Mark Headrick's DVD/Home Theater Page

System at Parents' | Previous Equipment | PC-DVD Encore | DVD Links
My Blu-ray Movies | My DVD Movies

Friday, April 26, 2024: Suppose I should mention that after moving back to my parents a couple years ago, I don't have any of this hooked up. I still have eveything though.

Newest Information (All Home Theater/DVD related items.)

Monday, June 9, 2008 7:27 PM: Samsung LN52A650 52" Widescreen 1080p LCD HDTV added to Home Theater

Well, after many years of wanting to get a widescreen TV, I finally bought myself one! It is a Samsung 52" 1080p LCD HDTV, model LN52A650. I've had it about a month and love it! As it turns out, according to the AVS Forum, it is one of the better models to get. Needless to say I've been watching a lot of movies on it lately. I am actually behind on adding movies that I've bought to my website. I'll get around to adding those later.

I currently have my Denon DVD-2200 DVD player and Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8240HDC DVR cable box connected to my Denon AVR-3806 A/V receiver, via component cables which are then connected to the TV via component cables. On the right is an image from my DVD player I took while watch Star Wars Episode III.

I have learned much concerning HDTV since purchasing this and following the AVS Forums and will most likely write another article concerning what I have learned about all this HDTV business.

Add/View Comments

Home Theater
Component	Manufacturer/Model	Comments
HDTV	Samsung / 52" LCD 1080p HDTV, model LN52A650	May 14, 2008: I actually got this on the 8th. I finally got myself a Widescreen TV! April 25, 2022: Well, some time last year it actually fried. I no longer have it. Think we gave it to goodwill or something.
A/V Receiver	Denon / Denon AVR-3806 AV Receiver	August 24, 2006: Bought this to replace my Yamaha that died a few days earlier. Because I really like their DVD player I have, I decided to try their A/V Receivers. Since the crickets were chirping too loud outside and would have most likely thrown the Auto Config/EQ abilities false information about the room acoustics, I set things up manually such as my speaker configuration (5.1), distances to speakers, cross-over frequency to 90Hz for the sub, and speaker levels using the test tones. After playing a few movies such as Star Wars Phantom Menace, Air Force One, and Riverdance for some musical content, the sound from this blows away what I was getting from the Yamaha. The entire soundscape is richer and fuller. I heard sounds and details I had never heard before. The surround environment was much better. Makes me wonder what it would sound like if I went through the Auto Config process. So far, very pleased. :) Gallery Photo - Front, Gallery Photo - Rear.
Blu-ray/DVD Player	Samsung / Samsung BD-C6500	December 25, 2010: My sister and brother in-law got me this for Christmas. It's currently sitting on top of my Denon DVD player while I run it through its paces.Top-front Gallery Photo, Rear view Gallery photo.
Cable Box/DVR	Cisco / Cisco 8742HDC DVR	Installed the Contour 1 box on Thursday, October 24, 2019 as the old Rovi model will soon not work at all. This model still has component video output. It holds a lot more hours of recordings than my old one.
Streaming Player	Roku / Roku Express	Installed the Roku Express on Monday, November 04, 2019 since my Samsung Blu-ray player will stop playing Netflix on December 1, 2019. It's connected to my WiFi network and it seems to stream fine.
Turntable	Fisher / MT-640	Amazing after all these years it still works fine. One of the benefits of a direct-drive turntable. The manual has a copyright of 1981 to give you some idea. September 5,2010: Not sure why I never changed this before now but this is actually connected to my Denon receiver as it does have a phono input. It still plays records fine and sounds great!
Front Left/Right Speakers	Cambridge Soundworks / MovieWorks Satellite	These were part of their Movie Works 5.1 speaker package. Got the package mainly because of my employee discount. No complaints here though. They all sound great! :)
Front Center Speaker	Cambridge Soundworks / Centerstage	This was part of their Movie Works 5.1 speaker package.
Rear Left/Right Speakers	Cambridge Soundworks / Surround 5.1	These were part of their Movie Works 5.1 speaker package.
Subwoofer	None	Jan 23, 2017: Currently I have none. The Paradigm 2100 I had fried long time ago. Just never got around to getting another. I had to turn it down so low anyway to not annoy the neighbors LOL.
Disconnected Items
Component	Manufacturer/Model	Comments
DVD Player	Denon / Denon DVD-2200	September 18, 2004: Of all the DVD players I've had, this one probably has the best video quality. I got it locally as an open box item at a discount. The store took an additional $40 off so I could get a replacement remote control. I was able to order a replacement remote from 1-800-REMOTES. Unlike my previous DVD players, this one will play MP3 CDs in shuffle mode; however, now that I have a Jukebox III MP3 player, I don't bother playing MP3 CDs anymore anyway. :) I play my music CDs on here as well. Thus, I do not have a separate CD player. Gallery Photo.
Satellite Radio	Polk Audio / Polk XRt12 XM Reference tuner	I decided to go with XM Satellite Radio and I'm glad I decided to go with this XM Receiver. It's the only component style XM radio receiver (at the time) and what really sold me was the fact that it has a video-out that can be connected to a TV or Video-In of a A/V Receiver to see what's currently being played and to navigate the menus. You can actually see what you're doing while laying on the couch. I have it connected via the optical digital connector. Even though I live on the north side of my apartment complex on the first floor and no Southern windows, I still get a good signal. The antenna is sitting on the microwave. Nuking something in the microwave really interferes with it though LOL. It rocks! Photo. Update - Monday, November 04, 2019: I cancelled my XM Satellite subscription years ago and this has been disconnected since.
VCR	Philips/Magnavox / HiFi VCR, VRZ264AT	Just a HiFi VCR. No information available at website any longer for it. I no longer play/record any movies with it. Currently (8/24/2006) it is connected to my computer to transfer some music videos I recorded from MTV back in the late 80's/early 90's to DVD format.
MP3 Player	Creative Labs / Jukebox III	It's really great to be able to put my entire music collection on here and take it with me on the road or to connect to my Home Theater and not have to fool with carrying around or dealing with CDs. Normally I would not have listed this as part of my Home Theater system; however, I do hook it up every now and then to use as background music while I'm cleaning the apartment or working on the computer. I do mainly use it in my truck though on longer trips. It has a 40 Gig capacity.

