Home Cinema noob needs help

[Euro_Hunter]

Hi,

At the moment I have a Philips 37" LCD TV which only has one DVI input which I cannot afford to change atm.

This is connected to a Panasonic SC-HT900 DVD home theatre system, all though was pretty good when I first bought it I am now well aware of its limitations and would like to replace it with a budget A/V receiver etc.

I also have connected Virgin Media & TIVO & Divx DVD player & soon XBOX with XBMC.

Quite a lot of things I am not too sure about:

What is the difference between an A/V receiver & a A/V Amplifier?

Can all items be connected to the receiver in terms of audio & video? (i.e. only one video lead from the receiver to the tv)

I would like to use the speakers I have atm but would need to buy a new sub as mine has some kind of proprietary connection.

Could someone spec me some reasonably priced suitable gear.

Any help comments gratefully received

 

[badbob]

A/V receiver & a A/V Amplifier?

Former has a tuner. Latter doesn't.

You usually route all sources to the av amp, then from the amp to your display/speakers, so as you change input video and audio changes with it. Although some people just route audio to the amp, and feed video directly to the TV. You just then need to switch input on the TV.

I would also budget in a learning remote control with macros in your budget if possible, it makes your system much easier to use. I never have to switch the TV on or off, or switch inputs on the TV or amp. Macros within the activity does it all for me.

I would look at AV amps at around £300, ideally £400 if you want something with quality. But I wouldn't spend too much as it's not worth it (go down stereo seperates instead for the main channels)

Could someone spec me some reasonably priced suitable gear.

My idea of reasonbly priced gear probably won't be to you.

 

[Munkeh]

Hi,

At the moment I have a Philips 37" LCD TV which only has one DVI input which I cannot afford to change atm.

Can we get a full list on inputs? How many Component/HDMI etc

This is connected to a Panasonic SC-HT900 DVD home theatre system, all though was pretty good when I first bought it I am now well aware of its limitations and would like to replace it with a budget A/V receiver etc.

I also have connected Virgin Media & TIVO & Divx DVD player & soon XBOX with XBMC.

Quite a lot of things I am not too sure about:

What is the difference between an A/V receiver & a A/V Amplifier?

They are the same thing pretty much just different names...

Can all items be connected to the receiver in terms of audio & video? (i.e. only one video lead from the receiver to the tv)

I would like to use the speakers I have atm but would need to buy a new sub as mine has some kind of proprietary connection.

Could someone spec me some reasonably priced suitable gear.

Any help comments gratefully received

You can but you pay for the privaledge. For example you can input all video via component/hdmi/composite and some AV receivers will upscale everything to HDMI. These are known as upscalers, others will only switch between input types. So if you input HDMI and component into the receiver it will output both hdmi and component. It can't upscale the HDMI to the component output and vice-versa.

So what is your budget and what do you want it to do? Do you want 5.1 etc or are you happy with just stereo?

 

[Euro_Hunter]

Connection wise my TV is pretty bad 1 DVI, 2 SCART etc which why I would to connect everthing to a receiver then connect via the DVI if this is possible, not too concerned about the upscaling.

Not really got a budget as such but would like to do it as cheap as possible but will save for a while if its worth it & yes would like 5.1.

So is the tuner in a receiver AM/FM radio?

Quite like the look of the Denon AVR-1508 & 1708 but haven't a clue if these meet my requirements

Also just spotted the Onkyo SR605 that looks very nice very highly rated any good for me???