can u recommend speaker setup?

[starside]

Hi
I am after some speaker for my tv/DVD set up.

I have a Panasonic TX28PS 28" widescreen TV, and a Philips DVD player.

How do I set up 5.1 surround sound? I guess that this has to be throught the DVD player, as this has 5.1 sound connections / ports. Can i only set up 5.1 on the DVD player and not the VCR? Does that then mean that I could turn off the TV sound and let the sound come straing tfrom DVD player?

When looking for PC speakers, I read that the pure digital
ZXR-550 speaker where good value for money, and with quite good performance too.

Will these be suitable for DVD / TV setup?

Thankx in advance

PjC

[Flibb]

They probably wouldnt be much cop to be honest as the power handling is very low. Also I dont think you could connect them to your dvd player, as you probably wont have an amp or decoder built in. The normall solution is to get an AV receiver and plug this in to the dvd player using a digital optical leed. You then get a 5.1 speaker set which plugs in to the amp. So basically you end up with

http://www.richersounds.co.uk/index....l.php&p=206914

and

http://www.richersounds.co.uk/index....l.php&p=301576

And a big hole in your wallet. If you have a 5.1 decoder built in to your dvd player you can get a set of speakers which have the amp built in like these
http://www.richersounds.co.uk/index....l.php&p=300295

Think this makes sense
Flibb

[Howard]

The first two Richersounds items mentioned by Flibb will be an excellent start to home cinema, and good value as well. Forget the all in one systems, you want something you can upgrade individually later

[Rave]

Originally posted by starside
How do I set up 5.1 surround sound? I guess that this has to be throught the DVD player, as this has 5.1 sound connections / ports.<snip to answer the questions in a logical order> When looking for PC speakers, I read that the pure digital
ZXR-550 speaker where good value for money, and with quite good performance too.

If you're looking to spend £100 or less then you're going to be looking at an "all in one" set like the ZXR-550. With one of these you connect the DVD player to the speakers using the 6 output channels on the DVD player. I don't really have much experience with these things but I imagine they'll sound reasonable if not brilliant. The other option is to get a seperate Dolby Digital/DTS Surround amplifier and some seperate speakers. This should be a lot clearer (and louder!) but realistically you'd be looking at £300+ to get a halfway decent setup. With the dolby digital amp (or decoder) you connect the DVD to the amp with one coaxial or optical digital connection, and the amp decodes the sound.

Can i only set up 5.1 on the DVD player and not the VCR?Does that then mean that I could turn off the TV sound and let the sound come straing tfrom DVD player?

Yes and yes. However, if you went for the seperate amplifier option you could get surround from the video as well; they use an older system called Dolby Pro Logic which gives mono surround and stereo (or three channel) front channels (no seperate sub channel though). It's not as good as Dolby Digital or DTS but it's not bad either; nice if you've got a large video collection, as most VHS vids from the mid-80s onwards should have a suitable soundtrack, assuming the film was made in Dolby Stereo.

Will these be suitable for DVD / TV setup?

Yes, as long as you don't expect miracles.

Rich :¬)

Edit: Heh, beaten to it. The last item posted by Flibb is really a more expensive (and presumably better) version of the Pure Digital setup.

[Flibb]

What model dvd player is it, I will find out which system will work, as few dvd players have a decoder onboard. Other thing to note is that Richer Sounds do sell second had gear, you might pick the amp up cheap like that. i got my speaker set from a bloke on ebay for £150, retails for £450 so still some bargains out there. Last option is to sell your current dvd player and get somrthing like this
http://www.richersounds.co.uk/index....l.php&p=301483

Basically an all in one package.

Flibb

Should have said the seperates system is the best solution, but is also the most money, no suprises there.

[Zak33]

nice work Flibb....

as for 5.1 and videos etc....lets go back a little

Video and TV is often STEREO.....often labelled Nicam. It outputs from EITHER the SCART LEAD (from the vid to your telly ) OR through a pair of phono plugs (normally red and white)

Those can run either stereo (2 speakers) , or Dolby 3 (front left and right and centre for voices ) , or Pro Logic (front left, front right, centre, rear surround keft and rear surround right)

The Pro Ligic decoder decides in its own brain what goes where...you often get the chance to set delay to the back to make the speakers sound further away than they are. Its good for telly, footy and video films. The rears speakers are NOT stereo and are only a small amount of frequency (not bass or high treble)

5.1 (and the competition DTS) has 5 seperate channels ALL individual , AND a seperate bass (the .1 bit)

You need to input to THAT through a DIGITAL link (either a fibre optic or a coax digital cable)

Only DVD players do that..not telly, not video

Most ALL IN ONE jobbies come with:

Digital input (preferably both optical and coax)
Phono inputs (stereo left and right)

and then you tell it what you wanna play, hit the button and off ya go....so telly is Pro Logic and DVD is 5.1

Some DVD players (cheapo ones) are only stereo out. AVOID if poss.

