Dear Joshua Clinard - Widescreen Discussion

[Vin DSL]

First of all (ahem) I wanted to tell you that the advertisement in your sig is wider than my 17-monitor. I could have told you this via PM, but I noticed the 'Widescreen Advocate' site...

Anyway, I'm the proud owner of a Sony Grand Wega - Baby Grand if you will. After looking at big screen TV's for over 2 years, I finally made the plunge.

http://www.circuitcity.com/display_r... &catoid=-8041

Any cinerama advice for a new 'daddy'... Oh, wise one?

I'm using a Toshiba SD-2200 DVD player. For the life of me, it looks fine. Will progressive scan really make a difference?

http://timefordvd.com/HR_Toshiba_SD-2200.html

I tried to buy a Harmon Kardon DVD 22...

http://www.harmankardon.com/category.asp?cat=DVD

To go along with my AVR 125...

http://www.harmankardon.com/product_...012 5&sType=H

And, Klipschorn speakers...

http://www.stereotimes.com/speak080301.shtm

But, nobody has them in stock - just the usual crap, Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, et cetera.

There is a difference in progressive units, right?

Also, I am thinking about signing with Voom.

http://www.voom.com/index.jsp

http://earthlink.com.com/Voom__HD_sa...0919209-2.html

Any thoughts? Anyone?

[Joshua Clinard]

Sorry about the large banner. I'm now using a smaller one.

I'm not that much of an expert on hardware, and I haven't spent that much on mine. I'm just a poor college student, so I have meager entry level equipment. I always get the best I can afford though. But I can offer you some advice, from all the knowledge that I have gained from the Home Theater Forum, which you should consider joining.

That's a really nice Wega, Vin. I would love to have one myself. Your Tosiba DVD player is nice, but you will see a noticeable improvement in picture quality with a progressive scan player since you have a widescreen TV, but only if your DVD's are anamorphic widescreen. Sometimes the DVD will say enhanched for 16x9 TV's, sometimes they will say anamorphic widescreen. Your player is also four years old, so it may not have other features that you need. For video connection, use Monster Component cables, or SVideo cables.

The Harmon Kardon DVD player won't sound any better than your Toshiba, unless you have DVD's with DTS soundtracks. I can't tell if your Toshiba has DTS or not. Most people I've talked to can't tell the difference between a good DD track and a DTS track anyways. As far as sound goes, it's the receiver that counts, and the cables you use. You have a good receiver, so you just need to make sure to get some good cables. I reccomend Monster cables. You should use the Digital Coax cables for your audio connection.

As far as speakers, Polk and Infinity speakers come highly reccomended at hometheaterforum.com. If I had the money to buy new speakers, I would definitely go with Polk. I don't like Bose.

I don't know much about Voom, but it's probablya pretty good deal. I have heard that the channels don't have all that much of a selection yet, so it may not be worth it to you. There will be a lot of repeats, until more content providers sign on. You will also want to make sure that you get an HTDV tuner if your TV doesn't have an internal one. And you will need an HDTV antenna for over the air broadcast. You can get a Terk antenna at CC or Best Buy for about 40 bucks. IT sits right on top of the TV. Threre is no need to get a rooftop antenna, in fact I don't think they even make them HDTV signals penetrate walls much better than UHF and RHF signals do.

That about wraps it up. It definitely looks like you will have a great system when your finished.

And do check out my site for more info on Widescreen, and anamorphic widescreen. Make sure to view all your content in OAR, which means widescreen movies with black bars, and TV shows with gray bars on the side. I would like to eventually like to put a setup guide on my site to explain this concept more clearly.

[JPC-Greg]

Nice setup Vin, hows that picture quality on the LCD ? I was thinking of picking up a new 60"

[Vin DSL]

Thanks, Joshua! I'll digest what you said, and check your site out some more...

And, Jag, the picture on the LCD is outrageously good. I've been looking at big screen TV's for two years, in the stores, and this is the one that floated my boat. It's Sony's third-generation LCD, and I think they've got it down pat now.

I won't bore you with all the specs, but it's the perfect TV for me. It has everything I was looking for. With an HD signal, it will knock your eyes out...