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Septiembre

Feb 18, 2007, 3:16 PM

Post #1 of 10 (6162 views)

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Any HomeTheater enthusiasts Lakeside/Guad?

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Hi. When we move down in the fall, we're leaving our home theater setup behind as it doesn't work in the new house. We really like to watch our movie collection and will bring that and a compact sound system, the Yamaha YSP 1100 with a powered subwoofer. I'm looking for a screen to go with this and hope to buy one of the really large Mistsubishis or other rear projector. I know it will cost more but this item is too big to ship. Are there any big screen TV stores in the Guad area that might fit the bill?

Thanks!

Dan

johanson / Moderator

Feb 18, 2007, 4:59 PM

Post #2 of 10 (6143 views)

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Re: [Septiembre] Any HomeTheater enthusiasts Lakeside/Guad?

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Sadly most expats down here don't even know the difference between 1080i and 1080p let alone sources for HD signals. However all is not lost. Guadalajara is a very large city, and rear projection LCDs, true LCDs and Plasma systems are alive and well down here. It's just that very few of the expats buy them.

I picked up a 60 inch Sony rear projection 1080i LCD several years ago at Costco, just across the street at the Liverpool shopping center, and at Sam's they were also for sale. I can't remember if Wal*Mart had them or not. There are many other stores in Guad as well that carry high end equipment.

I brought my 5.1 Sony sound system down with me from the states and picked up the speakers and powered sub-woofer from Sam's in Guadalajara. Unlike you, I use my HD system mostly for watching the HD signals from the US and Canadian TV stations to include several of my home-town Seattle network stations CBS, NBC, & FOX in HD. (Sadly my Seattle ABC and PBS feeds are in old fashioned standard definition down here). I only subscribe to about 25 HD feeds but could almost double that number should I wish to spend more money.

So yes HD equipment is a available here, it's just that not many expats know anything about it.

bournemouth

Feb 18, 2007, 5:05 PM

Post #3 of 10 (6136 views)

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Re: [johanson] Any HomeTheater enthusiasts Lakeside/Guad?

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Pete - you make it sound like a group failing not to be interested in HDTV - I'd rather spend my money on other things and watch very little t.v. anyway. In your case, you are an enthusiast and enjoy it - that's your right - go for it.

Septiembre

Feb 18, 2007, 5:27 PM

Post #4 of 10 (6131 views)

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Re: [johanson] Any HomeTheater enthusiasts Lakeside/Guad?

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Well you're the guy I need to talk to when we arrive. Why am I not surprised, I figured very early you were the guy who likes his electronic toys like me. :>)

This isn't about watching a LOT of TV, this is about watching it at a whole other level. My current audio setup is a Sunfire based digitial theater sound system with the really big KEF speakers that pumps 3000 watts peak, not counting the sub that is good for another 500. The video end is a Canon SX50 on a 106" screen scaled to 1080i. Better than going to the local movie theater. So this is a big step down but it is great to know the equipment is available down there for a price.

Question: Do you find the compression acceptable on the HD channels on satellite down there? The so called HD feed over cable here has way too much compression and I get a much better image OTA.

We were just sitting around the table with some decent wine discussing how excited we are about moving Lakeside. One of the new friends we have met down there described it as Mayberry on steroids, LOL. I guess it is the mixture of adventure with the familiar that makes it so seductive.

BTW, I'm bringing my projector. We'll have to get together and figure out how to have some fun with that puppy. 2500 lumens, maybe an outdoor HT? :>)

(This post was edited by Septiembre on Feb 18, 2007, 5:36 PM)

gbatrucks

Feb 18, 2007, 5:53 PM

Post #5 of 10 (6117 views)

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Re: [Septiembre] Any HomeTheater enthusiasts Lakeside/Guad?

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Geeez! Take it over to the tech forum.
"The trouble with life is there's no background music."

Septiembre

Feb 18, 2007, 6:03 PM

Post #6 of 10 (6113 views)

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Re: [gbatrucks] Any HomeTheater enthusiasts Lakeside/Guad?

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It's here because of the geographic restriction. Chill! It's not as if this section is flooded with new threads daily. :>)

johanson / Moderator

Feb 18, 2007, 6:30 PM

Post #7 of 10 (6101 views)

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Re: [bournemouth] Any HomeTheater enthusiasts Lakeside/Guad?

