Tong Family

Someone was asking about components for home theater. Man, there was lots of things going on.

“Sim2 HT5000”:http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=799229 is an amazing 3-DLP projector. Expensive though. 3800 lumens and 6000:1. Most folks are worried about the 50% drop in light output as the lamp ages. The Sim2 HT3000 is 1-chip 1080p while the Sim2 HT5000 is 3-DLPs. Informal reviews show the 3-DLP has the most detail than 1-DLP. It ships with a single lamp at 250-300 watts. As an aside, the best $10K projector according to “projectorreviews.com”:http://www.projectorreviews.com/jvc/dla-rs2/index.php is the JVC DLA-RS2 which is $8K MSRP with a 3-LCOS and 600 lumens but a 30K:1 contrast.

“Atlantic Technology System 8200e Speaker”:http://www.hometheatermag.com/floorloudspeakers/707atechdia/. July 2007. 8200e LR $1660/each, 8200e C $1750, 8200e SR $1400/pair. Rating. Build Quality 90, Value 95, Features 94, Performance 95, Ergonomics 88, Overall 93.

“Rotel 15 Series”:http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15125069 are all Class D amplifiers. The RB-1572 is 2x250W Class D, 2U height $1300, 5x250W RMB-1575 in a 3U at $2700. They are so new, it is not clear how they will perform though.

“Pioneer BDP-05FV Blu-ray Player”:http://www.blu-ray.com/players/players.php?p=0&id=37&show=userreviews. Most folks think a little overpriced. Lacks Ethernet which most folks don’t know if it matters or not. The true high end folks should get the Elite player. Most others will be happy with a PS3. There have been some firmware problems as well. A $400 Panasonic DB55 has more features

“Velodyne DD-18”:http://www.velodyne.com/news/reviews.aspx?sid=372v314c is a well known name in subwoofers. They have “DD-18″:http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/subwoofers/velodyne-dd-18 at $5000 monster all the way to a DD-12 to a DD-18 with a monster 18” subwoofer. The DD-18 can get down to 15 hertz. Reminds me of the Definitive Technology BP-3000s that I currently have. Good to 10 hertz! “Stereophile”:http://www.stereophile.com/subwoofers/604velodyne/ says it is 18″ subwoofer with 1.5″ excursion and 1250 watt amplifier.

“JL Audio Fathom F113″:http://www.stereophile.com/subwoofers/907jl/ are some fine subwoofers. Even though they are only 13”, the woofers move 3 inches and it has a 2500W Class D amplifier in them. Two would blow you away! Side-by-sides say the F113 beats the DD-18 by a hair. There is also the “F112”:http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1091257 which is about the same but costs less. Audiogen has the F113 for $2300-2600 and F112 for $1500-1700

“Monoprice.com”:http://www.monoprice.com/home/index.asp. There is a big debate as to whether these $1,000 per foot HDMI cables make any difference. Personally I’m skeptical.

“Denon DVD-2500BT”:http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=40467 It has DTS-HD MA and TrueHD. This unit doesn’t have built in scaling like the 3800 but doesn’t really need it since the Denon processor has it already.

“Vizo VW42LF”:http://reviews.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtvreviews/vizio-vw42lf-review.shtml is a low cost Chinese knockoff LCD TV. Got a 72/100 which is mediocre, but it cost just $1K vs. $1200-1450 for name brands

“LCDTVBuyingGuide.com”:http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/top10.shtml has a good top 10 list and a good “recommended list”:http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/best-lcd-tv.html which include:

At “37”:http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/37-lcd-tv.html which is a replacment area for a 32″ 4:3 TV:
* Sharp Aquos LC37D64U. Very thin. 10:000:1 dynamic contrast.
* Sony KDL-37XBR6. XBR from Sony and “HDTVSolutions.com”:http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/Sony_BRAVIA_KDL-37XBR6_LCD_HDTV_Review.htm agrees. 4.5/5. $1500 list ($1100 street).
* LG 37LG50. 4.2/5.0 just got dinged a little for setup but it is cheaper at $1300 ($834 street). So personally, I’d probably go for the LG in most circumstances since a 37″ TV really isn’t that big.
* “Samsung LN37A550”:http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/Samsung_LN37A550_LCD_HDTV_Review.htm 4.0/5.0 because it has a green tinge, so not for me.
* Toshiba REGZA 37RV530U. 4.2/5.0, 4.5 on picture quality which isn’t bad.
* “Vizio VO37L”:http://www.hdtvsolutions.com/VIZIO_VO37L_LCD_HDTV_Review.htm. This one comes out well 4.5/5.0 as good as the LG. A little higher price at $880 street though.

* Samsung LN40A750 40″ LCD
* Sony KDL-40XBR4 40″ which is an XBR TV when you realy want better quality.

