Thread: Bose Lifestyle 48 DVD Entertainment System

Can some one please stop me from buying this Bose Lifestyle 48 DVD Entertainment System?

Its really not in my budget and buying it would be really streaching my budget a bit too much but I cant resist the temptation.

Do you know of any audio system which produces equally good sound but doesnt hit the pocket as much as Bose does?

I am not very good at speakers config and stuff ... Helpppppppp!!!

Alright.. Ive dropped the idea and have now settled for a desi system which will be prepared by a small time audio solutions firm called new birco electronics at Bhagirath palace opposite Red fort at Old delhi.

This is going to cost me Rs38000 as compared to almost 2lakh for the bose crap.
I listened to a music system prepared by them for a friend of mine and decided to give a pass to bose for the time being may be untill I have a lot of money to spare

Admin, I have the following configuration at home:

1. Pioneer DV-301K 3 disc region free DVD player (with karoake ****).
2. Sony SLV-830 Multi-system VCR
3. Onkyo TX-DS747 AV Receiver (does not have THX or DTS )
4. Bose Acoustimass AM10 5.1 speaker system with passive Acoustomass Bass module
5. Panasonic PT-AE700E (720p) projector

My opionion on Bose:

a) Very good for small spaces and medium size hall
b) Very good sound
c) Very overhyped
d) Very pricy

You could go in for an Onkyo HT system (with speakers) for 35K. But if you are satisfied with the Birco system then that is also fine.

@admin

I can only suggest some speakers dont know about the DVD players and AV systems etc etc

as just4kix mentioned Bose are overly priced and are extremely costly but they simply outperform everybody no doubt about that.

so in my opinion you can have a look at some speakers from JBL,Logitech or Altec Lansing though these are also costly but are not that when comparing with Bose,
just look for the RMS(Root Mean Square) value of the speaker set which you want to buy higher the RMS value the more it rocks!! it will give you some deep bass that will simply blow you away and not to mentioning that speakers from JBL are like this JBL 2.1 = any other 5.1

Make the most of your old speakers:
If you have any speaker connected to your pc and you want to squeeze the most out of it to make it look like a 500w monster just do this
install "SRS Audio sandbox" its a software install it and notice the difference it creates in your music experience believe me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am posting pictures of my HT system. It is not very elegant but satisfies my requirement for the present ...
01 FrontView.JPG
02 DVD Player.jpg
03 VCR 1.jpg
05 AV Receiver 1.jpg
07 RearViewOpen.JPG

Last one ...
(Photo was taken by the crappy cell phone camera)
08 Projection (Benhur).jpg

arrrghhhhh!!! i am jealous !!!

i want to know something
is there a way to connect a VCR to a pc so that i can convert my cassetts into digital format is this possible

Originally Posted by player

is there a way to connect a VCR to a pc so that i can convert my cassetts into digital format is this possible

Yes. It is possible. But you need a A-to-D converter for the same or you need a Capture Card on your PC.

The A2D card or the capture card will convert the VCR's analog signals into Digital.

can u please explain a little bit more

what is capture card which cables do i need to carry out the operation??

A capture card is a PCI A2D card that plugs into the PC. It has inputs for Analog RCA AV (Yellow-White-Red). This A2D card can convert analog video into digital. You can connect the VCR output to the card using VCR's AV-out to AV-In of the card. The connection can be done by a simple Yellow-White-Red RCA AV cable.

You will also require a software that will capture the incoming video - the card will come with the software or you can use 3rd party software such as ULead Video Studio, etc.

Once the hardware is connected, you should keep the VCR ready for sending the video. The software must be started to be ready to capture the AV signal. Press start on the VCR and at the same time start the capture on in the software. VCR will send video and capture card+software will convert the video into digital AVI format and save it to disk. Since the storage format is AVI it will be very huge - 5 min video = 1 GB file. So you must have enough HDD space.

Another thing to be careful of: a capture card is liable for frames loss. This can happen if it is unable to save data as fast as it can capture and convert (buffer overflow). Hence the HDD folder must be preferably on a separate channel and separate disk than your OS disk or it must be fast - 7200 rpm or above. Also video signal must be clean. A noisy signal will also result in a loss.

A note on VHS movies purchased abroad: VHS movies sold abroad contains a copy pretection mechanism called Macrovision content protection. Such content will fail to be converted by a typical A2D card.

If you have a digital camcorder that provides AV-In and AV-out it can also function as an A2D converter. Connect VCR to digicam by RCA AV cable and digicam will come with a cable to connect to PC (USB or Firewire).

thanks for giving out such a valuable information i will try it ASAP

Originally Posted by just4kix

A note on VHS movies purchased abroad: VHS movies sold abroad contains a copy pretection mechanism called Macrovision content protection. Such content will fail to be converted by a typical A2D card.

thanks for giving out such a valuable information i will try it ASAP

but as you have mentioned about the protection how will i be able to know that whether my tapes have that protection are not my father bough them back in 90's from Dubai,UAE

i am asking this because when i will try to connect my VCR with my pc and if i succeeded then if that error occurs during the conversion i will be uncontrollable(as i will have to move my pc to the tv lounge and make the necessary connections) and will surely smash all the equipments with a baseball bat or even a 5kg hammer if it doesn't broke
so is there a way to know about this protection

If you have another VCR, try to copy these cassettes. Just 10-15 minutes of video sample is enough. Then play the copy. If the copy displays the sign that the picture fades in and out continuosly then the original is copy protected.

