A Home Theater for the Sports Lover

Nothing brings you closer to the sneaker screeching, Dick Vitale- screaming, student body chanting emotion that is college basketball or any sporting event like a well-equipped home theater.

Before you buy, be aware that with digital TV (HDTV) looming on the horizon, sports television is about to enter a whole new dimension. That’s why it makes sense to be prepared for HDTV. Spend an extra three hundred bucks or so, and purchase what’s called a digital-ready television. Also, consider a widescreen, rectangular TV screen as opposed to standard 4 by 3 screen size. High definition TV cannot be properly displayed on 4 by 3 TVs as the bandwidth gets crunched. For hoops fans, a widescreen set means you'll never miss another fast break because the whole court is constantly in the HDTV picture.

Television


One of my favorite big screen projection HDTV-ready sets is Samsung's 55-inch wide screen (Model No. HCL552W). Not only is this behemoth digital ready for native 1080i HDTV signal, it includes a killer, built-in 45-watt three channel audio system for all your sound needs as well. Other features include a two tuner picture-in- picture and giant 7-inch CRTs that insure that you'll get the brightest and best resolution pictures you have ever seen from any source be it traditional TV, HDTV, DVD or even your VCR.



Satellite vs. Cable

For sports fans choosing satellite over cable is a no brainer. The former offers more sports and an opportunity to be the first on the block to receive high definition signals. Cable has yet to even commit to high definition and comes nowhere close to sports content found on satellite.

You have two choices in satellite: EchoStar DishNet or DirecTV. DirecTV holds the edge in sports content, while DishNet carries the torch for HDTV.




Our pick for DirecTV is its UltimateTV package offered by Sony and RCA. The Ultimate TV box features a built-in hard drive that allows you to one button record up to 35 hours of programming, plus pause, rewind, instant replay, slow motion, and even control two live shows at once. It also includes an Internet access option from Microsoft and a new Interactive TV feature, which will ramp up this year allowing sports fans to pull up stats, and more during live events.




For the best deal on HDTV today run, don’t walk to EchoStar/DISH Network and ask for its Model 6000 satellite receiver. At under $500 for the system it’s truly the best buy of the season, plus EchoStar doesn’t fiddle with its signal like its competitor delivering true HDTV pictures in all its glory.



VCR Killer


Imagine a video recorder that can "tape" every Final Four game without changing tapes and you have Panasonic's groundbreaking new DVD-RAM recorder. Designed for your home entertainment system, not a computer, this standalone box connects to your TV, satellite, cable box or camcorder and records up to 12-hours on a single DVD disc. Great for archiving your videotape collection or making DVD copies of home movies, it’s truly the shape of things to come.



Superior Sounds

To get the best sound you need a home theater receiver and a five speakers plus subwoofer package to complement your video source.


For a home theater receiver look no further than Yamaha's RX-V1000. This powerful A/V receiver offers the best sound reproduction and connectivity in all the digital formats including Dolby Digital Matrix 6.1 and DTS ES.




While speakers are a purely subjective decision, one of my favorite new six speaker solutions is Kef's KMS 2005 Music System. These big sounding speakers and subwoofer come is a very small, sleek package and offer terrific home theater sound reproduction.



Added touch

Another consideration is to sound proof your theater room. Once the fodder for the rich and famous, insulation industry leader Owens-Corning has created a custom home theater sound treatment solution for those of us not named Spielberg. Available for the do-it yourselfer or custom install, the Owens-Corning Sound Treatment will not only keep you neighbors happy, it recreates the ambience of a classic movie theater.