My ultimate HD theatre

[leaf_on_breeze]

Hello all. Im new here (duh :o) but have been reading for a fair bit of time and you seem knowledgable people :)

I have decided to construct myself a Home theatre system and have been considering the following:

Panasonic PT-AE1000U 1080p home theater projector
Arcam Logo + Muso 5.1 speaker pack

I wish to couple these with the pc i have just built (built for silence not speed :o)

Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.2Ghz
4Gb Reaper 1000Mhz (2x2gb)
8800GT silent fan thingy
2x500gb hdd
bluray reader writer/hd-dvd

My question is: Will they all "join together" and would they give me my HD experience in a good way?

Cheers

p.s the projector and sound system are setting me back "£1500"

Thanks again

p.s forgot to add, im making the screen myself. Some other forum has a nice guide on how to make a good screen using some odds and sods. twill be a good DIY lark lol. (unless you guys can recommend something else?)

[Tr1cK]

I'd go with a ATI 38x0 card.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/472/3

[leaf_on_breeze]

meh, the 8800GT i got because it was ULTRA cheap. I might swap to the ati if needed though. Im more concerned at this point in time in whether or not the projector and speakers are any good and if the will do HD-DVD and blu-ray well.

cheers

[Tr1cK]

It's hard to beat ultra cheap. :)

I think a 3850 would be price competitive though. I'm not sure, but I think it supports better decoding formats than the Nvidias. Evilchris would know for sure, but I'm not sure he's around anymore.

[leaf_on_breeze]

hmm. I got the 1gb 8800gt for £120 with tomb raider anniversary :) so i seized it. Might swap over though.

[XDanger]

hmm. I got the 1gb 8800gt for £120 with tomb raider anniversary :) so i seized it. Might swap over though.
Nice

If its a multimedia/gaming/encoding setup that sounds great but just for movies 4gb a 1gb 8800gt and an e8400 is overkill.

I approve :)

[Zapablast05]

I think the 3870 or 9600GT with the HDMI port is a better deal.

[XDanger]

I think the 3870 or 9600GT with the HDMI port is a better deal.
ya and with those the cpu usage is really low for hd so an e4300 would suffice

But still this is ULTIMATE so overkill is good.

[leaf_on_breeze]

so what do you think on the speakers?

They are brand new with warranty for £670 ($1,357) which I realise is a fair bit to pay for some 5.1 speakers. Could I do better for the money in achieving my HD dream? Would this, coupled with a X-fi platinum card suffice (I could get another card (up to a budget of £120) to use.

Cheers


p.s not to be pusy but a urgent answer would be fantastic. thanks alot :)

[leaf_on_breeze]

p.s I do play games a fair bit

[leaf_on_breeze]

okay new developement, and quite a major one. Ive been offered a Definitive technology Supercube 1, and 5 Artcoustic speakers with artwork for £3000. Is this good value and will they give me good quality HD sound?

cheers

[Zelda_fan]

The problem with running your HD theatre setup through a computer as opposed to a standalone player/receiver is that the HD-sound will suffer. As far as I know, you cannot output Dolby TrueHD or DTS-MA through a computer, so it will be down mixed into DD or DTS if you output it over optical.

If you buy a standalone HD-DVD player (can be gotten for ridiculously cheap these days) and a blu-ray player it will cost less than the 1500 pounds you'll pay for the computer, and will destroy it sound quality wise.

[Zelda_fan]

Ok, I did a little homework, and apparently the top-end version of PowerDVD will decode TureHD and DTS-MA. However, the only way to output it uncompressed is through the 7.1 analog outputs on your soundcard which is going to hurt the sound quality. 3.5mm audio jacks < uncompressed PCM though HDMI on a receiver.

[mullet]

Could you use PowerDVD and use the fiber of coax from a 780G chipset to z5500 5.1 and get TureHD and DTS-MA. I am lost on the audio part of a HTPC box im thinking of building. What about a good sound card with a fiber output?

[Zelda_fan]

Could you use PowerDVD and use the fiber of coax from a 780G chipset to z5500 5.1 and get TureHD and DTS-MA. I am lost on the audio part of a HTPC box im thinking of building. What about a good sound card with a fiber output?

you cannot send a TrueHD or DTS-MA signal over fiber optic (optical). Best thing to do is to send it out over the 3.5mm analog outputs, but it isn't going to sound as good as a standalone/receiver setup.

