I recently bought a new house (great room 16x20) and I want to have a good quality tv and system with out spending too much...doesn't everyone. I found the "Panasonic 1000-Watt 5-DVD Home Theater System w/ Front Tower Speakers, SC-HT740" not bad because it has HDMI which I heard is good. Do I need a reciever also? Any opinions on where to get the best deal? and i haven't bought a TV yet(thinking 50" rear projection). any advise in what direction to go would be apprieciated. Can I keep it under 2K for everything?
Hi loss01! Welcome to afterdawn. No, you wouldn't need a receiver if you bought the Panasonic; it's a "home theater in a box" (a 5.1 system) which means that it comes with the amp, the DVD player, two mains speakers, the center, the sub and the two rears speakers. If you want to keep it under 2K, you've got the right idea with a home theater in a box unit. It seems like a nice unit but there are many companies that make some really nice home theater in a box systems so lool around, sample them and see what your ears like most, then read reviews to check for common problems more than opinions on how good it sounds (That's the subjective part) then shop for the best price. A word of caution on internet shopping: MANY MANY site are not manufacturer approved and they often don't tell you that and if something goes wrong, you find out the hard way that you've only got the seller's warranty to go buy which nine times out of ten isn't as good. This is because most online sites are considered "distributers", not retailers. Make sure, if you buy something online, that the place is an manufacturer or factory "authorized dealer". It will usually say so right at the bottom of the home page, look for the better business bureau sticker to with online sites. They always put it right on the home page....if you look at crutchfield or J&R Computer, you will see what I mean at the bottom of the home page. Some people will check to see if the sites warrantee is as good as the manufacturers but that is still a bit risky as you don't know how good the places reputation is. Places like amazon are pretty good at providing reputable dealers. You can save a fortune by hearing what you like where you live then buying online (I've seen as much as 50%less), just be careful. Also, if you're not in a big hurry, the season for new models to be released is four our five months away ... new models are released around march-april so, if you can wait until like Feb to start shopping, you can save a damned fortune and buy stuff at enormous savings because places want to get rid of the old stock. For example, I'll only shop at tweeters in Philly around that time of year...they're high end and very yuppified (Philly's financial district) so the lawyers and bankers don't go in there for last years models....they damn near give it away; you wouldn't believe the sales. Many places are like that. I'll let others advise on TVs, not my area of expertise, but I will say this. Be careful buying a rear projection...I have one and it's awesome but buy carefully...some are really good but some are really serious junk. You're far better off with a good 42" than a crappy 50". Edit: if you haven't bought that Panasonic system yet, you might want to do some reading in the receiver/amplifier forum or even start a thread there. There are some really knowledgable folks about AVRs there as there are some savvy TV folks here.
