We've assembled a couple of Home Theater Starter Systems for those looking to get into the High Definition world.  We'll also take a look back at some of the big events and non-events of 2006.

 

Happy HDTV Holidays

Braden's Home Theater starter system

This may be a little more than a home theater starter system, but it's a killer setup and will last for quite some time.

1. Panasonic TH-42PX60U Plasma HDTV.  Street Price $1300 US - buy now

• 42-inch HD-ready plasma TV; measures 40.2 x 27.8 x 3.7 inches (WxHxD)
• Integrated NTSC, ATSC tuners; QAM tuner compatible with unscrambled HDTV cable reception
• 1024 x 768-pixel resolution; 10000:1 contrast ratio; motion adaptive 3D Y/C comb filter
• Connections: 3 composite A/V (1 front), 3 S-Video (1 front), 2 component (Y/Pb/Pr), 2 HDMI, 1 SC memory card slot

2. Sony STR-DG1000 7.1 Channel Up-Converting A/V Receiver.  Street price $650 US - buy now

• 120w x 7 (1kHz), 110w x7(20-20kHz)
• Accepts 1080p signals through HDMI
• Accepts 8ch Linear PCM through HDMI
• Video up conversion to HDMI

3. Infinity TSS-1100 5.1 sat/sub speaker system.  Street price $699 US - buy now

• 4 satellites / 1 center channel speaker
• 250-watt RMS powered subwoofer with 12" driver
• adjustable wall brackets for front and surround speakers included
• come in silver (platinum) to match the TV nicely!

4. OPPO OPDV981HD Universal DVD Player with HDMI, 1080p Up-Converting, DivX & SACD. Street price $229 US - buy now

5. Logitech Harmony 880 Remote Control. Street price $154 US - buy now

Total cost: $3032

 

More of a Starter System+ ... But it costs less than my first HDTV!

1)  JVC HD56FN97 56" 1080p HDILA Rear Projection TV.  Street Price $1960 US - buy now

• True 1080p 2 Million Pixel Structure 3-Chip DILA System (1920x1080)
• ATSC/QAM and Digital CableCard Capable (Digital Cable Ready)
• 5th Generation D.I.S.T. 1080p(Digital Image Scaling Technology) + GENESSA Picture Processing
• Advanced Super Cinema Mode (Optical Iris System)
• Dual 1080p Capable HDMI/HDCP Digital Inputs
• Width: 50 7/8" Height: 37 1/8" Depth: 17 11/16" Weight: 88 lbs.

2)  Pioneer VSX-1016TXV-K 7.1 Ch 550 Watt Av Receiver. Street Price $410 US - buy now

• THX Select Processing and Certification
• Dolby Digital EX- DTS-ES- DTS 96/24
• XM-HD with Neural Surround
• 770 Watts Total System Power - 110 Watts x 7 (20Hz - 20kHz- 8 ohms)
• Dialogue Enhancement

3)  Polk Audio RM6900 5.1 Channel Home Theater Speaker System. Street Price $600 - buy now

• Satellites and center speakers feature dual 3.5-inch mineral-filled polymer dynamic balance midrange drivers
• Stylishly curved satellite enclosures formed of heavy-duty, nonresonant aluminum; hidden Power Port Bass Vents strengthen their lower midrange
• Powered 10-inch subwoofer with slot-load bass vent pours out deep, efficient bass.
• Handles up to 150 watts per channel
• Front satellites and center speakers measure 4.4 x 12.5 x 5.1 inches (W x H x D)

4)  Oppo DV-981HD Universal DVD Player with HDMI, 1080p Up-Converting, DivX & SACD. Street Price $229 - buy now

• 1080p high definition up-conversion featuring DCDi® by Faroudja technology with film-like picture quality, 720p/1080i also supported
• HDMI output with multi-channel high-resolution audio and exceptional core video performance. (6ft HDMI cable included)
• Supports DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, Super Audio CD (SACD), DivX Video, XviD, Audio CD, HDCD, Kodak Picture CD, WMA and much more
• Official DivX Certified product, plays all versions of DivX video including DivX 6
• Excellent audio performance with Dolby Digital, DTS, Coaxial and Optical digital output, multi-channel audio, 5.1ch output

