A bit green

[scjunkie]

Appologies, I am sure you have had hundreds like this!

Have a dvd coming with 5.1 decoder. Do I just need speakers for cinema sound or do I need a home cinema system including an amp and subwoofer etc.

Thanks for any help

SimonD

[ic]

We'd really need to know the model of your DVD player.

However, I'd expect that what this means is that your DVD player is able to decode the sound, but won't have a built in amp for speakers (if it did, it would come with the speakers in the package - and systems like this are usually £500 mark). What this means is that on the back there will the usual scart sockets and stuff, and six individual outputs for sound (one each for sub, centre, front left, front right, rear left and rear right), that you can connect to an amp.

The amp would then have matching inputs, and you link six leads from each to the amp - all the amp has to do is amplify each then send it off to the speaker.

The advantage of this is you can control all your options for the surround through the dvd player, and it means a cheaper amp and speaker system (though usually the player will be higher - after all, the decoder is extra kit).

The disadvantage is that all these leads could receive interference, meaning lower sound quality, though unless you have a cinema sized living room, this won't prove a problem! A direct digital connection means a single lead from the DVD to the amp, thus simpler and less chance of interference.

Ian

[lycanthrope on the loose]

I'm sure someone on here will persuade you to buy a Digitheatre DTS for £149 :p .