Best Home Theater Solutions

Posts Tagged ‘Home Theater’

Before you begin your home theater installation, you'll need to decide on the item that will probably be the centerpiece of the entire theater; the television. When it comes to large screen TVs, the two main choices seem to be either LCD or plasma. Each kind has its own strengths and weaknesses, and any of these could affect your viewing experience. So you'll need to know what primary types of viewing you'll be doing before you can choose either of these televisions for your home video needs.

Plasma TVs are brighter, yet have such a reflective surface that most of your home video experiences will need to be in a darker room. On the other hand, LCD televisions can handle all sorts of different video situations and lighting. Yet LCD TVs also experience slight blurring and even a potential trail stemming from quick movements on the screen. But plasma televisions can experience image burn if an image stays on the screen too long. As you compare home theater systems, you see how dependent your choices are on what type of viewing you'll be doing, and in what conditions.

Other choices will involve video players, gaming boxes and other home theater accessories. For example, you may want to get a Blu-ray player to plug into your television. If you were thinking of getting one of the in-a-box home theater packages, you may find one that includes a Blu-ray device, while others include DVD players.

But you can also connect with standalone players. Many Blu-ray players, as well as playing videos, can also connect to streaming video services like Netflix or Pandora. So you'll want to read a lot of reviews before you buy one of these video devices.

Then come all the extras. The home video experience doesn't just include movies and television watching any more. The kids can plug gaming boxes in, and when they've gone to bed, you can turn on your TiVo or other Digital Video Recorder, catching up on programs you've missed. If you hire a home theater installer, then this person can set up the room so you'd hardly need to leave except to go to work and eat and sleep, and even then you might connect to the internet and work from home. The world has come a long way since the invention of the television, and your home theater is a means of experiencing all of that.

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Obviously you've upgraded to a true HD TV and the difference in picture quality is breath taking. The real problem is now in the quality of your DVD playback. It has somehow become less crisp than it used to be. Part of this is perception and part of it has to do with your player. Looking at an HD DVD might save you a little money and enhance your movie watching experience.

The advantages of an HD DVD player really boil down to two basic topics: convenience and quality. If you are looking for a solution that will make your DVDs play as nice as the HD channels you are receiving, forget it, you will never see that kind of quality out of a true DVD with anything that is out on the market now. However, HD DVD players offer something blu-ray does not: interchangeability.

There is no such thing as "true" HD picture with a standard DVD, though in most cases your old DVDs do play fine. This has more to do with the limits placed on the DVDs themselves; they just cannot compete for clarity and audio accuracy that true HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs can provide. So if you are thinking you'll get a better picture out of an HD DVD player using your old DVDs, the difference will be nominal.

HD DVD players use a blue laser. What this does for you as a consumer is shorten the load time and allow for a more compressed disc. That is to say a standard sized DVD will hold more digital content. That's how HD DVD is able to deliver a crisper picture in high def and its older cousins are not.

Another advantage for HD DVD players is simply that having one player that can play two formats saves you space. Otherwise you'd be losing space under your TV to yet another player. And no one wants to see that.

Another space saver comes from the fact that HD DVDs come in the same packaging as normal DVDs. This makes your movie shelf look more uniform and prevents you from having to store movies on different shelves. For those with OCD this helps some.

The players are readily available and relatively inexpensive compared to Blu-ray, so price is another factor. If given the option a lot of consumers would go for the cheaper solution to a problem and HD players for DVD are a viable one.

The real plus to it all is that you don't have to start over on your collection and you can keep one basic unit beneath your TV instead of two, three of four different boxes. For we older people who remember the Betamax/VHS wars if the early 80s there is the added comfort of knowing we don't have to completely switch formats again or hope we guessed which was going to become the standard.

Zeeman Haus enjoys writing articles online on a variety of subjects. You can check out his latest website on 7 Inch LCD TV which reviews and lists the best LCD TVs to help you pick the best one for your needs.

	LG BH200 Super Blu Blu-Ray HD DVD Combo Player List Price: $799.99 Sale Price: $1,499.00
	The Super Blu Player offers increased HDTV entertainment choices, because it can play 50 to 60 percent more high-def movie titles than either single-format player. With full networked interactivity available from selected HD DVDs, and the capability to handle networked BD-Live interactivity in forthcoming Blu-ray discs, it is the latest available technology that plays both disc formats...

	Toshiba HD-A3 720p/1080i HD DVD Player List Price: $149.99
	.caption { font-family: Verdana, Helvetica neue, Arial, serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; } ul.indent { list-style: inside disc; text-indent: -15px; } The Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD Player allows everyone into the HD DVD game with a very affordable price tag...