Need Help With Home Theatre Setup

[Nehkara]

Right off the top I will admit that despite being very well versed in electronics, I am a little inexperienced with sound system setups. Therefore, I will bow to the great wisdom of Tech Talk on CP!

I have some money from my birthday that I would like to spend on a Surround Sound system. I used to have one but it died.

Basically what I want to know is, what do I need in terms of a home theatre system to allow me to hook up my TV, Blu-ray player, XBOX 360, Shaw HD Box, and PC. The PC is the tricky part. I would love a system I could tie my PC sound into as my previous surround sound system was not capable of that. I also would much prefer the system be a Blu-ray system or to have a packaged receiver.

I am looking for a "Home Theatre in a Box" because I do not have the money to buy a receiver and speakers separately.

Most of the money for my birthday is tied up in gift cards to Memory Express.

Will any of these work for me?

Sony BDV-E370

LG HB905SA

Panasonic SCBT230K

Samsung HW-C560S (This one has a receiver. More likely to work for me?)

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

[ken0042]

You pretty much lost me at "HTiB." Personally I would buy a decent amp and a pair of speakers, then upgrade as the money allows. You can even buy better speakers down the road and turn your current front speakers into rears.

There's a reason they are cheaper; the quality just isn't there.

What is your budget?

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by ken0042

You pretty much lost me at "HTiB." Personally I would buy a decent amp and a pair of speakers, then upgrade as the money allows. You can even buy better speakers down the road and turn your current front speakers into rears.

There's a reason they are cheaper; the quality just isn't there.

What is your budget?

Probably no more than $500.

I know a lot of audiophiles don't like HTiB's but you have to understand, I am currently running with only the sound from my 40" LCD TV which obviously has woeful speakers as most TVs do now. Even an HTiB is a massive upgrade for me.

[Hack&Lube]

For the PC, it depends on the outputs you have on your PC. Mainstream to higher end motherboards often have optical or analog SPDIF out. Newer videocards have HDMI out which also includes HDMI audio. Those are your best best for getting surround out to a reciever from your PC. If you don't have these, you could buy a new videocard or a new soundcard, otherwise you could just live with minijack stereo to RCA adapter but you'd only get 2 channels.

[RW99]

The Samsung will be your best bet. But it really depends on the connections you are using for all these items. If you have HDMI for your Blu-Ray, 360 and your HD Box, those will all be fine. But you will most likely be out of luck on the PC side. After a quick look, I didn't see anything about any other connections on this thing.

Here are some threads to read on the unit:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1234205

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1243655

It's a shame you are tied up to Memory Express. If you could find someone to buy the gift cards off you, I'd say get something like this, under $500:

http://www2.visions.ca/Catalogue/Cat...productId=6181 Very basic setup. While technically a HTiB, it's quite upgradeable. And you can most likely get the PC hooked up depending on your connections.

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by RW99

The Samsung will be your best bet. But it really depends on the connections you are using for all these items. If you have HDMI for your Blu-Ray, 360 and your HD Box, those will all be fine. But you will most likely be out of luck on the PC side. After a quick look, I didn't see anything about any other connections on this thing.

Here are some threads to read on the unit:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1234205

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1243655

It's a shame you are tied up to Memory Express. If you could find someone to buy the gift cards off you, I'd say get something like this, under $500:

http://www2.visions.ca/Catalogue/Cat...productId=6181 Very basic setup. While technically a HTiB, it's quite upgradeable. And you can most likely get the PC hooked up depending on your connections.

The MemEx site does not list the full connectivity for the Samsung system... here it is, from Samsung's website:



Based on the above I think connecting up the PC should be no issue. I think I will go with the Samsung system, at least to try it out. Thanks RW99!