My Ultimate (Temporary) Home Theater Setup

Okay, so there are times when I like my job and there are times when I love my job. And today is one of the latter days. That's because I just spent the past five hours with a friend and a custom installer setting up the Pioneer Elite PRO-FHD1 50-inch 1080p plasma TV, which the electronics company is lending me for a couple of weeks. Pioneer is known for its high-end plasmas and excellent video processing, and this is one of those top-shelf models capable of showing the highest HD resolution possible (the kind available on two new PlayStation 3 games, Blu-ray discs, and HD-DVDs).

Once you go 1080p, you never go back, if only because even in a small TV room (around 200 square feet) such as mine, a 50-inch 1080p TV works out just fine (the resolution is so high, I can sit up close and still not see any graininess or pixels, and about six or seven feet is perfect).

But I'm not here to talk about the TV—a more extended hands-on will come later. I just wanted to express my elation over the insane amount of things I have hooked up to this thing (thanks, mainly, to Pioneer, which has also lent me a state of the art Pioneer Elite VSX-82TXS 7.1-Channel A/V Receiver).

I'll report periodically on my experiences with everything listed below since I'll be using this setup (pictured, above) for the next few weeks to test out, among other devices, the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive, Xbox 360 HD downloads, PlayStation 3, standalone Blu-ray and HD-DVD players, the Tivo Series 3 HD recorder, and the Nintendo Wii (which I'm told I'm getting today!)

So here we go:

Pioneer VSX82TXS A/V Receiver: This feels like the mother of all A/V receivers, though it's really just a mid-price amazing 7.1 receiver that has three HDMI inputs, three component outputs, four  S-Video inputs, and  seven optical inputs, among others, as well as an iPod input and XM-ready input. It's also THX-certified, which means it'll sound great with other THX-certified equipment, games, and movies (THX is essentially a fancy name for great, standardized specs). The A/V receiver has 1080p HDMI output that handles 1080p content natively and upscales non-1080p content  to 1080i or 1080p.

Tivo Series 3 HD DVR: Also THX-certified, this device is hooked up to the A/V receiver via HDMI. Since I don't have a CableCard, this device is getting network-HD broadcasts of The O.C., Late Night With Conan O'Brien, Jericho, Lost, and a bunch of other shows from a standard over-the-air indoor antenna that's sitting on my desk. Even though I'm in the middle of building-congested New York City, I'm getting great reception.

Toshiba HD-DVD HD-XA1: Connected to the receiver via HDMI for audio and video. Outputs in 1080p and gets sent to the TV as 1080p.

Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-ray disc player: Plugged into the A/V receiver via HDMI and outputs in 1080p via the A/V receiver.

Xbox 360 with HD-DVD Drive: Connected to the A/V receiver via component for video and optical for audio, but upscaled to 1080i via the A/V receiver's HDMI output (though I'm told I can get 1080p with a VGA connection, but I haven't had a chance to connect it yet—stay tuned). The Xbox 360 won't do 1080p via component (thanks to copy-protection issues).

Humax DRT800 Tivo Series 2 DVR/DVD Player: Connected to the A/V receiver via component for video and optical for sound. Gets video (standard DVD and broadcast/satellite) from a DirecTV D-10 standard-definition receiver (set-top box), which is connected to the Tivo via S-Video for video and standard RCA audio cable for sound.

XM Satellite Radio: The A/V Receiver is XM Connect and Play Ready, so I've got an Terk XM Mini-Tuner plugged in, which lets me listen to XM through this thing and scroll through channels using the A/V's remote. Since the receiver is also XM-HD ready, I can listen to some of XM's surround content.

iPod: I plugged my 80-gigabyte video iPod into the iPod connector. I can access the full music menus right onscreen and use the A/V remote to scroll around and play music, but for video and photos I have to use the iPod itself. I just got this going, but a quick viewing of an episode of Lost on my iPod was tolerable. Very patchy in dark scenes, but good enough to keep me on track with the story. I'm a couple of episodes behind, so I can't wait to watch the show in HD (saved as it is on the HD Tivo).

The Pioneer Plasma doesn't come with speakers, so the A/V receiver is pumping sound out to a Canton CD-220 5.1 speaker and subwoofer package. I can hear an inkling of bass two floors down (I live in a walk-up). My neighbors love me!

I haven't had a chance to test drive this setup more than a few minutes this morning, but I'll report back. I literally just got a Wii in the mail this afternoon, and hopefully a PS3 before too long, so I can't wait to plug those in, too.

What is the point of writing all this down? I have no idea. I just know that I'm obsessed with getting all these things to work, which, I guess, makes me a home theater dork. And if you've read through this whole thing, chances are you probably are, too. Let's talk!

Related links:

Picking Out—and Pricing—Home Theater Equipment