I'm in the market for a home theatre system. I currently have a Samsung 42" 720p plasma tv and enjoy the design sleekness of most Samsung products so for that purpose I began looking at Samsung Home Theatre systems. I haven't yet throw out the idea of other manufacturers but I've yet to put enough time in to the whole process to make any final decisions (so I'm open to opinions). After checking out the samsung site and comparing other sites' reviews, etc, I'm becoming a little confused as to a system's ability to play blu-ray vs. it being called a blu-ray theatre system. I see on their site they have blu-ray theatre systems that don't contain blu-ray players. Which would lead me to believe that that would be superior to any system not labeled as such. While I don't currently have a PS3, if one did, or any blu-ray player for that matter, I'm assuming that comparing the sound quality through anything less than a blu-ray theatre system wouldn't match the sound quality. Then, there are some theatre systems that I see which have standard dvd players that can upconvert to 1080p picture quality yet I'm assuming because they're not labeled as blu-ray theatre systems the audio quality isn't on the level as blu-ray audio. SO besides the confusion above, my questions are is this audio quality that noticeably different? And, it looks to me like the only Samsung Home Theatre systems that have HDMI Ins are the one's labeled as blu-ray theatre systems, while i see other brands with several HDMI-ins and don't taut blu-ray. What am I missing, someone help me get this straight. Thanks.
i was in your shoes wanting to update my system,i have an old home theatre panasonic with dvd,saw a nice onkyo receiver tx sr875 that has 4 hdmi in and 1 out,thinking ahead of new tech stuff.bought a set of klipsch speakers and an xtra set of surround speakers and now have 7-1. blue ray discs will only play in blue ray players and as i did not have one yet i had an other option to buy another dvd player ( no )or a sony vaoi pc with blue ray ,so i went for pc hooked up to onkyo then to tv and i must say sound and video fab.if ur tv is not hd it is not worth it
i was in your shoes wanting to update my system,i have an old home theatre panasonic with dvd,saw a nice onkyo receiver tx sr875 that has 4 hdmi in and 1 out,thinking ahead of new tech stuff.bought a set of klipsch speakers and an xtra set of surround speakers and now have 7-1. blue ray discs will only play in blue ray players and as i did not have one yet i had an other option to buy another dvd player ( no )or a sony vaoi pc with blue ray ,so i went for pc hooked up to onkyo then to tv and i must say sound and video fab.if ur tv is not hd it is not worth it
Some receivers that have HDMI, are only HDMI pass-through. With these, the HDMI is for video only, and you'll need to use a different cable(s) for audio. Some receivers will handle audio over HDMI also (stereo, 5.1 surround, etc.), but not the new HD audio formats, found on Blu ray movies. If the Blu ray player decodes the HD audio itself (some Sony and others), it may have the 6 RCA analog outputs. If the receiver has the 6 RCA analog inputs, you can hear the HD audio that way. Then there's the receivers that can handle the HD audio formats over HDMI. These are some of the newest and best of their brands. This is the kind of receiver you'll need with a PS3, since the PS3 doesn't have the analog outputs. Having HDMI inputs on the receiver makes it easier to switch sources, like going from watching a dvd to watching tv. All you'll need to do is push the button on the remote, to change. You won't have to change the input on the tv too, like you do if you run HDMI straight to tv, and audio to receiver.
