Thinking about upgrading home theater...

Hello,

I am thinking about upgrading my home theather and am looking for suggestions. What I'd like to upgrade is possibly the TV and also get a Blu-Ray DVD player.

I currently own a 40" 720p Sony LCD TV (KDL-40S2400) which I love. I have it coupled to a Sony DVP-NS3100ES, which upconverts DVDs nicely via HDMI to the TV.

Would I benefit from buying a Blu-Ray DVD player? Or would I have to get a 1080p TV go go along with it? Otherwise, I was looking at a 46" Sony XBR5. I'd get a 52" Sony, but that might be a bit too big for our living room. I'd put the 40" Sony in our bedroom.

Thank you for your suggestions...

P1et

 

Blueray on a 1080i wont make that much of a difference, at least it won't begin to tap it's potential. Do you have optical cables hooked up to the tv?

 

P1ET if you go bluray go 1080p. I just picked up a PHILIPS 1080P 120hz LCD on sale from Dell for $1299 and I'm more than impressed. I loved the Sony's but the Philips has me sold just as much and I saved $800-$1000!!! I have the PS3 hooked up HDMI supporting 1080p (1920x1080) resolution and I have my PC hooked up DVI/HDMI supporting (1920x1080). The contrast on this thing is so blunt and crisp my buddy that has a Panny plasma thought mine was a plasma not LCD. Remember the more HDMI's outputs the better if you plan on hooking up more than one thing. Oh and just buy the PS3 for your Bluray it's just as much as any of the stand alone players.

 

if you want blu-ray, you're not going to see any benefit with the 720p TV you currently have as Blu-Ray resolution is a native 1080p.

the best HD TV tech so far are the 1080p 120hz TV's. Plasma is old tech since it used a charged gas that needs servicing after a few years and get very dim once this happens.

don't bother with DLP Tv's unless you just want a projector.

as far as a Blu-ray player its your choice. DVD players used to cost the same price at $1K+ new. so when people say "might as well buy a PS3" is really a moot point nowadays anyway.

as ehuth1 said, the more HDMI port that are on the TV, the better a/v experience you will have as now everything is migrating towards HDMI cable connection.

a good stereo will now have HDMI ports as well so you can have an entirely digital HD setup.

 

get 1080p with or without the bluray

 

I have a 720p samsung 50 plasma and a sony 301 blu-ray and it works great I also have a 1080p sony 120 lcd with blu-ray and it is great. The nice thing about the blue-ray player by sony is that in your set up menu it will let you set your blu-ray for a 720 p set and it looks fantastic. I encourage you to get the blu-ray player first than worry about the tv later.

 

Hey P1et, I'd say it depends on how much you really want to spend. For me, I'd splurge all around and do it right the first time but that's just me.

Depending on the size of the TV you want to get, you could go with either plasma or LCD. LCD's are generally better for sizes under 50" and plasmas are better for 50" and larger. The main competitors in the market happen to be Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony.

There's an equation that can determine the best size TV based on your viewing distance. That number is 2.5. Given a distance in inches, you divide by 2.5, rounding down, and that will give you the ideal size flat screen for your viewing distance.

Will you be investing in a HD receiver? With a HD receiver with multiple inputs, you won't have to worry about how many inputs your TV will have. Everything would be controlled by the receiver if you do choose to go this route. This is how I would do it.

As far as the Blu-Ray player, I would just go with a PS3 (any version is up to you). The PS3 is a very versatile device and you'd be surprised at how many thigns it can do if you aren't already aware.

Oh, make sure you invest in some good speakers and a nice sub, hehe. Good luck!

 

Thanks everyone for your input! My main question was whether hooking up a Blu-Ray DVD player would make a difference on my 720p Sony. But it sounds like it won't?

In any regard, I currently have a Sony STR-DA5300ES that's supposed to be good. I bought it a few months back but it's still unopened in the box. That has about 6 or so HDMI inputs, which should be plenty. All my speakers are all Bowers & Wilkins. So I should be set on that as well.

I get great discounts through work for Sony products, which makes purchasing their gear a no-brainer. I went to the Sony Style store on Saturday and fell in love with their new Z-series TVs. The model name was the Sony KDL-46Z4100.

So it sounds like a new 1080p TV with the Blu-Ray player is the way to go, right?

 

:thumb:

 

Yep. As everyone has already stated to get the most out of a Blu-Ray player you need a 1080P tv.

 

hey piet make sure you buy a LCD for your garage as well!!!

 

If you are going to buy a Blu-Ray player you might as well just buy a Playstation 3 instead, it plays blu-ray DVDs and also has an upconverter to convert your regular DVDs to 1080. That way you have the benefit to watch movies and play games for relatively the same price as a standard Blu-ray. Just something to look into

 

Wow good thread, very informative :thumb:

Keep the info coming as I'm on the same boat.

 

OK I got to throw the BS flag on this one! I have a Plasma that is almost 4 years old and looks as good today as it did the day I took it out of the box. The life span of Plasmas 4 years ago was about 20 years and the brightness would be diminished to half with average tv viewing. With LCDs back then it was 30 years and half the brightness. With long range frames like that what videophile worth his weight would still have the same tv.

I also contend that unless the TV is properly calibrated with a colorimeter (one of my other hobbies) then you haven't even begun to tap into the TV's real ability.

 

Thanks for the input my friend! I think the latter comment is something I really need to explore on my television.

Would you care to englighten us on how to start the process to calibrate the TV?

 

Piet this is what I use and they really pioneered the home calibration thing. You could get a calibration disc like Avia which is good but still leaves things to the biased human eye. The Spyder colorimeter does all the adjustments via test screens so you never put your bias into it. Here is a link and it makes a world of difference in your TV.

Datacolor Spyder3TV - Datacolor - Global Leader in Color Management Solutions

 

Also be aware that some people don't like the look of a perfectly calibrated plasma/lcd as sometimes it doesn't look as bright the the blacks and such are perfect.

I got my dad a 42" Panasonic Plasma last year and it still looks great and it isn't perfectly calibrated.

If your looking at Plasmas I would go with Pioneer (Elite), Panasonic, Samsung in that order. I've heard that Samsungs have gotten even better this year, but not sure by how much.

I Love my Pioneer Elite 92 receiver connected to my PS3. And yes Bluray looks great on my dad's 42" Plasma, on my 24" Dell Monitor, and a couple different projectors I've used, none better than 720p, although resolution can go higher since made for a PC.

Did I mention that I had my PS3 playing on a 30', yes 30 foot screen that was 720p and it still looked great.

 

I have been thinking about upgrading my TV also. So far I like the Samsung 52" Series 6 LCD model LN52A650 the best. It has 1080p resolution and a 4 ms response time. I'm certainly still open to suggestions.

 

I contend that a lot of folks are not as impressed with a perfectly calibrated TV AT FIRST, but after viewing it for about a week when you walk into someones house and the TV is on you are like ... "Damn give me my sunglasses as that thing is BRIGHT!" TVs come from the factory waaayyyy too bright to make them stand out in the showrooms. How many times do you walk into a theater and think the thing is too bright...you don't because they portray it like the director envisioned it. And yes dark scenes will be exactly that dark because they are suppose to.

 

All this talk and my TV's still look the same JL :waiting:. I used to be a Sony person, but after comparing my 63 inch LCD Samsung to other tv's at the store it was a no brainer. I had the guy putting different tv's side by side to see the differences and the Samsung blew them away. I am with Gary Samsung makes a very nice tv.