New to Home Theatre

There are many things I could write here but I would recommend hiring someone locally to help you who knows what they are doing. For instance I would recommend a 7.1 speaker system because that is what most all the newer movies are mixed in, BUT it depends on the layout of your room. Is your seating area up against the back wall? Is it a small room? Same with speakers, is it a large area where you are sitting 20 feet from the speakers or a smaller area where a good bookshelf speaker system would work better? Same with receivers, do you need more power for playing the system louder in a large room with floor standing speakers? As far as the tv goes I would recommend the pioneer pdp 5010, it is 1080p, you won't have any issues with playing video games. When it comes to home theater systems speak with someone locally from a custom install store who knows about the performance of systems and rooms who can recommend a system that would work best for you. I'm not trying to say anything bad about bigger box stores but all they are interested in is selling you a system. They won't take the time to come to your house, go over house plans with you, recommend what is best for you. I don't know how many times I walk into a bigger store here and overhear the salesman saying "you don't need a high end bluray player like a denon, just buy the ps3, it's all digital so it doesn't matter" or "This Bose speaker system is awesome, it's much better than B&W". I'd much rather deal with someone who has experience, training, knowledge, and caring like a smaller store employee or store owner rather than a high school kid who can't wait to get off work and who doesn't know what a crossover is. Also usually a smaller custom install store will have better brands to choose from that are "higher end" but are similarly priced to a larger chain store. I hope this helps out. There are many variables to this type of industry and system. Hopefully this will at least steer you in the right direction. Good luck

speakers are the source of nearly all what differences there can be with the sound part. So they may be the hardest part because they will require personal attention to select intelligently. And the speakers may seem expensive up front, but not in the long run as they don't just wear out or need replaced as soon as the electronics will.

You really need to develop an idea of your maximum budget. It adds up because you want to do a lot with this project. Fortunately the HDTVs have become much more affordable, but it's up to you. The money does add up quickly. For example, I would be happy to not break the bank & get a 720 Panasonic 42" plasma from Costco for $949. Fine performance in my opinion & bucks to use elsewhere. A PS3 will take care of your HD disk needs for the time being.

That said, your term mid-range is still a bit vague though you use it to indicate being practical. My, & quite a few others here consider HTiBs to be a short run solution that many use, but they all have some considerable compromise of quality in the attempt to do a lot for a tight budget. We can aid in getting started searching for separates that will be better for the money providing the budget is reasonable.

Folks often are attracted to considering fancy receivers up front & actually many wind up overbuying receivers relative to skimping on speakers for the sound.

Post back to let us know where you are heading. Another example of choice is that I would go for 5.1 sound with better speakers rather than 7.1 of the same budget. I believe most DVD movies are still 5.1 rather than 7.1 In any event several here will strongly urge a somewhat expensive sub woofer for essential HT surround effect. I can't argue with their logic. A few makers specializing in sub woofers make the best & there are a lot of lackluster sub woofers out there. They will post with recent subwoofer special deal pricing.

There are a lot of decisions to make but the project can proceed one step at a time. First priority is let us know your realistic maximum budget so advice can be appropriate.

First of all, regarding #3, I vehemently agree with Bill's statement. The speaker selection is by far the hardest part. I would even say 10x harder than #1 and #2 combined.

jason asks good questions:
1 Is your seating area up against the back wall?
2 Is it a small room?
3 Same with speakers, is it a large area where you are sitting 20 feet from the speakers or a smaller area where a good bookshelf speaker system would work better?
4 Same with receivers, do you need more power for playing the system louder in a large room with floor standing speakers?

I'll add some more, and while it may not appear so, all of these have pertinence to speaker selection, and electronics as well:

5 How many ft do you sit from display?
6 How wide is the viewing area, for how many people?
7 What is the VOLUME of the room, and is that "open" or "closed"?
8 Are there size limitations to any of the speakers and or subs?
9 Are you ok with having an upright bookshelf for a center speaker?
10 Would you even be willing to store components off to the side to allow ideal speaker configuration? would you be willing to use three towers in the front, with display just over the center tower?
11 Budget for speakers + subs?

If you answer all 11 questions, I will more likely to continue to help you. Though more questions may be thrown your way. To give you an idea of why we need such info, the amount of power you need to buy make force you to skimp on features. We haven't even touched VP. The type of viewing angle could force serious considerations on speaker configuration. The distances involved will have a large part in narrowing down not only power, but also speaker choices. The size and volume of the room will force serious considerations on sub selections. List goes on.

If such questions seem unnecessary to you, that's fine. Though you certainly won't spend your money in the most efficient manner in that case.