5)  Logitech Harmony 880 Remote Control. Street Price $160 - buy now

• Optimized for complicated HDTV and PVR systems
• Quickly choose a 16:9 or 4:3 ratio depending on the program source
• Includes a sleek docking station that keeps the remote fully charged
• Color LCD is both functional and stylish, with user-customizable backgrounds, button icons and text
• On-screen battery level indicator shows you charge status

Total Cost - 3359 All the components but the TV qualify for free shipping at our store. Add an additional $300 shipping for the TV and that gets you a very nice system for $3659 delivered! This is $341 less than Ara paid for his original 50 inch DLP.

 

2006 HDTV Year in Review

As we reflect back on 2006, we thought it would be cool to look back and see what really happened this year.  It all started with CES last January.  The hot topics at the show were next generation DVDs, wireless HDTV streaming, High Definition audio formats, and some new TV technologies.  How exactly did it all play out.

HD DVD got off to an early lead.  Toshiba released their first two players in April, but there still wasn't much content.  That followed soon after, and there are now more than 200 HD DVD titles available at Amazon.com.  With early entry to the market, and a much lower cost, Toshiba and the HD DVD format took the lead in 2006.  The next piece of news from the HD DVD camp was the release of the external HD DVD drive for the Microsoft Xbox 360.  It arrived in stores and online in November.  A little late in the year, but still ahead of the launch of the PS3, by a good 5 days or so.  Of course, in some news of its own, Microsoft announced the availability of High Definition movie and TV downloads for the Xbox 360.  This delivery mechanism could be a big hit in 2007.  We'll have to wait and see.

Blu ray was much slower to enter the market.  We were promised that four million PS3 systems would be in homes by the end of the year, making Blu-ray the dominant player the world over.  Instead, while we waited, Samsung released the first Blu-ray player in June, followed in the months to come by players from Pioneer, Panasonic and Sony.  The PS3 finally hit the shelves in limited supply at the end of November.  There are also over 200 Blu-ray titles available at Amazon.com, so while they're trying to surge from behind, Blu-ray is certainly coming on strong.  We'll be the first to admit that we had higher hopes (even though we never publicly declared it) for Blu-ray than we did for HD DVD.  But as we reflect on 2006, it looks like HD DVD is the clear leader.

There were a bunch of demos of wireless HDTV at CES, but none of them really seemed to hit the mark.  That set the tone quite well for 2006.  There hasn't been a significant entry into the market of any type of wireless video streaming technology.  Several companies are hard at work on it.  We'll wait to see what happens at CES this year, maybe 2007 will be different.

The high definition audio formats from DTS and Dolby were all the rage last January.  We sat through demos of both formats and were very impressed.  They have been slow coming to market, due to the slow adoption of HD DVD and Blu-ray, and probably the learning curve at the studios.  While they did arrive this year, they didn't really make any significant inroads. 

Samsung showed two new DLP technologies, one that used LEDs to light the screen instead of a bulb, and one that added some more colors to the color wheel.  The LED version seemed the most promising of the two, because it eliminated both the bulb and the color wheel.  They were finally able to bring one to market in July, but only one model, a 56", has surfaced.  It looks great, and is very promising, but didn't quite change the way we shop for, or watch, TV.

Another technology that was hip and happening at CES last year was a huge dud in 2006, SED displays from Toshiba and Canon went absolutely nowhere.  We could site all the months where SED TVs were demoed at various shows and exhibits, but not one date where someone actually bought one.  Maybe 2007, maybe not.  Right now, who cares?  Plasmas are still great, and getting very cheap, LCDs are moving into the larger sizes and falling in price dramatically.  LCoS and DLP offer great picture and very large screen sizes for a very affordable cost.