[Red Z]

I have a dedicated home theater room and three additional surround sound systems in the living room, the master bedroom, and our second master bedroom. Each system is set up differently and with different equipment. The home theater is also an entertainment room with family and friends watching DVDs, TV (the big games), singing Karaoke, and listening to music. The theater has built-in, rack mounted equipment with plenty of space for some legacy equipment. This room can play almost all of the old sources (you would be suprised at how many times you still need to watch an old VCR tape or listen to a cassette). The Pioneer 94 Elite receiver cleans up and upconverts these sources for the projector. We are just now upgrading to Bluray in all of the systems I will list the room's equipment on seperate posts.

Home Theater:
Pioneer VSX-94TXH Elite Reciever (primary receiver)
Pioneer VSX-9900S Receiver (adds second set of front channels, and entire "whole house audio")
Samsung BDP-5000U Bluray player----$500.00 piece of junk
Pioneer DVD-F727 DVD Player/changer holds 200 discs
Pioneer PD-M650 CD Player/changer Magazines hold 6 discs
Pioneer CT-WM77R Cassette Player/changer holds 6 cassettes
Admiral JSJ20433 Hi-Fi VCR
Enter Tech Magic Sing SD-11000 Karaoke machine
Mitsubishi HC3000 High-Definition Overhead Projector
Mustang SC-E120D16:9 Motorized projection screen, 120"
Klipsch entire 7.1 built-in speaker system, 12" Powered Sub with 2nd set of front channels
JBL 4312 Control monitor speakers for 2nd set of front channels
Monster AVL 300 Programable remote control
Leviton Z-Wave switches/dimmers (several providing remote control of all lighting).

 

[thxgoon]

Looks like some nice set ups. Wish I had a bluray player, let alone 3 :drool:

 

[Red Z]

I don't know really how to respond. I looked at your system and it seems pretty nice (especially for a student). I guess if I had to put it into perspective, my family is really into watching movies. We do not spend allot of money on movie channels on satellite, but instead subscribe to Block Buster's mail-in movie rental program. We wind up with at least 6 movies a week (and more when we return them to the store). Block Buster has just started to have a fairly decent large selection of bluray movies both online for mail rental, and in the store.

I had been waiting for the format war between HD DVD and bluray to end before I purchased anything. I had been burned by Sony years before when I had purchased high-dollar hifi Beta tape units (in the 80s). Back then, I was in the military stationed in Europe, with no American TV to watch, so I rented VCR tapes everyday for entertainment. VHS won that war, and virtually every tape rental place immediately switched to VHS and my Beta machines were instantly obsolete.

As far as my system now, I had originally only intended on purchasing one bluray player for my home theater--I figured a true 1080 signal projected on my 120" screen would somehow improve the picture dramatically. The first player I purchased, Samsung BD-UP5000 was DOA and would not play blurays. At first, I wasn't sure if the problem was the player, my cables, or my stupidity in setting up my receiver. That was pretty much the reason I went shopping for an additional bluray player (probably seems stupid, but sometimes it is easier to throw money at it than to read the books or pay the exhorbantly high hometheater tech troubleshooting fee--Plus, I had a $50.00 off coupon from Best Buy.

In my home theater, all of the components are professionally rack/shelf mounted and installing/deinstalling components is a real pain in the . Diagnosing problems is difficult because it is hard to reach all of the connectors without unscrewing panels and equipment from the rack. The Samsung was the exact same size as the Pioneer DVD it would be replacing which made the installation quite a bit easier since I did not have to have new faceplates cut, or new rack mounts made.

In purchasing the first Sony BDP-S350, I guess the first consideration was that it was about a third of the price of the Samsung, and I knew I could use it in another place in the house. It was also on sale, and with my $50.00 off coupon, it was even a better deal coming out at about $249.99 total. We also considered purchasing the Sony PS3, but I cringed on purchasing but yet another game system platform (we already have Segas, 2 regular Xboxes, Xbox 360, and PSones)--the systems are fairly cheap, the games are what cost you in the end.

Another consideration for the Sony was that it was not a standard "rack mount" size, but was extremely small in depth than a normal audio component. I have 3 other home theaters set up in my house; one in the living room, one in each of the two master bedrooms (have the mother-in-law plan). In the two master bedrooms, the audio components are mounted in closets that only have about 14" of depth. The receivers are tipped up and mounted to brackets that attach them to the walls. They are mounted rather high in the closets with the faceplates pointed down. The DVD players rest on shelves that are only 11" deep. The depth allowed only relatively small footprint DVD players to fit and still get the door to the closet closed. The Sony BDP-S350 is just over 8" in depth, and with cables attached, it still fits nicely on the shelves without sticking out.

I figured if I was going to purchase another bluray player, I might as well chose one that would fit very nice in a troubled location. Another problem we had after first receiving blurays is that grandma did not know their was any difference between it and a standard DVD and stuck it in her player. I guess I knew then that if we were going to make the transition to bluray, I was going to have to convert all the players in the house.

After I bought the first Sony, and I was talking to the representative at a different store--the store I purchased the Samsung bluray player from(trying to return the Samsung), and I told him I had purchased the Sony (and the good deal I got on it from Best Buy) to test/verify my entire system. He would not take the Samsung back(read my other post), but did offer me the exact same price ($249.99) for another Sony BDP-S350. Needless to say, I purchased another Sony, and that is how I wound up with 3 bluray players. I suppose if you really counted, I am actually going to have 4, since the day before yesterday the kids talked their mother into buying a PS3. Bummer

 

[thxgoon]

I was drooling with envy in my previous post Blue ray is pretty spectacular I just don't have to money for it currently

 

[Red Z]

Stay focused on school! In the end, that is what will provide the employment--and hence--the income, that will be necessary to support your system upgrades. I wish years ago when I was in my studies I had a system like you have now---I am envious.

 

[thxgoon]

Stay focused on school! In the end, that is what will provide the employment--and hence--the income, that will be necessary to support your system upgrades. I wish years ago when I was in my studies I had a system like you have now---I am envious.

:bigsmile: Thanks, it helps to hear that now and then. I spent a 16 hour day studying so the light at the end of the tunnel was looking dim...