System at Parents

System at Parents
Component	Manufacturer/Model	Comments
Receiver	Marantz / Marantz MR-220	From what I can tell this was made back in the 80s. It still works and plays fine. Actually, it sounds pretty damn good. Here's a scanned in image of a manual insert.

Previous Equipment

TV

RCA Manual: 32" Model F32672SB It's just a 32" TV, LOL. It's now at my folk's house in their bedroom. Their main TV is the same Samsung as mine. Makes it a lot easier on me to help them with it if they have a question.

Cable Box/DVR

Scientific Atlanta (now part of Cisco) Cisco (Scientific Atlanta) Explorer 8240HDC DVR - Just happened to be the one I got when I signed up for Cox's DVR service. I tell you what, I love this thing. I have set it to record all the series that I watch: Dirty Jobs, Mythbusters, Deadliest Catch, all the CSIs, Numbers, Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer, as well as any special things I might want to see and the Nascar Races incase I sleep too late after staying up too late the night before. It's great not worrying about if I am going to miss something because I leave work late, go shopping, or whatever.

A/V Receiver

Yamaha RX-V630 AV Receiver - On August 20, 2006 it died. Up to this point it sounded great and had been a rock-solid component. The only thing I wish it had was on-screen displays to the TV for it's settings and such... mainly cause I'm half blind and it would be easier to read on the TV than the front LCD display LOL.
JVC RX-884V Dolby Digital Receiver - It fried... it just wouldn't turn on one day. It either over-heated (it was in a glass enclosed stand) or lightening zapped it. Uhmmm.. I'm not buying JVC anything again. You can get the manual here.

DVD Player

Yamaha DVD-C920 - This unit failed after a year and five months. It stopped reading discs. A motor, gear, or rubber band failed as it stopped spinning discs. This and my previous Harmon Kardon were both 5-disc carousel player that stopped reading discs. I will probably not buy a 5-disc changer again. Too many other mechanical components to fail.
Harmon Kardon DVD-50 - Quit reading discs as well.
JVC DVD player which turned out to be a lemon.. it developed over heating problems which would cause movies to start breaking up and even lock after about playing for an hour.

Subwoofer

Paradigm / PW-2100 Subwoofer This thing would certainly shake the walls and rattle the doors/windows if I let it! It was overkill for my apartment, but yah know what? I didn't care!! Muwhahaha!! :) A frequency cutoff of 90-100Hz seems to work the best to blend it in with the rest of my speakers. Anyway, it fried sometime ago and went to the dumpster.
Cambridge Soundworks 12" Powered Sub - One day it fried. It started making a buzzing sound and quit working. I think lightening or some power surge got to it.

PC-DVD Encore Stuff

Well, I used to have the different versions of the Encore DVD Player software available from here; however, since Creative now has them all on their website, I removed them from here. Go here to download the latest or previous versions of the Encore DVD Player software. (link removed, no longer there)

3/20/2004 - Well, Creative no longer has them, so here's version 3.5 of the software. :)

PC-DVD Encore newsgroup on Creative's news server. (8/17/2006: Since the news server no longer exists, this is probably the closest forum for this). 2/22/2022: Forum was removed.