[leaf_on_breeze]

okay :D should have come here first.

How about this. I have got £3500 ($7000) (im off to University in 2 months, so cant spend the world) but can spend more if it will make a huge difference.

Im looking for "the ultimate HD theatre" from which to watch HD-DVD and Blu-ray movies.

cheers

p.s before anyone asks, my house lives near the university so will be there for a bit of time.


p.s2 id hope to get the screen into the above budget. Have to keep some mony for beers :D

p.s3 ill post a picture of the room later.

[mullet]

Check this out wow.
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/674/3/

Board is on display at CeBit.

Model MSI-7411

Features
RS780 family chipset
Component Video Out
Digital SPDIF In/Out
VGA Out
HDMI Out
USB/1394/LAN
3 PCIe x1
1 DAE3 slot tucked behind slot 3 PCIe x1 for Audio Add In card
1 PCIe x16 (configured as x8 only due to HDMI sharing PCIe lanes)
Line In (L/R)
Line Out (L/R) (2 channel Preamp)
Subwoofer Line Out
512MB GDDR2 Sideport Memory
D2 Audio DAE-3 DSP for Audio Processing
4 SATA
1 PATA


Add in card options from MSI
5-Channel x 100W (AAIC100-5) Card
• 100W Peak, Channel Drive, 8Ω
• THD+N: <0.1%, 1kHz, 1W
• SNR: >105 dB
• Frequency Response: ±0.5 dB (20Hz to 20kHz)
• 93% Efficient Power Amplifier

3 Channel to 7 Channel Pre-Amplifier (AAIC7) Card
• High Quality Home Theater Performance
• Line-Level Outputs, 2.0Vrms
• THD+N: <0.01%, 1kHz, -6dBFS
• SNR: >110dB

[Zelda_fan]

I recommend investing half of your budget in a solid set of quality speakers. A good set of speakers will last you 25 years whereas your player/projector/receiver will get outdated within a few years and you may want to replace it with something else.

I've heard good things about the rocket line of speakers

http://av123.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=6&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=125

I've heard SRS makes good subwolfers. Go to AVS forums and give them your budget, they'd know more about what you'd need better than I would.

You are going to get a better movie experience if you buy a projecter/reciever/standalone player (at this point I'd just buy a blu-ray player)/and speakers as opposed to a computer HTPC setup. The tradeoff is that you won't be able to do computer stuff on your HT setup (unless you want to buy another computer in addition to all that stuff).

[leaf_on_breeze]

thank you very much for your information people. So the general consensus is that I should use my pc that I have built for just gaming and the drive for watching hd-dvd/blu-ray etc on my pc etc and just use my 24" screens and get a standalone hd-dvd/blu-ray drive and get some good speakers?

[Zelda_fan]

It gets more complex than that I'm afraid.

You'll need what's called a "receiver" which is like a hub for all your audio and video I/O.

Now, here's the thing. All in all, you'll get decent picture and sound quality from a HTPC. It's a great way to save money on cost because you're HTPC is acting as the receiver, movie player, etc so you can run everything into it. HTPC is going to be the best bang for your buck.

But if you want the "Ultimate HD theatre" system, you'll need to buy some high quality speakers, a receiver capable of powering them, a projector, and a standalone player.

It all depends on what you're willing to spend and what you want the system to do.

[leaf_on_breeze]

okay, if someone gave you $7000 euros to buy a home theatre system: what would you get?

Im not the most discerning fellow, im not going to quibble ove a pixel or two looking amiss. Hell my 24" looks good on HD but is just to small :(

Cheers

[leaf_on_breeze]

okay it suddenly dawned on me. What will the difference be, between my proposed stuff and the below situation.

X-fi Platinum wih breakout box
Z-5500 THX connected optically.

OR

x-fi Platinum with Creative G500 THX.


I reckon the Creative would come last. They are on special offer though and I can pick them up new for around £100. The Z-5500 cost £194.

[XDanger]

http://www.hifibitz.co.uk/hifibitz.asp?id=1839