Need Help on Bying Home Theatre

sanjub22

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Joined
Mar 22, 2009
Messages
165
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Location
Kolkata, India
Hello Everybody,

Greetings from my side. I want to set up a home theatre at my home. The room is approaximately about 14X18 ft in size and the viewing distance is on the 14ft size. There is no way I can utilize the length ( 18 Ft ).
My Budget is around 2 lakhs (Max 10% tolerance)
First of all I want a full HD LCD. So considering the above information please suggest me whether I should go for a 32/42 inch. Which I brands I should look for . I am confused between Sony and Samsung.

I am looking for a home theatre with a blue ray player.

I am looking for both music and movie. So should I go for a HTiB or the components one. Please give me details for both. But I dont know any HTiB in India with a Blue Ray Player. But afterall I am not inclined for a very complicated setup.

Can any kindly suggest please.
 
Hello Everybody,

Greetings from my side. I want to set up a home theatre at my home. The room is approaximately about 14X18 ft in size and the viewing distance is on the 14ft size. There is no way I can utilize the length ( 18 Ft ).
My Budget is around 2 lakhs (Max 10% tolerance)
First of all I want a full HD LCD. So considering the above information please suggest me whether I should go for a 32/42 inch. Which I brands I should look for . I am confused between Sony and Samsung.

I am looking for a home theatre with a blue ray player.

I am looking for both music and movie. So should I go for a HTiB or the components one. Please give me details for both. But I dont know any HTiB in India with a Blue Ray Player. But afterall I am not inclined for a very complicated setup.

Can any kindly suggest please.

You need atleast 37in(40 preferable) for 14 ft.sony is better option than Sam(V or W series)

For Ht go for separate system as- Denon,Yamaha(as mov ,music combo) prices from 38k to 45k(with upscaling capabilities)

spks can be from Wharf,Kef,Tannoy,MS ranging 5.1 from 40 to 70k

Blray from Panasonic like BD35/55 are best for price(30k?)
 
Hi

I would suggest Ps3 as the blu ray player because of its various uses ( Game console, Hard Disk storage for both movies and music, USB port, Ethernet port , Bluetooth and Blu ray Player) and great VFM.

Regards

sub
 
18 ft is a fairly long viewing distance. If your budget can afford, then go for minimum 50 in as it will be future proof in terms of TV upgrade. I watch between 6-8ft on mine and the picture is nothing but excellent even for STB. At 18 ft, things start to look minute on a 37/42 frankly. Also you will be stuck with your TV for a looooong time. So settle this matter quickly.

For audio - you can go for a HTiB from Onkyo or Philips. They are good VFM and have good feedback on this forum. Just do a search and you will get plenty feedback

For BR, PS3 is probably your best bet and I recommend the same.

Total should come below 2 lakhs.


Hello Everybody,

Greetings from my side. I want to set up a home theatre at my home. The room is approaximately about 14X18 ft in size and the viewing distance is on the 14ft size. There is no way I can utilize the length ( 18 Ft ).
My Budget is around 2 lakhs (Max 10% tolerance)
First of all I want a full HD LCD. So considering the above information please suggest me whether I should go for a 32/42 inch. Which I brands I should look for . I am confused between Sony and Samsung.

I am looking for a home theatre with a blue ray player.

I am looking for both music and movie. So should I go for a HTiB or the components one. Please give me details for both. But I dont know any HTiB in India with a Blue Ray Player. But afterall I am not inclined for a very complicated setup.

Can any kindly suggest please.
 
Marsilians, Sub and Spiro. My apologies, but can I offer a different perspective?

For a guy who is ready to spend 2 lakhs, a 50 incher is an overkill and a HTIB is a gross underkill.

I think a 42 inch TV attached to a decent AVR and a set of 5.1 speakers would be a good bet. Chosen carefully, this should very well come withing the budget.

Cheers
 
I respect your perspective Venkat. having said that I contest that 42 is way too small for 18 ft. The reason I suggested HTiB was for budgetary considerations. Ideally I would like him to get atleast an integrated for good 2 channel sound but thought HTiB was a better choice due to his quote below

But afterall I am not inclined for a very complicated setup



Marsilians, Sub and Spiro. My apologies, but can I offer a different perspective?

