Okay, I confess to knowing virtually nothing about home cinema...I still think that 32" TV's are huge!

So what is the basic setup for a semi-decent system?

I think that the following is sufficient but please let me know your opinions!

32" LCD HD-ready with Freeview tuner built-in
Surround sound speakers (wireless?) with sub-woofer
HD recorder with built-in DVD player with DivX/X-vid capability?
Media Center (I really know nothing about these!!)
Universal remote control?
Popcorn bowl? (I think this is essential )

So is that about right?
What's missing?
What exactly is the purpose of the Media Center? How does it improve things?

/I'm more of a computer geek so forgive my lack of home cinema knowledge...

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Just strolled in from boards.ie

... well in my case, these are the essentials -

Media Centre PC
DVD / CD Player
42" Plasma Display (i.e TV ... in my case I don't use the TV for anything but display purposes though it has a tuner and speakers integrated)
24" LCD PC Display
NTL Set Top Box with dual Scart and Optical Audio output (sadly I have no choice but to use NTL muppets)
Surround Processor
Power Amp / Main Amplifier
2 Main Speakers
1 Centre Speaker
2 Rear Speakers (Currently use two only ... some use more)
1 Sub-Woofer
Turntable (yes I'm oldish ... at least I only use 45s and 33s ... not 78s ... I'm not THAT OLD!)
Scart switch box (only use to provide options and connect in a PS2)
MD player docking with walkman ... which is gathering a lot of dust
Connection for my iRiver H340 Walkman
Subscribtion to Napster to Go (lots of music)
Logitech Quickcam Stx (for Skype)

I have ripped my entire CD collection into the media centre ... it is a compromise on audio quality ... but to compensate I use lossless compression and I have a very good quality sound card installed ... not perfect given the system I have but a great deal more convenient than messing around with 100's of CD's and having to find space for them all ...

I would not recommend wireless anything for a home entertianment system (except perhaps internet, though I prefer 10/100 Ethernet) ... and I can say that from experience since I work in sales for the largest wireless equipment vendor in the world ...

A Media Centre is a PC with an application that integrates all of your media including -

TV Tuner / PVR (card in the PC ... I use Haupauge Win TV 350)
Music (MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC etc. ... personally I use WMA Lossless compression)
Photos
Video's
DVD's (via the PC's DVD player)
Remote control (which controls your PC and allows you to navigate menus etc)
etc.

... you need to have your PC hooked up to you TV for this to work ... for this I use my Plasma's HDMI connection and a dual monitor graphics card ... I also have a Soundblaster Audigy II Platinum Pro sound card hooked into my amplifier via an optical connection ... though you can get away with the PC's own sound card if it has an appropriate output ... I use the Audigy as a mini studio also ...

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... forgot to add ... for Remote you can't get much better in the price range than the Logitech Harmony Series ... I have the 885 and I love it ... only one remote for all of the above equipment ...

The best thing about it is the way it organises the buttons around activities rather than devices ... for example in my watch TV activity when I want to incease volume the relvent buttons control the Processor ... when I change channel the relvent buttons control the STB ... when I switch between picture sources it controls my TV set etc ... much better way of doing things than having to switch between devices ...

But you also have option to configure device based remotes ...

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