Need advice for 5.1 home theatre system

Geekhead83 said:
well I finally settled for the LG HT856 Buy LG Home Theatre System HT856 at Best Price in India - Also find Specifications, Photos, Features & Reviews from Chroma after a lot of looking around for the Philips (vijay Sales, Ezone etc). The funny thing is that there arent any HT systems that have an optical in port, which seems kind of strange to me.

Overall pretty happy with my purchase, as the sound quality is pretty nice compared to what I did get to hear at those shops.
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How is the sound quality of LG compared to Philips?
 
I never got to hear the Phillips, because I simply did not find any store that stocked it! But amongst the other models that i did get to hear - another LG model, an Onkyo set, a sony (unfortunately do not remember the model numbers now, sorry), found that the Sony was much better, but was priced at 21k for a DVD HTS. Decided to save myself 6k and went with the LG.

Pretty satisfied with the sound... The original LOTR DVD sounds awesome.
 
@saurabh

hope you have installed your ht by now , dose it play formats like mkv,m2ts etc from usb drive/ hard drive .and dose it support multichannel hd audio while playing from harddisk/usb drive. and dose it play from network ?
 
@madhukannan

sorry for late reply. actually there is some renovation work going in my home. But I did installed the hts for few days. and here are the answers for your questions.

1) It plays all the formats including mkv & m2ts through usb hard drive. My hard drive is 250 gb & NTFS formatted. It played all full hd movies with surround sound. I haven't tried large capacity hard disks like 1-2 tb also I have to check whether it plays rmvb, flv etc formats. Also for more info on format compatibility, download spec sheet from Philips site. they have given detailed info on format compatibility. I noticed a problem but experienced it only in one movie. problem is that if you fast forward movie and then hit play, movie stops and you return to main menu. But overall very satisfied with format support and image quality. Actually I have usb port on tv too. But when I play full hd movie through tv's usb port, image quality looks average on the other hand when i play it through hts, I noticed a huge differance. contrast and color looks so good. I browsed through the menus to see if any post processing is happening, but there wasn't any.

2) Regarding network play, I don't know. I haven't tried it. But if you tell me how to check, I will check and reply. You can access flickr and youtube through it. At least it is mentioned in specs. I haven't tried that either.
 
saurabh. said:
@madhukannan

sorry for late reply. actually there is some renovation work going in my home. But I did installed the hts for few days. and here are the answers for your questions.

1) It plays all the formats including mkv & m2ts through usb hard drive. My hard drive is 250 gb & NTFS formatted. It played all full hd movies with surround sound. I haven't tried large capacity hard disks like 1-2 tb also I have to check whether it plays rmvb, flv etc formats. Also for more info on format compatibility, download spec sheet from Philips site. they have given detailed info on format compatibility. I noticed a problem but experienced it only in one movie. problem is that if you fast forward movie and then hit play, movie stops and you return to main menu. But overall very satisfied with format support and image quality. Actually I have usb port on tv too. But when I play full hd movie through tv's usb port, image quality looks average on the other hand when i play it through hts, I noticed a huge differance. contrast and color looks so good. I browsed through the menus to see if any post processing is happening, but there wasn't any.

2) Regarding network play, I don't know. I haven't tried it. But if you tell me how to check, I will check and reply. You can access flickr and youtube through it. At least it is mentioned in specs. I haven't tried that either.
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saurabh. said:
@madhukannan

sorry for late reply. actually there is some renovation work going in my home. But I did installed the hts for few days. and here are the answers for your questions.

1) It plays all the formats including mkv & m2ts through usb hard drive. My hard drive is 250 gb & NTFS formatted. It played all full hd movies with surround sound. I haven't tried large capacity hard disks like 1-2 tb also I have to check whether it plays rmvb, flv etc formats. Also for more info on format compatibility, download spec sheet from Philips site. they have given detailed info on format compatibility. I noticed a problem but experienced it only in one movie. problem is that if you fast forward movie and then hit play, movie stops and you return to main menu. But overall very satisfied with format support and image quality. Actually I have usb port on tv too. But when I play full hd movie through tv's usb port, image quality looks average on the other hand when i play it through hts, I noticed a huge differance. contrast and color looks so good. I browsed through the menus to see if any post processing is happening, but there wasn't any.

2) Regarding network play, I don't know. I haven't tried it. But if you tell me how to check, I will check and reply. You can access flickr and youtube through it. At least it is mentioned in specs. I haven't tried that either.
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@saurabh:

Thanks a lot for creating this post....

Your requirements are the same as mine...!

I tried searching for reviews for phillips hts3541 but very few are available...

Overall its a gr8 package...but could you please give ur opinion about its sound quality and output bcoz it has only 300w overall and 50w sub..

How is the subs performance?

I tried searchin for other options as well but cld not find any other decent htib with optical in. Do u knw of ne other better system in the same price with optical in.

Kindly reply asap because ill be purchasing it in 1-2 days!

Thanks in advance.

P.s.: for your reference there is a software update for this system available on the phillips website. do use it.
 