For a guy who is ready to spend 2 lakhs, a 50 incher is an overkill and a HTIB is a gross underkill.

I think a 42 inch TV attached to a decent AVR and a set of 5.1 speakers would be a good bet. Chosen carefully, this should very well come withing the budget.

Cheers
 
Hi Sanjub22,

One of my very good friends and classmates is Sanjib Ghosh from U.S./Kolkatta.

Seeing that you're interested in a Blu-Ray player and provided you're going to play a lot of Blu-Ray/HD content then this is what you should go for.

1. PS3 - Will work as a Blu-Ray player, and as a media center/hub for all other entertainment media too.
2. Full HD TV (Plasma or LCD), but in India Plasma Full HD is found less so Sony X series Full HD LCD TV is a great option and way better than Samsung IMHO, but do note that Sony X series is expensive and will eat into quite a bit of your budget. The Panasonic PV8 at under 50K is plasma and not Full HD, but a great TV and will serve you very well for years to come and can be considered if budget becomes an issue.
3. AVR - You have to go for an AVR that will decode HD Audio like TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio especially with Blu-Ray/HD content so in other words a HTIB is absolutely ruled out.
4. A 7.1 speaker package.

For the 4th option I will wait for more experienced personnel like Venkatji, my good buddy Marsilians and others to chip in. 1 & 2 are settled (at least for me) and option 3 you can look at new range of Yamaha AVRs, Yamaha 663 is a great option.
 
True Marsilians, but

(1) Sanjub wants to use the 14 feet wall.
(2) Sanjub wants a BR player. As Moser has mentioned, an HTIB will not decode the new sound codecs. They may not even be able to take input from a BR Player, though I am not sure about that.
(3) You and I know that if you overcome the initial fear, setting up a HT is quite simple actually.

Cheers
 
Thanks to everybody for all your time to reply. In fact I was not expecting so many replies in such a short period of time. Thanks a lot friends.
Now as I am very much serious and depend on you guys for this purchase, here are some small feedback depending on your kind replies .

1. First of all the length of my room is 18 ft which I cant use fully. So the viewing distance is the width of the room which is maximum 14 ft .
2. So if I consider a 42inch HD , it will eat almost 50% of my budget.
3. So in remaining 1 lakh(10% tol) , I need an AVR (with upscaling and other HD related features) , 5.1 speakers and blue ray/ps3.

Can anybody kindly guide me on my third point specifically with brand names and models.
 
Sanjub, why are so insistent on a Blu-Ray player? Leaving aside the PS3 that has other uses, a BR player cost stupid now, and the media is around 2000 a piece today. A decent upscaling budget player will delver excellent results from DVDs, and you can look at a BR Player next year when their prices become reasonable.

What we can do is ensure that all you other equipment is BR ready, so to say.

Cheers
 
Sanjub, why are so insistent on a Blu-Ray player? Leaving aside the PS3 that has other uses, a BR player cost stupid now, and the media is around 2000 a piece today. A decent upscaling budget player will delver excellent results from DVDs, and you can look at a BR Player next year when their prices become reasonable.

What we can do is ensure that all you other equipment is BR ready, so to say.

Cheers

Agree with Venkatji here, but if you're in a position where you get Blu-Ray media like from U.S. and/or a Blu-Ray player is a must then stick to only a PS3. It's cost effective and has more uses like playing H.264 content, upscaling and with HDD upgrade will store a lot of your media content. A standalone Blu-Ray should be absolutely ruled out. But do make sure since your spending so much money that you're future ready in terms of all purchases handling HD content like a Full HD TV and an AVR that will decode HD Audio, and a 7.1 speaker package.
 
Thanks to everybody for all your time to reply. In fact I was not expecting so many replies in such a short period of time. Thanks a lot friends.
Now as I am very much serious and depend on you guys for this purchase, here are some small feedback depending on your kind replies .

