Home Theater System

[Youngblood_97]

I know this might be a lil off topic but can anyone help me with the ins and outs of a home theater system. ie do I want DTS or Pro logic decoder 2 or both, what are they, what is the best to get, good brands, good places to buy them.

I just got my house broken into and need to replace my old component system with the insurance money but a little cautious on what to get. Have about $400 to spend and need DVD pack with amp and speakers. Any thoughts??


Thanks in advance!!!




Edit ( forgot $$ amount)

[Suntan]

May sound silly, but for $400 you will get the best results from a run of the mill dvd player that has a coaxial digital audio out and a set of Logitech 680, or one of the Klipsh promedia computer speaker setups that have hardware DD and DTS decoding. WAF levels will be quite low if that is a consideration though.

-Suntan

[yoda313]

Hello,
If your talking about a true home theatre setup with a regular tv you can do pretty well these days. It would be best to get both Dolby Digital and DTS for versatility (dts is a special surround sound that is supposedly better than dolby, mainly its mostly louder at all ranges). For about $200 you can get a good receiver with both decoders at any Circuit City or Bestbuy (I believe you can get Pro Logic 2 as standard now). I think at the $300 to $400 range you can get the Home Theatre in a Box packages. These have the dvd player (some, not all), receiver and matching speakers and subwoofer.
One important note from a tech buff, get a powered subwoofer and spend more than a $100 for the package (not one of these wimpy all in one packages from daewoo or whatever). All in all for $400 do a little research and you can get one heck of a surround sound system these days. Also, get as many input and output options as you can, you never know how many video game systems or other components your going to hook up a few years from now. You can go to www.dolby.com for some speaker setup suggestions also.
Kevin
P.S. Get quality not power, go with name brands so you can be sure you get what you paid for. Have fun and welcome to the digital age
P.P.S. Forgot to mention, Pro Logic 2 is a Dolby system to make fake 5.1 surround sound from any sound source (great for old vhs tapes like Star Wars, though I haven't personally tested it out). Dolby Digital receivers will have Pro Logic surround sound on them, newer ones will have the Pro Logic 2. DTS is seperate and has to say DTS on it to be available.

[enstg8er]

receiver-
http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product_Id=3955363&Product_Name=ONKYO+TX%2DSR5...2D+REFURBISHED
speakers-
http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product_Code=CRV+AVS5.1&JRSource=PriceGrabber....eed.CRV+AVS5.1
cd/dvd-
http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=3977713

unmatched quality under $400.00 (assuming us) including shipping.
enjoy