Hi I recently purchased a Toshiba television with what i thought was a home cinema system. However after unpacking and having the system installed (I'm a newbie to home cinema so i paid somone to do this)I found that the products i had purchased (despite spending a lot of money) were not what i had thught they were. Basically i had wanted to purchase a television with a built in surround system built in (you can probably tell i'm a newbie to this coz i don't know all the terminology). What i mean is i wanted to watch my television with permanent surround sound - All 5 speakers and the sub working ALL the time. As it turned out, the TV i had purchased did not support this. An exchange or refund have been totally refused as i have installed the product. The only way i can get surround souns now is if a watch a movie using the DVD player supplied with the TV. What i want to know is if there are any products out there i may be able to buy to enable permanent surround sound. I've had a look around on the net and spoken to local TV dealers but no-one seems to know what i'm on about (nor do i understand the products being sold on the web). I've seen items such as surround sound processors and the likes but want to know if there is anything additional i can purchase to get permanent surround sound (i.e when watching normal TV) Many Thanx.
Sometimes TVs will have a little 'matrix' surround sound feature, that supports 2 rear speakers. But that's not Dolby Digital 5.1 surround is it! Boomboom if you have the TV, and all 5 speakers and the sub, you only need an AV Receiver. Older or inexpensive ones will do Dolby ProLogic type surround. Pretty well any decent one these days will support 5.1 Dolby Digital surround. The biggest difference is the surround channel, which is now discrete L & R. Don't worry, you need a separate surround sound receiver to anchor a good home theatre, anyway. That stuff built-in to the TV is, like I say, usually crap. Basically, if you have a self-powered subwoofer you can be happy with a smaller more modest receiver. Otherwise you will need 150 watts x3 for L, R and sub, with 100 watts x3 for the centre and surrounds. At least! The $199 special with 50 watts x5 is not a good investment (unless you already have a 500w sub, y'know?) So you're OK, Toshibas are fine TVs; just don't put away your wallet quite yet... LoL You can get good surround from any stereo source, and even decode ProLogic from television, when your MTS VCR or TV audio is input to the receiver. To get the full 5.1 though, you will need the proper source for it, ie. DVD or digital cable/satellite. Hope this helps, Regards
To Sly Yes i do have cable (NTL _ in UK) The OGS Thank you very much for your post. i'm a LITTLE more aware of what ineed to do now. As stated b4 i have cable. how would i hook the receiver up. thru the TV or cable box? Maybe you could post a link to a site where i can purchase a receiver and possibly a step by step installation guide... Many thanx once again
I know this threads been dead for a while but i've been looking around. I've managed to find what seems to be a decent receiver. Cambridge Audio CA540R I've read many great reviews for this product but was wondering if anyone has had first hand experience with this. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
