I want to buy a surround sound and I figure the fact that its boxing day doesnt hurt. Can anyone give me any suggestions? I don't know anything about home theatres and don't need anything too fancy as I'm in an apartment.

So, I take it you were naughty & not nice this past year?

nah my family just doesn't exchange gifts. we all just get what we want for ourselves and then have dinner together.

Nowadays. you really can't go wrong with home theatre systems.

I've had both Pioneer and Sony and am very satisfied with each one.

I would just stick to name brands if I were you.

Or you could check sites like CNet or Consumer Reports etc. for guidance.

Enjoy.

Depends what you're looking for. You want led, plasma or LCD? I prefer led myself. And do you want a smart TV or does that matter to you. I personally think smart tv's are pointless. I'd much rather get a basic led tv with something like a western digital TV live media player and then hook up a nice sony or pioneer surround sound to it.

I just bought a 58" toshiba led tv from Costco for just under 800 on Black Friday. Was for the family room so I wasn't looking for anything high end. But it's surprisingly a really nice tv. I had a 46" Sony before it which had a really nice picture but that room we sit so far away so we needed something bigger.

I actually just bought a 50 inch samsung. had to get a Samsung so it'd hook up with my phone. what I really just need is the surround sound

Bose has a really good system little pricey though.

I did lots of reading on the googles, you can usually get a pretty idea of what you're looking for by reading various pieces. It really comes down to how much you want to pay and finding that good balance there. 

Digital Home is a fantastic (and Canadian) forum for everything electronic.  They have a forum about Home Theatre and the people there are incredible knowledgable.  They will tell you if you want the best system to build one (ie. not by a Home Theatre in a box, which means the receiver, speakers etc all come together).  However, I bought a 7.1 Surround Sound system in a box from Visions a few years ago. Onkyo Brand.  Very good in my opinion.  Those rare times that I turn on the TV sound instead of surround sound makes me really appreciate having it.  If you spend money on a good TV but dont have a sound system, it's just not doing justice.

 

What did you end up getting?

I bought this http://www.visions.ca/Catalogue/Category/Details.aspx?categoryId=368&productId=22170&sku=YHT3654

I'm pretty happy with it. Not sure if my neighbors are though. I was looking for something without tower speakers cause I don't want my place to look too much like a man cave. The fact that it's an actual receiver and not a blueray player pretenting to be one is nice. I Just wish it had Bluetooth.

Looks good.  Enjoy it.

 

I trust you also do have a Blu Ray player?

nah I just download torrents onto my s3 and then send them to my tv with allshare.

nah I just download torrents onto my s3 and then send them to my tv with allshare.

 

Can you find torrents that are 1080p?

sure can. esp for movies.

CNN (I think) had a recent article about technologies that would soon disappear and Blu Ray was one of them.  Im not sure I buy that.  The reasoning was, movies will all be streamed.  Personally, I like owning movies and all the extras that come with them.  If you're into movies, there is a certain pride that comes with the collection.

 

On another note, Best Buy had a 4k display going and it was amazing.  I would have bought one on the spot but I want size, price and available content to all come together before I do.  But what a fabulous image.

CNN (I think) had a recent article about technologies that would soon disappear and Blu Ray was one of them.  Im not sure I buy that.  The reasoning was, movies will all be streamed.  Personally, I like owning movies and all the extras that come with them.  If you're into movies, there is a certain pride that comes with the collection.

 

On another note, Best Buy had a 4k display going and it was amazing.  I would have bought one on the spot but I want size, price and available content to all come together before I do.  But what a fabulous image.

 

I'll admit it is getting easier and easier to watch streaming or downloaded content on your televisions, but can't see Blu-rays disappearing anytime soon. They were probably saying the same thing about CDs 5 years ago.  

I actually just bought a 50 inch samsung. had to get a Samsung so it'd hook up with my phone. what I really just need is the surround sound

 

That's too bad. If you would have waited a couple of weeks you could have gotten one of Samsung's new 110" TVs. I bet you're sorry now. 

Netflix will be streaming 4K by February.  If the TV manufacturers are smart (and Netflix), they work together.  The more 4k content Netflix has, the more likely people will be to buy those TVs.