Can anybody advise me on Home Cinema Systems (HCS) etc?

Question

I'm looking into buying a new TV and HCS. It's a minefield!

I've been to Currys and Comet and they both seem to have reasonable deals with combinations of TV, table, HCS or DVD players of various types.

I haven't got a clue which way to go yet, but I am a collector of DVDs which means that I have many that need a multi-region player to view them. None of the HCS systems that are on offer at the stores can offer this unless they are hacked which may affect the warranties, (and sometimes the operation of the player).

Because of the attractive costs I am prepared to live with my old system in another room for the non-R2 DVDs for the time being, but eventually I want to take advantage of the new system.

Should I pursue a seperate HCS system that will give me multi-region now or would it be possible at a later date to upgrade the packaged HCS with a multi-region DVD player, (possibly of the Blue-Ray type).

Or will a PS3 do the job?

I haven't got a clue - hope you can help!

Answer 1

First, I would advise you to consider a separate DVD player,  A/V receiver & speakers. That gives better performance and more flexibility than all in one HT systems. Sample buyers guides (there are many others on other websites) can be found at the 1st link.

Second, Blu-ray players all enforce region coding for DVDs and Blu-ray disks, so you don't want that if you want multiregion DVD play capability. The 3rd link contains region coding info for Blu-ray disks.

Third, consider your needs in terms of display resolution, screen size, amplifier power, type of speakers you prefer (mini satellite? full size floor standing? subwoofer?, etc).  Once you define your needs the choices bet easier.

For example, if you have the space and a light controlled room, given your interest in movies you may find that a projector is your best choice for a display device ... rather than an HDTV. They are at most only slightly more expensive (e.g. 1080p projectors starts at about $2000) and are by far the best way to get a movie theater like experience of a big screen (100"-120") and surround sound. See the info and reviews at the 4th link.

If you are a DVD collector, there may be little benefit to a Blu-ray player.  Blu-ray players will upconvert DVDs to pseudo-HD, but unless you want to spend the extra money for Blu-ray disks (currently $5-$20 more expensive than the same movie on DVD), you can get the same performance on an upconverting DVD player for a fraction of the cost. You could even get 2-3 dedicated region specific upconverting DVD players for the price of a Blu-ray player.  That said, the 2nd link is to a site that sells region free DVD players.

Hope this all helps point you in a useful direction.

Answer 2

Panasonic have just released three cinema systems that are all multi-region.

SC-PT460

SC-PT560

SC-PT860

They all up-convert standard dvd's and also have optical inputs, which allow you to connect to satelite receivers. If you have an i-pod, you can play that through it as well.

There are no Blu-ray theatre systems available at present.

Try digitaldirect.co.uk to see the full specifications.

I have the 460 and it has excellent picture and sound. I decided to continue using standard dvd through my HD tv, because blu-ray is still expensive and many of the discs don't have all the extras that we've become used to, which in my book is a rip-off. Also, blu-ray is only four times better than dvd, which, unless you have a very large lcd or plasma, you will hardly notice any difference in picture quality. If it was 50x better, then ok, but it's not.

I bought this to go with my Panasonic lcd tv, and can highly recommend them as well, as the picture is even better than my old standard top of the range tv

I would also consider Sony and Samsung products, but it's best to look through the various audio/visual magazines to see which ones are the best, as a comet/currys salesperson will tell you a load of rubbish, as long as you buy from them.

It's best to buy online where you will save hundreds of pounds on your purchase.

Apart from the above, I would recommend prcdirect and amazon.co.uk. They are trustworthy and delivery is quick

Hope this helps.