What is my best option for home theatre surround sound?

Question

I'm looking into creating a media center in my living room with a Media Center PC, a Nintendo Wii, and an Xbox 360, using either a HDMI monitor or plasma tv. I'm wondering what my best options for surround sound are (preferably wireless back speakers) Looking to spend $500-$1000. Also feedback on monitor vs. tv would be appreciated as well as knowing whether I would have difficulty hooking up surround to a system with a monitor. Thanks!

Answer 1

Wireless speakers at that price are probably not going to be that great. Wireless in general is overrated, if you can, get the surround speakers professionally installed and the wires will be hidden/in the wall anyway. For HDMI monitor vs plasma tv, they'll both be equally easy to setup, it's just up to you as to whether or not the monitor is big enough to use in your living room. If you use the TV, it will be hooked up to your computer through one of the TV inputs, and using it will be as easy as selecting the input in a menu on the TV. As for surround suggestions, check some out for yourself at a home theater store. If there's a Tweeter around you, I recommend them, they really know what they're talking about.

Answer 2

the best way to do it is use the OneView for a media center PC, check theaterxtreme.com for more details, surround sound is best produced by Klipsch for  you can get the cinema six speakers ($999.00) and they are incredible, IMAX Regal and AMC theaters use Klipsch. if you get a good receiver, Denon 1508 ( $349.00) pairs well with the components i have listed and has two HDMI inputs so that ou can swith between Xbox360 and your HDMI television input.

Answer 3

Check out LCD tv's as opposed to plasma or mointors... they're essentially monitors that have tv tuners in them as well as having cable input, component imput and often time the VGA input.  Typically all LCD TVs over 27" have two HDMI plug ins now.   I apologize if by monitor you meant LCD, because monitors are LCD now.

Also, when you go to the store you will notice that there is a difference between 1080p plasma and  1080p LCD.  LCD has a longer life expectancy, often cheaper in cost, and has a sharper picture.  You'll notice that most stores only carry 2 or 3 plasma tvs and about 10-20 LCD flat panels.