Newbie needs help please

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

Getting rid of my very old Goodmans dolby prologic surround sound system at last. I am looking at getting the Panasonic TX-32LZD80. Not sure what surround sound system to get though. Cant really justify spending hundreds on one. Would appreciate any advise from all you guys and gals that seem to know a fair old bit about this sort of thing. firstly is the TV good enough and what home cinema. Preferably in black not silver.

Many Thanks

 

[Clare Newsome]

HI there and welcome to the Forum.

What kind of budget have you got, and do you want to plug anything else into it? (Sky, Virgin etc)

 

[Anonymous]

Hello Clare,

I will be plugging a Sky+ box in and hopefully updating that to a Sky+ HD. I am looking between £150-200. I'm not too bothered about having the latest state of the art gear just something that will give me a good surround sound. The Philips HTS3357 gets a good write up but would rather have the smaller speakers rather than the stand up ones. At least smaller ones for the side of the TV. And black would be good too.

Do you think my selection of tv is alright too?

Many thanks

Gareth

 

[Anonymous]

any update please

 

[professorhat]

TV looks fine to me as long as you're happy with it.

On the Home Cinema front, if you can stretch to this, it's a great 5.1 system for the money at £220.

 

[Clare Newsome]

It is indeed, but the OP mentioned not liking tall speakers, so that could be out - if you've a smallish room, the Samsung HT-X30 could be just the ticket. Click here for a review we did for our sister title, Stuff

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replys, I think i might go for the Panasonic SCPT-560. It has an optical input?? i believe this is a good thing. I dont want to buy something cheaper now and regret spending the extra money in the long run. Would i be prettyy safe with the LZD80 and 560. I want a good tv with good surround sound.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Please, please, please do NOT buy the Panasonic - we haven't seen/heard a good cinema system from them (good electronics, awful speakers). Most if not all systems have optical inputs (allowing you to plug suitably equipped sources into them for surround sound), so that's not a unique selling point.

If you do want to step up to a better system (sorry, but your original post said you didn't want to spend much!), Sony's Award-winning DAV-IS10 can be had for under £400 - we gave it five stars at £600! A superb system for the money.

 

[Anonymous]

Blimey Clare that was close. I was on the phone to empire direct. They are doing the LZD80 and 560 as a package for £850. Thats why i was going for the more expensive one. With the empire direct i can go and collect both today or tomorrow. Luckily you update popped up before i ordered.

I dont want to spend £400 on the surround sound though. Sorry to be a pain but any other suggestions?

Gareth

 

[professorhat]

Definitely, do a quick search in Google for Sony DAV-IS10 and right at the top, you'll see it for £356.01 from a reputable online dealer - bargain!

 

[professorhat]

Okay... what's your maximum budget for the surround? I suspect they're doing the offer as they can't shift the Panny surround systems on their own!

 

[Clare Newsome]

I'd second ProfHat (congrats, BTW, on your 1000 posts coming up - superb stuff!). I know it's more than the Empire deal, but you can buy the TV from reputable retailers for a shade over £650, plus the Sony - which is an awesome system that'll keep you happy for years - for £350.

£1000 for those two is home entertainment value of the highest order!

 

[Anonymous]

The Davis certainly seems the one to get. Although i would of preffered to spend les (misses not too keen on me spending too much)) So.... 32 LZD80 with the Dav-IS10. Are there any specific cables i would need to connect these up with a Sky+.

And can i say a massive thankyou to you guys for helping me out.

Gareth

 

[Clare Newsome]

For the Sky+ box, you'll need a Scart cable (QED's Sqart is a great buy at @£25) to connect to the TV for the picture, and an optical cable (any decently made one will do - there's a £15 Profigold one on Amazon that'll do more than nicely) to connect to the Sony system for surround sound.

For the Sony system, you'll need an HDMI cable to hook up to the TV. Use a decent HDMI cable, but in this set-up you don't have to spend a fortune (£50 max; half that would be fine).

