now i know what your all saying about sony but i`m sick of looking and this seems to me(a novice)to be a pretty good tv-any advice anyone????????as for the all in one home cinema i know it`s not true serarates as i was previously advised to go for but at least it`s separate from the tv so it`s a start innit!!does anyone have any info on the home cinema and for the extra £50 is it worth buying the 500 for the bigger wattage?currys are asking me to stump up £1800 for the lot with-out any extended warranty on 12 months intrest free.not a vast amount in this game i know but hardly chicken feed if it`s naff-and i can expect a good kick in the town-halls off the wife if it is crap-frankly i`d rather have a leg off so please help me out if you can.many thanx

The Sony DAV range gets a really bad rap on this forum and rightfully so.

There are a number of posts in the last 2 months which outline the problems with this unit.

The DAV range are budget units sold at premium prices. If you can pick up the DAV300 (mulitregion modified) for £199 then that is a fairly acceptable price for what you get. Any more than that and you are paying over the odds.

The DAV range looks nice and is compact. However it lacks scart so no auto-widescreen switching via pin 8 on the scart. You will be relying on Line 21 and Line 23 WSS. On many televisions only the latter is supported. Also, you will not get RGB capability or component. Best video signal is s-video so you are compromising again.

Connectivity is poor. Only 2 analogue inputs (tv, vcr and digibox =3 for example). If you cannot use audio passthrough, then you are going to have to leave one item (at least) from being connected to the DAV.

If one bit goes wrong, or you want to upgrade one bit in the future, you lose the whole lot and have to start over.

Sound quality is poor for the money spent (better than tv but not as good as similar priced separates).

The all in ones make a good bedroom system but they are not an ideal solution. Generally, with a couple of exceptions, they are over priced, under powered and under featured items which rely on the looks and poor quality Dixons/Comet salespeople to sell them.

[Rock Da Bass]

The Sony DAV range is not well thought of by regulars on this forum and it seems to be a waste of time owners like myself defending it, but if you do end up buying the above, go to unbeatable.co.uk and you'll get rid of the pricing problems and keep the missus happy.

I was going to buy pretty much the setup you are going for but decided aginst the kv32fq75 becausde it seemed to have to many problems. You can get a much better TV for less money. I'm well pleased with the DAV but posts on this thread will follow saying how crap it is, so I'll leave the DVD player advice to others.

RDB

I'm glad that despite all these posts you still want to buy this tv.I want also to buy this tv,I wanted months now but since I saw all these posts I started to think about more and now I'm searching for the problems.I don't know where you live but I believe that it's very important the country you live and getting from this tv set.It's seems that the "made in UK" sonys are defective.I still can't say that for sure but I'm still searching for the answer!

[MartinImber]

First rule of DVD player purchase

If your are going to connect to a TV (rather than component equiped projector)

YOU MUST HAVE AN RGB OUTPUT

At the risk of starting yet another debate on the merits of the DAVS500.........

I have mine connected via a Techlink S-Video/SCART cable and the picture is stunning, far better in fact than the RGB output from my previous Lecson 900. I'm not familiar with this TV but as long as it has S-Video enabled SCARTs or a non forward facing S-Video input you should be OK re. connection.

stotty,

I have the DAV S500, I'm very impressed with it, I appreciate decent sound and picture! I am sure you would be as well. Going the seperate way takes up much more room, dvd plus amp, the 500 is nice and slim. Also, it has amazing little sat/surround speakers. So all in all it is a must buy if you want a simple solution for 5.1 sound.

erm.....what`s an rgb output and what do you mean by S-Video enabled SCARTs or a non forward facing S-Video input???????thanx again for all your help folks

stotty,
If you get the DAV S500, you will need the following cable - Ixos 135-AV S-VHS to Scart - 1.5 metre, you can buy this from hifibitz.co.uk for £22.99. Makes a big difference over the standard one sony give you! Hope this helps.

Component and RGB are the best video signals.
S-video is next and composite is last.

RGB, s-video and composite can be carried by scart.

The Sony DAV doesn't have a scart and cannot output RGB so you don't get the best video signal. RGB can also bypass PAL/NTSC incompatability so if the television is not NTSC compatible, the RGB scart is a must.