My List of Blu-ray Movies

Avatar, Jan 6, 2017
Deadpool, Dec 31, 2016
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Jan 3, 2011
Inception, Jan 3, 2011
Interstellar, Jan 17, 2016
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Apr 4, 2017
Solo: A Star Wars Story, Dec 31, 2018
Star Trek Beyond, Dec 30, 2016
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, Apr 8, 2016
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi, Apr 7, 2018
Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Jan 20, 2017
Top Gun, Jan 4, 2011
Wonder Woman, Dec 25, 2017

My List of DVD Movies

Following is a list DVD Movies I own. Obviously, I think all of the following movies are good and worth having in your DVD collection. Kinda dumb for me to buy a movie I didn't like, yah know. Click on the movie to view a picture of its front cover (hey, it's an excuse to use my scanner), possibly a trailer, and any comments I have regarding the movie and the DVD itself:

The 13th Warrior, before Mar 19, 2003
2010: The Year We Make Contact, before Mar 19, 2003
300, Jul 31, 2007
Alexander: Director's Cut, Jul 10, 2008
Air Force One, Oct 29, 1998
Alien, Jul 9, 1999
Aliens, Jul 9, 1999
Alien Resurrection, Jun 5, 1999
Alien vs. Predator, Mar 6, 2005
Angels & Demons, Jan 1, 2010
Apollo 13, Oct 29, 1998
Armageddon, before Mar 19, 2003
Aspen Extreme, Apr 27, 2003
Avatar, Jan 8, 2011
The Avengers, Mar 20, 2004
Bad Wives, before Mar 19, 2003
Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries, Dec 31, 2004
A Beautiful Mind, before Mar 19, 2003
The Best of Benny Hill, Dec 24, 2004
Beowulf: The Director's Cut, Mar 26, 2008
Black Hawk Down, before Mar 19, 2003
Blade, before Mar 19, 2003
Blade II, before Mar 19, 2003
Blade Trinity, May 26, 2005
The Bourne Identity, Feb 2, 2003
The Bourne Supremacy, Dec 31, 2004
The Bourne Ultimatum, Jan 27, 2008
Braveheart, before Mar 19, 2003
Casino Royale, Mar 30, 2007
Cars, Dec 30, 2006
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Apr 29, 2006
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Jan 17, 2009
Chisum, Jan 20, 2017
Cloverfield, Jun 23, 2008
Collateral, Jan 27, 2005
Conan the Barbarian, before Mar 19, 2003
Contact, before Mar 19, 2003
The Dark Knight, Jan 16, 2009
The Da Vinci Code, Dec 30, 2006
The Day After Tomorrow, Oct 20, 2004
Daylight, Dec 28, 2004
Days of Thunder, before Mar 19, 2003
Delta Farce, Jun 23, 2008
Die Another Day, Mar 20, 2004
Die Hard, Jun 18, 1999
Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Jun 18, 1999
Die Hard with a Vengeance, Jun 18, 1999
DragonHeart, before Mar 19, 2003
Driven, before Mar 19, 2003
Dune, before Mar 19, 2003
Dungeons & Dragons, before Mar 19, 2003
Excalibur, before Mar 19, 2003
Fantastic Four, Dec 31, 2005
Flags of Our Fathers, Jun 23, 2008
The Fifth Element, before Mar 19, 2003
Finding Nemo, Mar 20, 2004
First Knight, before Mar 19, 2003
A Fistful of Dollars, before Mar 19, 2003
Fortess, Apr 27, 2003
Friday Night Lights, Jan 27, 2005
Ghostbusters (1984), Sep 1, 1999
Ghostbusters II (1989), before Mar 19, 2003
Ghost Rider, Jul 14, 2007
Gladiator, before Mar 19, 2003
The Golden Compass, Jul 10, 2008
Gone In 60 Seconds, before Mar 19, 2003
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Oct 29, 1998
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - Special Edition, Oct 15, 2004
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Jan 13, 2008
Hannibal, before Mar 19, 2003
Highlander, before Mar 19, 2003
Ice Age: The Meltdown, Dec 30, 2006
The Incredible Hulk, Jan 18, 2009
The Incredibles, Apr 18, 2005
Independence Day, Jul 4, 2009
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Mar 20, 2004
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Mar 20, 2004
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Mar 20, 2004
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, May 3, 2008
I, Robot, Dec 31, 2004
Iron Man, Dec 15, 2008
Iron Man 2, Jan 3, 2011
A Knight's Tale, before Mar 19, 2003
Kill Bill: Volume 1, Apr 21, 2004
Kill Bill: Volume 2, Sep 2, 2004
King Arthur, Jan 13, 2005
King Kong (2005), Apr 4, 2006
Kingdom of Heaven, Oct 23, 2005
Kull, the Conquerer, Oct 19, 2004
Kung Fu Panda, Jan 28, 2009
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, before Mar 19, 2003
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, Mar 20, 2004
The Last Samurai, May 19, 2004
Lethal Weapon 4, Feb 22, 1999
The Lion King, Mar 20, 2004
Lord of the Dance, Oct 17, 1998
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Special Extended Edition, Feb 1, 2017
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Special Extended Edition, Feb 2, 2017