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks again all, can i take it that the sony has the optical input?

 

[Clare Newsome]

Yes. Full specs here

 

[Anonymous]

Don't worry about the missus complaining about the cost because I've yet to talk to a lady ( Clare may be a exception) who doesn't think that small is better in the speaker department ... and these are certainly small.

 

[Anonymous]

Well i took the advice and bought the Panasonic LZD80 and the Sony DAV-IS10 cinema system. I dont think i have it connected right though. I have the above 2 items and a Sky+ box. I have a scart from TV AV 1 to the sony, optical cable from the Sky+ to the sony. HDMI from the sony to HDMI1.

If i turn the tv off and on again with the remote it goes to the HDMI setting with a blank screen. I have to press the AV button and select AV1 to get the picture back.

Any pointers please?

Ta

 

[professorhat]

You shouldn't need the Scart from the Sony to the TV - just HDMI from Sony to the TV. Or do you mean you have Scart from the Sky+ to the TV?

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="professorhat"]Or do you mean you have Scart from the Sky+ to the TV?[/quote]

Hope so, as there'll be no picture from the Sky+ otherwise.

As the prof says, you just need Scart from Sky+ to TV, HDMI from Sony system to TV, and optical cable from Sky+ to the Sony system.

 

[Anonymous]

sorry got that wrong, Scart from Sky+ to the tv's AV1, Optical cable from Sony to the Sky and a HMDI from the sony to the tv's HDMI 1.

I must have some other settings wrong then. Theres loads of different settings : HDMI control on / off, STB synchro on / off, Digital in: tv-opt,sat/cable-coax or tv-coax,sat/cable-opt. its a mine field for someone like me. If i press play on the sony remote its supposed to play auto but again i have to press Av button on the tv remote and scroll through to HDMI 1 to view the dvd and when i turn the tv on i have to scroll through to av1 to watch tv?

Got summat wrong me thinks, I dont suppose anyone has this sane set up that could tell what settings i need please.

 

[professorhat]

That isn't too unusual... I would expect when you switch the Sky+ on, it should auto switch to this, but not sure if the Sony will with HDMI? That's the thing - you need to switch the TV on first, then switch on the Sky+ box to get it to switch automatically. If the Sky+ box is already on, the TV won't automatically switch to it, you'd have to do this manually as you're doing now. The only way round this is would be to get a macro supporting remote like the Harmony 555 (which I have) which you can set up to automatically switch boxes on and off as well as setting the TV to the correct input with one touch of a button.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the help professorhat. This Harmony remote. Will that operate my Tv and Sony system then. I have three controls on the go now. Tv, sony and sky. Pain in the backside really.

Thanx again for your help.

Gareth

 

[professorhat]

Should do - it has a catalogue of 30,000 devices or something on the website - you need a PC or Mac to set it up and you just tell it what you have and it should download the controls to the remote (including your Sky box). If it doesn't have one in the online catalogue, or you find a certain command doesn't work, you can reprogram it using the original remote i.e it has a learning function. Then you can set up "Activities" e.g. you can say create one called "Watch Sky" and set it so, when you press this button, the remote turns on the Sky+ box, the TV and the Sony, sets the Sony to the correct input for the Sky sound and sets the TV to the correct input for the Sky picture. I think it can control up to 15 devices and you can set up a load of these "Activities" - I have 10 for all the different things I have e.g. normal TV, PVR, PS3, XBox, DVD player etc. etc.

I'll warn you now, it can be a bit fiddly to get everything just as you want it, but once you do, you're done. Took me a few days to get everything set up, but took me down from 8 remotes to 2 (as the PS3 doesn't work with it).

 

[Anonymous]

Professorhat, you have been a great help thanx. Thanx also to Clare and Andrew Everard. Because of your help and advice i now have a pretty good set up that should last a while.

Great site.

Gareth