Admiral Von Tirpitz Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 Hi and Happy New Year !! I currently have a standard TV, Video Recorder and DVD Surround Sound System (all Sony), so play CDs/DVDs on the surround and record what little TV I need on the old video. Well the DVD surround has now gone wrong and has been thrown out. What would be the best thing to replace it with - I guess the video needs retiring too. Do I get: New DVD Recorder and a new DVD surround sound system, or is their a better way forward?? I have freeview but not interested in sky. Whats better now Plamsa TVs or LEDs?? Also Where does Blue Ray fit in? Can you get a blue ray surround sound system, or blue ray recorder, or is blue ray just a player on its own? Many Thanks Admiral Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 (edited) My professional opinion is get a Freeview HD PVR, AV receiver + speakers, Blu-ray player and which ever TV you decide on I would go plasma unless room is very bright then a LCD may be a better idea. Depending on budget: Panasonic plasma Denon AVR + speaker to suit (kef, Canton, Gallo, etc) Denon Blu-Ray Humax HD PVR You can get Blu-ray all in ones but not great in my opinion (if it goes wrong your binning the whole lot and starting again)! IF you want to Archive TV/camcorder then a DVD-R maybe useful, but most camcorder stuff can be done on a decent PC with much more flexibilty etc. Just to add Blu-Ray is the HD (high definition) replacement for DVD, you can get players, now recorders and all in one player/surround sound. Blu-Ray or BD will still play DVD and CD material Edited January 9, 2011 by HDAV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drive By Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Or you could get a ps3 instead of a blu-ray player. This now has bbc iplayer and you can purchase a freeview tuner for them, you can also pause/rewind/record using this tuner. This would replace the need for mulitple boxes and will upscale dvd's... I would agree that a seperate amp and surround sound would be good, richer sounds have a lot of good deals on at the moment. One thing to bear in mind is getting an amp that will be compatable with 3d tv (kind of future proof it as much aa you can) as most new amps seem to run on hdmi connections rather than optical etc signals. this way you can plug everything into the amp and then run a single source to the tv. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mungler Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 I got hacked off with all the wires and messing about. I spent more time "configuring" the stuff than actually sitting in front it and watching stuff. One of my friends went mental for the cinema experience and the simple objective of watching a film became really drawn out - you couldn't just sit down and watch a film, oh no there was messing about with the lighting, sitting in the right place in the room for maximum effect, all manner of adjustments to the sound and screen (he had a different setting for everything depending on the 'type' of film) and then there were the really dull lectures about dolby digital and the sound delay on the rear speakers blah blah blah. So, I got a big LG led telly, one of these: http://www.richersounds.com/product/soundbars/yamaha/yas71/yama-yas71-blk and http://www.richersounds.com/product/ipods-docks-accessories/yamaha/yds12/yama-yds12 It's simple, takes 10 mins to set up, it works and your missus won't bend your ear about speakers and wires [etc]. Besides, my hearing is ****** and to notice the difference on a lot of the expensive gear you have to be a bat and sound deadening throughout your house. Incidentally, I bought some all singing dancing Sony blue ray player as well and used it once to watch the Hurt Locker (which was the free Blu Ray DVD that came with the machine). Get yourself a PS3, you will actually get some use out of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 One of my friends went mental for the cinema experience and the simple objective of watching a film became really drawn out - you couldn't just sit down and watch a film, oh no there was messing about with the lighting, sitting in the right place in the room for maximum effect, all manner of adjustments to the sound and screen (he had a different setting for everything depending on the 'type' of film) and then there were the really dull lectures about dolby digital and the sound delay on the rear speakers blah blah blah. LOL sounds like a real PITA, done properly there is no messing, no faffing, wires to see or swapping multiple remotes, press one button and your away.... As for using PS3 as a central MEdia box it's OK but noisy, hot and not the most user friendly system on the market Humax HD PVR's are mush better and once IPTV gets sorted out everything will be a lot simpler for everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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