astroglide's home theater: what i own, what i would buy today

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i consider myself an educated consumer, not an expert, but i am completely satisfied with the products i'm using.

TELEVISION
own now: sony kdf-60xs955
would buy: sony kds-60a2000


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A $4000 TV.

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HOME THEATER IN A BOX
own now: onkyo ht-s580
would buy: onkyo ht-s590


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A $400 audio system.

Something seems off here.

J

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more or less weird: i have the 50" version of that TV (its unbelievably awesome, btw) hooked up to a ~$2k stereo audio system rather than surround sound.

[astroglide]

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Great thread. However, I have to disagree on the awesomeness of wall-mounting. The volume saved in our master bedroom by going with a wallmount LCD vs. a standard TV with a pedestal/entertainment center/etc. really opens up the room for me. I am really big on open space, though. I would mount all my electronics in/on the walls if possible.

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i see it as a perfectly functional decision if one is space-limited, or particularly enjoys open spaces. i think the general appeal of wall-mounted flat panels is the "ooh ah" though, and it's got nothing to do with the picture. i think all of the indiscriminate purchases of crappo plasmas from costco attests to this. i wouldn't avoid a flat panel just to make a statement about that stuff, i'm just saying i wouldn't seek it out for those reasons.

most flat panels i've seen in homes are what i'd consider to be improperly mounted too: too high, too low, off to the side, etc. i particularly hate the visual distraction of the over-the-fireplace mount, in addition to the height thing. it's not like we read books by holding them over our heads with a busy landscape right in front of our face.

immersion the thing that matters most to me when watching high definition content, and those are the sort of things that pop you out of it. another thing is viewing angle though, and a wall-mounted set is going to be set back a good 12-18 inches from where a rear projection set would have been. that effectively translates to a smaller screen, and less immersion. in other threads i've made a big deal out of screen size because it's a big, big deal to me. i think most people look at a 42" and say, hell, i've only got a 27" set now this is gonna be more than enough! once they sit 10' away from a 60" screen someplace else they should quickly realize that it isn't too big, it's just right.

it seems likely that flat panels will become the eventual standard, and i'll still be the first in line if it's cost-effective, large enough, and i'm able to mount it properly in the room.

[astroglide]

as an aside, the harmony remote provided the impetus i needed to start using rechargeable batteries. i picked up an energizer kit at sam's club, extremely happy that i did. less hassle, less waste. with a quick-charger and charged spares there's never a problem.

[sean c]

borodog,

I have the wall mount in the bedroom and family room. It kicks ass in the bedroom but in the family room we still had to get a decent sized cabinet for all the other stuff.

astro,

I have the harmony 890. I love it but then again i don't know any better.

[Borodog]

To be honest, I was forced to mount our wall-mount LCD too high for my taste, but that was to make the wife happy. I found a very subtle thing that really mitigated this was tilt angle. A 5 degree downward tilt made a huge difference (one I can't really explain; perhaps it's entirely a placebo effect), and I now hardly notice that the TV is "too high."

The real problem is that I have been too lazy to run my power and HDMI cables into the wall, so I have an ugly cable protector tube running down the wall. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[Paluka]

I just wanted to chime in and agree that mounting your tv over the fireplace is really really stupid.

[Dids]

astro,

I'm really surprised that you're talking about burn-in on plasma. Do you disagree with the conventional wisdom that it isn't an issue anymore with newer models.

I want a harmony remote really bad.

[MrWookie]

Well, it looks like if I ever get my money out of Neteller, I'll be treating myself to a new remote and a new HTIB. I have an earlier model of Sony's SXRD TV, and the 50", and I'll vouch that it's awesome.

[Borodog]

Sean,

We have the electronics for the bedroom on a low slung set of shelfs on the floor beneath the TV, about 18 inches high. The footprint is small, but the important thing is that it opens up a couple of cubic yards of volume that would have been taken up by a regular entertainment center.

I will probably be going flat panel in the living room this year for the same reason. We have a regular TV in an entertainment armoir type thing, and it looms like a frigging refrigerator in my living room. It annoys me more and more every day. Just typing this has made me want to go TV shopping.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

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The real problem is that I have been too lazy to run my power and HDMI cables into the wall, so I have an ugly cable protector tube running down the wall.

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really, that's the biggest issue with LCD's and plasmas: the hidden cost of hanging them. unless you are handy with drilling holes/covering them up and such, you need to get this done professionally, or it will end up looking bad. you also have the issue of setting up a storage system for 'everything else' like your tivo, cable box, receiver, etc.

at the same time, it's silly to see LCD's sitting on a table that was designed for a regular TV, which I sometimes see.

right now I have a 55 inch projection tv, which is gigantic. the great thing about it (besides the picture) is that I just put all my components on top of it (about 6), and wires behind it, and it actually looks ok, b/c the top of the TV is basically a coffee table 5 feet up in the air.