Pastryrocks
03-21-07, 04:32 AM
Our journey into the wonderful world of home theatre.
Not really sure where to place this. Hope this is ok, if not maybe one of the moderator’s can place this in the proper thread.
Over the past 20 years or so the TV’s I own were mostly for watching TV shows. My first taste of a Home Theatre was back in the late 80’s. I picked up a 21” RCA TV for next to nothing when I was working in a hotel and used a Sony Betamax to view movies and a Yamaha DSP-1 processor for surround sound. Used a pair of Energy speakers for the main’s and a set of cheap speakers for the rear surround, there was no centre speaker or subwoofer. I thought the setup was the ‘cats meow’. However, over time I grew tired of the DSP-1 and sold it before DVD’s ever came to market. I suppose looking back that the DSP-1 just did not ‘do it’ for me.
Because of the DSP-1 I believed that surround sound was not a good thing. You must understand that back in my early 20’s I was sort of an audiophile. Conrad-Johnson PV-7 pre-amp, David Hafler mono-bridged amps, then onto electrostatic speakers and so on… Always listing to records also had an effect; I really liked the warm sound of vinyl and the sound stage that a good system can produce. Heck I still listen to my warm record’s today. I never enjoyed the sound stage that the DSP-1 created, it was always cold, and seemed odd. I believe that the DSP-1 did not even have AC-3 surround sound, I can’t remember what type of codec Betamax or VHS used.
When DVD’s hit the market combined with Dolby Surround and later DTS, I was never impressed with the sound. Found it odd and it felt cold. Though when I went into the movie theatre i.e. Cineplex and the like, I did enjoy the experience. In fact in the early days I would drive out of my way to see a movie in surround sound. Not all theatre’s had surround sound, DTS, or THX in the early days. However, later on when I would visited some friend’s home to see and hear there home theatre system, quite often I was put off by the picture and always put off by the sound. It used to be hard to beat the theatre experience at home.
It was about 6 years ago that the old RCA gave up the ghost, and my wife and I went about looking for a TV. We went into a big furniture store warehouse outlet that basically sold damage or floor model products. Here we purchase a 33” Panasonic Gaoo for a very good price and also the Panasonic RP-91 DVD player. After a few weeks of playing with the picture, I was able to have what I thought was the best picture I ever seen. This was also my venture into the world of DVD’s. We ran the audio through a two channel stereo and enjoyed many evenings watching movies.
The first time I ever enjoyed surround sound AC-3 or DTS, was when I watched the movie Scarface on DVD at my sister’s place 4 or 5 years ago. My sister’s husband is into the home theatre stuff. The sound was not the best, the speakers were not the really all that good but they where place for the best effect. So when he went to upgrade his Surround Sound Receiver I bought it and still use it. For the next few years my wife and I enjoyed watching movies with this setup.
During this period each time we went into one of those huge stores that had a wall of TV’s, my wife and I where always taken aback by those huge plasma screens. As the price fell each year that went by, it seemed that that we could afford one. So last December we purchased the Pioneer PDP-5070HD and with the present audio system minus the subwoofer, we had a home theatre. We were of course blown away by the size and picture. Just two weeks ago we added the subwoofer, which brought the sound up to the next level. I like to watch/listen to concerts on DVD. From Led Zeppelin to New Order, I just love the rawness of the music. I still listen to the Song Remains Same album I think it is my favorite record of all time. Anyway, before the subwoofer I preferred to listen to the two channel segment of the concert DVD’s, I guess the elevated midrange and highs from the centre channel and rear speakers in AC-3 surround made the music sound off, bright. Now with the Energy RC-Sub 12 I’m beginning to really enjoy the surround sound. In fact the sub is the main reason why I want to upgrade to DTS now instead of waiting for the coming of the HD-surround sound to make its way into stereo’s everywhere. You must understand that my reviver is not capable of reproducing DTS, just AC-3. So the next step is to upgrade our receiver. In the next little while we’ll more than likely pick up the Emotiva Ultra Theatre Series system, which will keep us happy until the battle between HD-DVD and Blu-ray is over or HD-surround sound makes its way into stereo’s everywhere, so I hope.
