Need Home theater recommendations.

[littleprince]

Out of the blue, my mom decides she wants a home theater setup.
First. We live in Canada, so best buy deals etc wont help much.

What were looking at. 46" or 36" Tv's. The Sony KP46WT500, 46" HDTV is 2800 cdn. And looks like a nice deal.
Shes asian, so she likes sony. Better be a really good tv if its anything else. Toshiba, panasonic are names she would consider, LG, RCA is pushing it.

Also need a dvd player, I'd prefer progressive scan, and surround sound decoding.

And the heck, why not get a set of speakers to go with it? She doesnt listen to anything loud, but since everything else is gonna be new. So we don't need anything too powerfull.

Also, for hdtv, I remember reading that thread with a pc hdtv tuner, that worked off an antanae. Anything like that for normal tv's? If we got a few of the major hdtv channels and saved 40/month on satelite it would be nice, as cable package is free now in my condo. How does hdtv off an antanae work? Do you get full quality? What channels would likely be available here in Toronto?

Also if you know any good forums I should check out, or sites please post the link
thx.

 

[EvilYoda]

Wow, get ready for the flood of suggestions.

First off, can you specify a budget for each piece, so we know what ballpark to work with?

For the TV, Sony should be good, but you might look into Toshiba, Pioneer and Mitsu.

Other than that, a price range is really needed to suggest something.

 

[conjur]

Personally, I'm not fond of Sony. I've found them to be historically overprices but they have a pretty good performing RPTV. I'd go Mitsubishi, Pioneer, Toshiba...oh...JVC LCoS would be sweet

Paradigm speakers would be a good start (Canadian mfr to boot).

Pioneer or Onkyo would be a good receiver to get from the start, too. And look for one with Dolby Pro Logic II, DTS ES, etc. (support for 6.1 sound).

What is the budget? Otherwise, many suggestions may be tossed out on their ear.

For forums...click the HDTV in my link.

 

[littleprince]

Well, tv budget was around 2800 cdn. See above tv. I know sony is usualy over priced, but for that size hdtv their prices seemed to be very competitive at the best buy we were at, plus the picture quality looked nicer.

DVD player. I was looking around future shop, seems 150-200 should be able to purchase one with enough features.

Speakers. Maybe around 200? Not really sure. Guess this is the one that swings on my moms mood. Shes never really been into this kinda stuff, so shes not that interested in it.
Prices in cdn.

 

[conjur]

Don't judge picture quality by what you see in the stores. Bad lighting, bad setups, bad configuration. Just about any set these days can be dialed in with some ISF calibration (or close enough for gov't work if you grab a copy of Avia).

$200 for speakers? You're talking per speaker, right? That won't get you much...maybe get a set like the Energy Take 5?

 

[littleprince]

The reason I say 200, for speakers, is I know my mom won't be too hot on a 1000 set, and we saw a few dvd player/speaker packages for about 350-400 that seemed gd enough for our small condo.

 

[Howard]

Your HT seems a little bit low-key, especially seeing as you live in a condo. Try one of those HT in a box deals to go with the TV.