Buyers Guide To Home Cinema

Introduction

Choosing the perfect home cinema system can be a complex task. With so much to choose from and so many varieties of technologies competing for your attention, the new consumer faces a barage of jargon and mistruths. This guide is designed to help you through this task and give you the confidence to make the right choice when buying your new toy.

The Home Cinema System Defined

A true all-in-one home cinema system will contain the following components:

• DVD Player - A high quality DVD player that should be well integrated with the rest of the components
• Surround Sound Decoder - A standard DVD has six different channels of surround sound data. The Surround Sound Decoder takes these channels of sounds, processes them and then sends them out to the correct speakers attached to your home cinema system. This part of the system is often built in to the DVD player, but can also be part of the amplifier or even a seperate unit.
• Amplifier - The amplifier takes audio data from the DVD player and routes it to the speakers
• Speaker System - As mentioned above a standard DVD has six channels of surround sound data. All true home cinema systems come with a 5.1 speaker system which is made up of 5 speakers for the higher pitch sounds and a subwoofer for the deep bass. Newer technologies are the Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES sound systems, which have 5 speakers, a subwoofer and a "virtual" middle channel speaker for enhanced audio. This is still a bit rarer in all-in-one systems, but is well worth it if you want to spend the extra pennies. The absolute latest is the DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 which is the first true 6.1 speaker surround sound system with 6 seperate speakers and a subwoofer.

Note that an all-in-one home cinema package does not come with a television screen as standard. Since most good TVs will work with any home cinema system, often people prefer to choose a TV that suits them, rather than being forced down a track by having a display bundled with the rest of the home cinema kit. You can choose to use LCD, Plasma, Projectors or CRT screens depending on your requirements. Take a look at the televisions here for more details.

What should I look for?

There are many features that you should consider when buying your home cinema system. We'll break these down into the different roles each feature plays, starting with the output.

Video Output - What type of output you'll need here depends largely on what your television will accept. However, the most recommended choice is to always stick with a system that has an RGB Scart socket. Most modern TVs will accept this input, and most decent all-in-one home cinema systems come with this output. If your TV supports S-Video then look for a home cinema system that provides that too - it will get you the best visuals available.

Audio Decoding Formats - DVDs come with a number of different audio formats, and you need to make sure that your Surround Sound Decoder can support the main ones. Make sure you have Dolby Digital and DTS, which most units come with as standard. Prologic II is also nice if you plan to keep your old VCRs - it enhances the sound produced by your old videos and routes them through your surround sound speaker system. Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES are newer technologies which are only supported by the more top-end home cinema systems, but are recommended if you really want to future-proof your unit. DTS ES Discrete 6.1 is the very latest technology and provides true 6.1 channel surround sound.

Progressive Scan - progressive scan is a relatively new addition to DVD video and produces enhanced picture quality by doubling up the number of lines (scan lines) outputted by the DVD player, making the picture appear clearer and sharper. At the beginning it only worked with Region 1 (USA) discs, but can now support Region 2 (UK) as well. It is still not provided with many low end systems, but if you've got a really world beating TV then progressive scan is for you. Sony also have a technology called Precision Cinema Progressive which is an alternative version of Progressive Scan, but based at a pixel level rather than a scan-line level. Sony claim that this makes their picture quality better than other systems. Note that although most LCDs and Plasmas are compatible with progressive scan, only the newer CRTs are.

Input Support - how many different types of input you'll require again depends on what you want to do with your system. If you want to play your Playstation or show your PC screen using your new display then look for S-Video input. If you really want to blow yourself away with a top notch gaming experience then make sure it has stereo phono audio in, so you can play your audio output through your new surround sound speakers. Some systems also come with support for an FM tuner to route your radio through the sound system. Finally, if you want to play your VCRs through your system then you'll need to make sure it has a VCR player built in or supports an input from whatever output your VCR provides (probably Scart on newer VCRs).

RMS Power Output - how much continuous power the amplifier is able to produce. This term is fairly contentious among technical minded people as this term is actually quite inaccurate, but generally speaking it is true that the higher the RMS Output is, the better the quality of the sound that the unit produces.

Other Features - there is a whole raft of extra features that could come with your home cinema system. Here are a few:

• DVD Recording - record your TV programs to DVD for playback later. Much higher quality than VCR.
• Hard Drive Recording - record your TV programs to a hard drive. Not as flexible as a DVD but sometimes more convenient and durable, since DVDs can get damaged easily.
• MP3 CD Playback - copy your MP3 files from your computer to a CD and your surround sound system will play them in all of their glory. Although to be fair the average MP3 file is not really capable of storing audio to a quality that makes this incredibly worthwhile. But it can be loud!
• DVD-A / SACD - these are both formats of high quality audio CDs. The disks themselves are quite hard to come across in the UK, but if you're a real audiophile then you might use it. Be carefull to check out the amp and speakers though before you buy - there's no point buying a top end system that can play high quality audio if your amp and speakers aren't good enough.
• JPEG playback - copy photos to a CD and watch them in a slideshow on your big TV.
• Multiregion support - in the UK we're in region 2, also known as R2, so your home cinema system will definitely support this unless you're buying it off the back of a lorry. Multiregion support in home cinema DVD players is quite common - region 1 (R1) is the USA and means you can order films before they come out on DVD over here, and get the better quality extra's available on a large number of US releases. Recommended if you're a lover of special features.

Cables cables cables

It may sound silly to the home cinema newcomer but its impossible to say too much about cables. They are often the one part overlooked by novices, but are just as important as the kit itself. If your home cinema system does not come with all of the connection cables included then invest. You won't regret it. Getting the cheapest cables from the bargain basement of a second hand electrical store will not do your system justice - look for high end cables for high end systems and be prepared to pay through the nose for the privalege.