Blu Ray Home Theater for <45K

[rkrpxz]

I'd be grateful if one or more of you would advise me regarding my plan to equip my living room with a Blu Ray Home Theater system. My budget is roughly 40K +/- 5K. For this price, I would like (at a minimum) a good Blu Ray player (should be able to play BDs & DVDs purchased in US as well as India) and a 5.1 speaker system. The other requirement I have is for rear speakers that are wirelessly connected to the rest of the system. My usage pattern would be 70% movies/TV and 30% Music, but it may gravitate towards 60-40 over time.

Thanks in advance.

 

[sandeepmohan]

To start, there is no HT that has true wireless speakers. The speakers still need power and their own amplifier to drive them.

There is also no region free blu ray player that you can buy off the shelf.

A good packaged Blu ray home theater system or Blu ray HTIB is this

Philips HTS9520 Blu Ray 5.1 Home Theatre System - Philips: Flipkart.com

 

[rkrpxz]

Thanks for the response, Sandeep.

I don't need a true region-free player. I went to Reliance Digital and tested the Sony BDP-S490 with my newly purchased Star Wars BD (purchased in the US) and a couple of old English movie DVDs (also purchased in US). The DVDs were marked as "Region 1" but I didn't notice any specific region markings on the BD. The Sony Blu Ray was able to play all three (1 BD & 2 DVDs) without any problems.

And, by wireless, yes, I meant that I don't want to be forced to run wires from the front to the back. I understand that it will need electricity to run and some kind of transceiver to communicate with the rest of the set up.

Thanks for the pointer to the Philips set. I'll check it out.

 

[just4kix]

Requirement 1: Bluray player that can play disks from USA and India
As long as you stick to the above and don't ever end up buying any Region B/2 discs, then you can import a Region A player from Amazon.com via iShopInternational. I would recommend Panasonic DMP-BDT220 because it is voted as the best mid-range player of 2012 and Panasonic players can be made region free via firmware update (but that will not be needed by you). The landed cost will be close to INR 8500/- inclusive of all charges. Buying a Region A player is the best option because over 80% of BDs are region free and if you buy from US, they will be at most Region A. BDs sold in India are region free.

Requirement 2: Home Theatre
With a budget of 45K and 8.5K spent on BDP, this leaves 36.5K to your disposal. I will strongly urge you to stay away from HTiBs from the likes of Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Philips, etc. They are very rudimentary and offer no scope for expansion later. Forget about being wireless - as stated above, wireless speakers require power. Rear surround speakers are best when they are above your head, more near to the ceiling. You can easily ask your carpenter to run casing/caping to hide the cables. The casing/caping itself can run around the ceiling corners effectively making itself less noticeable.

Now with the budget available I would suggest a true AVR based HTiB such as Onkyo 3500 or Denon 1312xp, etc. The AVR based system contains an AVR that allows extra connectivity to other AV equipment as well. You will be able to connect your iPod, DAC, CDP, etc. to the AVR.

 

[devilwearsprada]

Well, there are a lot of systems available in this Range:

Yamaha YHT-296 - Best For Music, but i personally felt it wasn't powerful enough for movies. Quoted at 30K, but could bring the price down to 29k.
Pioneer- HTP 071- Well, for the past years I have had a bad experience with it, and haven't seen much quality reviews.
Onkyo - HTS 3400/3500 - I found it to be amazing for its budget. I demo'ed almost every set, including JBL, Denon, Polk and Yamaha. But, found Onkyo to be the best on all points. It was perfect for my movies and sounded great for music.

Another correction the Onkyo-3400 does not have a USB Port, the 3500 Does(available at the same price as 3400 but without the BD Player)

I would strongly suggest to go for the Onkyo-3400 as:

1. In case you download better quality music(Flac etc.) or play 5.1 Videos of songs, the real difference would come out for music. I would give the YHT-296 a point above the Onkyo on this aspect.

2. The Onkyo-3400 pitches the other two down because of its Movie Performance. If you are a movie buff, and want an amazing experience out of your set for both movies and music. I would suggest you the 3400. You could save the money on 3500 and buy add-on's(BDP/ 14 Gauge Wire)

3. Considering the fact that I have also demo'ed the three sets together with the same quality files(mp3's) and a Blu Ray of the same movie.

The Onkyo 3400 seemed to be the versatile performer imho. The YHT-296/298 is pretty good for music but the Onkyo-3400 simply beats it on the movie front. Also, the real music sense would come off only with better files and not on downloaded music. Also, it does not only depend if speakers are of more watts or they are stylish, but yes the YHT-196 is outdated. Since you are looking for a budget Htib, The Onkyo -3400 is what you should buy right away.

In this very case, you can add a good BDP. Check for Pioneer/Onkyo BDP on sale or the usual Panny's and Sony.

 

[rkrpxz]

Thanks for the detailed and neatly structured response, just4kix. And, may I say, I like your username / handle. It's been a long time since I read Asterix & the Normans!

The home theater option that you suggested may not really work for me since I live in a rented place. But, I will still keep it in mind when I make a final decision.

 

[just4kix]

Thank you, rkrpxz.

Let not "staying in rented place" hamper you to take a compromised decision. If casing/caping/carpentry is not feasible, there are other "semi-permanent" options possible. But you know your home best and can make appropriate adjustments. You will be thinking of moving to a permanent home sooner or later. Let you not be loaded with "additional bricks".

 

[Karan1234]

Any idea about JBL Cinema BD100!

Cinema BD 100 | A compact, 5.1-channel home theatre system with 3D Blu-ray Disc receiver, subwoofer, centre-channel speaker and four satellite speakers | JBL India