Hi, I've been researching home electronics and components for a few weeks, and although I've gone from knowing almost nothing to knowing that the sheer number of products and technologies out there is just staggering. It is making my decision more and more complicated. I'll try to organize this as best as possible as I have a lot to ask, decide on.
I'll start out with what I already own.
-Samsung 51' Plasma, this years model (530A series, like a $800-$1000 TV, NOT a smart tv)
-PS3, I plan on using this for first and foremost gaming, and then apps and streaming/VOD services such as netflix/vudu/hulu+
-Yamaha HTR 5940 A/V receiver: love this guy, and it works great, powers my 5.1 klipsch system very well. The ONLY drawback is that it can only accept toslilk optical audio inupts, and NO HDMI. This is only really a problem because Apple products don't ouput toslink (sans Apple TV). I may be willing to buy a new receiver that accepts HDMI if I need to. However if I can buy an adapter cable that lets me use say miniDP to optical or anything to optical without any loss of quality I'd prefer to buy that and put off purchasing a new A/V receiver. But being able to use dolby 5.1 is an absolute necessity with whatever setup I get. If I buy another A/V receiver it'll just be a ~$350 midrange, nothing too extraordinary.....my neighbors are nice haha.
Here's some information I think might be helpful
My internet will be either comcast 15mb, or the 25mb, not sure yet.
I live in a 1000 sq ft condo so it's not that big. ALL of my electronics that live in one spot (tv, computer, router etc) will live downstairs, and they will all be within 10 feet of each other.
Budget is fairly flexible but cant spend thousands (Tablet can definitely come later down the road, it is more of just a "want" right now, not at all a necessity)
I download a lot of stuff, the highest quality (video mostly, but audio needs to be at least 5.1, although true HD would be pretty sick) is very important
I plan on purchasing a base level DSLR so I'm thinking the iMac will be a good choice as it will be good for using photoshop/elements with, and the screen is fantastic)
Here's products I am considering buying by category:
HTPC
-Originally I was gonna just buy an apple tv, but it can't do 1080p and I have NOT been convinced this is not necessary (I love watching the highest quality 1080p content, and I already paid extra for a 1080p tv over 720.
-After realizing the apple tv was a no go I was looking into the boxee box. I heard it struggles with 1080p streaming so it's a no-go, and I kind of realized I could kill more than 1 bird with 1 stone by buying a desktop that doubles as a htpc.
So my choices are basically
-Mac mini for obvious reasons, I would upgrade to at least 4gb of ram, maybe more, it seems to be relatively inexpensive. However, after I buy the mac mini, upgrade the ram, buy a keyboard and magic touch pad, and a display it's within $250 of an Imac, which comes with those things and an awesome cinema display.
-iMac basically I'm going with this as of now as it will double as a desktop pc AND an htpc. The ONLY holdup is this: Will I be able to connect my iMac to my A/V receiver via the thunderbolt port (but using the miniDP to HDMI cable), AND will I still get the 5.1 channels of audio, and 1080p video output? (The A/V receiver will be connected to the TV via HDMI, and the Imac will be like 7 feet away). Another necessity is that I need to be able to control my iMac via a remote (I'd buy an apple one, or get an app for my phone), this shouldn't be hard should it? I like the iMac as an HTPC for my situation because it will be right next to the TV anyway so having one machine serve 2 purposes would be great.
-Last option is to build a desktop (would lose the small form factor of the mini, and I'd have to buy a display that's inexpensive to stay within budget) running Mac OS X Lion. The advantages are I could put a toslink port on it, and basically customize it however i want.
Router
-Was thinking of the Asus RT n56u because it's supposed to be great with throughput and streaming media.
-Although if I go all apple products (phone, tablet, computer) like I'm thinking about going with the 2tb Time Capsule as it will double as a router, and NAS, and I've heard a lot that if you have all apple products the airport extreme (but the time capsule in my case) is a great choice for a router, plus I kinda need a NAS anyway so might as well kill 2 birds with one stone.
Tablet and phone (comes down to,go fully Apple, or go android for phone and tab, if I go iphone I get unlimited data cause I'm an OG AT&T customer, so that's a consideration for sure):
-Either an iphone 4s, and an ipad 2
-Or an Asus transformer prime, and the samsung nexus prime
Phone and tab are really secondary concerns here as they will be replaced far far sooner than a router, desktop/htpc. The Asus tab looks really really slick, but if I go mostly Apple I am kind of under the understanding that it's just best to go all apple. And since I'm in a position where I need to buy EVERYTHING I have the opportunity to really start from the ground up.
I'm sure there were some things I forgot there if you have any questions/need more info just ask. I hope I wasn't too confusing. I'm also a student so I can definitely get the higher education discount.
