[rixrex]

This is my current home theater setup, after buying a new house and moving in 3 yrs ago:

Pioneer Elite 64" W/S, rear projector CRT model (it was a factory overstock product so got it pretty cheap and well worth it!), display modes of 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i.

DVDO Iscan Ultra (takes all 480i and enhances to 480p, plus has anamorph aspect ratio feature that slices off black bars on letterboxed items and scales and squeezes images to view on standard W/S settings used for squeezed DVDs. Also gives you black or 3 different gray sidebars for 4:3 images)

Those two items are the backbone of the setup, the rest are:

Two Sony DVS-360 DVD players, from when they were built solidly! One set for standard 4:3 and one set for W/S.

Two Panasonic LX1000u laserdisc players (kept my collection of over 2000 LDs and still adding to it).

Two Mitsubishi HS-U778 Super-VHS VCRs (kept my hundreds of tapes).

Sony Betamax SL-HF450 stereo Superbeta (kept my hundreds of beta tapes)

RCA Selectavision SJT-300 stereo CED videodisc player (have over a hundred rare CED movies)

Denon power amp/tuner with Dolby Digital/DTS 5.1 output with Klipsh speaker system. Set up with an option to pass through a vintage stereo multiplex synthesizer for older mono films.

Eventually I hope to upgade to a DVDO Iscan HD or higher model which will enhance 480i to the higher HD formats up to 1080i and 1080p.

Of course if any equipment dies, replacement will be necessary.

Why keep the older equipment? Many of my older video formats have very rare items, like the complete Kurosawa film inventory up to the mid 1980s on Betamax, plus there's no point in selling off the LDs and other things to only get a dollar or two each and have to buy replacement DVDs for 10 times that cost. The only instance where I'd consider DVD swapout is for certain films I don't have in widescreen otherwise, like big budget spectacles, adventure, action or sci-fi flicks. I would not swap out a routine thriller, drama or comedy just for widescreen, and I don't use the stretch function and prefer the sidebars on these. Stretch on 4:3 images is really bad form.

How did I afford purchasing this equipment and so many films of different formats? All electonics devices were purchased either as overstock/discontinued items or second-hand but still in excellent shape. I never subscribed to cable TV, I didn't rent movies, and instead used the money to buy films that I wanted to see. I didn't have to have the latest release immediately, but waited for the overstock of rental copies to go on sale for close to the price of a rental. Broadcast TV and PBS had plenty of shows for news and occassional viewing. Films I didn't care for and that had no collection value jut got resold. - Rix