We've been in the house for about 2 1/2 years now, and the ol' 27" JVC TV is pretty inadequate for the size of the family room and my decaying eyesight. Not bad, though, considering that I've gotten close to 10 years out of this home theater system. So I decided to take advantage of some of the Black Friday sales online (actually I bought everything on Thanksgiving, so is that Black Thursday?).
I started with the Sony 60" Bravia rear-projection HDTV...
...then added the Sony STR-DG910 receiver and Sony DVP-NS77H/B DVD player...
In addition to the Sony gear, I'm planning on adding the DirecTV HD package with the HD DVR. It will be a considerable simplification to get the entertainment center down to 4 components (TV, receiver, DVD, and DVR) compared to the current 9 components (TV, receiver, CD, tape deck, DVD, VCR, PC, and 2 cable boxes).
Of course, there will be pictures and a full review once all the gear gets here (early next week).
--B
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6 comments:
Interesting that you went with a rear-project TV. That sucka sounds like a monster! I also found it interesting that you are getting rid of the home theater PC. I was considering building one for next year - for recorded shows as well as playing music files (probably FLAC from a PC).
I was really surprised at how much slimmer the projectors are these days... the Sony's only 17" deep, so it's actually shallower than the 27" JVC CRT.
Plus, there's only one place to put the TV in our living room--in the corner. In which case, the extra money spent on a LCD or plasma is pretty much wasted, since the space behind the TV is lost either way.
I've had a change of plans past couple of days, though... instead of going with DirecTV's HD service and DVR, we're going back to Time Warner... the monthly service is cheaper (~$70/month for DirecTV vs. ~$55/month for Time Warner), and there's no upfront charge for the DVR ($300 for DirecTV's vs. $0 for Time Warner). Much better deal, even if I'm generaly not a big Time Warner fan. To be honest, we've have enough outages with DirecTV over the past couple years that I'm looking forward to going back to Time Warner.
I did think about upgrading the PC to do HD... would've been several hundred bucks for a new card and software upgrade, plus a monthly fee for the extra HD cable box. Not worth it IMO, given the extra complexity of having to manage the PC. Downside is that I won't have a PC in the entertainment center for playing MP3's, but I do have the OmniFi wireless receiver... so I'll probably hook the OmniFi up to the new entertainment center, and move the PC to the office to act as a media server.
--B
Yeah, I can definitely see the advantages of going with a DVR only device. I'm still up in the air about it, I guess it depends on the setup when we move next.
Despite all the crap I've given Time Warner over the past few years, I do have to say I have been very happy with RoadRunner. I still think they cripple both download and (more importantly) upload speeds too much, but it has been solid as a rock. And my VoIP service works great on top of it. DirecTV has been ok, but I'm not certain the lowest plan that we get is worth the price. And I am sure that cable is slightly more reliable than satellite (because of the weather). I'll have to look into a switch if we do move next spring / summer - provided I can get an acceptable deal. I'm looking forward to seeing your setup.
I'm still debating whether to switch from Zoomtown to Roadrunner... I have no complaints with Zoomtown, and still get a slightly better price for that (through Cincinnati Bell bundling) than I'd get on Roadrunner bundles through Time Warner. But that's probably because I'm not planning on switching to digital phone or giving up the Cinci Bell wireless accounts.
Everything's basically arriving in backwards order... the TV was delivered yesterday, the receiver & CD player are coming today, we get the stand tomorrow, then will get the cable installed next week. I think I'm gonna put the old entertainment center in the "free" category on Craigslist.
--B
The "free" category is interesting - you will probably get a ton of replies for the entertainment center. Hell, Vanessa and I had about 20 replies for a cheap plastic Santa statue. The other option is to sell it for $20 and use the proceeds to buy sliders for a week.
Dude, $20 is about 2 days worth of sliders for me.
Good call, though... I like the idea of getting some cash flow from my 9 year old Roberd's investment. Maybe someone needs an old JVC tape deck or VCR, too.
--B
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