Blu-ray home cinema systems (ideas)

silkyuk9

Having viewed a few movies in the past week at a friends house in blu-ray with surround sound it makes normal dvd's bloody not worth viewing. I know you can spend aroud 2oo quid up to thousands (get what you pay for) but im looking for something in the few hundred quid mark.

Any ideas of a system dvd player plus 5.1 speaker system that is reasonably good for a few hundred quid. id love a super system but cannot afford the price.

So has anyone got a good system that only cost a few hundred quid???

ideas please

VoucherMan

If you've got a Richer Sounds near you give them a visit.

I had an all in one package but got fed up with the sound quality so sold it & went there.

I've still got a Samsung blu-ray player which is okay most of the time. For speakers I got PIONEERS-HS100 which are great and there are a few AV receivers around the £200 price.

Notmyrealname

Onkyo (from Richer Sounds) do some cracking AV receiver/amps. Spend money on good speakers. My 5.1 Panasonics are now 15 years old. They're driven by an Onklyo TX-SR308 AV amp and a Playstation 3 used for a Blu-Ray/Media Center.

Basil1234

silkyuk9 wrote: »

Having viewed a few movies in the past week at a friends house in blu-ray with surround sound it makes normal dvd's bloody not worth viewing. I know you can spend aroud 2oo quid up to thousands (get what you pay for) but im looking for something in the few hundred quid mark.

Any ideas of a system dvd player plus 5.1 speaker system that is reasonably good for a few hundred quid. id love a super system but cannot afford the price.

So has anyone got a good system that only cost a few hundred quid???

ideas please

excuse me for being dopey here but you just asked for 'dvd' player with a 5.1 system attached when you where banging on about blu-ray or have I mis-read this?

and if that is what you are after surely would be better of with a proper seperate 5.1 unit and updating the rest later on because money is tight?

Avoriaz

silkyuk9 wrote: »

Having viewed a few movies in the past week at a friends house in blu-ray with surround sound it makes normal dvd's bloody not worth viewing. I know you can spend aroud 2oo quid up to thousands (get what you pay for) but im looking for something in the few hundred quid mark.

Any ideas of a system dvd player plus 5.1 speaker system that is reasonably good for a few hundred quid. id love a super system but cannot afford the price.

So has anyone got a good system that only cost a few hundred quid???

ideas please

Then beware of the higher price of Blu Ray disks compared to DVD.

almillar

Separates are better than these all in one systems, and they're expandable and upgradeable. You don't mention what your friend has but let's just pluck the cheapest stuff from the Richer Sounds website.
Yamaha amp plus speaker package £180
http://www.richersounds.com/product/1-box-home-cinema-systems/yamaha/yht196/yama-yht196
Panasonic Blu Ray player £50
http://www.richersounds.com/product/blu-ray/panasonic/dmpbd75/pana-dmpbd75
If you want to spend more than this, there's an Onkyo amp for £140, and I would spend as much as you can on speakers.
If you want to save money, you should know that a PS3 is a great Blu Ray player.
You can save more money if you have any existing speakers that you can use. You need a good sub, and good stereo (that's front left and right in surround speak) speakers, then you can use any old junk at the back for starters. You can also go without a centre to start with too. Second hand is a great way to go too, as the amps especially go out of date fast with all the new features.

pledgeX

I bought a Sony BDVE370 about a year ago for £270. It's probably cheaper now. 5.1 surround sound and decent blu ray player.

I'm really happy with it. Unfortunately I don't have anything to compare it to as this is my first unit. My only complaint is it only has a single optical input, so I bought an optical switch to switch between audio for my media player and the xbox. Although saying that, the media player has since become redundant as the blu ray player is smart enabled, and can handle everything on my hard drive, so I no longer need the media player .

I would rather have gone with separates as a few other people have mentioned, but after pricing it up I was looking at nearer the £7-800 mark to really get what I wanted and be 'future-proof'. I think this will do me for a few years easily, then when it comes to upgrading hopefully wireless speakers will be the norm!

trets77

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Onkyo (from Richer Sounds) do some cracking AV receiver/amps. Spend money on good speakers. My 5.1 Panasonics are now 15 years old. They're driven by an Onklyo TX-SR308 AV amp and a Playstation 3 used for a Blu-Ray/Media Center.

I argue you can afford a super system if you do the homework.

New stand alone amps are cramming a lot of video switching ,HDMI ports, Processing modes, THX certificates, and 3D stuff in that you have to question how much of that budget is actually going on the amplification.

Don't get me wrong they would be a big improvement over standard tv and most one box solutions.

