Need replacement DVD, HT system but which one?

AlphaPapa123

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Hi guys,

My Samsung HT-DS110 has packed up after only 1.5 years and although it was adequate for my needs I would like something a bit heftier and more robust. I am not buying Samsung again as their customer service sucks after emailing and phoning them for help and support without getting anywhere.

Anyway, I am after an all in one box that has the below functions:

Divx, USB, Optical in, 5.1 speakers, DTS and DD, HDMI with 1080p upscaling, multi region, component out, phono audio in

optional:
scart, coaxial in, dvd recorder, HDD

My budget is upto £350, I saw the below models but after checking the specs , they dont have all the pre-reqs:

Pioneer DCS370 - no optical input, 1080i
Panasonic SC-PT550EB-K - has 1080p but no Divx
LG HT902TB - 1080i and no optical input

Can anyone tell me if there is a big difference between 1080i and 1080p or am I being too fussy?

Please can I have some recommendations - I appreciate your help.

Thanks
Mumin
 
LG HT902TB - 1080i and no optical input

Please can I have some recommendations - I appreciate your help.

Thanks
Mumin

Hi Mumin,

I have the LG system and it DOES HAVE an optical input, which I am using with an optical switch to connect my tv and V+ box. I have not looked at the other two systems, but I can tell you what I have tested on my system.

Plays CD's.
Plays DVD's which I have burned my CD collection - allowing me to select artist-album-tracks using on-screen menu.
Plays VCD's.
Plays Ipod tracks via USB port - track selection via on-screen menu.

Full specs are here:
http://uk.lge.com/products/model/detail/homecinemasystem_ht902tb.jhtml

Hope this helps

Will :thumbsup:

PS can be made multi-region
 
Can anyone tell me if there is a big difference between 1080i and 1080p or am I being too fussy?

Assuming you have a 1080p compatable set, it really depends on the size of your screen. Anything above 32" and you will notice a difference, I think it's only Sony or Panasonic that have actually made a 1080p full HD 32" panel, and the reason for this is that the difference between 1080i is nominal and it's really difficult to detect any sort of difference in pic quality.
 
Thanks Chilly and Welsh, I forgot to mention that I have a 42" Goodmans with 1080p, so I would really like to make use of that functionality.

Thanks for the clarification on the LG, I couldnt find that info after reading up on a few sites, however its 1080i so I'll leave this for now, I do like the looks of it though so if I cant find anything matching my requirements I may go ahead and purchase that instead.

Does the thing Im looking for actually exist?!! :confused:
 
Thanks Chilly and Welsh, I forgot to mention that I have a 42" Goodmans with 1080p, so I would really like to make use of that functionality.

Thanks for the clarification on the LG, I couldnt find that info after reading up on a few sites, however its 1080i so I'll leave this for now, I do like the looks of it though so if I cant find anything matching my requirements I may go ahead and purchase that instead.

Does the thing Im looking for actually exist?!! :confused:

It's the 1080p compatability thats proving to be difficult in your price range, the only system available is the panasonic range as you already know. And, according to the forum its 1080p upscaling abilities leave a little to be desired...
If you could notch up your budget to the £400 mark you could get everything you need (and more) from the latest sony amp + DVD HDD player combo. HTD870RSS (satellite speakers) £425.00 or HTD870RSF £499.00 (tallboy speaker version)

See my review HERE plus connectivity photo's etc.
 
Thanks Chilly and Welsh, I forgot to mention that I have a 42" Goodmans with 1080p, so I would really like to make use of that functionality.

Thanks for the clarification on the LG, I couldnt find that info after reading up on a few sites, however its 1080i so I'll leave this for now, I do like the looks of it though so if I cant find anything matching my requirements I may go ahead and purchase that instead.

Does the thing Im looking for actually exist?!! :confused:

I think all HTS at present have SD players/recorders which upscale to 1080i, only - HD DVD players, BLU-RAY players, PS3-Bluray and XBOX 360-HD outputs to 1080p.

There is a debate at the moment as to which format will be successful HD or BLU-RAY. A debate which will run and run, but until there is an outright winner I personally will hold back from buying one or other format.

With my LG system I am very happy with the upscaling to 1080i.
 
I think all HTS at present have SD players/recorders which upscale to 1080i, only - HD DVD players, BLU-RAY players, PS3-Bluray and XBOX 360-HD outputs to 1080p.

There is a debate at the moment as to which format will be successful HD or BLU-RAY. A debate which will run and run, but until there is an outright winner I personally will hold back from buying one or other format.

With my LG system I am very happy with the upscaling to 1080i.

Not entirely correct Chilly, your right in the way that the majority are yes.

