Good folks - I'm willing to spend up to rm2.5k, and I need the largest TV + Home Theater system I can get on that budget.

I'm thinking that rm2k can afford me a 37" HD Ready LCD, and another rm500 for a home theater system. What do you guys recommend, do you think this is feasible?

Really can't afford to top up anymore than this. FYI, I'll just be using it for movies + Astro. I don't need extra fancy features, since I don't do gaming or connect it to the PC.

Appreciate all advice. Cheers!

32" for less than RM1500 + HTIB for about RM1000 or slightly more.

i don't think you can get ~rm500 htib with digital spdif in.

Not impossible... RM500 can get HTS from Tesco.. good enough for DVD and Astro.

RM500 for a digital spdif is a bit steep but RM800 onwards possible, especially the older models

Thanks for the advices guys. Why a HTIB with spdif instead of a standard one? I'm really green in this matter.

I've done some snooping around and the only 37" LCD that costs about rm2k is the LG model, 37LH20R i believe. What do you guys think about this, any alternatives I could be looking at?

Look at it this way... few months down the road you might wanna get yourself a multimedia player (i.e. ACRYAN, WD TV, etc) and with that you can do a audio passthrough via SPDIF to your HTIB for it to have DTS / Dolby Digital audio... what more when you wanna buy a PS3 or Blu Ray player? Unless you got enough cash for another upgrade to a proper Home Theatre System that cost RM5k?

So in short, an extra few hundred ringgit for a slightly better Home Theatre System would be ideal.

Oh wait.. what are you using to play movies?
DVD player? Do you have a DVD player with HDMI port?
If you aren't fussy with sound quality then you can opt for a cheap standalone AVR (not those HTIB)

I see I see...Yes you're right few months down the line, might be looking at those options.

I was under the impression that an HTIB would come along with DVD player w/ HDMI port. Which leads to another question, is it worth it to get a BluRay player when I only have an HD Ready tv?

Yes, the HTID should come with a DVD player and HDMI port. I was asking to see if you already owned that DVD with HDMI port

I use a pioneer HTIB cum DVD player with a HDMI port which I bought for below RM1500 (HTZ 777) and it has an optical input so I share that single optical input between my PS3 (for Blu Ray and gaming) and my multimedia player (Mede8er).

My TV only has 2 HDMI ports so I switch the DVD player connection from HDMI to Component since its only upscaling, and let both my PS3 and the Mede8er both connect to the TV via HDMI.

The problem is that I've got up to 3 HDMI cables for input (4 once I get Astro B.yond!!) and its real messy...

I'm looking at either a HDMI switch or a proper AVR with 4 HDMI inputs (but its gonna cost RM5k or more to setup this kinda system and everything is inside my small room). Having the AVR would allow me to plug all HDMI cables into the AVR and have only 1 HDMI connected to the TV from the AVR. This way, I also get HD audio.

Even with a HD Ready TV, you can still enjoy 1080i goodness of Blu Ray's clarity. I'm enjoying it even on a 32". There is a huge difference in terms of image quality (depending on the movie)

azxel - thanks for the detailed explanations! Much appreciated! Cheers..

eh.. no problems la.. I also not experience in this field.
have you decided what to get yet?

I recently felt that my current setup (HTIB) at home wasn't sufficient and started hunting for a entry level HTS... found a few for around RM3k+.