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So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - ANTHONYD - 10-01-2007

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There she is. 50" plasma T.V. (Samsung)

I bought it at East Hamiltom Radio and the wife was standing right there. I thought I was going to die.

Because I was a new costomer and I had never bought a T.V. before (all mine have been hand-me-downs) he tossed in the matching samsung theather (499) in for a hundred bucks.

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Now I know it's not the "best" stuff, but it's a helluva lot better that what we have!


I'm not a theater guy, we like the odd movie, and I like sports.... A LOT.

We justified the purchase by saying that if we have a baby next year, we'll NEVER be able to swing one.

I go pick it up tomorrow. All I need is a truck :P

Now I just touched on things like HDMI capapbilities, cables and sound.
I was informed that Cogeco (which does not support hdmi right now) offers a free HD box for 8mnths with the recipt of a T.V. from EHR so I'll order that today.

What sort of cables will I need and how much will i need to spend to make this puppy sing? I eyed the monster cables, but wasn't sure what they would do at the moment. I need more info.... the wife knows nothing about this stuff and freaked at 149 dollars for 3 feet of cable :lol: The ones the sales guy "tossed" into the deal I can see are nothing special.

So what should I be looking at now?

By looking at the layout of my basement.... I think I'll need a wall bracket. I'm going to hang the speakers myself.

Shouold be a fun weekend!

a.

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - j3rt - 10-01-2007

i'd be there in a minute to give you a hand but alas it's a family long weekend.

check out BDIUSA.com they've got some nice consoles with lots of hidden features, like equipment cooling and integrated mounts.

other than that Sanus make a good quality mount.

One suggestion, take the a piece from the cardboard box the TV comes in. Cut it to the size of the TV. Hang in on the wall where you think you'll want it. Get the wifes opinion, leave it for a couple days, make 100% sure it's where you want it. Relocating a wall bracket is not pretty.

I'd hook everything up with the supplied cables, determine if you want or need HDMI/DVI or component afterwards.

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - NefCanuck - 10-01-2007

Looks good Anthony,

The one warning I will give you is do *not* fall for the snake oil of "better" A/V cables. For the most part the higher up the price ladder you go for cables, the less you get for your money.

In fact if Cogeco is anything like Rogers they will actually include the cables in the box to connect the cable box to the TV.

Heck, if you want, give me a yell, I can help you set up this stuff no sweat (I may not be able to do some things, but hooking up A/V equipment is just my speed ;))

NefCanuck


So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - NOS2Go4Me - 10-02-2007

I like the Philips PureAV cable sets. They're about 50-70 bucks and they deliver a damn good picture. On that note, the Platinum II or whatever the "premium" variant is at The Source works great too. I've got 4 sets of Component video cable hooked up right now at home and the signal over all 4 sets (up to 9-10' in length) is great.

I'm not a fan of wall-mounting, really... but that's coming from the guy with the ceiling-mounted projector screen :P

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - ANTHONYD - 10-02-2007

NefCanuck,Oct 1 2007, 09:58 AM Wrote:Looks good Anthony,

The one warning I will give you is do *not* fall for the snake oil of "better" A/V cables.  For the most part the higher up the price ladder you go for cables, the less you get for your money.

In fact if Cogeco is anything like Rogers they will actually include the cables in the box to connect the cable box to the TV.

Heck, if you want, give me a yell, I can help you set up this stuff no sweat (I may not be able to do some things, but hooking up A/V equipment is just my speed ;))

NefCanuck
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Thanks guys! Great suggestions.

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - Gravter - 10-02-2007

Congrats on your new purchase.
What model # is it?
I'm still window shopping for mine...
It's probably gonna be between a Samsung LCD or a Sharp Aquos LCD.
Right now, I'm leaning towards the Sharp, but only if I can get one without the "banding" issues.
You'll be enjoying those hockey games even now eh!
Have fun

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - torradan - 10-02-2007

Looks sweet!

Then again, I know nothing about this type of stuff.

Give Cogeco a call back, and tell them to throw in Center Ice as well!

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - OAC_Sparky - 10-02-2007

A couple of comments/suggestions.

-HDMI is great/convenient -- but unless you use the receiver as a switcher (ie it has HDMI switching), the TV does not send the digital signal to the receiver. So you'll have to run a separate optical/digital coax to the receiver to get full decoding. So don't get hung up on the HDMI for anything that doesn't broadcast in 1080P. Which will include HD cable. Component video is good enough for 1080i. The only 2 things I'm using HDMI for is the PS3 (because it outputs 1080P and has BluRay) and the upscalling DVD player. But I still have to run optical to the receiver. Both satellite and HD cable runs to the TV via composite.

-Sayal Electronics (south side of Harvester bet. Guelph line and Appleby) has good cables cheap. 12' RCA component cable with optical audio for $22. They have all the sorts of cables you'll need.

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - reldridge - 10-02-2007

OAC_Sparky,Oct 1 2007, 01:36 PM Wrote:A couple of comments/suggestions.

-HDMI is great/convenient -- but unless you use the receiver as a switcher (ie it has HDMI switching), the TV does not send the digital signal to the receiver. So you'll have to run a separate optical/digital coax to the receiver to get full decoding. So don't get hung up on the HDMI for anything that doesn't broadcast in 1080P. Which will include HD cable. Component video is good enough for 1080i. The only 2 things I'm using HDMI for is the PS3 (because it outputs 1080P and has BluRay) and the upscalling DVD player. But I still have to run optical to the receiver. Both satellite and HD cable runs to the TV via composite.