Macrovision came up in the middle-late 1990's. It is possible that tapes purchased in UAE (especially movies) are Macrovision protected.

Most of my VHS movies are content protected.

However, let me tell you. Converting the VHS movie to DVD/DivX (digital) is not worth it. Here is why:

- To capture 2 hours of movie, you will require 20+ GB of space to store the AVI file
- Capture time = Movie time and this is assuming that nothing goes wrong.
- Afterwards you have to encode the AVI to MPEG-2 using software such as TMPGEnc or such. Converting the AVI to MPEG-2/DivX will take at least 1.5 hours
- The converted digital file will take 7-8 GB of space for MPEG-2 or 700+ MB for DivX
- You will spend another 15/20 minutes to burn DivX
- If you wish to make a DVD then you will also need a DVD authoring software and at least 20 minutes to author the DVD (after you become an expert) and another 20 mins or so to burn it.
- Finally the QUALITY. Garbage In = Garbage Out. VHS movies will be 240 lines and there will be a loss while capturing and a further loss during frame rate conversion.

I have not bothered to convert my VHS movies. There are far too many and I do not have the time or energy to do it. I just converted my home video's to DVD.

I forgot to post the picture of my Projector. So it is attached here. Also I decided that the projection picture was ... to not a fine point on it ... crap. So some projection pictures are also attached.
10 Projector.jpg

So Admin, did you get your HT?

@player, Have a look at this: http://www.indiabroadband.net/attach...rikes-back.zip

i have checked this .......... looks gr888888888 i wanted to know what is the background i mean whether you are projecting on an LCD screen or on a simple white washed wall

It is a regular pull down screen with automatic interlocking. It has a gain of 1.1.

@ Jus4kix

Dude whats a dvd authoring software?

another thing i forgot to ask is how big is that room of urs where u have the projector and how much did that projector cost? and how much is it right now probably. and how minimum a price can one get a complete projector setup for?

Originally Posted by players_player

another thing i forgot to ask is how big is that room of urs where u have the projector and how much did that projector cost? and how much is it right now probably. and how minimum a price can one get a complete projector setup for?

You really do not need a huge room. My room is 15x10. It is best if the room is more rectangular than square.

I have a 8x6 pull down screen that drapes across the window which is perfect because it shuts off all ambient light.

The projector cost me £1044.00 in the UK. It is 720p LCD projector. I paid a sum of Rs. 3500/- as customs duty. So the cost works out to Rs. 85K approx according to exchange rates at that time (2005 £1 = Rs. 78).

Please note the following before making any investment in a projector:

• Home projectors are different than business projectors.
• Home projector must have high contrast ratio and less lumens.
• Video is different than business presentations. The former has lot of blacks and dark colours whereas the later has high whites. Hence a home projector must have dark ambience - even a small candle can spoil the atmosphere.
• Black is not black in a projector. Black means no light but this is impossible in a projector (but not for a TV)
• Finally a projector is not a substitute for TV.

Visit this website for more details: Projectors, Projector Reviews, LCD Projectors, Home Theater DLP Projectors at ProjectorCentral.com

How much does the new bulb or element cost? Ive heard it doesnt last very long and thats what makes maintaining a projector very costly..

Originally Posted by Admin

How much does the new bulb or element cost? Ive heard it doesnt last very long and thats what makes maintaining a projector very costly..

Sorry. Missed this post.

The bulb has a life of 3000 hours. But take that with a pinch of salt and say 2500 hours. Now assuming that you watch the projector 4 hours every day (not really possible), this means that the bulb will last over 625 days (1.75 years). In reality you will probably watch the projector may be 10 hours a week. Hence the bulb will last for 250 weeks, viz. 5 years.

The cost of the bulb is nearly $500 or Rs. 20,000/-.

Here are some tips and techniques to maximize bulb life:

a) Ensure that the bulb filament cools down before cutting off power to projector. After you put the projector off from remote (to standby mode), the bulb is still hot and the fan keeps running to cool it off. The fan switches off after 3/4 minutes. Only after the fans switches off, shut off the mains.

b) Ensure that the projector is kept in a well ventilated space. Allow free flow of air around it.

c) Clean the air filter inside the projector regularly.

d) Keep off dust from the projector.

e) And most important. Use a 500 VA/ with min. 15 min backup UPS (UPS not Invertor) to supply power to the UPS. This will ensure that projector gets a regulated power supply (230V/50Hz exactly) and in case of sudden power failure, you have time to switch it to stand by and allow the fan to cool down the element.

p/s. My projector was purchased in 2005 and it has done 400 hours only.

Note that a projector cannot be and will not be a replacement for a TV.

Originally Posted by just4kix

Note that a projector cannot be and will not be a replacement for a TV.

Indeed!!