We’re going to try out a new feature here on Gizmodo that I think could potentially be very useful, and maybe even – this is crazy – enjoyable. We’ll call it “Plug and Play,” because the idea is to pick five things that – together – you can buy to set up a complete package. All you have to do is order it, set it up, and go.
This week we’ve assembled a $2,200 starter home theater setup that will get you watching DVDs and playing video games in high style, and even leave you some room to grow in the future.
Details and links after the jump. It’s a biggun.
Buy This Stuff
Yamaha YHT-550 Home Theater System
SmartHome Component Video Switch [SmartHome]
Component-to-VGA Cable [eBay]
Netflix Registration Page [Netflix]
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=gizmodo08c-20
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=gizmodo08c-20
And Here’s Why
The first piece – and arguably the most subject to criticism – is the BenQ PB6200 Video Projector. Not everyone likes front projection, but there’s no arguing that there’s hardly a better bang for your buck on the market right now. At $1,450, this is the most expensive piece of equipment in our Plug and Play, but it can display video signals at a resolution of 1,024 x 768 native. That’s higher resolution than current video game consoles output (with the exception of a few oddball game titles). You won’t be able to watch High Definition video at its maximum resolution, but you’re going to be able to watch DVDs at their full resolution even in widescreen.
Another reason we chose the PB6200 is that it is really bright for the price (some would say too bright, washing out the blacks). For your starter home theater, though, this isn’t a bad thing, as spending hours masking out every bit of ambient light goes against our Plug and Play ethic.
Also, for now, you don’t need a screen – use your wall. Seriously.
Oh, and a quick aside before we go on. As always, we’re linking known good vendors with fast, easy delivery so you can just click and go (often Amazon). That doesn’t mean there isn’t a better deal out there, though, so feel free to shop around if you want. We’re going for quick and easy, not rock bottom prices.
So there’s video. How about sound? We wanted to include a “Home Theater In a Box” audio solution, but also didn’t want to screw you over for the future. This $500 Yamaha THY-550 system is a 600-Watt, 5.1 Channel get up with lots of bells and whistles, including one that will be very useful to you in a minute – optical audio in. It avoids the issue with most cheap packaged home theater audio kits in that its DVD player is separate, which is a good way to protect your investment if only a part of your setup dies (trust us, we recently had this lesson reinforced).
We’ve used a slightly less fancy version of this very system before. It’s got plenty of oomph for any small room and more features than you can shake a stick at. Its interface is a little obtuse, but thanks to the next item, you’ll rarely have to touch more than the volume knob.
Yamaha YHT-550 Home Theater System
So getting video and audio from the Yamaha system to the projector is easy enough (there’s one hang up, but we’ll fix that in a second), but what if you have more than one video source? It would be a shame to have that shiny new home theater system but have to switch the cables back and forth every time you wanted to turn off the DVD player and switch over to the Xbox or Playstation.
This 4-Input Auto-Sensing Component Video Switcher from Smarthome costs $180 but it’s well worth it. Not only does it switch and detect component video – the high-definition 3-plug video solution you’ll be using from here on out – but it also handles optical and coax digital audio input and output, so if your game consoles are outputting surround sound, those signals will automatically switch over to your receiver and projector, too.
That’s the back of the unit in the picture, by the way. All those ports are much more exciting than the front with its little LEDs.
SmartHome Component Video Switch
Of course, you need cables to hook all this stuff up. There are a variety of different ones you might need depending on your consoles – including HD AV kit for the Xbox, component cables for the PS2, and the weird Nintendo Gamecube component cables, as well as a handful of optical audio cables, possibly – but there is one cable you absolutely, positively need. It’s a VGA-to-Component Adapter, and you’ll need it to go from the SmartHome switch to the projector (or straight from any source to the projector, of course). Even though the DLP system within the BenQ is perfect for watching movies and playing games, they only have VGA in. Look on the bright side, though – it makes it that much easier to use it as an external monitor for your PC.
The problem with the VGA-to-Component cable, though, is that prices vary an insane amount. Fortunately, there are tons of good deals to be had on eBay that are a good one-half to one-third the price of an adapter cable if you were to buy one from another online vendor. Unfortunately, it’s eBay, so I can’t direct you to a proper one. Fear not, though. Just get one that looks like this, with a VGA male plug on one end and three RCA plugs on the other and you’ll be fine. They come in a wide variety of lengths, so get the one that you’ll need to go from your switch to your projector. (You could even make your own from CAT5, if you wanted to get all hacky.)
Component-to-VGA Cable [eBay]
Lastly, Netflix. It’s great, it’s got a free trial, and it’ll give you something to start watching as soon as you get set up (if you subscribe as soon as you order all the gear). We could have suggested something a little more techy – we considered the Philips Pronto remotes or perhaps an HD subscription service – but decided we’d made this plenty to bite off at once.
Get the $22 3-DVD plan and have at it.
Registration Page [Netflix]
So there you go! Home theater, Plug and Play-style, with a grand total of… $2,202, give or take some shipping fees. You could probably manage to get it under $2,000 if you noodled around on Froogle or something for a bit. Keep in mind we probably could have easily gone ten times that in price and not even touched the high-end A/V market yet, but we think this is a great starter system for someone who wants to dive in to home theater without bottoming out their savings (just yet).
Still, while we’ve put a lot of thought into our choices, there’s never going to be a perfect selection. If you think you’ve got a better 5-item Plug and Play, send it in (including links and a grand total, please!). Unless it totally sucks or we’re too tired, we’ll put it up.