For “46 inches”:http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/46-lcd-tv.html
* LG 47LGX. The winder model. 87/100 picture quality. Very good at upconverting 480i and 480p to 1080p so you don’t need an upconverting player. Overal 87/100.
* Samsung LN46A750. The follow on to the well reviewed A650 and A550. 93/100 picture quality. Has 120Hz amotion processing which has to be switched off for film sources, just use it for sports. Overall 91/10. “Pricegrabber”:http://electronics.pricegrabber.com/plasma-lcd-televisions/Samsung-LN46A750-46-LCD-TV/m67107236.htm/search=samsung%20ln46a750/sort_type=bottomline/st=sort/qlty=all has it for $1615.
* “Sony KDL-46XBR4”:http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtvreviews/sony-kdl46xbr4-review.shtml Pricey at $3K list. It has been superceded by the new “KDL-46XBR6”:http://www.hdtvlounge.net/sony/xbr6/ line. 92/100 picture, 91/100 overall
* Discount shootout is between “Olevia 242T FHD and Vizio VW46L”:http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtvreviews/vizio-vs-olevia.shtml with 81/100 and 79/100 ratings
* LG 52LG70 52″ LCD which is a quality TV with 40:000:1 dynamic range.

“Televisioninfo.com”:http://www.televisioninfo.com/content/Samsung-LN46A750-LCD-HDTV-Review-596.htm also liked the Samsun LN46A750 and did some nice technical tests. It is expesnive at $1900, but compared with the Sharp LC-46D64U it is not contest for image quality. Best alternative is the Vizio SV470XVT is decent quality and $400 cheaper. The VO47L is even lower quality though. The Sony KDL-46W4100 is off color and has terrible viewing angle.

For 46″, “PC World”:http://www.pcworld.com/article/145655/top_46_and_47inch_hdtvs.html seemed to like the Samsung LN46A650 82/100 $1800 but with lower image quality and the Samsung LN46A550 80/100 $1700 which it replaces, Vizio SV470XVT 80/100 $1400 with a really great picture althought is had some artifacts but difficult connectors, Vizio VO47LF 79/100 $1400 with great picture

“Tv-Advisor.com”:http://www.tv-advisor.com/sizes/best-46-flat-panel-tv-ratings.php also has some reviews. They confirm the PC World ones. Which are the Samsung LN46A650. Instead of paying $2K for a XBR6, you might try the slightly downscale KDL-46Z4100 mainly because of its 10-bit color

Finally there seem to be a sea of Blu Ray Players. “Buyblurayplayers.com”:http://www.buyblurayplayers.com/category/top-5-blu-ray-players at least has a top list and the list is not surprisingly filled with Sony and Panasonic for common models.

Sony BDP-S350. It has an Ethernet port. Video output quality is good and it doesn’t have onboard decoding of DTS-HD Master Audio. But you only need that if you don’t have an audio processor (so its moot for those of us with AVRs).
Sony BDP-S300
Panasonic DMP-BD50. Also a BD-LIVE capable player. Good picture quality.
Samsung BD-P1500
Panasonic DMP-BD10A

For the afictionados, the “Blu-ray Forum”:http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=61928 has a lively group. Many folks just like the Sony PS3 as the good basic. Others liek the Denon, Pioneer and Marantz. The best dedicated at a good price is the “Panasonic BD-35”:http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/blu-ray-hd-dvd-players/panasonic-dmp-bd35-477508/review or the new BD-50.

“Home Theater Magazine”:http://hometheatermag.com/discplayers/908blu/ had a good overview of players and an “overall”:http://www.hometheatermag.com/discplayers/ list:

* Denon DVD-3800BDCI is $2K. Wow! The main improvement is that it has a Silicon Optix video processing part in it. They didn’t much like the DVD-2500BTCI for its video performance and scaling however. However, all payback at 1080p/24 looks pretty good from all Blu Ray players, so it is mainly the edge features like decoding standard DVDs. If you are using a video upscaler then this isn’t really a problem. For instance if you are suing the AVP-A1HDCI from Denon, then it already includes its own upconvertor, so then you just want a player that spews 480i from the DVD and it shouldn’t upconvert. The main real issue is that it is slow to load, open, etc. A common fault with Blu Ray players.
* Panasonic DMP-BD50 (now superceded by the BD55). It has its own internal processor and is $700. The main issue is that it couldn’t upscale right with DVDs. Again, an issue if you don’t have a processor.
* Samsung BD-P1200 has an upscaler in it and the BP-P1500 doesn’t.
* Denon DVD-2500BTCI. $1000 list. Only has HDMI output but the big issue is that it doesn’t support a source direct output so you can take advantage of the output processor. It always upconverts unlike Sony and Pioneer.
* Playstation 3. The big problem with it is that it doesn’t output Dolby Digital Plus or True HD into its native bitstreams, so wouldn’t work to just spit out streams.
* Sony BDP-S500. This output bitstreams for all formats in Dolby but doesn’t pass on DTS-HD MA.
* Sony DBP-S350. It doesn’t have a video direct output mode. It does offer full bitstream output for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA thought unlike the S500. So it doesn’t work if you have an external processor.