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Special Extended Edition, Feb 2, 2017
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, before Mar 19, 2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Mar 20, 2004
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Jun 5, 2004
Lost In Space, Oct 17, 1998
Madagascar, Jan 3, 2006
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Apr 30, 2004
The Matrix, before Mar 19, 2003
The Matrix Reloaded, Dec 11, 2003
The Matrix Revolutions, Apr 21, 2004
Men in Black, before Mar 19, 2003
Men in Black II, before Mar 19, 2003
Miracle, May 24, 2004
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, before Mar 19, 2003
Mortal Kombat, Nov 12, 1998
The Mummy, before Mar 19, 2003
The Mummy Returns, before Mar 19, 2003
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Jan 17, 2009
National Treasure, May 26, 2005
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, Jun 23, 2008
Ocean's Eleven, before Mar 19, 2003
Open Range, Jan 9, 2011
Pathfinder: Unrated, Jul 10, 2008
The Patriot, before Mar 19, 2003
Pearl Harbor, before Mar 19, 2003
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Dec 30, 2006
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Jan 6, 2008
Planet of the Apes, before Mar 19, 2003
The Quick and the Dead, Jan 9, 2011
Red Dragon, Mar 20, 2004
Reign of Fire, before Mar 19, 2003
Riverdance, May 25, 1999
Robin Hood (2010), Jan 2, 2011
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, before Mar 19, 2003
Rob Roy, before Mar 19, 2003
Saving Private Ryan, before Mar 19, 2003
The Scorpion King, before Mar 19, 2003
Shrek, Jan 12, 2003
Shrek 2, Nov 19, 2004
Signs, before Mar 19, 2003
Snakes on a Plane, Feb 15, 2007
Spider-Man, before Mar 19, 2003
Spider-Man 2, Jan 1, 2005
Starship Troopers, before Mar 19, 2003
Star Trek (2009), Dec 30, 2009
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Aug 1, 1999
Star Trek: First Contact, Oct 29, 1998
Star Trek: Generations, Dec 30, 1998
Star Trek: Insurrection, May 25, 1999
Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace, Jan 12, 2003
Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones, before Mar 19, 2003
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith, Nov 4, 2005
Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Vol. 1 (animated), Apr 19, 2005 (this is kind of Star Wars 2.5.1)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Vol. 2 (animated), Jan 20, 2006 (this is kind of Star Wars 2.5.2)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (movie), Dec 15, 2008
Star Wars IV: A New Hope, Sep 21, 2004
Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back, Sep 21, 2004
Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi, Sep 21, 2004
Superman Returns, Dec 30, 2006
The Sum of All Fears, before Mar 19, 2003
Tears of the Sun, Mar 20, 2004
Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Oct 29, 1998
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Mar 20, 2004
Terminator Salvation, Dec 31, 2009
Titan A.E., before Mar 19, 2003
Tomorrow Never Dies, Oct 29, 1998
Total Recall, Jan 13, 2005
Transformers, Nov 11, 2007
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Jan 1, 2010
Tron, before Mar 19, 2003
Troy, Jan 13, 2005
Unbreakable, before Mar 19, 2003
Virus, Mar 20, 2004
Wall-E, Jun 7, 2009
Wanted, Jan 17, 2009
War of the Worlds, Jan 3, 2006
Warren Miller's Ski World, before Mar 19, 2003
We Were Soldiers, before Mar 19, 2003
The X-Files: Fight the Future, May 25, 1999
X-Men, before Mar 19, 2003
X2: X-Men United, Mar 20, 2004
X-Men 3: The Last Stand, Dec 30, 2006
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Sep 20, 2009
XXX, before Mar 19, 2003
Zodiac, Jul 10, 2008

Home Theater Links

The Digital Bits - One of the best sites for getting the latest DVD news and information as well as movie studio information and rumors! Check out their links page to many additional DVD and Encore resources.
DVD Empire - It's the place I use to purchase DVD movies from.. when I purchase them online. They seem to have good prices and great selection. I haven't had a problem with them yet. I don't use them much anymore now that the local Wal-Mart and Hastings have good selection of DVDs.
AVS Forum - An active forum site for Home Theater discussions. Seems to be more active than the Home Theater Spot.
Home Theater Spot (link removed, site gone) - Great place for reviews and community discussion. Many manufacturer and home theater related forums.

Page last modified: Friday, April 26, 2024 5:56:33 PM CDT

Return to Home Page