Hello Lynne,
Firstly, the thought of Gordon being able to come home
is the best news.
I think what you are going to find as far as the
surround sound world is probably going to be that of too much
information and too many choices but that is always better than
game over; Go home.
You mentioned wireless speakers which should be a great
thing, but be careful of one thing. If you have a mixture of
wireless and wired, stay away from digital/bluetooth/similar
technology for the wireless speakers because there will be a
delay and even a delay of a few thousandths of a second will be
noticeable and you will hate it immediately.
If there will be a mixture of
wireless and wired speakers, use an analog wireless system as
there will be no delay and well-designed and properly installed
analog wireless should work as well as wired speakers.
You could also have a wireless surround sound system for
all your 5.1 channels. Remember, the .1 channel is the subwoofer
so that all those explosions and natural disasters come out
sounding like you are actually there.
You normally do turn the volume all the way down on the
TV and the HDMI signal contains all the audio information
multiplexed with the video so the TV may either have outputs for
each channel or it may have a digital stream you can feed in to
your audio system so its decoder can give you the 5 channels and
subwoofer.
As usual, the user interface is going to be the biggest
pain in the back side. Most of them will probably be GUI-based
rubbish but if there is an iPhone app, that might save the day
so I wouldn't give up on something until I was sure the iPhone
app was also rubbish.
We have a Sony Bravia TV which, I am sure, has a UK
counterpart and the HDMI interface is great because the sound
just works as soon as the signal is acquired.
So, it really doesn't matter if your program source is
DVD, satellite decoder or off-the-air, the HDMI signal has it
all and all you need is the proper decoders to pick off the
audio and video.
There is probably nothing else of a general nature I can
tell you that is of any help except that some people buy a nice
surround-sound receiver that can handle multiple audio and video
sources and then use a monitor rather than a full TV for their
video and switch the inputs through the receiver so that the
surround-sound system audio is used for everything from
computers to a phonograph for those who still have those hooked
up.
You already have a television set so the only thing you
will do is to turn its volume all the way down and the Mute
feature may not work for muting the surround-sound system.
Oh yes; Be on the lookout for the law of diminishing
returns.:-) A twelve-thousand-Dollar system doesn't sound twelve
times better than a 1-thousand-Dollar system. If you don't like
the interface or you can't get it to work without a
maintenance staff with on-site technical support, it isn't worth
all that.
Martin
"Mrs. Lynnette Annabel Smith" writes:
> Hello everybody
>
> Today has been an interesting day and it is starting to look like Gordon
> will be able to return home at long long last! Anyway; to the reason for
> my post. We need a new surround sound system and Im trying to find out
> what would be the best type to go for.
>
> Obviously, because of Gordon's visual impairment, I don't want a model
> whereby you have to either touch the remote control's touch screen, use
> an infrared pen or navigate through menus in order to control the device.
> But another preference, if available, would be a model with wireless
> speaker connectivity.
>
> Does anybody happen to have any recommendations or suggestions as to
> either where one could buy something like that here in the uK, or
> regarding models available. We would need connectivity options as we
> would want to use 2 HD recorders and a digital satellite box. It's been a
> while since I had anything to do with these; so I cannot remember what
> happens with regards your TV. So, does the TV connect to the surround
> sound system and presumably the sound from the TV itself must be disabled.
>
> Any information or suggestions would be gratefully received.
>
> Lynne
>
>
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