1. First of all the length of my room is 18 ft which I cant use fully. So the viewing distance is the width of the room which is maximum 14 ft .
2. So if I consider a 42inch HD , it will eat almost 50% of my budget.
3. So in remaining 1 lakh(10% tol) , I need an AVR (with upscaling and other HD related features) , 5.1 speakers and blue ray/ps3.

Can anybody kindly guide me on my third point specifically with brand names and models.

1. At 14 FT viewing distance, why would you want a Full HD bcos you will not be able to see a difference between 720p and 1080p at that distance. You should rather buy a PV8 and save cash and invest in your audio. See the chart for reference on benefits.

resolution_chart.jpg


At 14 ft, if you really need to appreciate 1080p, you need invest at least in a 70 incher and above. Save some cash here and wait for 2 yrs and invest a OLED TV :)

2. PS3 is the best player for your budget

3. Like Venkat suggested, i would invest in Yamaha or Onkyo receiver just ensure it has True HD connectivity available and speakers like Spirovious suggsted wharf etc
 
Sanjub, why are so insistent on a Blu-Ray player? Leaving aside the PS3 that has other uses, a BR player cost stupid now, and the media is around 2000 a piece today. A decent upscaling budget player will delver excellent results from DVDs, and you can look at a BR Player next year when their prices become reasonable.

What we can do is ensure that all you other equipment is BR ready, so to say.

Cheers

This is the reason I am seeking your advice sir . This is indeed a good suggesiton.Please suggest me a brand/model now. Also if time permits then kindly let me know the brand/model of AVR and speaker sets.
Thanks a lot Venkat
 
i think you can look at the AVR1909 by Denon, add up a 42" plasma by Hitachi, get PSB or Deftech speakers and instead of getting a bluray player get an mkv media player like normus (Welcome to Normus World), and get cables from audioquest, do not comprismise on your cables at all. Denon also has a HTIB called DHT-390xp its a budget package, please make sure all the Denon you buy is from their new distributor called KEI as their old distributor is pushing demo stocks as they have wound up and all their packaging is soiled along with most units have been tampered with for spare parts so its safer to stick with stock from kei. Also for the speakers you can check, most reputed hifi dealers will have stox.
 
This is the reason I am seeking your advice sir . This is indeed a good suggesiton.Please suggest me a brand/model now. Also if time permits then kindly let me know the brand/model of AVR and speaker sets.

What happened guys, no suggestions at all? Ok. Sanjub, I will outline some broad suggestions, and expect some of our members to chip in.

Option 1. FullHD

1. TV. A 42 inch FullHD TV will cost you around 85K. You can look at something like the series 5 from Samsung or competing products from other companies. (90K)
2. AVR. Let us say you allocate around 50K for an AVR. The options you have are Denon 1909, Onkyo 606, Yamaha 663, and Marantz SR5003. All these AVRs will understand and play Dolby TrueHD, dts-HD Master Audio, the new avatars of audio coding for Blu-Ray. (50K)
3. Speakers: I would say assemble a 5.1 speaker set from any of the following companies - Wharfedale, Mordaunt Short, Dali, or PSB, Another Option is to go in for the pre configured speaker set such as Energy Take 5, of the Q-Acoustics 1010i. (50K)
4. DVD Player: Any of the popular budget DVD Players that can upscale to 1080P. Popular ones are Samsung, Philips, Pioneer. etc. (10K)
5. Cable: Allocate about 10 to 15K for cables and interconnects. (15K)

Total Cost - roughly 2.15 Lakhs.

PROS:
Full HD system
Ready for Blu-Ray
Good for movies and music.

