I plan on buying a Bluray player in the not so distant future. I’ve been eyeing up surround sound systems and Bluray players for a while, mainly because the house I bought has surround sound wired in already just no system and I have a HD TV but no Bluray player.
So it’s a tale of 2 purchases, I think I will opt for the surround sound first, the logic being;
- I have bare wires hanging out my walls were the last guy had his system and they are crying out for some speakers
- I had a very cheap and basic ‘home cinema in a box’ style surround sound system a few years ago and even a cheap one added a lot to movies
- I don’t have a stereo in the room it’ s going into so hey presto 2 birds with one stone (courtesy of an iPod input)
I have set myself a budget of $1000 and think that should be plenty, looking at reviews there seem to be loads of good gear just of over that price range so I’ll start the bargain hunt and purchase when I see one pop into range.
The second purchase, the Bluray player is likely to be a PS3. I’ve never bothered with one till now as I have an Xbox, but Microsoft’s decision to back the wrong horse in the format wars no leaves me thinking I will be jumping ship. Ok it could be said that I will be hedging my bets as I will still own an Xbox, well I will once I get it back from being sent away to be fixed. Again. But I’m not going to be buying games for both, so if PS3 is better that the Xbox may start gathering dust.
I have looked at other Bluray players but I don’t see a point in buying one when for a relatively small amount more I can buy a PS3. The only down side I have found at the moment is that the PS3 doesn’t upscale DVDs where other players do. Seems a small price to pay being that purchases from now on will be in the Blu ray format.
Lots of decisions and reading to go….
The thoughtherder's Blog 
Well, personally, I would buy some second hand floor standing speakers for the fronts and some matching (where poss) second hand book shelf for the rear, and a front centre to match the fronts (in a perfect world). A sub would be desirable too, but can be added later.
The hard part is the amplifier … you need one that is going to have audio over HDMI, or otherwise, use optical output from your Blu Ray player into the amp.
Why second hand? Well, you’ll get far better value for money. I’ve spent £100 on two pairs of floor standers, that would have retailed at over £500 new; both sets are practically perfect in every way! Thank god for eBay collection 🙂
Cheers for the input, although I got excited about the prospect of adding surround sound and cut the research time and turned it into buying time. Got a pretty sweet deal on a Denon receiver and some Polk speakers. I did however use ebay for tech other components (wires, brackets etc) and saved a tin on the shop prices. Fingers crossed its all here by the weekend!