How do you game?

[Bajaratt]

I finally assembled my home theater this weekend, since my Dad was finally able to drop off the stand he had built for me. I still have to do some cable management behind the stand, since it's just kind of thrown together at this point, but it's complete.

I work in the Audio/Video department of Fry's electronics, so I see a lot of different people buying different levels of home theater equipment, and all for different reasons. So, I'm kind of curious about what setups everyone uses for their gaming/movies. So to find out, and just a bit to brag a bit about my own, I made this thread to see what other people are using. This is mainly intended for a living room/den/media room, since most people aren't going to have a full surround sound in their bedroom.

Specs are nice, and pictures are cool if you want to post them. Here's mine:

Spoiler:

Going with a list:
65" 1080p DLP tv
7.1 reciever
Power cleaning station
PS3
PS2
Wii
360
HD-DVD player
Cable Box
Tower speakers
Center channel speaker
Subwoofer


The only thing that's not shown are my rear speakers and this amp, which I couldn't fit it and everything else into my stand, so it's actually behind the whole thing, since it doesn't need to be seen.

 

[Bluefrost]

Well since I voted, I voted for 2. I play my PS2 and Wii games on my TV, and on my brother's TV at his house, I play his Wii and xbox. But I probably play over there more often than I play at my own house.

 

[Anglis]

I play HD, but only low end speaker. Thing is, it sounds great and everything shakes when explosions happen or I can hear a peep behind me.

 

[Hexx]

Thats a very nice setup, I must say tho i have to limit how long i play FFXI on my HD to avoid screen burn, so i usually switch over to a smaller (and less expensive) tv.

 

[Strid]

I bought a 30 in. Widescreen Sanyo just before the HD crave set in so I haven't been able to part with it just yet. My audio is from a Philips 5.1 surround sound system. Just figured I'd specify because I voted.

Baj, if I was you I'd put my 360 on all fours, if it stands up, especially and Elite, you're askin' for trouble.

 

[Bajaratt]

I've had it vertical for about 4 months now, and haven't had any problems, the hard drive isn't even loud like I've heard they can be. If I had the space, I would put both it and the PS3 horizontally, but there's just not enough room in the stand to do it.

Kinda wishing I'd turned on the "see who voted for what" option, I'm curious who else has a high end audio system.

 

[Firestreak]

I use a 600 dollar receiver with enough spent on speakers to bump me up to $1000+ sound system, but barely.

The 3 consoles, crysis-medium settings PC, and 32 inch LCD HDTV. TV is not great, hope to own a 1080P projector with little lag eventually, mostly with blu-rays in mind.

 

[Strid]

I've had it vertical for about 4 months now, and haven't had any problems

You could be pre-error state or not even in the red, for all I know, but from everyone I've ever known to have a disc problem, they've kept their 360 vertical. I also scratched the hell out of my F.E.A.R. disc, almost ate it, while mine was vertical. With my 360 I operate on a "better safe than sorry" method. With my PS3 I know it'll last me until I probably die so vertical it stands. Just thought I'd speak up.

 

[Bajaratt]

I appreciate it, and if I could do it, I would, I just don't have the room right now.

 

[Hexx]

I bought a 30 in. Widescreen Sanyo just before the HD crave set in so I haven't been able to part with it just yet. My audio is from a Philips 5.1 surround sound system. Just figured I'd specify because I voted.

Baj, if I was you I'd put my 360 on all fours, if it stands up, especially and Elite, you're askin' for trouble.

I kept my 360 vertical for a while and about two months ago it died on me and wouldnt read any discs anymore. You may wanna be careful Baj

 

[Lanien]

Hi Def TV with mid-ranged speaker system. I used to run high end when I lived at my last apartment, but the surround sound system was owned by my roommate lol

 

[Sharpe]

27in LCD HD TV at home with standard speakers (for PS3 and Wii)
Laptop is 1080p 18.4inch screen with 5.1 surround sound speakers built in .

 

[Gerry]

Hi def with no sound system, I used an HDMI cable for my PS3 and by god the picture and sound are incredible! Its kinda funny, my mum first noticed this when she was watching The Phantom of the Opera on Blu Ray XD

I think our HDTV is 32 inch.

 

[Myrrh]

I'm waiting till I move into a larger room before I upgrade my gaming set up. I currently have no room for any of the sweet set ups.

