Do I want a Blu ray home cinema or something else?
Discussion
As the title says, I want a new gadget to sit beneath an HD TV but not sure what...
I'd like to:
- watch Blu Rays on it,
- have fantastic sound quality (surround sound?),
- preferably plugin an iphone or play mp3's from some internal\external storage,
- FM\DAB tuner would be handy,
- I guess a recordable hard drive to record TV or possibly iplayer would be pushing my luck...
The spotted something which I liked the look of:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/1-box-home-cin...
However the speakers are unconvincingly small and the lack of Iplayer just disapoints me a bit.
Does such a device exist. Preferably for around £300?
TIA
I don't want to come across as being a snob, but your original post is a bit like saying "I want a car with all the options a Lexus has, the performance of a Ferrari and the economy of a Smart car...oh and I want it for £1000". You might get some of the options you'd like, but even if you did get all of them you're not going to get fantastic sound quality as well, the budget is spread too thin.
You could maybe pick up a separate BluRay player that will allow the iPlayer bit, but then you'd have to add a separate amp and then speakers. At least you could buy a 5.1 amp and maybe just 2 speakers for now and add the centre and surrounds later if it won't all fit in your budget right now. You'd still have to forget about being able to record TV programs as unless you bought a very expensive Panasonic BluRay player/recorder I don't know of any other BluRay players that can record to hard disc as well. Again, maybe you'll have to add this later as a separate box like Humax/Pace/Grundig/whatever hard disc recorder.
For around £300 this could be put together and added to as funds allow. I appreciate it isn't everything you want, but as I said above, what you're asking for isn't available within your budget:
Sony BluRay player with iPlayer built in £120:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/blu-ray/sony/b...
Sony amp if still available for £99. This would also allow you to plug in an MP3 player (with a suitable lead for a few £s off Amazon)as well as the BluRay and your TV's sound:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/s...
Or maybe this Yamaha amp, priced something below £200 (you have to call):
http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/y...
Some left and right speakers which you could add the matching centre to later. You could reuse these as surrounds and buy the bigger models to replace these at the front for another future upgrade £60:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/bookshelf-spea...
Matching centre if you have enough left over £40:
http://www.richersounds.com/showclearanceproduct/Q...
Upgrade the fronts to these if budget allows or as a later upgrade £140:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/floorstanders/...
I make that about £319 if you buy the cheaper Sony amp and get the centre now. Probably would sound a whole lot better than the one in the link above, even if it doesn't have the surrounds just yet (you could always add another pair of 1010i later if you don't want big floorstanders at the front.
Of course this setup is also missing a subwoofer, but the chances are that those fronts (especially the 1030i floorstanders) would do you quite well until you could get something worthy of the name 'subwoofer'. The ones included with most AIO systems don't tend to go down that low anyway. Even a little BK Gemini sub would produce much better bass than the AIO sub:
http://www.bkelec.com/HiFi/Sub_Woofers/Gemini.htm
(For when you want to add a sub later on).
Hope this helps.
You could maybe pick up a separate BluRay player that will allow the iPlayer bit, but then you'd have to add a separate amp and then speakers. At least you could buy a 5.1 amp and maybe just 2 speakers for now and add the centre and surrounds later if it won't all fit in your budget right now. You'd still have to forget about being able to record TV programs as unless you bought a very expensive Panasonic BluRay player/recorder I don't know of any other BluRay players that can record to hard disc as well. Again, maybe you'll have to add this later as a separate box like Humax/Pace/Grundig/whatever hard disc recorder.
For around £300 this could be put together and added to as funds allow. I appreciate it isn't everything you want, but as I said above, what you're asking for isn't available within your budget:
Sony BluRay player with iPlayer built in £120:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/blu-ray/sony/b...
Sony amp if still available for £99. This would also allow you to plug in an MP3 player (with a suitable lead for a few £s off Amazon)as well as the BluRay and your TV's sound:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/s...
Or maybe this Yamaha amp, priced something below £200 (you have to call):
http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/y...
Some left and right speakers which you could add the matching centre to later. You could reuse these as surrounds and buy the bigger models to replace these at the front for another future upgrade £60:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/bookshelf-spea...
Matching centre if you have enough left over £40:
http://www.richersounds.com/showclearanceproduct/Q...
Upgrade the fronts to these if budget allows or as a later upgrade £140:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/floorstanders/...
I make that about £319 if you buy the cheaper Sony amp and get the centre now. Probably would sound a whole lot better than the one in the link above, even if it doesn't have the surrounds just yet (you could always add another pair of 1010i later if you don't want big floorstanders at the front.
Of course this setup is also missing a subwoofer, but the chances are that those fronts (especially the 1030i floorstanders) would do you quite well until you could get something worthy of the name 'subwoofer'. The ones included with most AIO systems don't tend to go down that low anyway. Even a little BK Gemini sub would produce much better bass than the AIO sub:
http://www.bkelec.com/HiFi/Sub_Woofers/Gemini.htm
(For when you want to add a sub later on).
Hope this helps.