It’s been almost 6 months since we purchased the plasma and now we are used to watching TV, HD-TV, and DVD movies on the 50" screen. Of course with the Gaoo we could never watch HD-TV, though we did have ‘Digital TV’ from Rogers cable for some time, and it did look nice. Of course HD-TV rocks compared to Rogers ‘Digital TV’. But even the regular TV stations look better through the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 HD and into the 5070 than with the Gaoo.
However, watching movies is not the same anymore which is both good and bad. The bad is that sometimes when watching a movie the movie looks odd, it’s hard to explain. When I watched The Departed, it seemed like the picture at times was fake, like somehow that the movie was made in a room or something, unsure how to explain it. Now when I watched the Chronicles of Riddick, wow the space scenes are beautiful, in fact the whole movie is sweet, I’ve seen this movie twice before on the Gaoo. But the 33 inch screen just does not do any justice for this movie. Unsure what scenes in the Chronicles of Riddick are real and what are computer generated. It would seem to me that when we watch movies on our plasma which are computer generated, they look better than those which have little or no effect; or rather should I say that they have a better ‘feel’? Going through the forums and reading what other people think of plasmas/LCD TV’s such as R Harkness. I believe that I too have a problem with the ‘coldness’ of plasmas/LCD TV’s.
The first time I did see Chris Dallas system was just before we purchased the 50” plasma, I can’t remember what he had then, but boy was it sweet. We watched Superman Returns on DVD and then Mission Impossible III on HD-DVD. I thought Superman was amazing, not so much the movie, but the size and quality of the picture, WOW! But hold on, Mission Impossible III was even better, on HD-DVD on a 120” screen, god I thought I was at the Eaton Centre here in Toronto when the first multiplex theatre was opened, but with a hell a lot better picture and sound! Now that Chris has an even better projector, well what can be said, other than Chris maybe should change his name to Chris -what a home theatre should look like- Dallas? I mean after seeing his projector on a wall with just primer, I am floored. In fact the drool did not have far to go because my jaw almost hit the floor!
At present I don’t really have the space for a projector and screen, nor will my wife be pleased with spending money on a projector less than 6 months after we bought the plasma. I sit about 6-7 feet from the TV at present, I don’t think that a 120” screen would work well in a small room. But when we do buy a house in the next few years or so, I will be looking for a house that can accommodate a home theatre using a projector!
I’ll end my rant here. I thought I would share my experience with this home theatre stuff.
Not really sure where to place this. Hope this is ok, if not maybe one of the moderator’s can place this in the proper thread.
Over the past 20 years or so the TV’s I own were mostly for watching TV shows. My first taste of a Home Theatre was back in the late 80’s. I picked up a 21” RCA TV for next to nothing when I was working in a hotel and used a Sony Betamax to view movies and a Yamaha DSP-1 processor for surround sound. Used a pair of Energy speakers for the main’s and a set of cheap speakers for the rear surround, there was no centre speaker or subwoofer. I thought the setup was the ‘cats meow’. However, over time I grew tired of the DSP-1 and sold it before DVD’s ever came to market. I suppose looking back that the DSP-1 just did not ‘do it’ for me.
Because of the DSP-1 I believed that surround sound was not a good thing. You must understand that back in my early 20’s I was sort of an audiophile. Conrad-Johnson PV-7 pre-amp, David Hafler mono-bridged amps, then onto electrostatic speakers and so on… Always listing to records also had an effect; I really liked the warm sound of vinyl and the sound stage that a good system can produce. Heck I still listen to my warm record’s today. I never enjoyed the sound stage that the DSP-1 created, it was always cold, and seemed odd. I believe that the DSP-1 did not even have AC-3 surround sound, I can’t remember what type of codec Betamax or VHS used.
When DVD’s hit the market combined with Dolby Surround and later DTS, I was never impressed with the sound. Found it odd and it felt cold. Though when I went into the movie theatre i.e. Cineplex and the like, I did enjoy the experience. In fact in the early days I would drive out of my way to see a movie in surround sound. Not all theatre’s had surround sound, DTS, or THX in the early days. However, later on when I would visited some friend’s home to see and hear there home theatre system, quite often I was put off by the picture and always put off by the sound. It used to be hard to beat the theatre experience at home.
It was about 6 years ago that the old RCA gave up the ghost, and my wife and I went about looking for a TV. We went into a big furniture store warehouse outlet that basically sold damage or floor model products. Here we purchase a 33” Panasonic Gaoo for a very good price and also the Panasonic RP-91 DVD player. After a few weeks of playing with the picture, I was able to have what I thought was the best picture I ever seen. This was also my venture into the world of DVD’s. We ran the audio through a two channel stereo and enjoyed many evenings watching movies.