But, the above mentioned Sony models come with a 1080p compatible amp, plus 'HD audio' LPCM processing. The supplied DVD player will upscale a beautiful 1080p picture, and along with the panasonic equivalent, it's one of the best on the market at the moment.
I think you may have mis-read my post confusing HDD (Hard Disc Drive) and HD-DVD?
 
I saw the Panasonic SC-PT850EB-K mentioned a few times on this site and it has 1080p - people seem to be impressed by it however aparently the UK model does not have divx whereas the EU does! Unfair or what?

Even the official Panny site doesnt mention Divx on this model.... if anyone has bought this from a UK supplier can you please confirm if you are able to watch divx movies or not.
 
If you could notch up your budget to the £400 mark you could get everything you need (and more) from the latest sony amp + DVD HDD player combo. HTD870RSS (satellite speakers) £425.00 or HTD870RSF £499.00 (tallboy speaker version)

See my review HERE plus connectivity photo's etc.

This model certainly looks appealing and could be well worth a look in. As soon as I can get some confirmation on the PT850EB and its divx capabilities I think I have narrowed down my search to 2 models! However there is a big price difference between the 2 so I need to be able to justify spending the extra money.

Thanks for your help guys - any more recommendations or ideas are welcome.
 
If it does in europe, then go have a look at a sight like pixmania.co.uk. They sell european models...
Hmm just checked it myself, unfortunately they don't seem to be listing this product anymore...

Try posting in the 850's forum, I'm sure there'll be a member somewhere who could point you in the right direction!
 
Thanks for that - I'll try and get dabs to confirm as other UK sites dont mention divx at all so unless they're selling the euro model I'm not sure whats going on!

Are there any 850 owners here who can confirm this?
 
Thanks for that - I'll try and get dabs to confirm as other UK sites dont mention divx at all so unless they're selling the euro model I'm not sure whats going on!

Dabs are useless, they dont have a phone number and their 'policy' is not to offer any sort of pre-sales or compatibility advice! They wont be getting my money....
 
Good Morning,

I'm looking for a system with the same sort of specs but also wanted a little future proofing. After spending countless hours as you yourself must have done I have decided on

Sony HTSF2000 for £336 plus £29.99 for delivery from Amazon.

Although this does not have a DVD player it does have all the boxes checked and lots more. For me it will enable me to send my PS3 via HDMI and then HDMI to my TV plus audio from my SKY and Divx via component from my pioneer DV575a. and all sent via one cable to my TV.

For you a DivX DVD player can be had for little money, hell my pioneer DV575A plays everything bar HD and when I sell it next week it will only fetch £30, so when the time comes to add a HD player you only have to buy a player and not change the whole system.

That my view anyway.:clap:

Andy
 
Good Morning,

I'm looking for a system with the same sort of specs but also wanted a little future proofing. After spending countless hours as you yourself must have done I have decided on

Sony HTSF2000 for £336 plus £29.99 for delivery from Amazon.

Although this does not have a DVD player it does have all the boxes checked and lots more. For me it will enable me to send my PS3 via HDMI and then HDMI to my TV plus audio from my SKY and Divx via component from my pioneer DV575a. and all sent via one cable to my TV.

For you a DivX DVD player can be had for little money, hell my pioneer DV575A plays everything bar HD and when I sell it next week it will only fetch £30, so when the time comes to add a HD player you only have to buy a player and not change the whole system.

That my view anyway.:clap:

Andy

Thanks for your input Andy and it certainly makes logical sense. There are many factors when deciding what is right for a person - I personally wanted an all in one box because I literally dont have any extra space in my video cabinet, so if I did buy the 850 I would have what I wanted but it wont be future proofed having no hdmi input - I dont think this is a big problem as you can always buy a hdmi splitter.
The Sony sounds very good (after reading Welsh's and other reviews) and it is future proofed for a fair while but I would need an extra dvd player to replace my all in one Samsung. Your mention of buying a separate cheaper divx player is also a good idea......decisions, decisions!

I'm going shopping this weekend and hope to be coming with the right system at the right budget!
 
well local Sony centre was a waste of time. They were quoting £520 and £620 for the HTD-870RSF(RSS) package deals with small speakers or tall boys (cant remember which was which) I didnt bother arguing, just mentioned that the price was expensive and I find it cheaper elsewhere and walked off. They also didnt have one in stock and said it would take a week to bring one in.....oh and also that they could only demo if I bought it!

hopeless....
 
well local Sony centre was a waste of time. They were quoting £520 and £620 for the HTD-870RSF(RSS) package deals with small speakers or tall boys (cant remember which was which) I didnt bother arguing, just mentioned that the price was expensive and I find it cheaper elsewhere and walked off. They also didnt have one in stock and said it would take a week to bring one in.....oh and also that they could only demo if I bought it!

hopeless....

