Another Kind Of Picture

I've been by and large blissfully ignorant of the intricacies of home theater until recently. We had a 21-inch TV, a no-name DVD player, and a basic VCR. On the audio side, I had a pretty decent if old hand-me-down NAD amplituner and a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 7.2 Anniversary speakers, which my somewhat audiophile father assured me were superb for the pretty low price. However, I had gotten annoyed at watching DVD's as a thin slice in the middle of the small screen, and the amplituner wasn't much good for things other than music either. Eventually the NAD's connections started to crackle again and I decided to put it into circulation and get some new stuff instead of having it serviced. This started my adventure into home theater, which eventually ended me up with a plasma TV and other fun stuff. I learned a good bit of stuff along the way, and my opinions evolved too. As it happens, I set up two home theaters along the way: one in a dedicated room using a packaged 5.1 kit and projector, and one (of my own) with the components bought separately. This has certainly not made me an expert (that would take way longer and be way more expensive than my little adventure), but I felt that some of the things I discovered could be useful for other people who want something like a home theater but want to do it on a budget. In particular, I put a lot of thought into two of my choices, and I believe they would have slipped under the radar had I not done a good bit of work and had a good bit of luck too.

When I started out on my quest, I knew almost nothing about TV's, and very little about the state of the art in amplituners and other widgets. So I defined my requirements instead. I wanted something with a natural, "free" picture and sound, that was good enough to last more than just a year or two, and that was simple and straightforward in day-to-day use. My total budget for this bit of fun was on the order of my one month's disposable income, give or take a week or two: pretty big for an entertainment purchase in my book, but a small fraction of what serious home theater enthusiasts would expect to spend. I also knew that I don't want to use it for gaming, the Internet, or video editing, which means that I can compromise a good bit on the connectors and such. I already had a no-name DVD player, which certainly plays DVD's but has a quite a number of minor issues around it, so I decided to avoid the "incredible bargains" of no-name devices, and stick with major, established brands.

I did come across one no-name incredible-bargain brand that was very intriguing; if I had been a bit more adventurous I might have bought into it. The no-brand brand is called ProCaster and it has nothing to do with fishing. I was struck by the fact that their widgets have excellent connectors -- way better than on brand-brands in a similar price bracket. Since this is one (critical) area in which the no-brands usually skimp, I felt that it might be different. Their 7.1 amplituner scored quite well in some magazine tests too...