The first time I ever enjoyed surround sound AC-3 or DTS, was when I watched the movie Scarface on DVD at my sister’s place 4 or 5 years ago. My sister’s husband is into the home theatre stuff. The sound was not the best, the speakers were not the really all that good but they where place for the best effect. So when he went to upgrade his Surround Sound Receiver I bought it and still use it. For the next few years my wife and I enjoyed watching movies with this setup.
During this period each time we went into one of those huge stores that had a wall of TV’s, my wife and I where always taken aback by those huge plasma screens. As the price fell each year that went by, it seemed that that we could afford one. So last December we purchased the Pioneer PDP-5070HD and with the present audio system minus the subwoofer, we had a home theatre. We were of course blown away by the size and picture. Just two weeks ago we added the subwoofer, which brought the sound up to the next level. I like to watch/listen to concerts on DVD. From Led Zeppelin to New Order, I just love the rawness of the music. I still listen to the Song Remains Same album I think it is my favorite record of all time. Anyway, before the subwoofer I preferred to listen to the two channel segment of the concert DVD’s, I guess the elevated midrange and highs from the centre channel and rear speakers in AC-3 surround made the music sound off, bright. Now with the Energy RC-Sub 12 I’m beginning to really enjoy the surround sound. In fact the sub is the main reason why I want to upgrade to DTS now instead of waiting for the coming of the HD-surround sound to make its way into stereo’s everywhere. You must understand that my reviver is not capable of reproducing DTS, just AC-3. So the next step is to upgrade our receiver. In the next little while we’ll more than likely pick up the Emotiva Ultra Theatre Series system, which will keep us happy until the battle between HD-DVD and Blu-ray is over or HD-surround sound makes its way into stereo’s everywhere, so I hope.
It’s been almost 6 months since we purchased the plasma and now we are used to watching TV, HD-TV, and DVD movies on the 50" screen. Of course with the Gaoo we could never watch HD-TV, though we did have ‘Digital TV’ from Rogers cable for some time, and it did look nice. Of course HD-TV rocks compared to Rogers ‘Digital TV’. But even the regular TV stations look better through the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 HD and into the 5070 than with the Gaoo.
However, watching movies is not the same anymore which is both good and bad. The bad is that sometimes when watching a movie the movie looks odd, it’s hard to explain. When I watched The Departed, it seemed like the picture at times was fake, like somehow that the movie was made in a room or something, unsure how to explain it. Now when I watched the Chronicles of Riddick, wow the space scenes are beautiful, in fact the whole movie is sweet, I’ve seen this movie twice before on the Gaoo. But the 33 inch screen just does not do any justice for this movie. Unsure what scenes in the Chronicles of Riddick are real and what are computer generated. It would seem to me that when we watch movies on our plasma which are computer generated, they look better than those which have little or no effect; or rather should I say that they have a better ‘feel’? Going through the forums and reading what other people think of plasmas/LCD TV’s such as R Harkness. I believe that I too have a problem with the ‘coldness’ of plasmas/LCD TV’s.
The first time I did see Chris Dallas system was just before we purchased the 50” plasma, I can’t remember what he had then, but boy was it sweet. We watched Superman Returns on DVD and then Mission Impossible III on HD-DVD. I thought Superman was amazing, not so much the movie, but the size and quality of the picture, WOW! But hold on, Mission Impossible III was even better, on HD-DVD on a 120” screen, god I thought I was at the Eaton Centre here in Toronto when the first multiplex theatre was opened, but with a hell a lot better picture and sound! Now that Chris has an even better projector, well what can be said, other than Chris maybe should change his name to Chris -what a home theatre should look like- Dallas? I mean after seeing his projector on a wall with just primer, I am floored. In fact the drool did not have far to go because my jaw almost hit the floor!
At present I don’t really have the space for a projector and screen, nor will my wife be pleased with spending money on a projector less than 6 months after we bought the plasma. I sit about 6-7 feet from the TV at present, I don’t think that a 120” screen would work well in a small room. But when we do buy a house in the next few years or so, I will be looking for a house that can accommodate a home theatre using a projector!
I’ll end my rant here. I thought I would share my experience with this home theatre stuff.