CONS:
No Blu-Ray player

Option 2. HD Ready

1. TV. A 42 inch HD Ready TV will cost you around 50K.
2. AVR. The money you save in the TV can be spent on a slightly higher AVR such as Denon 2309, Yamaha 863, or Marantz SR6003. I don't see a comparable model in Onkyo. Both the Denon and Yamaha will give you full upscaling features, while the Marantz does not. Of Course, all these AVRs will also understand and play Dolby TrueHD, dts-HD Master Audio, the new avatars of audio coding for Blu-Ray. (70K)
3. Speakers: I would say assemble a 5.1 speaker set from any of the following companies - Wharfedale, Mordaunt Short, Dali, or PSB, What you can do here is to have two floor standing speakers in the front so that you can listen to good music. (70K)
4. DVD Player: Any of the popular budget DVD Players that can upscale to 1080P. Popular ones are Samsung, Philips, Pioneer. etc. (10K)
5. Cable: Allocate about 10 to 15K for cables and interconnects.

Total Cost - roughly 2.15 Lakhs.

PROS:
Ready for Blu-Ray audio
Good for movies and music.

CONS:
Only HD ready system. May be a hindrance when you start using Blu-Ray in terms of video
No Blu-Ray player

Let us wait for others to comment particularly in terms of TV and speakers, and then we can start shortening the lists.

Cheers
 
Last edited:
CONS:
Only HD ready system. May be a hindrance when you start using Blu-Ray in terms of video
No Blu-Ray player

Let us wait for others to comment particularly in terms of TV and speakers, and then we can start shortening the lists.

Cheers

I agree totally with what you said, but at 14 feet viewing distance and 42 inch TV, what is the difference between a Full HD and HD Ready? Can we even see little difference to warrant the Full HD cost?
 
I agree totally with what you said, but at 14 feet viewing distance and 42 inch TV, what is the difference between a Full HD and HD Ready? Can we even see little difference to warrant the Full HD cost?

Let's say there are gamers in the family and the PS3 comes in and along with it lots of HD media to be watched/played. In that case (even if there is little visible difference between a Full HD and HD Ready) the OP might feel he is stuck with a HD Ready set when he has 1080P content/media. Right now we might look at saving 40-50K for a TV, but later on it might become a liability where the OP is stuck with a TV that he cannot get rid of since he paid 50K for it.

@MBR - Specifically most of us PV8 owners went that way because of the VFM factor or limited budget. Here the OP is having the budget for a Full HD TV and when all things are being planned for HD content in terms of AVR, speakers package, PS3/Blu-Ray player then it makes no sense in not having a Full HD TV.
 
Let's say there are gamers in the family and the PS3 comes in and along with it lots of HD media to be watched/played. In that case (even if there is little visible difference between a Full HD and HD Ready) the OP might feel he is stuck with a HD Ready set when he has 1080P content/media. Right now we might look at saving 40-50K for a TV, but later on it might become a liability where the OP is stuck with a TV that he cannot get rid of since he paid 50K for it.

@MBR - Specifically most of us PV8 owners went that way because of the VFM factor or limited budget. Here the OP is having the budget for a Full HD TV and when all things are being planned for HD content in terms of AVR, speakers package, PS3/Blu-Ray player then it makes no sense in not having a Full HD TV.

Yes, but thats only if he plays PS3 at 6 ft distance. What if he is going to watch all HD content at 14 feet as he says?
 
Yes, but thats only if he plays PS3 at 6 ft distance. What if he is going to watch all HD content at 14 feet as he says?

Ram, the width of his room is 14 feet not his viewing distance. For sure he is not going to sit at one end of the wall. Once he make up his decision, we can advice him on the viewing distance.

Cheers
 
OP has stated that he cannot sit beyond 14 feet (he cannot use the longer length)
And Op is just being initiated into the world of Hifi. He did not have a set goal except a set budget which he isready to stretch by 10%.

My 2c- BDP makes no sense
1. 29" lcd for regular viewing- 30k
2. 720p projector (optoma,benq, panny 300) for movies - 70k
3. pioneer or oppo dvd player - 15k
4. cables -10k
5 .screen - 5k
6. AVR + speakers = 100k
-------------
Total = 225k


I know people here who say that projector has bulb cost etc.. but if the op is willing to invest 2L +, i am sure he will be not bothered by a 10k running cost every 3000 hours of viewing.

2. Why a projector? Even at just 80" projection- it will still be a better experience than a 50" screen.
 
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