I'm very new to the whole home audio/theater system and am looking at htib systems. I've been researching on the internet for a couple of weeks and thought I would post a thread on this forum as it seems to be pretty helpful. I'm looking to spend around $500 but could go up to around $800 if the extra money would really get me something a lot better. From what I've read I am leaning towards one of the following: Panasonic (HT740 or HT940) or the Samsung HTQ70.
First of all, does anyone know the difference between the two Panasonics I mentioned, 740 and 940, besides the price?
I've also read some very good things about the Onkyo HT-S790, but as I live in a smaller apartment, I feel like a 7.1 surround sound system would be too much. I've also heard many bad things about Sony and am not considering them.
Below are my thoughts/requirements/questions and any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated:
• I have a Panasonic plasma HD TV (TH-42PX60U) and am very interested in the HDMI ability to upconvert my DVD collection. Does it really turn regular DVD's into HD quality and do you know if my TV is compatible? It has HDMI audio and A/V slots.
Furthermore, I have read about some systems that only have HDMI through ability which doesn't let you play the cable TV over the system and really want to make sure I don't get this.
• I am interested in playing DVDs, both regular cable TV and HDTV, and music (mainly from my computer) in surround sound through the system. Being able to play downloaded movies with DIVX would be nice but isn't a requirement.
• Having the wireless two back speakers would be nice but I have read mixed things about them. I have wireless internet as do many people around me in the apartment complex and think interference would be a major problem.
• I would like the front two speakers to be floor/tower speakers, but don't want this to influence my decision to the point where I don't even consider good systems that don't have these speakers. I could always get wall mounts as I don't think to front smaller speakers would fit on my stand.
I am not an audio expert by any means, and thus doubt I'll be able to tell small or even fairly large differences in sound quality, but would like to get the best system/sound for my money.
Thanks in advance for answers to my questions and any recommendations on the systems above as well as for any others, and sorry for the novel .
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