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Old 16-01-2008, 10:55
abebaby61
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I am looking to purchase a home cinema system and have a couple of questions. I am not verr technical at all so I would appreciate replies in very terms. I have a sony 32s3000 TV and am getting sky hd this week. I have read that to get the sky through a surround system it needs an optical sound input (whatever that is). I have looked at some sytems but the ones with the sound input seem alot more expensive. I have looked at a sony system in argos with a dvd player that has hdmi for £169 which doesn't seem to have the sound input but it is within my budget and otherwise seems adequate for my needs. Really I need to is it worth paying the extra and if so can anyone recommend a reasonably priced unit? OR would the sony one suffice. I generally watch the sport on TV, my wife watches a few films but mostly DVDs. I hope I have explained myself properly. Any advice would be appreciated along with advice on linking these units. Thank you.
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Old 16-01-2008, 11:28
broadz
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The term "home cinema system" normally combines two things - a DVD player and a surround sound system with six speakers attached, to give you DD or DTS5.1 sound.

What it almost invariably fails to do is allow you to connect anything else to it which also includes surround sound so that you can make use of the speakers with (say) Sky+, Sky HD, Virgin Media, Freeview, VCR, games consoles etc etc etc.

Unless you absolutely must have a combined DVD player/surround sound system, you would be far better buying the two things separately. Buy a DVD player (you can get them for about a tenner at Argos at the moment) and buy an AV amp or receiver, plus speakers. That way, if something goes wrong with one of them the other will still work.

You won't need to buy a new set of amp and speakers if the DVD player needs replacing. If you upgrade from DVD player to DVD recorder - same thing. You won't need to buy a whole new sound system at that point. And most important of all, you will be able to connect loads and loads of different things which all have surround sound on them to the AV amp, and listen to everything in surround sound, rather than just your DVDs.

You have already stated that you are getting Sky HD, and already have a HD Ready TV, to make the most of the high definition pictures. Get a proper surround sound system (not a home cinema system) and make the most of high definition sound as well.
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Old 16-01-2008, 13:59
abebaby61
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Thanks for that. Just so I've understood what you've put. Buy an AV amp or receiver + speakers + DVD player. Would I be right in assuming that the DVD player & Sky HD would then be connected into the AV amp or receiver through some sort of sound input? Would the DVD palyer need to have HDMi, already have a panasonic DMRes10 DVD recorder and was under the impression I would need to change this to get benefits of HD. i apologise if these questions are a it simple.
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Old 16-01-2008, 14:20
broadz
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Thanks for that. Just so I've understood what you've put. Buy an AV amp or receiver + speakers + DVD player. Would I be right in assuming that the DVD player & Sky HD would then be connected into the AV amp or receiver through some sort of sound input? Would the DVD palyer need to have HDMi, already have a panasonic DMRes10 DVD recorder and was under the impression I would need to change this to get benefits of HD. i apologise if these questions are a it simple.
If you've already got a DVD recorder you certainly don't want to waste money buying a home cinema system, which will give you a second DVD player along with a surround sound system that you can't connect anything else to. Check what kind of digital output your DVDR has (I'm pretty sure that all Panasonics have optical out), Sky HD also has optical out, so make sure you buy an AV amp with at least two optical inputs.

Forget using HDMI from a DVD player (unless you are going to buy a HD DVD or Blu Ray DVD player). A standard DVD player with HDMI doesn't play high definition DVDs - all it does is upscale the picture (in effect guessing what the picture would look like if it was in HD rather than SD). But your new Sony HD Ready TV will upscale anything that is sent to it via scart anyway - so don't waste your money on any new DVD player/recorder unless you've really had enough of your Panasonic.

So, all you need to buy is an amp and six speakers. And a couple of optical leads (to connect your Sky box and your DVDR to the amp).
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Old 16-01-2008, 14:27
abebaby61
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thanks alot for your help things are alot clearer now
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Old 16-01-2008, 15:17
KevIW
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I have a Yamaha AV61 system that is an amp and all the speakers! It has two x optical inputs and is a good entry level system with great sound! £190-200 depending where you get it online.
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Old 16-01-2008, 15:35
TommyW
 
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I have a Yamaha AV61 system that is an amp and all the speakers! It has two x optical inputs and is a good entry level system with great sound! £190-200 depending where you get it online.
Agree, a very good entry level system.

You can also get the Denon AVR 1507 for the same price as the Yamaha RXV361 from richer sounds. This will give you 4x digital inputs and 7 channels of amplification to run 7.1 if you have the room, this gives you access to additional surround formats (6.1) over the Yamaha, these include DTS ES and DD5.1 EX, though you will need an extra speaker for these and an extra two speakers if you want access to DPLIIx which the Denon also caters for.

If you don't use the extra channels now they may come in handy at a later date.

abebaby61...........

Sorry if this has complicated matters for you.
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