Thinkin' About Home Theater...

[Zorro]

Alright, so my experience with Home Theater thus far is limited to a 27" Samsung tube TV and an Adelphia "digital" cable receiver. I've dabbled with some 5.1 speaker setups back when I had DISH, oh, and my DVD player is my XBOX. Needless to say, I'm behind the power curve a bit, but I would like to look into advancing my home theater capabilities in the not too distant future largely due to the fact that the downstairs TV room has been recently furnished, complete with a fairly nice Lazy Boy sectional couch, complete with integrated recliners and...well, see below (much easier with pictures than words). I've not kept up to date with all the latest and greatest crap that's come down the pipe in recent years, so I was hoping you guys could point me in the right direction.


Sorry for the high amounts of sunlight...



Here's my generalized wish list:

1. 50"+ HDTV with 16:9 aspect ratio
2. Some kind of good p-scan DVD (do I need a p-scan HDTV?)
3. Some kind of GOOD 6.1-capable tuner
4. A nice 6.1 speaker setup (I'm a bit of a picky bastard when it comes to audio quality, so I imagine this item and the tuner are of key importance)
5. A TIVO (been meaning to get one of these bad boys for some time now)

I've been poking around at some consumer A/V websites trying to figure out what the dealio is with stuff these days. I've read a couple of things that I thought were interesting, so I thought I would share these here plus ask a few questions...

1. Firewire in A/V systems?
2. Do rear projection-screen TVs still suck ass like they did 5-10 years ago? Is there a viable large screen HD alternative to projection screen? Do game consoles still break projection screens?
3. 1080i...I assume the "i" means "interlaced"... Is there a non-interlaced standard available at that resolution? Does it even matter, or is interlaced still as ugly as I remember is being back in the bad old days of computer monitor interlacing?
4. I'm guessing due to the fairly high level of suck that I experience with my Adelphia "digital" cable system, that I can't expect that HD will come out of my receiver any time soon... If I go back to DISH, will I get HD output for all/most of the channels? If I go back to DISH, will TIVO work for me? Does TIVO support HD? Does it have to?
5. Since my couch setup butts up against the wall, is there an effective way to mount the middle rear channel? Heck what about ANY of the rear channels? How good will a rear-projection TV be at diminishing the reflection effects caused by that pesky window behind the couch? I'm guessing that some sort of ultra blind is the best solution to that problem, but I figured it didn't hurt to ask...

I guess that's about it... Any suggestions you fellas might have would be most appreciated. A good home theater primer would be nice too, if anyone has a link to one. Thanks much!

[[AK]Squidly]

This is a great site... you'll get all your questions answered here. You may not even have to ask, just read through the posts.

Home Theater Forum