Some older DVD disks only output a stereo signal (like my WW2 disks) soyou only have them on DVD cos its convenient.

Lots of DVD players have a pair of phono outputs from them so you can play music disks from them and then you plug those into the all in one unit and play my old WW2 stuff in Pro Logic

[starside]

Thanks for the replys guys.

I purchsed my DVD player off eBay for cheap, so it is effectivly unbraded. However it says it is made with philips parts. The technical specs are here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...&category=3316

ebay.co.uk item number 3063583784.

[Flibb]

Hmmm thats an unusal bit of kit, spec is very good as its got onboard 5.1 decoder and component video output. Very nice. If you have the money go the seperates route, will cost around £300. If thats two much then
http://www.richersounds.co.uk/index....l.php&p=300295
might be your best bet. If you go to a richer sounds shop you can take stuff back if you dont like it, I did this with a dvd player recently and got it upgraded , think its within 14 days. So you can try stuff out in the room where you want to use it, just keep all the packaging.
My current set up is a pioneer DSX-D510 receiver and a set of quadrel speakers. Nice small speakers, big sub woofer and a large amp. This is fine for me as I have the room for the amp but not for speakers. Anybody else suggest a set of speakers with amplification onboard?
Good luck
Flibb

[Rave]

It's nitpick time....

Originally posted by Zak33
5.1 (and the competition DTS) has 5 seperate channels ALL individual , AND a seperate bass (the .1 bit)

You need to input to THAT through a DIGITAL link (either a fibre optic or a coax digital cable)

....unless your DVD player has a built in decoder like our friend here . These have a six analogue channel output, as do most motherboards/soundcards nowadays.

Only DVD players do that..not telly, not video

Don't forget Laserdisc. I haven't seen a Dolby Digital receiver with a RF input for ages though . Still, I've only got a couple of DD discs anyway, so never mind.

Most ALL IN ONE jobbies come with:

Digital input (preferably both optical and coax)
Phono inputs (stereo left and right)

The cheaper ones like the Pure Digital ZXR-550 only have six anologue inputs, as they don't have an internal decoder.

Rich :¬)

[3Dfx]

I got wall mounted KEF Cresta 2's for the front and rear with a KEF Cresta C for the centre channel.

Great sound, all linked thru my Marantz A/V Receiver

[Enverex]

If you can afford it the Creative Gigaworks system is rather good. A Nice step up from my old VideoLogic DigiTheatre DTS system, and it isn't short on power at 700w RMS....

You can get it for £250 atm, but it doesn't do any form of decoding (though it will upmix from 5.1 and 6.1 to 7.1).

Depends on how much you want to spend though...

NS

[starside]

Originally posted by Flibb
Hmmm thats an unusal bit of kit, spec is very good as its got onboard 5.1 decoder and component video output. Very nice. £300. If thats two much then
http://www.richersounds.co.uk/index....l.php&p=300295

Flibb

So this means that i dont need an amp / decoder? Then sur#ely just buying the speaker is sugfficient, why go for seperates?

Also, what is the component video output socket for?

Cheers for all the advice,

PjC

[Enverex]

You do only need speakers.

The C Video out is normally just another way of outputting the video, either to a VCR with the correct input or a TV card, etc.

NS

[Rave]

Originally posted by starside
So this means that i dont need an amp / decoder? Then sur#ely just buying the speaker is sugfficient, why go for seperates?

Better quality and upgradeability. If you buy speakers with a built in amp you have to junk the whole setup if you want to upgrade (or get out the soldring iron and glue). If you buy a seperate amp and speaker setup though, you can chop and change as you like. In general, these "all in one" systems use rather small statellites which don't have particularly good frequency response and/or can't go very loud. Ideally you want some reasonably good sized speakers especially for the front channels. Have a look at the surround speakers in your local cinema next time you go....they're not small. The front ones are a lot bigger. The "Sub" provided with a system like that probably won't reproduce the bass any better than a decent pair of front speakers would, whereas a decent sub bought seperately certainly would.

Also, what is the component video output socket for?

Component is basically a hopped up version of S-Video; it splits the chrominance signal in two so you get less interference. MPEG-2 is actually a component system, so a component output basically gives the picture information straight off the disc (albeit converted to analogue).

In general only expensive projectors and TVs have a component input. For CRT based products there's not much point in using it as the signal has to be converted to RGB anyway; you might as well use an RGB scart connection. For Plasma TVs and LCP/DLP projectors it makes more sense. What makes even more sense though is just to have a digital connection between the DVD player and TV, and sure enough Pioneer have designed one that is just starting to appear on their latest products.

