Newbie needs help

[admin_exported]

Hi there

New to the forum and wanted a little advise please. Just purchased a Panasaonic Viera TH42PX700 plasma screen which I'm looking to get wall mounted.

I've been given a quote from a home entertainment company which is fine, however I was a little concerned about the cost for the cables. I was looking to get all the cables pre-connected to the rear of the unit as I'm getting a fixed wall bracket (£90 for the same firm), and I'm having a channel chased out in the brickwork to conceal the cabling. Now this is probably my inexperience here, but I thought a cost of £220 for the following cables was quite high (the chap did say the following in his e-mail: "All cables are supplied at trade prices as part of installation. Cables are high quality (Profigold or similar)containing gold plated, triple shielded, oxygen free copper construction with lifetime warranty"

3M HDMI cables £40 each (I need 2 of these)

3M Scart cables £30 each (I need 3 of these)

3M Audio cables £15 each (I need 2 of these)

3M Optical cable £20 each (I need 1 of these)

Can anyone recommend any sources were I can get some premium cables myself, and maybe a wall bracket too?, or is this actually a reasonable price for the cables I need?

Your help and advice would greatly be appreciated

 

[D.J.KRIME]

What equipment are you planning on connecting to you plaz?

Do you have a surround amp with video upscaling? If so the easiest way to get you signal to myour screen is to connect all your equipment to your amp then a single HDMI from your amp to your screen.

As for the fixed wall bracket, I purchased a universal fixed wall mount on EBAY for just over £40 delivered which would happily fit your Panasonic screen. And personally I would go for QED cables as these offer fantastic value for money.

 

[Anonymous]

The TV already has a TruSurround sound system built in so I don't need an amp or surround sound speakers. I was planning to connect my Playstation 3 (HDMI), DVD player (probably scart or optical as the Playstation has a Blu Ray already), and a V+ box (like Sky+) via HDMI also.

I was think about getting the wall bracket, but I'll need to check if there is a particular model I need to get for he tv.

Can you advise where I can get QED cables from? I never come across them

Thanks

 

[Clare Newsome]

Hi there,
QED cables are widely stocked - you can find out more info, including about distributors, at:
www.qed.co.uk

I'm also a little concerned about the "TruSurround" your TV claims to have - these are typically a big disappointment, and you won't be hearing a fraction of your system's capabilities through TV speakers. I'd strongly suggest investgating a separate surround system, which will be great for gaming, movies and TV.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Don't think you'll need to add a DVD player, as the latest version of the PS3 software, v1.80, which was released back in May, added DVD uspcaling to up to 1080p. Pretty confident this will look appreciably better than a DVD player connected using Scart. So that's just lost you one HDMI cable you need buy!

QED cables are widely available - you can check the company's website for more details.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Clare Newsome"]Hi there, QED cables are widely stocked - you can find out more info, including about distributors, at: www.qed.co.uk
I'm also a little concerned about the "TruSurround" your TV claims to have - these are typically a big disappointment, and you won't be hearing a fraction of your system's capabilities through TV speakers. I'd strongly suggest investgating a separate surround system, which will be great for gaming, movies and TV.

[/quote]

Hmm..that does concern me a little, I'm just sold off my Bose Acoustimass system for 2 reasons, (1) the TV had the Tru surround built in, and (2) sadly my newliving rookm (just moved house) is too small to have the surround sound speakers in it and it would look silly.

Hopefully I won't be too disappointed by the sound coming from the TV.....

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Andrew Everard"]

Don't think you'll need to add a DVD player, as the latest version of the PS3 software, v1.80, which was released back in May, added DVD uspcaling to up to 1080p. Pretty confident this will look appreciably better than a DVD player connected using Scart. So that's just lost you one HDMI cable you need buy!

QED cables are widely available - you can check the company's website for more details.

[/quote]

I was wondering if I needed to connect my DVD player at all to be honest, seeing as the PS3 will play standard DVD's as well as Blu-Ray. The only reason I would think of connecting it is because I have a lot of multi region discs that won't play on the PS3 as it's region 2 only.....

 

[Anonymous]

Can anyone also recommend a decent wall bracket for the TH42PX700? I'm looking for decent quality that won't break the bank. Tthere are lots on generic ones I've seen but don't know if I should go for one or not..

 

[Clare Newsome]

If you're not happy with the TV sound, you could always consider adding a sound bar - like the Yamaha YSP range

These sound projectors - which include amplfication and a cluster of speakers - bounce audio around the room remarkably effectively, and are ideal for slipping under flatscreens. No, they don't sound as good as dedicated surround sound systems, and ideally you should hide a subwoofer in the corner to back them up, but they're far better than TV speakers.

There are new models coming out all the time - Denon has just launched one:details in this news story from last week.

Prices are coming down and choice increasing all the time....We'll be testing that Denon - and a new soundbar from Philips - shortly.

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="massf"]

Can anyone also recommend a decent wall bracket for the TH42PX700? I'm looking for decent quality that won't break the bank. Tthere are lots on generic ones I've seen but don't know if I should go for one or not..

[/quote]

These are pretty good - you can search on the site for the bracket to suit your TV. It's probably the U3 universal, which costs about £80-100 depending on where you buy it.