Recommend to me theatre in a box

[xrcst]

Can someone recommend to me a good home theatre in the box that will take advantage of both my HD-DVD player and my Blu ray player.

Thanks.

[JAWoOKIE]

I am sorry. My beliefs will not let me do that. Yamaha and Onkyo seem to have decent ones for HTIBs.

[xrcst]

And why is that?


Im goign the TIB route because I live in an apartment. So I dont need something really powerful or to blow a wad of money on speakers. And I really dont want the hassle of picking up 7 different things. Plus wire, etc etc

[JAWoOKIE]

Very understandable, I did the same thing. My friend has the Onkyo 800.. something series. It does well. I had a Yamaha 6.1 when they first came out. I was very happy w/ it.

Alot of people will tell you on here that you can spend almost the same amount on separate components and get better quality. Just make sure the receiver you get in the HTIB is good. You can always upgrade speakers later.

[Arkadin]

why not just get a receiver as a separate component and then go with the budget Polk 5.1 rig. That is maybe your best bet imo. It would be better than a straight HTIB imo and would cost exactly the same.
The Polk rig can be had for $199 at Fry's.com . The msrp is like $599.
So that's your speakers. Then just add a receiver.
To take FULL advantage of the hd audio you need a receiver that accepts multichannel pcm over hdmi.
The least expensive receiver that can do this can be had for maybe $400.
So there you go.

[xrcst]

A brand with model number would be nice.


The sound comes through the HDMI cable correct?
I had a guy at best buy tell me that I would want the sound to come through on an optical line. And that just didnt sound right to me. I dont want to get something and not take advantage of the "better sound quality" from my players.

And im not really all that worried about the cost. The yamaha TIB system I was looking at best buy was already 529

[wwooden]

Just get the polk RM6750 from frye's, that will probably be about $220 shipped. Then get the Sony STR-DG810 from amazon; that receiver will take multichannel pcm so you get the lossless from the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. It is usually around $270 shipped. Then go to radioshack or order from monoprice some 16ga speaker wire, doesn't need to be monster cable, $20. So for just over $500 you would have a very decent entry level home theater.

[xrcst]

Thank you very much. I just wasnst sure on the receiver.

And that works graet witht he bravia since I have a sony tv.

[Leftoverchinese]

Probably the first question that needs to be answered since you mentioned it was a concern is, what is your budget for the sound system?

[Arkadin]

yeah you gotta make sure the receiver you get accepts multichannel pcm over hdmi.
The Yamaha 661 does, but is only hdmi 1.2a
It is a very nice budget receiver. costs around $499.
some people only want an hdmi 1.3 receiver to be "future-proof".
that's just a personal decision.
the Onkyo 605 is probably your best bet.
It can be had for $400 or even less if you shop around online.
It is the de facto "budget" choice for hdmi 1.3 receivers.
If $$ is not an issue there are many choices for receivers that would be better, but I'm just giving you the absolute minimum.
I'll have to look up the Polk rig model #
I personally don't even know that a HTIB exixts that has an hdmi 1.3 receiver.
Usually they all require use of optical cable which compromises the hd sound.

[JAWoOKIE]

Arkadin meant the 661 is only HDMI 1.2

[Arkadin]

yeah. fixed that.

[xrcst]

Amazon has the sony 910 for a hundred bucks more. IS the upgrade worth that?

500-750 I think on the budget. Definately not more than 1k.

[Arkadin]

ok this one is an hdmi pass-through.
It is definiely not hdmi 1.3.
I would NOT get this one.
The Onkyo would be a better choice imo.

[SicilianKing]

Get the Onkyo 875 receiver...