[stareleigh]

I'm a relative newbie to your forums, but once upon a time, in analog days, thought I knew what I was doing. I'm trying to build a HT from scratch for a new den I've built. I am facing several challenges -- such as I don't want to include surround sound speakers as part of the obvious landscape for the den, other than two bookshelf speakers [probably PSB's Image B4s] that i want to use for music. This has meant looking for a passive soundbar to sit in front of my TV [which I haven't yet chosen]. but while i'd love suggestions for how to solve that problem, my real question is: Every device I look at is internet ready, complete with skype, netflix, pandora,etc. It's true for the TV, for the blu-ray player, for my Apple TV [the only component I currently own, though it doesn't really have skype], and for the receiver that would power all the above.
Don't I just need a good receiver that does have the interweb functionality, and then ignore this nonsense for the television and other components? Why do I care that the Panasonic Viera or the Oppo 93 has internet functionality?
I'm able to spend $5-6k on this system, but want to make sure i'm doing it right and would welcome a sanity check.
Thanks

 

[Jungle Jack]

I'm a relative newbie to your forums, but once upon a time, in analog days, thought I knew what I was doing. I'm trying to build a HT from scratch for a new den I've built. I am facing several challenges -- such as I don't want to include surround sound speakers as part of the obvious landscape for the den, other than two bookshelf speakers [probably PSB's Image B4s] that i want to use for music. This has meant looking for a passive soundbar to sit in front of my TV [which I haven't yet chosen]. but while i'd love suggestions for how to solve that problem, my real question is: Every device I look at is internet ready, complete with skype, netflix, pandora,etc. It's true for the TV, for the blu-ray player, for my Apple TV [the only component I currently own, though it doesn't really have skype], and for the receiver that would power all the above.
Don't I just need a good receiver that does have the interweb functionality, and then ignore this nonsense for the television and other components? Why do I care that the Panasonic Viera or the Oppo 93 has internet functionality?
I'm able to spend $5-6k on this system, but want to make sure i'm doing it right and would welcome a sanity check.
Thanks

Hello,
Interesting proposal. I will say that many have found the Video Quality of Sources coming directly from the TV to be not as good as Netflix from the PS3 or OPPO. In addition, Soundbars do not compare to the PSB's that you are considering for Surrounds if I am reading your Post correctly.

As for concern about using the OPPO for Netflix for instance, the Marvell Video Processor is outstanding and does help to improve the PQ on both HD and SD. Moreover, both the PS3 or the OPPO can be set to output all Video Information at 1080p which is the Native Resolution of the majority of new HDTV's.

This is important because most TV's do not fare well when Upsampling to the TV's Native Resolution which it must do with DVD's, HDTV, and everything but Blu-Rays.

While I know very little about Soundbars, I am pretty sure that none are Passive. I could be wrong...
Cheers,
JJ

 

[lcaillo]

I keep hearing the idea that most tvs do not do a good job of "upsampling." IME, most these days actually do. The issuse is not just upsampling, however. Not every set today is 1080p. There are still lots of 720p sets out there. Regardless, many, even lower end sets, do a great job of resampling (aka scan conversion) and de-interlacing. The latter is often the bigger problem with these conversions, as much content is delivered as 1080i then converted to 1080p or 720p. Some blu ray players and external processors do better than many displays, but it is much less of an issue today than a few years ago. Regardless, it varies with brands and models. IME, the panasonic sets are among the best in this regard, as are their players. the Oppo is also a standout.

Much of what is perceived by many as scan or interlace conversion problems when viewing downloaded content are actually compression or buffering artifacts.

The video quality of sources varies a great deal as does download performance. Netflix performance, for instance is far more determined by the ISP and how the signal gets to the device than by which device you use to download it, in most cases. In an optimal setting where each device is getting the maximum bandwidth incoming, the Oppo MIGHT look better than the display.

 

[stareleigh]

Thanks. I'm the OP again.
My specific idea is to buy a internet capable receiver, such as one of the mid-range Onkyo receivers that everyone here seems to like (and use my exisitng AppleTV) and use them as the source for netflix, utube, etc., and not rely on the DVD player or TV itself for those purposes. In practice, all of the users of this forum probably just rely on one of their components for those purposes. Is this sensible? And if I'm not worrying about 3D, doesn't this give me a lot more flexibility in which TV to buy? (In fact, if I'm using a receiver, I don't really understand why I even need a tuner; why not just buy a monitor?)

As for the soundbar, what I wanted to do was use a passive l/r/c soundbar (such as Paradigm Millenia 20 Trio or the Definitive Technology SSa-50) the in front of the tv, using the PSBs as the rear speakers in a 5.1 setup, but then when I am using 2 channel audio, i.e., for internet radio, CD, Ipod, etc., to not engage the soundbar and instead rely entirely on the PSBs.
Thanks again

 

[Jungle Jack]

I keep hearing the idea that most tvs do not do a good job of "upsampling." IME, most these days actually do. The issuse is not just upsampling, however. Not every set today is 1080p. There are still lots of 720p sets out there. Regardless, many, even lower end sets, do a great job of resampling (aka scan conversion) and de-interlacing. The latter is often the bigger problem with these conversions, as much content is delivered as 1080i then converted to 1080p or 720p. Some blu ray players and external processors do better than many displays, but it is much less of an issue today than a few years ago. Regardless, it varies with brands and models. IME, the panasonic sets are among the best in this regard, as are their players. the Oppo is also a standout.

Much of what is perceived by many as scan or interlace conversion problems when viewing downloaded content are actually compression or buffering artifacts.

The video quality of sources varies a great deal as does download performance. Netflix performance, for instance is far more determined by the ISP and how the signal gets to the device than by which device you use to download it, in most cases. In an optimal setting where each device is getting the maximum bandwidth incoming, the Oppo MIGHT look better than the display.

Hello,
Indeed. That is why I said most TV's were 1080p rather than that all TV's are 1080p. Regardless, the TV's that are 720p are in the lower price bracket and are often smaller in Screen Size. I still think most TV's look their best when fed their Native Resolution as opposed to the TV doing so.
JJ