Next Best Thing / Satisfied / XBOX

[garman]

In the audio/videophiles’ quest for the next best thing, how often do we sit back and feel truly satisfied with our current systems.

After many years of dreaming about owning a big screen TV, high-end speakers and receiver, I am finally satisfied with my assembled system. My first high-end purchases a few years ago were a Dolby Digital Onkyo receiver and a progressive scan DVD player. Those were followed by a Mitsubishi 55” wide screen CRT rear projection TV and a matched set of Sapphire Audio speakers. The recent speaker purchase coincided with my creation of a dedicated home theatre room, which had a major positive impact on the whole experience. The speakers are really the crown jewel of my system, although most people visiting are more impressed with the TV.

I occasionally marvel at the tremendously accurate and powerful sound produced by my speakers during movies. Excellent sound quality is most apparent in films with good musical scores and at the beginning of movies when you sit down in a quiet/dim room to the movie studio’s promotional introduction. Paramount and THX are among my favorites. The 20th Century Fox intro is also enjoyable, as the lion roaring always makes my dog take notice (ears gyrate and head tilts).

I recently purchased the new Halo 2 game for the XBOX and will reiterate another posters sentiment that video games are perhaps the best way to fully exploit a high-end A/V system. The Halo 2 game on XBOX is in 480p with Dolby Digital surround. The surround is particularly helpful in this game as you can hear enemies approaching from behind.

While I will always enjoy the next new technology, I feel supremely satisfied with my system, at least until HDDVD. Last night I enjoyed a decent foreign film and then put in an hour of quality XBOX time before bed.

 

[Francious70]

I will agree that gaming is one of the best ways to test your system.

When you start playing, if you're happy with your system, you wan't nitpick every inaccuracy that you see/hear. Instead, you'll be drawn into the game like it's you on the screen. That's when you get true enjoyment.

Paul

 

[SQ Kid]

my xbox has become one of my new projects. fully modded out, and is the swiss army knife of home theater equipment now. now if only i could get it to look at home in a ht setup (well, there is an aluminum chassis out there, but its around $150). but onto what it does do:

new dvd drive (long story), plays any format disc now (cd-r/w, dvd+-r/w)
80 gig hdd
formats supported: mp3, wma, ogg, avi, mpeg, divx, xvid, etc
emulation (yeah, touchy subject, but none the less): nes, snes, sms, genesis, neogeo, older arcade
dvd-player, cd ripper
new lcd screen going on the front (view mp3 tags, dvd tracks, etc)

oh, and it also plays xbox games too

 

[cownd]

Talking about Xbox... Which of the big Console's (Xbox, PS) play the best on a LCD rear projection TV in a 5.1 HT set-up. How do you set-it up? Is it simple?

 

[Randos]

Without a doubt the best console at the moment in video and audio quality is the xbox. It supports component video out and digital audio. I know the PS2 supports digital audio as well but the problem with it is that this feature is only supported during movie playback or visual cutscenes in most games. On the other hand, Microsoft has made it mandatory that all games support 5.1 at all times. Speaking as an xbox enthusiast as well I know it supports up to 720p and I belive 1080i as well. As for unlocking these capabilities all you need (if your xbox is not modded or you do not wish to open it and solder anything) is to swing by your local Gamestop and pick up a "Microsoft HD pack" (note this is different from the "Advanced A/V pack" that only has S-VIDEO as opposed to component) and then turn your xbox on and enable these features in the settings. It should take you about 2 minutes to setup.