WooHoo...new AV system!

[livendive 8]

Good news:
Got a new Sony widescreen hi-def TV this weekend and a new Onkyo receiver with plenty of juice and relatively modern surround modes (6.1). Today, I got my cable hooked up, with hi-def service, all the HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax channels, and a DVR. Considering at this point last week, I was watching a pretty old 19 inch TV with rabbit ears and a Yamaha with archaic Pro-Logic (4 channel), the upgrade is, well, awesome. I still need a sub and a center rear speaker, but I can now shake the house with extremely crisp sound. My only complaint is a noticable hiss between sounds at the absurd end of the volume range. I think it's coming from my use of a dvd player as a cd player. Still, it's not noticeable at volumes that allow any semblance of verbal communication, so overall I'm pretty happy with the setup.

Bad news:
It cost me my Dublin money.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[DeepThought 0]

The UK probably wont get HDTV till next year Sky keep putting it back.

Cant wait till it is available here.

But having a good souround sound system still makes my DVDs sound and look good.

As for you hissing, have you used good quality interconects. Cables should make up about 10% of the HI FI cost, and this is an area whre lots of people skip. Why spen £700 on an amp £500 on a DVD playe and link them with £5 cables.

I recon most people do not realise the kind of experience you can get from a dvd, untill they hear it on a quality system.

I have been to cinemas that sound worse than my system.

Mind you I bought all that before I took up skydiving, and havend't upgraded any of my system since...... and I have no regrets......

--------------------------------------------------
You only have one life, make the most of it.

[livendive 8]

  Quote

As for you hissing, have you used good quality interconects. Cables should make up about 10% of the HI FI cost, and this is an area whre lots of people skip. Why spen £700 on an amp £500 on a DVD playe and link them with £5 cables.

I'm running optical cables for sound and component for video feeds. I could use a DVI-HDMI cable between my DVR and my TV, but don't know what the advantage is over component.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[flyclearjohn 0]

  Quote

  Quote

As for you hissing, have you used good quality interconects. Cables should make up about 10% of the HI FI cost, and this is an area whre lots of people skip. Why spen £700 on an amp £500 on a DVD playe and link them with £5 cables.

I'm running optical cables for sound and component for video feeds. I could use a DVI-HDMI cable between my DVR and my TV, but don't know what the advantage is over component.

Blues,
Dave

I'm with ya, brother!! Got my system delivered and hooked up yesterday. WOW!! I'm far from an expert but I've spent many hours this past week researching the issue of types of cables and the various ways to hook up the system. What I thought was a simple question turned out to be more complex than I ever imagined.

Will you get better quality with a DVI to HDMI cable? The answer seems to be a resounding ...maybe, maybe not . Good quality cables are recommended but the recommendations seem to be that spending more than 5-7% of your system cost on cables is wasting money. There are manufacturers out there selling absurdly priced cables that are pretty much selling snake oil to cure all ailments. Here are two articles that convinced me (for now, at least) to stick with the supplied component cables.

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/122868.html.


http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/114333.html


I'm most definitely giving advice well outside my areas of expertise and based solely on a few hours of reading so take my advise with several grains of salt.

For me, the picture and sound quality is so totally freaking awesome, I have no desire to spend a few hundred dollars on cables that may either increase, decrease or have no significant on the amazing quality I am seeing and hearing now.

Enjoy,

John