Home Theater on a Budget

Here's some thoughts on creating a nice home theater on a shoe-string budget:

1) 37" HDTV - Price $500 - It's more screen than you realize. When you're in the store and the 72" DLP is staring you down, the sizes under 42" look tiny, but when you upgrade from a standard square screen to widescreen you are gaining considerable ground. Widescreen content on a 32" square TV is really only about 27" of viewable content, that means an upgrading to a 37" gives you a 10" boost. Here are the latest deals - and look for low cost 720P sets, at 37" I can't tell a difference between 720P and 1080P.

2) Upconverting DVD - Price $40 - Can't say enough about these players, they take your old movies and make them look incredible. Plus those $5 bargain bin movies at WalMart are still fair game. Just stay away from the straight-to-DVD releases or anything with Mario Lopez in it.

3) The Woo-Woo (see below) - Price $40 - 5.1 stereo surround is nice, but actually using it is rare. Basically, unless it's a Rambo movie with a Russian helicopter bearing down on you, the 5.1 rarely kicks in. The easiest setup I've found is using a nice set of 2.1 computer speakers. The key is running all your sources (Cable, Ant, Game system, DVD) directly to the TV, and then running the sound from the TV to the speakers. That way all your sources get to use the subwoofer and speakers without having to mess with an expensive amplifier and mess of wires that come with.

Total - Less than $600, and you are watching in style.

As promised, the Woo Woo ("we does it for decorations")