Entry Level Home Theater with Video Upscaling

[debangshuk]

I am from Kolkata India. I am looking to buy a Home Theater which will upscale Video content from my Videocon D2h to HD Content (1080p - I dont have a 4k TV - I have Sony Bravia HD TV) and audio content to high quality (Dolby if possible). Can someone please suggest me an entry level HT which will serve my purpose. I am looking to spend 50K (if a get a better thing i might spend some extra).

 

[spandan414]

I have a Marantz NR1604 on sale. Check out the "classifieds" section or PM me. It does a really good Job at Video upscaling.

 

[debangshuk]

Please suggest me some good options.

 

[efernand1]

Hi

look at entry level systems of Yamaha / Onkyo / Pioneer which are available at Reliance / Vijay Sales / Croma and see if they meet your expectations....

Look at the For Sale by Owner section or Hi Fi Ads for pre owned stuff which is good enough if there are budget constraints

 

[tuff]

Look here for some prices above 50,000.INR. Packages up to 1 Lakh

And my usual advise to everyone who is starting off in home theater, is to get a nice stereo set of speakers and a separate av receiver or stereo amplifier. And as time /budget allows, add the center/sub woofer/surrounds.
Home-theater in a box will always end up difficult to replace/upgrade component wise in the future, if the itch comes back.
Also you haven't mentioned how big your room is. That will dictate whether HTiB will suffice or not.

Finally do go and audition any system you might gravitate to after recommendations and reviews.

 

[guddu478]

Why do you want to upscale SD TV telecast to HD when Full HD TV telecast is already available?

 

[sam9s]

I am from Kolkata India. I am looking to buy a Home Theater which will upscale Video content from my Videocon D2h to HD Content (1080p - I dont have a 4k TV - I have Sony Bravia HD TV) and audio content to high quality (Dolby if possible). Can someone please suggest me an entry level HT which will serve my purpose. I am looking to spend 50K (if a get a better thing i might spend some extra).

Dude geniune advice, DTH upscaling isnt worth at all spending even 5K. Its not going to give you HD standard, not even close trust me. 50K is a huge amount to spend. Dont waste on such a trifle requirement. Plus as guddu478 said videocone D2H already has HD channels, it better to enjoy those in full glory than try to upscale the SD ones.

Audio yes can be upmixed to get 5.1 from the usual stereo sound, but even that, I say is just a gimmick and I never have enjoyed the Pro Logic/DTS Neo upmixing, specially for TV sound. If you want peoper DD 5.1 from videocone DTH (assuming they do broadcast channels thats support DD5.1 in their true DD5.1 format) then yes I would say you can go for an HTiB. Even for that I would not recomend to spend anything more than 25-30K.Something like yamaha htib yht 196 should be good enough

 

[debangshuk]

My hall room is 10ft by 22 ft and the TV is placed at a side, with viewing from a corner L shaped sofa. I am subscribed to videocon D2H HD channels. But you get a few HD channels and rest are SD. I am new to HT's (have no idea at all) and hence thought if there could be any HT system which would give me a video upscaling to get all channels to HD. I researched about yht2910/yht299, with YPAO (eventhough it doesnt have video upscale). Is that worth for my room or should i go for a receiver and then keep adding speakers there after.

 

[ItsMe]

Go for a decent receiver from Onkyo, Pioneer, Yamaha, Denon or Marantz (in the order of availability of funds) along with matching speaker set and you will be able to enjoy 5.1 surround from your videocon D2H HD channels. You may have to spend anything upwards from 60k to set this up... try out some demos in nearby shops and you will get an understanding

 

[sam9s]

My hall room is 10ft by 22 ft and the TV is placed at a side, with viewing from a corner L shaped sofa. I am subscribed to videocon D2H HD channels. But you get a few HD channels and rest are SD. I am new to HT's (have no idea at all) and hence thought if there could be any HT system which would give me a video upscaling to get all channels to HD. I researched about yht2910/yht299, with YPAO (eventhough it doesnt have video upscale). Is that worth for my room or should i go for a receiver and then keep adding speakers there after.

You can go with separates as well, but channel your funds towards something that is worthwhile. For casual movies via STB, I, however would not go for separate AVR and speakers, coz that would land up pretty expensive, just a decent AVR will set you back 40K. Unless you are planning to create a complete dedicated Home Theater with a media player/HTPC to watch movies in its full 1080p glory with Doldy/DTS 5.1 audio. Then it might be worth investing. If your prime usage is just TV and movies from STB, HTiB is good enough. IF you for some reason are not convinced from yht299 (even though its a great HTiB), you can go for Onkyo HTS 3500/3700 but those would be bit expensive, around 30-35K mark if I am not wrong.

Dont bank of video upscaling, specially STB SD upscaling, you will be disappointed.

 

[guddu478]

Just sharing my experience about video upscalling. We (me and my friend) tested 4k upscalling using Pioneer VSX-830-K when my friend bought Sony 4K 55 inch TV. Results were good w.r.t. the picture quality that we got simply for TV channels.
SD to HD upscalling though AVR does not really provide satisfactory results.

If you are looking to enjoy TV then stereo is not even bad. You can look for any integrated amplifier supporting 2 pairs of speakers (speaker A + B) which you can spread across your room. Need not to say that you would be getting stereo output only but it would please you for TV viewing.

On the other hand, 5.1 setup is totally different experience. Not all HD channels provide true 5.1 output but at lease you have something to enjoy.

Home Theatre in a Box, like YHT-196/299 etc., is combination of basic AVR and small satellite speakers & passive sub(mostly). Honestly, the kind of sound output you get out of those looks total wastage of money to me. I know people choose it either if they are new to HT or on tight budget. I have many friends who started with HTiB because of any reason but very soon they ended up in selling it (specially speaker + sub set) on OLX, etc.... you may find one or two on HIFIAD or in hifivision's sale by owner section.
But it may not be the case with everyone... there may be happy users of HTiB as well (hopefully).

Do not expect huge from video scalling feature if looking from SD to HD.

 

[grunthos]

I am from Kolkata India. I am looking to buy a Home Theater which will upscale Video content from my Videocon D2h to HD Content (1080p - I dont have a 4k TV - I have Sony Bravia HD TV) and audio content to high quality (Dolby if possible). Can someone please suggest me an entry level HT which will serve my purpose. I am looking to spend 50K (if a get a better thing i might spend some extra).

As has been mentioned by other forum members, a AVR cannot make an SD channel into an HD channel.
It can multiply the pixels and physically meet the HD size, but it cannot generate the fine details which we associate with HD

So unfortunately you are stuck with SD content

Meanwhile speakers are a must upgrade as they sound infinitely better than TV speakers. The HTIB (home theatre in a box) systems - like Yamaha 299, Onkyo 3500 etc are the usual entry into home theatre genre. They have a woofer and 5 small satellite speakers. While movie (and TV) experience will be okay, they wouldnt be any good with music playback. Music requires two front speakers to be capable - hence the recommendation for bookshelves and floorstanders.
(however they tend to be more expensive than HTIBs)

Depending on your budget and needs, maybe start with a HTIB first. Unless you listen to a lot of music too. Then increase your budget a bit and buy a pair of bookshelves and an AVR

 

[debangshuk]

If I buy a yamaha ht.. will people from yamaha come and set up the HT at my living room?

 

[sam9s]

^^ I dont think so, no one came in case of Onkyo .... No idea about Yamaha ....