Edited by OldSkoolRS on Monday 15th November 16:14
That's a handy solution, though it would take up most of the £300 budget before he's got any speakers and amp. If he's already got a PS3 then jobs a good 'un as they say, just delete the BluRay player I listed above and select £300 worth of goodies from the list (might even have enough then for the full 5 speakers if not the sub. 
OldSkoolRS said:
I don't want to come across as being a snob, but your original post is a bit like saying "I want a car with all the options a Lexus has, the performance of a Ferrari and the economy of a Smart car...oh and I want it for £1000". You might get some of the options you'd like, but even if you did get all of them you're not going to get fantastic sound quality as well, the budget is spread too thin.
You could maybe pick up a separate BluRay player that will allow the iPlayer bit, but then you'd have to add a separate amp and then speakers. At least you could buy a 5.1 amp and maybe just 2 speakers for now and add the centre and surrounds later if it won't all fit in your budget right now. You'd still have to forget about being able to record TV programs as unless you bought a very expensive Panasonic BluRay player/recorder I don't know of any other BluRay players that can record to hard disc as well. Again, maybe you'll have to add this later as a separate box like Humax/Pace/Grundig/whatever hard disc recorder.
For around £300 this could be put together and added to as funds allow. I appreciate it isn't everything you want, but as I said above, what you're asking for isn't available within your budget:
Sony BluRay player with iPlayer built in £120:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/blu-ray/sony/b...
Sony amp if still available for £99. This would also allow you to plug in an MP3 player (with a suitable lead for a few £s off Amazon)as well as the BluRay and your TV's sound:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/s...
Or maybe this Yamaha amp, priced something below £200 (you have to call):
http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/y...
Some left and right speakers which you could add the matching centre to later. You could reuse these as surrounds and buy the bigger models to replace these at the front for another future upgrade £60:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/bookshelf-spea...
Matching centre if you have enough left over £40:
http://www.richersounds.com/showclearanceproduct/Q...
Upgrade the fronts to these if budget allows or as a later upgrade £140:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/floorstanders/...
I make that about £319 if you buy the cheaper Sony amp and get the centre now. Probably would sound a whole lot better than the one in the link above, even if it doesn't have the surrounds just yet (you could always add another pair of 1010i later if you don't want big floorstanders at the front.
Of course this setup is also missing a subwoofer, but the chances are that those fronts (especially the 1030i floorstanders) would do you quite well until you could get something worthy of the name 'subwoofer'. The ones included with most AIO systems don't tend to go down that low anyway. Even a little BK Gemini sub would produce much better bass than the AIO sub:
http://www.bkelec.com/HiFi/Sub_Woofers/Gemini.htm
(For when you want to add a sub later on).
Hope this helps.
Thanks very much for taking the time to reply with this.You could maybe pick up a separate BluRay player that will allow the iPlayer bit, but then you'd have to add a separate amp and then speakers. At least you could buy a 5.1 amp and maybe just 2 speakers for now and add the centre and surrounds later if it won't all fit in your budget right now. You'd still have to forget about being able to record TV programs as unless you bought a very expensive Panasonic BluRay player/recorder I don't know of any other BluRay players that can record to hard disc as well. Again, maybe you'll have to add this later as a separate box like Humax/Pace/Grundig/whatever hard disc recorder.
For around £300 this could be put together and added to as funds allow. I appreciate it isn't everything you want, but as I said above, what you're asking for isn't available within your budget:
Sony BluRay player with iPlayer built in £120:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/blu-ray/sony/b...
Sony amp if still available for £99. This would also allow you to plug in an MP3 player (with a suitable lead for a few £s off Amazon)as well as the BluRay and your TV's sound:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/s...
Or maybe this Yamaha amp, priced something below £200 (you have to call):
http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/y...
Some left and right speakers which you could add the matching centre to later. You could reuse these as surrounds and buy the bigger models to replace these at the front for another future upgrade £60:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/bookshelf-spea...
Matching centre if you have enough left over £40:
http://www.richersounds.com/showclearanceproduct/Q...
Upgrade the fronts to these if budget allows or as a later upgrade £140:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/floorstanders/...
I make that about £319 if you buy the cheaper Sony amp and get the centre now. Probably would sound a whole lot better than the one in the link above, even if it doesn't have the surrounds just yet (you could always add another pair of 1010i later if you don't want big floorstanders at the front.
Of course this setup is also missing a subwoofer, but the chances are that those fronts (especially the 1030i floorstanders) would do you quite well until you could get something worthy of the name 'subwoofer'. The ones included with most AIO systems don't tend to go down that low anyway. Even a little BK Gemini sub would produce much better bass than the AIO sub:
http://www.bkelec.com/HiFi/Sub_Woofers/Gemini.htm
(For when you want to add a sub later on).
Hope this helps.
Edited by OldSkoolRS on Monday 15th November 16:14
After knocking a few of the requirements on the head I've partly taken your advice and looking towards this instead:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/1-box-home-cin...
or
http://www.richersounds.com/product/1-box-home-cin...
Plus I'll buy a seperate Blu ray player + Ipod dock (if not included)
Any suggestions are more than welcome.
Cheers
Edited by Torquey on Tuesday 16th November 16:25
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