easylistener

I figured I would chime in here as well, due to the fact that I support both formats. All these players upscale better then the best upscallers out there. I have owned most of them including a HTPC. What I have seen, a lot of Blockbuster stores carry blu ray only, beside there wasted online stores, can't get movies from them any ways. I know more and more people are going online but there exchange in the store and seeing blu ray will play in there mind. Out of the 32 movies I have in my queue in blockbuster and Netflix 28 of them are blu ray 2 standard dvds and 2 HD dvds. Keep this in mind that I have owned blu ray for twice as long as HD dvd. I have seen some great bash advertising from both camps. I also just sough an articel that blu ray is out selling 4 to 1 in europe. On another note blu ray has a burning now that is working great. I think a lot of people are looking at ways to back up there computer, music, home movies, and pictures that need a lot of space. I also beleive that this will come into play when people by a burner. Copy protection on the blu ray disc is better, which is why the movie companies like it. Also blu ray plays scratched or dirty discs much better. I bought a hd dvd player because I love movies and refuse to watch any that aren't in hd or blu ray. HD dvd player are cheaper and that is for a reason, most don't have analog audio output so unless you have a receiver that has a hdmi input that handles audio you can't get the advanced audio. HD dvd disc also cost more to buy, because of there standard and hd version being on the same disc. I like both formats and both work, some players better then others. If you are going to by a upscaling dvd player your nuts because these players are getting so cheap and work better. Just my thoughts.

Where do you find a 5.1 A/B switch? I have been looking but only can find a switch to do two channels which would mean I would have to switch 3 of them.

It's been awhile since I have made a post, its been awhile since the last time I came here. Not much has changed for me, new job, wife is pregnet with my sec. so I haven't had much time. But my question is, do you think I can run two set of inputs into my 7.1 analog inputs on the receiver? I have a blu-ray and HD DVD player now and wanted to use the Y connectors to have the blu-ray and hd dvd connected into one set of inputs. I was thinking it would be fine as long as I don't have both on at the same time. Any thoughts?

What the computer gives you is much more control over the picture. The pany projectors are a little soft and the computer will sharpen the picture much more than a dvd player. It will also scale the picture using a much more powerful video cards. Using ffdshow lets you pick the HD color system, so the picture will have the same great vivid colors the hd channels have. If you use Directv or cable for you hd channels you will have a real hard time telling the differnce from that and the upscaling of the computer. It does make that big of a differnce. It will also let you get out the a lot of the grain in the older dvd's or the badly recorded ones. I did not have a lot of faith in the htpc's when people were telling me about them. I believed that a dvd could only look so good, and that the upscaling dvd players were doing the same thing, but this is not true. I had to prove it to myself so I jumped in. I will never look back. I am now looking at some of the new blue ray drives to add into the system. I just need to make a video card and drive update. Since I am not using 1080p I will not need the huge processor. This is another advantage to the htpc, it is easy to upgrade. For the streaming I have cat5 and cat6 wire connector to all the computers. I have a computer at every tv. This way I can watch differnt dvd's in each room. The kids room doesn't have a very strong computer because he doesn't have hd yet, either does the bed room. I do have wireless in the house and have used it in the past but it is just faster and works with out flaws with the wires. When I used the wireless system I had some problems when some used the microwave it would slow way down. This would create studders in the picture. The other advantage of this is each computer has two hard drives and it gives me huge storage space for all the dvd's and music. I hope this helps. If you have anyother questions feel free to ask and I will try and answer them.

Well I have the 900u projector and am feeding it upscale DVD's through my htpc. I use theatertek as a player and ffdshow for processing. It makes a big difference. I sold the Zenith like I said. My computer isn't overly powerful. It is a P4 3.0 ghz 1gag of pc3200 ram and a 256mb ati 9600xt video card. I learned a lot from the guys at the HTPC AVS forums, mostly just read all kind of posts and learned what worked and what didn't. This also lets me back up my kids DVD's and mine to the hard drive and stream them to other TVs in the house. This stopped the disc being scratched and the call for help from the kid when the menus came on. Now he just turns his TV on and moves the mouse around to find the movie and clicks on the folder. I am no computer wiz at all, I did have some troubles getting everything to talk to the right software but it has been running with no problems for some time now. A guy at work also has the 900u and I am helping him right now set up a HTPC as we speak. He is using a much more powerful computer then I am, mainly because he wants to multitask when watching a movie

Nice setup. I am looking at buying a new house so I can put a dedicated room in as well. I have one in my living room but it isn't ideal. I see you are using the zenith 318, great dvd player. I just sold mine on ebay. If you think the picture is great, you should try and htpc, the picture even get better. You have the best upscaling dvd player though.

I use my 100" 720p projector with my computer. The picture is awsome and using a HTPC the picture from dvd's are great. If your not using a computer to upscale then you are still watching vhs, that is how big of differnce it can be. On another note even the movies are only shot on a 720p or 1080i camaras and the upscaled to 1080p. The real advantage of 1080p is the 24 fps, if you tv and source can play it. This takes huge amounts of computing power.

There not mine nor do I want to buy them.. I have not researched these speakers I just thought I would mention it here. Just thought if I could help someone out I would give them a chance. Sorry next time I will keep it to myself.

I scanned this post so if it has been said check out monoprice.com. They have the best prices on cable and they are very good quility. I bought a 50ft hdmi cable and it is bigger around then a big highlighter. I wish I would have found them sooner. I have no affiliation with this place, just good prices for good quility cables.

