006 Can try out the Infinity Primus, the 360 is a floorstander and quite good reviews plus not that expensive....
ricky101 Posted March 29, 2006 Posted March 29, 2006 Sky, Instead of concentrating too much on 'brand' and features, I suggest you take a bottom up approach to get the best mix-match as there are high inter-dependencies. List down your functional objectives in terms of what you want to achieve. I would recc the following approach. Video path - Room > Screen > Proj > Player Audio path - Room > Speakers > AV amp > Player 1) Have you decided on which room? As you can see the ROOM is the overall dictating factor. The room size plays a big part in terms of speaker(size) selection and projector limitations. If the room is small, you should settle for 5.1 and need not go all the way to 7.1 as the speaker positioning will be too crammed together. Also, small room only need small speakers, a floorstander will likely result in very boomy output unless you've extensive room treatment. The available width and length will dictate the screen size. If too wide and sitting position too near, it'll be uncomfortable for long period viewing. The room light ambience, throw length etc will dictate the projector selections. 2) For most ppl Video is a larger part than audio. We can see better than hear better - i.e. most of us can tell pq diff better than sq diff. To most, some form or surround and loud sfx output is sufficient. Therefore, I would put 60/40 ratio in budget in favour of Vid. I've no comments on those prj you listed, I own the BenQ 7700 - excellent pq, no regrets but mounting position not flexible. 3) Timing - at present moment, the HT is in semi-transition to HD format. As such it may be prudent not to invest too much in the AV amp and player. Imagine Blue-ray/HD DVD becoming mainstream next yr, all the $$ in these two will be 'wasted'. Speakers, projector(one with 720p 1080i) and screen are safe. In this respect, I would go for a 'cheapo' AV amp & DVD player - $500-$800 max. The extra savings can go into an appropriate pwr amp (to be match with your speaker selection). 4) Your 3k budget for 7.1 might not be enough, 5.1 may still be possible. Do not skim on the CENTER channel or you will regret it. A few points on brands, B&W budget range are so-so only IMHO. Do not put too much trust in those UK reviews(bias towards UK brands and their advertisers). The B&W industry reputations are build on their super exp high-end models. May want to check out Dynaudio Focus range, I find it quite competent in both HT & music. KEF is sonically equi to B&W, I've used the Q3 floorstander & old DM603 in the past. JmLab is also another contender, maybe pricier. 5) Cables - leave this for last. Put more on the front speakers +center & HDMI. Surr can do with cheaper ones.
karlie Posted March 29, 2006 Posted March 29, 2006 2) For most ppl Video is a larger part than audio. We can see better than hear better - i.e. most of us can tell pq diff better than sq diff. To most, some form or surround and loud sfx output is sufficient. Therefore, I would put 60/40 ratio in budget in favour of Vid. I've no comments on those prj you listed, I own the BenQ 7700 - excellent pq, no regrets but mounting position not flexible. Anyone doing audio video compression will tell you: not true: most people are totally blind to video artefacts but not to audio ones. You do not look at the issue throught the correct angle. Video Processing is very expensive so the quality of the upscalers lags behind the quality of audio scallers. But our eye is much more forgiving to a video artifact than our ear to an audio artifact (that's why the video sampling frequency in time is not higher than 100Hz most of the times 8bits and less are used for video).
ricky101 Posted March 29, 2006 Posted March 29, 2006 Anyone doing audio video compression will tell you: not true: most people are totally blind to video artefacts but not to audio ones. You do not look at the issue throught the correct angle. Video Processing is very expensive so the quality of the upscalers lags behind the quality of audio scallers. But our eye is much more forgiving to a video artifact than our ear to an audio artifact (that's why the video sampling frequency in time is not higher than 100Hz most of the times 8bits and less are used for video). Dun quite get your angle. I am not talking abt processing technology. That aside, audio vs video are exactly not apple to apple comparison - thus how does bit rate and sampling freq to be compared on a one to one basis? My point is that most ppl can tell the diff btw a tv, vcd, dvd and hd output. But to many, the diff btw MP3 and CD are at best negligible. Also, how many ppl can tell the diff btw AC3, DTS, pcm16bit PCM 24bit, 44.1kHz, 96KHz etc. Furthermore, in HT, the visual impact psychological impact is primary compare to the audio impact. Compare watching a BIG 120" full color with mono sound vs 14" B&W in full DTS 7.1 discrete.
karlie Posted March 29, 2006 Posted March 29, 2006 For picture as for sound: a lot of people prefer BIG and LOUD it does not mean better. But your eye/brain can wistand much more video defect than your ear can. You'd be surpised: the stereo sound is much more important than colour. And for HD/DVD, people can't tell the difference: only the size matters. And that's lucky for us: it alloes us to heavily compress video. We cannot "see better than we can hear" but you could say however that nowadays it is still more expensive to have big picture than to have loud sound (irrespective of quality) so one might be tempted to spend more on video than audio. Not me: I know what a difference a good centre speaker makes in the enjoyment of dialogs
ricky101 Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 For picture as for sound: a lot of people prefer BIG and LOUD it does not mean better. But your eye/brain can wistand much more video defect than your ear can. You'd be surpised: the stereo sound is much more important than colour. And for HD/DVD, people can't tell the difference: only the size matters. And that's lucky for us: it alloes us to heavily compress video. We cannot "see better than we can hear" but you could say however that nowadays it is still more expensive to have big picture than to have loud sound (irrespective of quality) so one might be tempted to spend more on video than audio. Not me: I know what a difference a good centre speaker makes in the enjoyment of dialogs Eh, it's all subjective la. To most ppl BIG IS BETTER. That's why I recc a functional approach based on requirements and objectives rather than listing a bunch of brands. Ultimately, our friend sky need to know what is his priority. AV is always to strike the right compromise. As you pointed out that vids are more exp, shouldn't more $ go in that direction? For relatively cheap comp you can get quality audio, but for reasonable vids you need to up the $$, no? As for compression, I'm not convinced (compression efficiency is dependent on file format and algorithm, it does not tell you abt quality). But then this is not the right thread to discuss it.
Recommended Posts