Got mine here Mumin:

http://www.cheapelectricals.co.uk/acatalog/Sony_HTD870RSF__htd-870rsf_htd870rsf_htd870rsf_.html

The SF for £495.00
 

Is there any noticeable difference between the tall boys and the short ones?:
HERE

I would ideally like to demo it somewhere first before purchasing....

btw I'm more attracted to this system now after reading a few bad reviews on the 850 - but still would like to demo them myself before making up my mind.

I have a few home videos on VHS - would I be able to convert them to DVD using the HDD recorder? That way I can get rid of the vhs player and make the extra space!
 
Is there any noticeable difference between the tall boys and the short ones?:
HERE

I would ideally like to demo it somewhere first before purchasing....

btw I'm more attracted to this system now after reading a few bad reviews on the 850 - but still would like to demo them myself before making up my mind.

I have a few home videos on VHS - would I be able to convert them to DVD using the HDD recorder? That way I can get rid of the vhs player and make the extra space!

Yes you would. You'd just have to set the recorder to record from the AV1 input onto the HDD. Then rip the HDD contents onto DVD.

The difference is that the larger SF speakers have '2-Way Bass Reflex' as opposed to the SS's 'Bass Reflex' which improves the Bass response. The SF's speakers are height adjustable and also Wall mountable with 'Keyhole' ports.
 
thanks for confirming those details Welsh. I'm going to hit Tottenham court road tomorrow - lets see what I come home with!
 
I wasnt able to visit TCR yesterday but am planning to go this week.

Welsh or anyone else I need your expert advice to steer me in the right direction please:

a) On the Sony package, are the amp and the player both able to upscale or is it just one or the other?
b) If its the amp then can I just buy any old DVD player, route it into the amp and have the signal upconverted into 1080p?
c) You mentioned that the PS3 is able to de-code DTS-HD and other HD audio formats for the amp, if that is the case then will that not be the same for any other amp e.g. cheaper ddw890\880, as long as you have a PS3? Or is it because the amp can receive uncompressed LPCM signals?
d) DO you know if DTS-Tru HD or Master uses 5.1 or 7.1 and if so is there a more suitable amp (within the same price range) that would handle these signals from the PS3?

Sorry if I am asking too many questions but I have tried to read up on it and there is too much conflicting information out there!

Thanks for looking
 
I wasnt able to visit TCR yesterday but am planning to go this week.

Welsh or anyone else I need your expert advice to steer me in the right direction please:

a) On the Sony package, are the amp and the player both able to upscale or is it just one or the other?
b) If its the amp then can I just buy any old DVD player, route it into the amp and have the signal upconverted into 1080p?
c) You mentioned that the PS3 is able to de-code DTS-HD and other HD audio formats for the amp, if that is the case then will that not be the same for any other amp e.g. cheaper ddw890\880, as long as you have a PS3? Or is it because the amp can receive uncompressed LPCM signals?
d) DO you know if DTS-Tru HD or Master uses 5.1 or 7.1 and if so is there a more suitable amp (within the same price range) that would handle these signals from the PS3?

Sorry if I am asking too many questions but I have tried to read up on it and there is too much conflicting information out there!

Thanks for looking

A) The player upscales to 1080p, the amps input Supports a 1080p signal, but does not actually upscale itself.

B) See 'A'

C) The amp must be able to support uncompressed LPCM via HDMI, if so, then yes it would be the same.

D) Dolby True HD will offer up to a 7.1 audio spectrum with the Low Frequency Channel (LFE) providing the '.1' Only over a HDMI interface capable of processing DTHD.
All the new DTS/Dolby formats are backward compatible, and will automatically compress down to what your set up allows. The HT-SF1200 will not compress any of the audio transferred via LPCM and will thus reproduce a far superior surround experience. But it will convert the data into its 5.1 setup.
You'd definately have to go down the seperates route to get an amp that supports DTS HD/DTHD & 7.1 at the moment. Plus your HDMI ports must be 1.3 certified in order to recieve this type of audio.
Your looking at pretty high-end kit there, then add the cost of speakers on top etc... Take a look at something like the Onkyo TXSR605 at around £399 for the amplifier here:

http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=ONKY-TXSR605

Then add the cost of a 7.1 speaker setup (for a decent set to compliment the Onkyo I'm guessing around £500), and your talking quite a bit of cash, best ask about reccomended speakers etc in it's relevant forum.
 
thank you very much for that Welsh - I knew you would be able to answer these questions! :thumbsup:

the budget is capped at around £400, like with anything you could always spend a bit more and get a bit extra but you have to stop somewhere!

I'm seriously thinking of selling my wii and getting a ps3 and this amp\dvd combo after reading up on it.....cant wait.

I'm going to get this system this week hopefully!
 

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