Jeez sorry for the endless post, I just saw how long it actually is
I'll start out with what I already own.
-Samsung 51' Plasma, this years model (530A series, like a $800-$1000 TV, NOT a smart tv)
-PS3, I plan on using this for first and foremost gaming, and then apps and streaming/VOD services such as netflix/vudu/hulu+
-Yamaha HTR 5940 A/V receiver: love this guy, and it works great, powers my 5.1 klipsch system very well. The ONLY drawback is that it can only accept toslilk optical audio inupts, and NO HDMI. This is only really a problem because Apple products don't ouput toslink (sans Apple TV). I may be willing to buy a new receiver that accepts HDMI if I need to. However if I can buy an adapter cable that lets me use say miniDP to optical or anything to optical without any loss of quality I'd prefer to buy that and put off purchasing a new A/V receiver. But being able to use dolby 5.1 is an absolute necessity with whatever setup I get. If I buy another A/V receiver it'll just be a ~$350 midrange, nothing too extraordinary.....my neighbors are nice haha.
Here's some information I think might be helpful
My internet will be either comcast 15mb, or the 25mb, not sure yet.
I live in a 1000 sq ft condo so it's not that big. ALL of my electronics that live in one spot (tv, computer, router etc) will live downstairs, and they will all be within 10 feet of each other.
Budget is fairly flexible but cant spend thousands (Tablet can definitely come later down the road, it is more of just a "want" right now, not at all a necessity)
I download a lot of stuff, the highest quality (video mostly, but audio needs to be at least 5.1, although true HD would be pretty sick) is very important
I plan on purchasing a base level DSLR so I'm thinking the iMac will be a good choice as it will be good for using photoshop/elements with, and the screen is fantastic)
Here's products I am considering buying by category:
HTPC
-Originally I was gonna just buy an apple tv, but it can't do 1080p and I have NOT been convinced this is not necessary (I love watching the highest quality 1080p content, and I already paid extra for a 1080p tv over 720.
-After realizing the apple tv was a no go I was looking into the boxee box. I heard it struggles with 1080p streaming so it's a no-go, and I kind of realized I could kill more than 1 bird with 1 stone by buying a desktop that doubles as a htpc.
So my choices are basically
-Mac mini for obvious reasons, I would upgrade to at least 4gb of ram, maybe more, it seems to be relatively inexpensive. However, after I buy the mac mini, upgrade the ram, buy a keyboard and magic touch pad, and a display it's within $250 of an Imac, which comes with those things and an awesome cinema display.
-iMac basically I'm going with this as of now as it will double as a desktop pc AND an htpc. The ONLY holdup is this: Will I be able to connect my iMac to my A/V receiver via the thunderbolt port (but using the miniDP to HDMI cable), AND will I still get the 5.1 channels of audio, and 1080p video output? (The A/V receiver will be connected to the TV via HDMI, and the Imac will be like 7 feet away). Another necessity is that I need to be able to control my iMac via a remote (I'd buy an apple one, or get an app for my phone), this shouldn't be hard should it? I like the iMac as an HTPC for my situation because it will be right next to the TV anyway so having one machine serve 2 purposes would be great.
-Last option is to build a desktop (would lose the small form factor of the mini, and I'd have to buy a display that's inexpensive to stay within budget) running Mac OS X Lion. The advantages are I could put a toslink port on it, and basically customize it however i want.
Router
-Was thinking of the Asus RT n56u because it's supposed to be great with throughput and streaming media.
-Although if I go all apple products (phone, tablet, computer) like I'm thinking about going with the 2tb Time Capsule as it will double as a router, and NAS, and I've heard a lot that if you have all apple products the airport extreme (but the time capsule in my case) is a great choice for a router, plus I kinda need a NAS anyway so might as well kill 2 birds with one stone.
Tablet and phone (comes down to,go fully Apple, or go android for phone and tab, if I go iphone I get unlimited data cause I'm an OG AT&T customer, so that's a consideration for sure):
-Either an iphone 4s, and an ipad 2
-Or an Asus transformer prime, and the samsung nexus prime
Phone and tab are really secondary concerns here as they will be replaced far far sooner than a router, desktop/htpc. The Asus tab looks really really slick, but if I go mostly Apple I am kind of under the understanding that it's just best to go all apple. And since I'm in a position where I need to buy EVERYTHING I have the opportunity to really start from the ground up.
I'm sure there were some things I forgot there if you have any questions/need more info just ask. I hope I wasn't too confusing. I'm also a student so I can definitely get the higher education discount.
Jeez sorry for the endless post, I just saw how long it actually is