 

[Ecks]

HD TV and I'm pretty sure my sound system is in the mid-range. It sounds fucking fantastic to me though.

Not a close up picture.

 

[Kurgon]

Displays:
Sony KDL46S4100
Mitsubishi HD1000 projector

Surround:
Onkyo TX-SR674 receiver (has a problem doing 1080p through HDMI fyi)
Infinity Primus 360 x 2 fronts
Infinity Primus 362 x 2 surrounds
Infinity Primus C25 Center
Infinity Primus 150 x 2 rears
Elemental Designs A2 - 300 subwoofer

Systems:
PS3
360
Wii

 

[PBParrot]

Spoiler:

YES ITS MESSY D:

TV
30" Samsung 1080i HDTV

My Main PC
Dell Dimension 4700
Intel Pentium 4 with HT Northwood 3.0Ghz
2GB PC 4200 DDR2 RAM
XFX NVidia GeForce 8600 GT 512 MB DDR2 540Mhz core
14" LCD VGA
160Gb and 80Gb Hard Drive
Dual boot Windows XP Professional SP3 and Fedora Core 10

Laptop
Acer Extensa 5420
AMD Turion 64 Dual Core 1.9Ghz
1.75 Gb RAM
ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 256Mb
15.4' Widescreen
140 Gb Hard Drive
Dual boot Windows XP Professional SP3 and Fedora Core 10

Media Center PC
Compaq Presario SR1900NX
Intel Celeron D Northwood 3.2 Ghz
512 Mb DDR PC3200 RAM
ATI Radeon X300 128Mb 400Mhz Core
Uses HDTV as monitor
120Gb Hard Drive
Dual boot Windows XP Professional SP3 and Fedora Core 10

60Gb PlayStation 3
Dual boots PS3 OS and Yellow Dog Linux

also there's 2 old style PS2s that don't work and a slimline PS2 that does under the desk >_>

 

[CmdrFly]

42" Aquos LCD
Yamaha 5.1 amp/receiver (think it's a YHT-280)
2x Klipsch RF-82 towers
2x Polk rear bookshelfs (i6? r6? something like that)
X360 Halo3 Edition on HDMI
X360 custom (painted & plated to look like an Elite) on component
Custom PVR on HDMI (MCE 2005)

All in I think I only spent about $3500 over time, but some parts I got hooked up bigtime. Those RF-82 towers cost me $390 after tax, normally $1499 retail. Plus the Polks at the rear and a pair of Energy's I put away were second hand through a friend at work. Retail value of the whole rig is probably close to 5k. Goes to show that you can still find deals in modern electronics... and I'm by no means a bargain hunter, too lazy to spend the time.

I use the 360 to upconvert DVDs to HD. No plans for true HD optical at this point. I don't watch enough movies to justify buying Blu-Ray before a new TV.

Still using the stock sub that came with my 5.1 bundle though. Not sure I can upgrade that and still maintain peace with my neighbour. The RF-82s already are ported for some pretty phenomenal low-end response once you put them within burp distance of the wall, and of course the only place I can fit my system is against the wall I share with the neighbours (townhouse).

At some point I want to upgrade to a 60+ LCD and use the 42" for my PC monitor... mmmmglablabglahgmmm. That was supposed to represent Homer's drooling sound.

 

[Bajaratt]

Yeah, my home theater, without counting any components, MSRP's for around $10,000, but I only spent around 5k. I get annoyed when I'll have a customer go "hey, I'm just a poor college kid, I can't afford anything good." When I'm working part-time while in college and I have a super-high end, audiophile-level system. They don't need what I have, and probably can't afford it since they won't get my discount, but they can get something decent for a good price.

Cmdr, a 60-inch flat panel is going to be outrageously expensive. That's part of why I went with a DLP; I had no intention of hanging it on the wall(if you don't either, I'd seriously consider a DLP) , and I'd always loved the DLP technology. Plus, it was about 1/3 the price(MSRP, no sale/discount) of a similar sized LCD. I am curious about the new laser DLP that'll be coming out next month, it's going to be priced like the flat-panels, but I'm hoping the picture will be nearly as good as they're making it out to be; but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Reeve]

I have a 61" Samsung LED DLP TV with an OPPO 980H upscaling DVD Player.

I have to get an audio system next - I'm leaning towards Onyko but I may want for next years models.