But if your prepared to forgo the HDMI's in the back (providing your TV has enough HDMI in's) and other things i think you can find outstanding value in older 2nd hand amps.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Arcam-AVR280-7-1-Channel-100-Watt-Receiver-/221052963062?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Home_Cinema_Receivers&hash=item3377c888f6#ht_1697wt_981

This is the amp i own. It cost something like £1300 when released in around 2007. It will crush flat any sub £1000 new amp IMO. I had a Flagship Onkyo and this thing is on a different planet in terms of sound. Forget that it does not have HD sound. Given around £1100 of the original £1300 price was spent on the amplification it does not need it. I Sold my Onkyo 875 for £300 and brought the Arcam for £280 around 15 months ago. Best piece of trading i ever did.

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/hi-fi-and-audio/receivers/arcam-diva-avr-280-281922/review

If that is too expensive have a look a some older Yamaha, Denon , Harmon Kardon or Pioneer amps. search out the old reviews online and see whay you can get. A sound pressure meter is around £20 and that and a tape measure is all you need to set up so don't worry about Auto Calibration.

almillar

pledgeX - see my post above for how you could have had the seperates stuff and much better sound for the same price, without having to go out and buy that optical switcher. If you have specific needs like 2 optical in, you've got to research and buy the right product, instead of adding bits on later.
trets77 - agreed, though there's absolutely no need to be so extreme as to deny yourself of HDMI ports! How could you live without them?! With 3D ready, network ability, and whatever 'newer', 'better' surround sound effects Dolby and DTS come up with every year, surround sound amps depreciate massively, which is great for the second hand buyer. £200 will get you a fantastic HDMI amp. Look out for ones local to you on Gumtree or eBay to save on postage.
(I just bought a Pioneer VSX-LX52 btw to replace a non HDMI Yamaha - that Arcam looks like a steal!).

googler

For a 'few hundred quid' I think the OP needs to prioritise - what's more important to them - picture or sound?

Personally, I'd rather go for a better large-screen TV with a standard stereo HiFi setup than a not-so-good TV with a not-so-good 5.1 setup.

It's also unclear what the neighbour spent on their setup, and whether or not the OP is committing to spend the same as their neighbour....

trets77

almillar wrote: »

pledgeX - see my post above for how you could have had the seperates stuff and much better sound for the same price, without having to go out and buy that optical switcher. If you have specific needs like 2 optical in, you've got to research and buy the right product, instead of adding bits on later.
trets77 - agreed, though there's absolutely no need to be so extreme as to deny yourself of HDMI ports! How could you live without them?! With 3D ready, network ability, and whatever 'newer', 'better' surround sound effects Dolby and DTS come up with every year, surround sound amps depreciate massively, which is great for the second hand buyer. £200 will get you a fantastic HDMI amp. Look out for ones local to you on Gumtree or eBay to save on postage.
(I just bought a Pioneer VSX-LX52 btw to replace a non HDMI Yamaha - that Arcam looks like a steal!).

i personally don't think HDMI in a amp is a deal breaker if the price is right and your needs are served.

My old Onkyo had all the HD sound effects but the Arcam in plain vanilla 5.1 ( though admitally Bi-Amped fronts) eats it for breakfast and asks for seconds.

my other argument would be that Blu ray is really the only source for the HD sound modes. And if you buy the right Blu Ray and the right amp you can still access them Via Multi channel analogue.

Your right that non HDMI amps have depreciate massively and the monster amps of maybe 5-6 years ago are at great prices. But they can still be monsters if you do it right.

Monster amps:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pioneer-VSX-AX5Ai-S-Air-Studios-Tuned-AV-Receiver-/360467257558?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Home_Cinema_Receivers&hash=item53ed85d8d6#ht_1022wt_981

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pioneer-Receiver-VSX-1016V-S-/320928679999?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Home_Cinema_Receivers&hash=item4ab8d7083f#ht_500wt_996

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Denon-AVR-3802-7-1-Channel-150-Watt-Receiver-/190692557237?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Home_Cinema_Receivers&hash=item2c662981b5#ht_992wt_981

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yamaha-DSP-A1-Home-Cinema-AV-Amplifier-/251086878558?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Home_Cinema_Receivers&hash=item3a75f1b75e#ht_3451wt_981

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pioneer-VSA-E08-Home-Theatre-Cinema-Dolby-Surround-Sound-Integrated-Amplifier-/130715218625?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Amplifiers&hash=item1e6f3bf2c1#ht_500wt_996

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Harman-Kardon-AVR5550-AV-Receiver-amp-hifi-amplifier-home-cinema-quality-/261044846581?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Amplifiers&hash=item3cc77c3ff5#ht_8742wt_981