S-video can also be carried by an s-video lead (small round connection). Some televisions only have an input for this on the front of the tv. So getting an s-video to scart connection will allow you to connect to the scart socket on the rear.

There are some DAV threads in the last month you should look over. Generally, those that have a DAV unit like them. However, those who have heard the DAV units and heard other units, do not like them. If the shortcomings of the DAV units are not a problem for you, then fine. But make sure you are aware of the shortcomings before you buy.

[MartinImber]

RGB is almost always carried by Scart and is much superior to SVideo.

To the ex Lecson owner - try a good player with RGB

S-video doesn't bypass picture processing - go go into an electrical store and you see these all in one systems s-vid connected, edge enhancement (artificial sharpness),a nd colour resolution looks poorer.

RGB is just so much better

stotty,

Everybody is making to much fuss about RGB!! There has been alot of debating about RGB-v-S-video in these forums! There is little difference, except if you have a top of the range DVD player that runs at 54mhz, most DVDs run at 27mhz. Believe me when I say that the picture through s-video on the DAV S500 is excellent, I am sure you would think so as well!

A decent television and dvd player will give a superior picture via RGB than S-video.

I do agree that in some cases s-video is as good or in a few rare cases better (Toshiba 32MW7DB televisions are one example of this).

The key issues are:

1 - RGB is better than s-video. However, some televisions and dvd players may not show the differences as much or at all. Larger televisions tend to highlight the differences more than smaller televisions.

2 - RGB bypasses NTSC/PAL so if your television cannot handle NTSC correctly (ie black and white picture), then using the RGB scart will correct this. You cannot do this with s-video.

The DAV will have a perfectly good picture compared to a digital tv source or a VCR. It will not be on par with the Sony 725 or 735 players with an RGB or component connection however.

Doubledoom,

One big plus point for the DAV S500 is the DVD/AMP is so slim, that will be a big factor for alot of people, it was for me, I can fit all my AV stuff into my TV cabinet, so I have kept my other half happy, which has to be a good thing!!

The DAV is small. I do agree with you there which may be an advantage in some cases.

first off,let me thank you all for offering me so much help and advice-great stuff. having weighed up the pros and cons i`m going to go for the dav-s500 and the sony kv32fq75 simply because (a)i`m new to this and it has to be a good start point in home cinema for under £1800! and (b)space is an issue for me-i mean why only 2 shelves on most of these stands eh!!!in all of the press reviews i`ve read the dav scores very well-5stars in most cases....even though it lacks scart there are alternatives and i`m sure i won`t notice the difference......yet.christ..wot with yer rgb and s-video and ntsc/pal and dolby digital aaggggggghhhhhh-all i wanna do is watch eastenders of an evening with the wife (groan)and at weekends it`ll no doubt be my little pony with the jam eaters!!!.and all for 1800 brick.....sob

stotty,

Nice one!! Another DAV owner! One day they will rule the world!! Enjoy! If you haven't got it, get T2 and watch it on DTS, sound is awesome! Cheers

Just a side not to add, the reviews in the magazines rate all-in-ones in their own catagory and not against separates. Otherwise separates would nearly always get higher scores.

Personally, if i had £1800 I would go for a Toshiba 32ZP18P television, Sony STRDE875 receiver,Eltax Stargate (Speaker Pack), Toshiba SD210 (multi-region) DVD player.

This would give you change out of £1800 and would give you a component video connection DVD player so picture quality would blow the DAV away, future upgradeability as the amp,dvd and speakers are separate. The speakers would not be my personal choice but if space is an issue, then these ones are small (and better than the DAV). There would be more connection options than those on the DAV too so no problem for future items you want to add, whereas they may be on the DAV with its limited option.

I am surprised Ian J hasn't added his suggestion as that is quite a smart package too.

However, if you have made your decision after looking into it and that is what you want to go for then that is all we can ask and accept it. If you think the DAV is for you, even with it's limitations, then go for it.

many thanx to doubledoom and ufo1947 for their time and patience in explaining the pros and cons of home cinema..very much appreciated-i`ll let you know how i get on...........it`s been emotional........

stotty,

That's alright man, that's why we are here!!