@gala2006

you are welcome! actually I am thankful to all who contributed to this thread. I got lot of knowledge through it. Regarding your query, there are no reviews available for philips hts may be because it is new. I insist that you visit local shop and see demo of the same because sound quality is subjective. I am satisfied by the sound quality. And it is more than sufficient for my hall. I only set the volume to half mark or little above it. so it is loud enough. Sub woofer is also impressive. It shakes the entire room. I have not heard high end systems so cant compare but I am happy with its performance. One thing to note that while watching movies with surround sound, many times speech volume sounds very low. Don't know whether other systems also have this problem. so do remember to check it. At this price, currently there is no other hts having two digital audio inputs. And thanks I have already installed latest updates. I have also connected tv to hts through optical cable. But there is considerable lag in sound while watching tv. So if you are planning to do the same, keep this in mind. Thats all for now. Please keep posting updates on your purchase.
 
@saurabh: thanks for the info.

Have you tried adjusting the centre speaker volume? May be that will help when watching movies. I dont think i will be check it out when buying due to limited display space at stores.

I was planning to do exactly the same....i.e. Connect the tv to system via optical cable....thanks for the warning....have you googled for a solution to the sound lag?

How is the performance of the system when connected to a 1-2tb hard disk?

For how much and when did you get your system?

Thank u all
 
@gala2006

I bought the system last month for 13k. I dont have 1-2 tb hard disk so cant check. but I think it will work. reg low volume issue, when i googled, I found this issue with other hts systems too. This is more because of recorded settings of the movie. I tried increasing centre speaker volume and also tried night mode but it did not helped much. Then I tried 5.1ch stereo mode and dialogues were played through rear speakers also. so I found this mode useful. Regarding sound lag, I have not googled but I think it is because the signal takes a longer route. That means set top box => TV => HTS => Speakers. And as the signal is transferred digitally and processed twice, (@ tv and then @ hts) it may be causing this delay. I should rather connect set top box directly to hts. Regarding your purchase, I insist that you take a demo. Atleast check whether 2tb hard disk gets detected and also sound quality. take good quality songs and 5.1ch sound movie with you and tell the shop guy to play it. I did the same.

@gala2006

Just checked. I connected set top box to hts through aux in (left and right). And I got sound output without lag
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Thanks surabh for very detailed information.

What's the best option for sound clarity as I only need speakers. Can be used with ps3/hd setup box with Bravia. Budget 15k.

And can also switch this with my pc and what sound card should I opt for sound clarity.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
@gREen

Sorry but I don't have much knowledge about speakers and sound cards. You can create a new post and ask the experts. But go through the earlier posts in this thread. You will not get 5.1 surround sound on tv by just 5.1 speakers. However by addition of sound card, you can get surround sound on pc. I am giving you links of good speakers I know.

2.1 THX certified speakers by logitech for 10k

http://www.logitech.com/en-in/speakers-audio/home-pc-speakers/devices/7321

5.1 speakers by logitech for 7k

http://www.logitech.com/en-in/speakers-audio/home-pc-speakers/devices/7191

I think its better to buy 2.1 speakers than buying 5.1 speakers and not getting that effect.
 
^surab, not only im using with pc but also with my tv. I can swap between these.

Is it good to go with 2.1 compared to 5.1?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
@gREen

Yes both speakers above can be connected to pc or tv. From what I read, there are two types of speakers. active and passive. active speakers have built in amplifier. On the other hand passive speakers don't have inbuilt amplifier. They need amplified signal as input to work. So you can connect active speakers to TV/pc without the need of an amplifier. In case of 5.1 speakers, you will not get 5.1ch effect on tv. Also you will need to buy sound card to get that effect on pc. So assuming you don't have a receiver or not planning to buy one in nearby future, you should go for a 2.1 system. there are other cheaper options too. You will get decent 2.1 speakers within 4-5k. Artis speakers are cheap but good in sound quality. There are JBL & sony speakers in this range too.

http://www.flipkart.com/computers/speakers/itmdf8gfrmqeqcff?pid=accdf8fzs2efg3fk&_l=DfybvQ7nOeqaNYefi4ALIA--&_r=NbxqKRaRYEHWfYdqIrCk6A--&ref=674c3129-cd78-4ffa-8ac5-9667f41459db

http://www.flipkart.com/computers/speakers/itmczzca4fb8hgcy?pid=accczzc9kcz5y4rr&_l=qiKrfy9Gadd4Tp%20rKKK9Ug--&_r=bk0T0eT2RXU5n0vd_YxAPw--&ref=a2184f7a-06e1-477a-a7a6-b723d42e3f7d
 
^5.1 with sound card works well.

Well using ps3, can I get the effect and clarity when connected to tv.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
mjumrani said:
What about Logitech Z906?

Its still available on ebay but discontinued according to logitech (Any idea why?).
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I am too looking for a 5.1 Digital sound system for my new 3D LED TV and had shortlisted Logitech Z906. But I am not aware if its discontinued. Can you please mention the source where its mentioned to be discontinued?
 
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