Do a good deed and help a newbie choose a system

[putty]

Hey all, I'm in budget mode after the holiday purchases and so I'm choosing a HTIB to last a couple years. I have a credit at BB so I've gone through their stock for ~$300 systems and have come up with:

Samsung HT-DB600
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1051806321304&skuId=5403592&type=product


Panasonic SC-HT700
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1051826207149&skuId=5353798&type=product


Sony HTC800DP
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1051826209405&skuId=5382034&type=product

I realize that there won't be a huge difference between these at this price but I'm wondering if there's one that has an edge. I did use the Search function but din't find much.

Many thanks!

[himanshu]

Well, I did a proper study with a pen and paper and this really is no contest.....

Go Sony.....simply b'cos it has a much superior Sub....and believe me it provides the most dramatic impact of all your HT components.

Rest of most features are common (Sony won't play JPEGs though, which I feel is not really a factor.People have a PC for playing those for God sake, which has much much better resolution)

[putty]

Thanks for the input.

From looking at the specs, it seems that neither the Panasonic or Samsung have digital audio input or output. Isn't that something that you really need???

My TV is a new 51" HDTV and my TiVo box does have a digital (fiber-optic) audio connection. Anyone know of any diagrams that show cable setup options?

Thanks again.

[Bryan]

The only one with a digital input is the Samsung. Neither the Panasonic nor Sony has one. Not a fan of any of them but of them the Samsung would probably best fit your budget and needs. Another idea is to look for one of the Kenwood HTiBs.

[putty]

Is there any other system in that price range that you'd prefer? Is there one in the $4-450 range that is truly worth the extra $100... FC7 Sony DVD Dream?

[himanshu]

[QUOTE=putty]
From looking at the specs, it seems that neither the Panasonic or Samsung have digital audio input or output. Isn't that something that you really need???

My TV is a new 51" HDTV and my TiVo box does have a digital (fiber-optic) audio connection. Anyone know of any diagrams that show cable setup options?

QUOTE]

Well, to correct you...Panasonic has no Digital Input/Output, while Samsung has 1 optical Input and Sony has 2 Digital Outputs (1 optical and 1 co-axial)

I am not sure how normally a TIVO box connects to a TV but my educated guess would be that the optical audio connection in it is to let you connect it to HT reciever to listen sound in 5.1 mode (provided of course that the TV transmission had it)

Samsung's optical input will let you connect your TiVo Box's outlet (but it has a passive sub, which for me is a big turn off) but since it has no digital output, you cannot connect it to an external reciever in future if you want to graduate to a better reciever.

Sony on the other hand will not let you connect the TIVO via optical cable but since it has digital outputs, it will let you graduate to a better reciever and use the current box as pure DVD changer. As they say nothing is perfect !!

Panasonic is useless from connectivity point of view.

For getting plenty of inputs and outputs u will have to scale up your budget and buy a decent stand alone reciever and get DVD changer seperately. Onkyo's new reciever (601) model is pretty good at a reasonable cost. There are many more in Denon, Pioneer,.. even Sony.

Another option could be Sony DDW-750 with any DVD changer (this is the combo that I have). It will still be within your budget and will let you connect TIVO on digital-optical and DVD changer on Digital-Co-axial.

BTW, if your TIVO source material is only Stereo and not 5.1, you can connect it to HTIB using normal Stereo cable and will not lose anything over a digital connection.


Hope it helped

[Bryan]

What I prefer in the $400 - $450 range:

Yamaha HTR-5630 (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat12014&type=page&_requestid=4914) - $189 delivered
Panasonic DVDS25S dvd player (http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.jsp?c=1&b=g&catoid=-8039&qp=0&bookmark=bookmark_3&oid=78811) - $80 delivered
Fluance (http://www.fluance.com/fluanceavhtb.html) AV-HTB - $200 delivered

No this still leaves you without a sub and is $20 over your given budget but gives you a better system than a HTiB. Once you add a sub it should sound much better and good ones generally go for $400 on up. (These are ones that have a very solid reputation and may hold off upgraditis for quite some time.)

If you wish to be under budget, AMW ABT S99 dvd player (http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.jsp?c=1&b=g&catoid=-8039&qp=0&bookmark=bookmark_0&oid=78345) - $40 delivered. No idea how it will perform and know you get what you pay for. Having this player rather than the Panasonic puts you at $429.