Starting from scratch (or very nearly)

[Oglesby]

Hi folks

I was after the collective wisdom on setting up some kind of home theatre. This is for UK systems please.

I'm moving house and would like to replace/improve my current collection of pretty terrible hardware. The new house had a B&O setup in when we viewed it; brilliant. I'm not in that price range though.

Currently:

Bit of a lemon of a LCD Samsung telly: only one HD port and this is the real joke... the telly cannot display a HD picture from an input from its HDMI port. HD via the standard aerial port. Someone really should lose their job over that one. I feel stupid having paid for it.

TIVO. Working fine but needs to operate through a Freeview box now.

Rubbish Samsung DVD player/amp and speakers. So disappointed with this. Not sure if it's the amp or the speaker or both that are poor. Cooling fan is damn noisy.

Satellite dish will be available (no subscription package and would prefer Freesat over Sky). Cable probably not an option.

My wish list would include:

HD channels
TIVO replacement, possibly the Freesat DVR equivalent, or Mac based version.
Streaming BBC iPlayer to the telly (is this easy to do?)
Decent sound. I'm not a purist.
Not fussed about blu-ray
Less than a grand please. Incremental replacing or a build over time are fine too.

I'm willing to look at any components that come highly recommended.
After the last load of rubbish: Samsung products will not be considered.

Apologies for the vague nature of the posting. Thanks in advance.

 

[Lorenz0]

Not sure how mac-centric your solution was hoping to be. Tbh, I'd probably go for a cable solution - but thats me.

If you've got an iPod touch or iPhone, you can stream bbc iplayer via that to your tv with the apropriate connector cable. iTunes movies will also play fairly nicely on HD screens via component using this method.

plugged into your tv as your PVR/ set top box, a mac mini with a tv tuner would probably do the job - although I'm not sure if the elgato accepts freesat HD signals.

And go visit a richer sounds store for the audio - They'll probably sort you out with a surround amp, passable speakers, for around the £400 mark.

 

[Donar]

My wish list would include:
HD channels
TIVO replacement, possibly the Freesat DVR equivalent, or Mac based.

Have a look at the Dreambox 800 & 8000 Sat PVR they are not cheap, but at least they work as advertised. A MacBased solution could be EyeTV, i use it in conjunction with a Digital Everywhere FireDTV.

After the last load of rubbish: Samsung products will not be considered.

Samsung has a very good 786 series LED TV but if you do not like Samsung you could get an Sony XBR 4500 for twice the price... i got a 32' Sony Bravia V4000 for my PS3, it is not as great as my Samsung 78x but it is a nice (HD Ready) TV.

Rubbish Samsung DVD player/amp and speakers.
...
Decent sound. I'm not a purist.

Personally i have no Onkyo amp, but the reviews of their 6xx series are not too bad. Speakers: Maybe have a look at the Victa Series from Heco.

 

[Oglesby]

Thanks for the responses