The more power the better. What do you listen to the most. I love music and movies so I have a 2 channel amp with 385wpc for the mains and 200wpc for the other 5 channels. All my amps are rotel and they sound great. If you like your music movies loud and powerful you need power. Even if you want great sound at normal levels then you need good high power. I would say 200 min.

There is a pair for sale on craigslist. The are in Oshkosh WI. I would be willing to go look at them if anyone would be interested. I do not know the person and he is asking 350.00 for the pair. .

I think it will do the job for you. Is there better yes, is there worse oh yes. If you like the sound of those speakers then it will be fine. You didn't say what you would be driving you speakers with. Good clean power will make it sound even better. I take it this system is for movies?? You may want to look into a bigger sub. With that room shape you will need a lot of bass.

I have both an upscaling dvd player (zenith 318) and a HTPC. The zenith I have still upscales over comp. I got mine before the firmware. It does a great job. Infact I did compare it with a friends oppo and we bothed like the zeniths picture better. You do have recal the display for differnt players. I also have the HTPC which I use for 90% of my dvd use. I also use it as a music server. The picture is way better using the HTPC. I have a very simialer system to JM. I have a P4 prescot 1gb ram and a 9600 xt video card. If you go this way and you decide or have a ATI Card, download the latest driver and the cataylist software. It will give way more resulotions to play with. I don't use powerstrip, never needed it. I use theatertek, very easy to setup. I use andy's version of ffdshow, just make sure you disable the sound decoder in ffdshow and it will work great for you in theatertek. I am not to computer savy, I know enough to get myself into trouble, and I still got it up and running. I have had my HTPC up for a little time now and I still mess with the settings. I don't think I will ever go back to a standalone player agian. I will still have one for the wife.

I would wait. 1.3 is something that is going to be nice to have.

I am running a ATI 9600 for video card. I am running a new not release audio card, this card is great. I have someone that works for a company that is going to make a push into the market. I have done some A-b-a testing and if you use the digital outs it doesn't make much differnce on audio card because they are not processing it. I am now running the digital signal into my modded 4802R receiver, and it sounds great. For the case I am using a full tower because it is in a closet. This way I didn't need the quitest stuff. I am using Theatertek for dvd's and Media center for my music. I like to see the cover art for the cd's. Plus it makes it easier on the wife. It took some time to set up, but it is well worth it.

Last weekend I got my HTPC up and running. I had a birthday party for my son last night and I got to show off some of the great features. It was a real hit. I have 318 upscaling dvd player wich is one of the best upscalers, but the pc does produce a better picture. Sound is great as well. I am passing everything striaght through digitaly and letting my modded 4802R decode everything. Agian like as been stated here this is the way to go. I have mine in a closet and it is feeding my 900U projector on a 100 inch screen. I am not using a huge computer. P4 3.4ghz processor, which runs at 20% with dvd play back ATI 9600 256mb video card 1gb 3300mhz ram 1- 120gb hard drive 1- 500gb hard drive 1- 750gb hard drive Theatertek with ffdshow for dvd player. So as you can see you don't need a awsome computer to do it. It did take some time to get it all setup and running smooth but I figured it out, and I am no computer expert. If you have a chance to do it, then I say just jump in. It is well worth it. I am thinking of upgrading in a couple of months. I will change out the video card to a HDCP card. I will also put in a Blue Ray drive.

I have a creative sound card and I need help getting the digital output working. I bought one of there I/O module. I have followed there direction in turning on the spdif and selecting spdif pass thru on theatertek and I can still not get it to work. Please help.

Sounds like I have missed out on some cool stuff. It is funny how big foot brings out all the new info.

I have a question are you using media center for play back of dvd's? I know you said you use theatertek, how well does it work with media center? I am in the process of finishing my build now and am looking for the best software for it. I will get this thing up and running by next weekend.

I think for his price range he will be able to get a the 1000u. Plus it is a 1080p. It is a little nicer. But the 100 is a great projector. I have the 900u and love it. Parasound makes some great amps and you can't go wrong.

A friend of mine is look at these two speakers. Which ones are better. I haven't realy checked out the new ones. I know in the past the RF line was better then the F series, but I am not sure if that is still true. I did listen to the F-3 and they sounded really good. He would like to keep the speakers for a long time.

That looks real nice damonrpayne. Sounds like you have been hard at work since the last time I talk with you. How is the new house?

To me 100 watts won't be enough. I beleive those speakers do have a great impendance swing in them. I would want to get 150 to 200 watts a channel. I do think the 100 watt outlaw would be better than the receiver though. I just think you could save up a little bit more money and get something that will last you longer. Take it with a grain though because I am using a 380 watts per channel amp with my RF3II's. I did have many differnt amps before I settled with this and probaly my last amp.

If you watch alot of movies then a projector you will like. If you have a room that you can control the light somewhat, shades then a projector is for you. If you don't then a projector will not be the best for you. I have a Panasonic 900u lcd projector because I can't watch dlp. The picture is very good, my uncle has a $25k projector and the picture isn't much better. The other great feature you have to think of is the throw of the projector. The Panasonic has a 2x zoom lens and lens shift that gives you great flexiblity in mounting locations.The screen is almost as important. If you can get a fixed frame do so, this way it won't get wavy, the problem I am having with my pull down model. I do not use it for normal tv only HD and DVD's. Football is great on it. I use a 100" diagnal screen. I was on the fence for a long time, I jumped this year because the performance vs price has came into my ball park. I have jumped in and have been learning ever since. Please look at screens from stores before you order online. I have had three screens that I have been able to see the screen grain in the picture. It takes a real smooth screen for me. My wife doesn't see it but I do. Good luck

Who makes there surround speakers? I know they make there own subs but I thought I read somewhere they bought them from someone.