Best Home Cinema kit under £300?

[wheelbarrow_man]

Hi,

This is my first post but have been reading the forums for a couple of weeks.

My question is: I have a small budjet of around £300 to buy a new DVD player.

It must be a complete package, ie 5.1 and also able to play DVD -R.

I've read so much about Dolby Digital 1 and DD2 and also DTS, but a lot of this goes over my head. Is DTS as good as people make out and is there a BIG difference between DD1 & DD2?

At the moment I have a Sanyo AVD8501 DVD player...and it's PANTS. The rear speakers may as well not be there as they sound so poor.

The thing is I payed almost £500 for it when it first hit the market and have regretted it ever since, so I don't want to make the same mistake again.

That's why i'm asking you lovely people for REAL advice and not the mumbo jumgo I would get from the sales guys.

I have just brought a Toshiba 42inch rear projection TV so I would like something that will compliment it.

I'LL GET THE POPCORN....ha ha

Sorry for all the questions but me thinks I am a bit of a simpleton when it comes down to tecno gadgets....Now train spotting is a different kettle of fish...(only joking)

Thanks
Garry

 

[bobbypunk]

pioneer dcs313
sony DAVSC5
About the best of the new crop
The Toshiba SD43 has component out which would be a bonus with a tosh rear projection set and these will only set you back £200 so your budget would allow a dacent component lead.

And if a salesman can't explain something to the level of the customer they aren't doing their job. Maybe you're in the wrong shops. (If the salesman is talking over your head tell them so!)

 

[dantheman]

The pioneer 565 is about the best value player that can be bought multi region for about £200. Although the progressive scan is NTSC only.

 

[bonzobanana]

You've highlighted two important points. You want good dvd-r compatibility and you have a rear projection set which I'm guessing has component inputs as most of the Toshiba's do.

Other features I would say are important are multiregion ability.

If you can live without component output this is a brilliant bargain;

http://skybuy.sky.com/addToBasket2.asp?STR=SKYBUY,CLEARANCE,CLEAR-ELE,,EA0441,,1664,,,,,&qty=1

Only worth buying if your Toshiba gives a good picture with RGB scart. Some don't.

Another possible option is the Sony DAVS550. This has component out and ntsc progressive scan but isn't so great with dvd-rs.

This Pioneer is a great price and features both SACD and DVD audio support with excellent sound quality. Lacks component output sockets though;

http://www.digitaldirectuk.com/products_moreinfo3/index.asp?product_id=1984

My advice though is that if your RPTV has component inputs then that would be the best option to use for connection. Rear projection sets tend to lack contrast a bit and lose fine detail but you get that wonderful large display. The sort of image you want to feed it is one with excellent contrast and detail via component. All in one systems that are near to £300 and offer pal/ntsc component out are not too numerous.

You might want to consider something like this;

http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/shop/detail.asp?ProductID=1184&CategoryID=123&SubCategoryID=

and then buy a seperate dvd player with the options you want, i.e. component out

 

[scullmeister]

I am an tv & av installer and my money is on the panasonic scht500 rgb scart pretty standard no frills, but a great sound and a super sub. Although for a little extra the scht900 is better having component and progressive scan