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The first upgrade in late 2005 was the projector. I bought a Sanyo PLV-Z3 Hi-Definition ready (Hi-def for short) LCD projector which had been reduced to clear for just over £800- with a free replacement bulb. This projector has a better resolution than the previous model I owned, an adjustable lens, 1 HDMI input & 3 Hi-Definition analogue inputs. Net cost £450- (after selling the old projector) I felt the best way to source to source the new projector, was with a DVD player with a built-in video scaler to upscale dvd resolution to the projectors resolution, so I bought a Samsung DVD player. I wasn’t happy with that, so I bought A Toshiba DVD player instead. I still wasn’t happy, so I decided to use my existing DVD player & a dedicated Video scaler. I bought a second-hand video scaler, but that didn’t acheive the required result, so I got a refund from the seller & finally settled on a good quality Denon DVD player with a built-in video scaler. I sold both my old DVD players. Net cost £250-. I wanted to replace my Video Recorder with a DVD Recorder as I did most of my recording at night (American sports on Channel 5) & a DVD recorder made less noise than my old Video recorder. I also wanted it to have a built-in digital TV tuner in order to future-proof recording terrestrial TV broadcasts. I’ve owned two Panasonic Video recorders in the past, they had a good reputation for making good quality reliable DVD recorders, so I bought their most basic model with built-in freeview. Net cost £170- (after selling the old Video Recorder) The next upgrade was the television. LCD televisions were becoming more common & affordable. I didn’t want a plasma TV as 42” was too big for my requirements (I couldn’t hang one on the wall where I wanted to place it) & I had a big enough screen with my projector. A small LCD TV on a small stand would suit my day to day viewing requirements perfectly, double as a computer monitor for my PC, be compatible with Hi-Definition TV broadcasts & discs & free up space in my bedroom that the old television was taking up. I ended up buying the Toshiba, as I sold Toshiba TV’s myself for a few years & found them to be reliable, good value for money & good build quality. I gave my old TV to my Nephew. Cost £600-.
The main differences between the 2006 Home Cinema & the one in early 2004, is 6.1 surround sound, (the old one was 5.1) & the viewing area is either on the 27” Widescreen LCD TV or via the projector on the 92” screen & being able to watch & record freeview digital TV & from Sky onto DVD. The power has increased from 550 watts from the old receiver to 600 watts on the new receiver, or 700 watts if 7 speakers were connected, but I thought having a 7.1 was overkill & unnecessary in this size room. The Subwoofer power has also increased from 50 watts to 600 watts & it does make a difference. I originally was going to upgrade the speakers last, but the opportunity arose to purchase the Velodyne Deco speaker system a a bargain price (half-price to be exact) & to upgrade the speaker system to 6.1 after the dealer agreed to sell me an extra satellite speaker. My Home Cinema is now more balanced sonically as a result with 6 identical satellite speakers. The bass has improved significantly too with the more powerful Subwoofer. I had at the time several ways of watching DVD, Hi-Definition or TV broadcasts on my LCD TV or projector. Have a look on the comparisons page. The projector I’m also pleased with (for the price I paid) I know LCD has it’s limitations, but after comparing LCD with DLP projectors at more or less the same price, I chose LCD because the disadvantages were less than DLP. With 92” viewing area, It does show every flaw that DVD picture quality has (It doesn’t with Hi-Definition though!), where I never noticed any DVD picture flaws on my 27” widescreen TV. No upgrades for the rest of this year, due to frequent Computer upgrades & buying a much needed new car! 2007.The Subwoofer developed a fault, so back it went to Velodyne UK for repair. The amplifier board was replaced at a cost of £150-. (it now has speaker terminals & I think the amp is more powerful) see the picture at the bottom of the page. The shelf brackets supporting the projector screen were too short after I bought a new chest of drawers, so a quick trip to a DIY store was needed to extend those brackets (cost £6-!)
The Sky digibox was playing up & getting on a bit so a replacement was required. Cost £160-, only to find out the reason the old one was playing up because it wasn’t connected to a phone line! So, I’ve kept it as a spare.
the Next 3 years involved a couple of PC builds, a major change of hardware & a redecoration of my room. See the present page.
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