-Sayal Electronics (south side of Harvester bet. Guelph line and Appleby) has good cables cheap. 12' RCA composite cable with optical audio for $22. They have all the sorts of cables you'l need.
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I assume by 'composite' you mean 'component', right?

Back when I used to work electronics retail, I had the Monster training numerous times. The big jump you get in cabling is from the 'throw in' cables (the ones that come in the box with your dvd player/satelite receiver/cable box) to the entry level cabling. Once you go over the entry level stuff, it's hard to see the difference.

That being said, I'd experiment. I'd buy my cabling at Best Buy or somewhere I can take it back and not have any hassles. Then, once you've found the one you want, check ebay, since you can find alot of Monster on there.

Ryan


So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - OAC_Sparky - 10-02-2007

Yes, I mean component (Sorry, I'm on nights, this is my equivalent of 5AM).

The big jump on good quality cables is in shielding and termination. But you will find that spending 3 times the cost on Monster cables isn't necessary for runs of less than 10'. Both the voltage drop and the shielding requirements for such a short run is minimal. The receiver doesn't push enough current to cause that much interference. THAT'S why you need the shielding, to shield the cables from each other's current-induced magnetic fields. So then it comes down to the terminations. The RCA brand ones are fine.

Monster makes a good cable. I'm not knocking them. BUT we're not talking about a $1500 receiver with $5000 speakers. As long as you're not buying $3 made in China cables, you're good to go. The only benefit of Monster cables in 75% of the set-ups out there is purely brag-factor.

IMHO

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - ANTHONYD - 10-02-2007

Good to know.

I had these nightmares of having to purchase another 200 dollars in wiring.

I assume the cables that come with my HD box are going to be "sufficient" enough to make a nice picture?

I hope so :P

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - dBlast - 10-02-2007

I did not spend the extra 200 bucks on the cables and the HD pictures are still amazing.

Sports in HD are supurb! Crisp and clear! Nothing like being able to count nostril hairs in the interviews. :lol:

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - darkpuppet - 10-02-2007

You'll be fine with the supplied cables...

to be honest, Component does offer some benefits over HDMI, including better signal quality over extended distances...

Let me know when you go at it.. I wouldn't mind helping out. Fun stuff to play with.

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - zx5power - 10-02-2007

Haha I was just discussing with the girlfriend buying a 50 + lcd or plasma

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - Drivesthebeast - 10-02-2007

Good overall purchases there Anthony...EHR seems to be decent to me when I've shopped there. I bought my center channel, fronts, and sub from them...All Klipsch Refference. I am, however, one of those people that's likely spent more money on just cabling than most people will spend on their entire stereo system (like $100 per run of speaker cable to each speaker, and over that amount for each interconnect and digital cable, etc).

If you are going to upgrade any of your cables, ensure you do either of these things: Buy either LONG speaker wires and short interconnects, or long interconnects and SHORT speaker wires. Having these two types of cables at unequal lengths leads to better sound quality because there is less chance of signal degredation and also picking up any unwanted harmonics, etc etc.

Hope that your new kit does what you want, and does it well!

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - NefCanuck - 10-02-2007

One thing I thought of Anthony... you'll be stuck with using three remotes and that has a way of getting old real fast...

I can heartily recommend you plunk down the cash for the Logitech 880 Universal remote. It's so easy that my techno-fearing friends can use it unsupervised ;)

NefCanuck

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - darkpuppet - 10-02-2007

NefCanuck,Oct 1 2007, 10:03 PM Wrote:One thing I thought of Anthony... you'll be stuck with using three remotes and that has a way of getting old real fast...

I can heartily recommend you plunk down the cash for the Logitech 880 Universal remote.  It's so easy that my techno-fearing friends can use it unsupervised ;)

NefCanuck
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My mom doesn't like my 880 -- I tell her to just hit the Help button, but it scares her... I think some people just don't get the whole, "just point it at the screen and wait for everything to turn on" bit.

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - ANTHONYD - 10-02-2007

NefCanuck,Oct 1 2007, 10:03 PM Wrote:One thing I thought of Anthony... you'll be stuck with using three remotes and that has a way of getting old real fast...

I can heartily recommend you plunk down the cash for the Logitech 880 Universal remote.  It's so easy that my techno-fearing friends can use it unsupervised ;)

NefCanuck
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Actually, the new samsung t.v.s and components have their own built in recognition software. I can't remember the actual name at the moment.

But apparently (according to the manual) the t.v. will recognize the surroundsouns so only 1 remote is required.... Mainly the reason I bought this model.

So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - j3rt - 10-02-2007

90% of the time you'll be using the Digital Cable remote. Just program the TV power and Receiver Power with fixed volume to that remote.


So I Dove Into The World Of T.v.s This Weekend - NefCanuck - 10-03-2007

ANTHONYD,Oct 2 2007, 06:57 AM Wrote:
NefCanuck,Oct 1 2007, 10:03 PM Wrote:One thing I thought of Anthony... you'll be stuck with using three remotes and that has a way of getting old real fast...

I can heartily recommend you plunk down the cash for the Logitech 880 Universal remote.  It's so easy that my techno-fearing friends can use it unsupervised ;)

NefCanuck
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Actually, the new samsung t.v.s and components have their own built in recognition software. I can't remember the actual name at the moment.

But apparently (according to the manual) the t.v. will recognize the surroundsouns so only 1 remote is required.... Mainly the reason I bought this model.
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Hrm, sounds good, then that takes it down to two remotes likely, if only because the cable box remote is a beast all its own and depending on how good that learning remote is on your TV it may not pick up more than the basics from the cable box remote (You may not think you need the geek tweaks on the cable box now, but even now I find that the cable box remote is useful)

NefCanuck