Rich :¬)

[starside]

ok, i understand.

I think, that just the speakers would be good for now. I suppose i can always but a seperate amp at a later date.

on my DVD player, there is s-video output socket and component video output socket.

If i was to connect to TV using these I woulduse s-video to scart lead. But this doesnt carry sound does it? is there a real difference between s-video to scart compared with mid quality scart to scart leads? (I have 2 x PROFIGOLD GOLD FLAT SCART TO SCART LEAD - one for VCR and one for DVD. The ones which rrp at approx £35 each) same question for component video output.

does a component video output to scart lead exist?


and finally, does converting s-video through to scart (vis s-video to scart lead) loose the quality of the picture?

[Rave]

Originally posted by starside
I think, that just the speakers would be good for now. I suppose i can always but a seperate amp at a later date.

I just want to make sure you're clear on this: if you buy just the speakers you need ones with built in amplification. You might be able to use them at a later date with a seperate amp, but that depends on how they're designed.

on my DVD player, there is s-video output socket and component video output socket.

If i was to connect to TV using these I woulduse s-video to scart lead. But this doesnt carry sound does it? is there a real difference between s-video to scart compared with mid quality scart to scart leads? (I have 2 x PROFIGOLD GOLD FLAT SCART TO SCART LEAD - one for VCR and one for DVD. The ones which rrp at approx £35 each) same question for component video output.

You're confusing the type of signal with the type of connector. I don't blame you for this- even a lot of home cinema magazine journalists either get it plain wrong or give misleading or incomplete information. So, lets start with the type of signals which you can use to transmit video, in rough order of quality:

RF: Radio Frequency. This is the type of signal you get from a TV aerial, and it's what a VCR uses if you don't have a scart lead for it. Sound and video all in one wire. Lowest quality, DVD players don't tend to bother with it any more.

Composite: One wire carries all the video info (but not sound). Reasonable quality TBH, but you still can get a little colour interference.

S-Video: Splits the composite signal into Luminance (I.E. black and white brightness) and Chrominance (colour information). This cuts out some interference and gives better quality and slightly higher resolution. JVC introduced S-Video and the S-Video connector when they released S-VHS, which is why the S-Video connector is often wrongly referred to as an SVHS connector. There's no sound in an S-Video connector either.

These two are roughly equivalent in quality:

Component: Takes S-Video one step further by splitting the Chrominance signal into two while keeping the luminance signal the same (AFAIK). This gives even better colour quality. Needs three wires- three phono connectors are generally used.

RGB (Red Green Blue): basically just gives the signal roughly as it would go to the guns in a CRT monitor or projector. If you feed the TV any other type of signal it has to convert it to RGB before it can display it.

Now, what are the connectors on the back of a DVD?

Yellow Phono socket: Gives composite video.

S-Video: Gives S-Video.

Scart: Here's where it gets interesting. A Scart lead can carry Composite, S-Video or RGB, as well as stereo sound. It can carry the sound and composite video in both directions at once. On my TV and many others I have seen with two scart sockets, one socket is wired for RGB while the other is wired for S-Video. Both of them will accept a composite connection. The scart can carry RGB and composite at the same time, but if you use it for S-Video it sends the black and white info down the composite wire and uses another for the colour; that's why you get a B+W picture if you set the TV to the wrong input. I use my RGB scart for the DVD player and plug my SVHS vid into the S-Video scart, which works quite well.

Component connections: give component only, and so are useless for the vast majority of users without a component input on their TV/Projector.

does a component video output to scart lead exist?

No. You can use either RGB of S-Video for your DVD connection, either from the SCART or from an S-Video Socket<see edit>. The difference will be tiny in all probability, but in theory RGB will be better. If you use S-Video the picture information first has to be converted from component to S-Video, and then to RGB in the TV. If you use RGB it's converted straight from component to RGB in the player, cutting out the S-Video stage. Try both though, you may prefer S-Video and at the end of the day what looks good to you is what you should use.

and finally, does converting s-video through to scart (vis s-video to scart lead) loose the quality of the picture?

No, because the signal stays the same, just the wire is different. The two scarts you have will be absolutely fine for both RGB and S-Video <see edit>, so I wouldn't bother buying any more leads.

I hope that makes it clear, please ask if you want me to clarify anything.

Rich :¬)

Edit: I just realised that not all DVD players can output S-Video through the Scart socket, some only send it out of the S-Video socket. If yours is like that you would need to buy an S-Video-Scart lead to use S-Video (or just a plain S-Video lead as I'm sure your telly has an S-Video input). In that case, my advice would be not to worry and to just use RGB