Re: Comcast HD service


"MZ" <mark@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Glenn Greenstein" <glen.jackson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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<jes.t.er@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Glenn Greenstein <glen.jackson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Have you checked if there is any signal loss from your TV outputs.
Most of the time when you use a device for pass through like you are
with
the TV for the audio, there is some loss.

Dunno. If its audio degredation though, I'm 99.9% likely to not notice.
Too many years of very loud music leads to tinitus, always saying
"WHAT?!?",
and not being able to discern what a lot of people talk about in terms
of
finer granularities.

Another thing is, are you running 5.1.

I just have a dual speaker set up for now. Most of my whole set up is
pretty old, I'm just replacing the oldest component of the bunch (my
TV) at the moment. Next up will be dvd - the one I have now doesn't
even
have progressive scan (its that old).
I'll give you a tip on the DVD.
If you just want an upconverting DVD player, you can get the Pioneer
DV-400 for under $100 at best buy. Be sure to show them the pio website
that has a lower price than they do and they will price match it.
The DV-400 uses the Media Tek chipset that has less Macro Blocking (Large
clusters of black with defined edges in dark scenes like outerspace or
night time) than the Farogia <sp> that you see in a lot of upconverting
players.
Samsung I think has come out with an HD DVD player for under $400. That
is about the least expensive there is for now.
The only problem is, HD DVD seems to be losing the format war.
There are going to be tons more Blu Ray discs out there due to Sony
agressivly marketing with partners like Target who will only carry Blu
Ray discs and players.
Sony lost the Betamax war to VHS. They are not going to lose this one.
As far as 5.1. You can get a 5.1 receiver on Amazon for about $150, and
some suround speakers for about $50 each. The center should be the same
size as your left and right so you have balanced sound coming from the
fronts. If you get a smaller C, your left and right will drown out the
dialog of the movie in noisy scenes, and if you get one that is larger,
your left and right won't be sufficent.
C's can be a bit expensive, so you need to make the choice if you can
afford one.
About $300 is average price for a good one.
You haven't experienced home theater if you don't have surrond.
A sub is also important, but you can wait on those unless you are dying
for your whole room to shake during the opening battle scene in "Master
and Commander" :)
Subs can be very expensive though. $600 or $700 is not uncommon for the
large ones.
If you have a small room, you can get away with a small one, but once you
have a sub, you only buy bigger ones from that point.


Eh, I prefer a stereo setup over surround. I've owned, used, and set up
both dozens of times, but the artificial subwoofer + satellite combo
leaves a lot to be desired, IMO. It's typically lacking significantly in
the 200-400Hz range (lower midrange), and they're almost always ported
wrong (and too small), so you get a wild frequency response below that. A
good stereo pair will give you a far better sound, even if it lacks the
movie theater boom and sizzle (something which I find annoying, by the
way).

Mark, I don't know what you have heard as far as HT set up, but I use
bookshelf speakers for fronts and surrounds that easily hit the ranges you
listed. The ones I use now (Definitive Technology) are rated 80 hz to 20K
hz. All my fronts and surrounds have 5.25" drivers and 3/4" tweeters. A
friend of mine actually used floor standing line aray speakers as surrounds.
The sub is set to roll off at 80 hz so I don't get any dialog or localized
freq. coming from it.

Having said that, a good center channel design with good processing can
add a fair amount of depth. And by processing, I don't mean the crap that
comes with most 5.1 receivers. But its benefits are very much
room-dependent.

Great point. Room treatments can make huge differences in how your system
sounds. A good C imo is probably the most important part of a HT. It enables
you to direct where the dialog is going to be heard. As far as 5.1 receivers
go, I think my Yamaha does a pretty good job.
I at one time was using 3 200 watt Crown amps (XLS-400) for the fronts and
and surrounds and I ran the C in bridge (not needed but what the hell, I had
the right cables). I really like the flexibility I get from the Yamaha DSP
over that. I can't recall the preamp I was using at the time (I owned a
bunch of them and still have about three in storage). I think it was an
Arcam.




.

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