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Bournemouth. Nothing personal. It's just that north of the border HDTVs are selling like hotcakes, in fact 1 TV in three sold in the US is in HD. Soon more than 50% of the homes up north will have them. Yet down here amongst the retired expats, the figure is less than 1%. The same thing with cell phones and Ipods. It's almost as if when many of us who come down here, we stop keeping up with modern advances. While if we were still up north the chances are far greater that we would not fall behind. And that's OK because it is ones choice, either to keep up with advances or to not keep up. Maybe it's because the grandchildren aren't around to force feed us.

And by the way HDTVs don't have to be that expensive, smaller units start at less than $500 US. I've seen 37 inch units for less than $1,000

taltman711

Feb 18, 2007, 7:29 PM

Post #8 of 10 (6084 views)

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Re: [Septiembre] Any HomeTheater enthusiasts Lakeside/Guad?

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"Question: Do you find the compression acceptable on the HD channels on satellite down there? The so called HD feed over cable here has way too much compression and I get a much better image OTA."

I don't know about Starchoice, but only HDNet on Dishnetwork is true HD. They must show HDNet in true HD as Mark Cuban insisted on it by contract. Perhaps when the mpeg4 codecs are better, the quality will come back. Now, they are bit starved and not true HD, but are pretty good. If you can understand what I just said, I feel sorry for you!!

Tim

johanson / Moderator

Feb 18, 2007, 7:42 PM

Post #9 of 10 (6080 views)

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Re: [Septiembre] Any HomeTheater enthusiasts Lakeside/Guad?

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Septiembre: Sounds like you have a great sound system. Mine is primitive by your standards only 5.1 instead of 7.1 and only up to a couple of hundred watts per speaker. You mentioned 2500 lumen, wow. You can understand why, as soon as I do a remodel on the house I'm going to move into, that I'm either going to projection like you or an LCD.

You wrote, "Question: Do you find the compression acceptable on the HD channels on satellite down there? The so called HD feed over cable here has way too much compression and I get a much better image OTA."

You make a good point. Some delivery systems seem to have better resolution than others. Surprisingly some of the best resolution HD signals are available on my old C band 4DTV system, they use digicipher technology which is the same technology used by my Canadian Star Choice receiver which provides me with some 17 HD channels to include the US networks from Seattle and Detroit. I also get those HD channels from DISH network which are on those satellites situated at 110 and 119 degrees W. With the possible exception of HDNET, they seem to have a lower quality HD picture than the competition. But on anything smaller than a 60 inch screen, you won't really notice the difference.

An interesting point. I am watching a Star Choice HD feed of a standard definition NBC program (Deal or No Deal, Ch 5 Seattle) on my 60 inch Sony rear projection LCD. The 4 by 3 image measures 49 inches diagonally. The quality of the picture, although lower than an HDTV feed is appreciably better than the standard definition feed provided on another channel. This suggests that even with standard definition, there is too much compression

(This post was edited by johanson on Feb 18, 2007, 7:52 PM)

Septiembre

Feb 19, 2007, 5:41 AM

Post #10 of 10 (6058 views)

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Re: [johanson] Any HomeTheater enthusiasts Lakeside/Guad?

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Unfortunately, the great sound system won't be making the move, it is just too big and powerful for the new house. I'm planning to bring a Yamaha YSP set up and a video processor and buying the biggest TV I can find down there. I'm bringing the projector just because you never know when you might find a use for it and they lose value so much and so fast its not worth selling it.

I'm also bringing my Denon 3910 which is a very good upscaling DVD player with DCDi. So the DVDs should look good at least. Hope we don't have trouble at the border with bringing in our DVD collection, it is over 600 titles.

In your experience, how good is the signal processing and scaling on the Star Choice HD box. Which one are they using? If it is good enough, I may skip the VP. Otherwise, I could get my old Faroudja NRS upgraded cheaply and bring it.

The video processor might help with the signal quality problem if the satellite box doesn't have DCDi or equivalent. I'll be installing a dish set up when we move in, will definitely appreciate your input on this.

Thanks! Looking forward to meeting you.

Dan

(This post was edited by Septiembre on Feb 19, 2007, 6:56 AM)