A home entertainment system for about $1000

The new 4K LCD/LED TVs are popular and coupled with a 4K DVD player and a 5:1 soundbar, you can  have a very capable home entrainment system.

The 4K TVS are ahead of their time, so finding 4k media can be a challenge, Have found less than 50 4K DVDS for sale on Amazon.com and Ebay. Found two 4k streaming videos on Amazon Prime and about 25 on Netflix.

The best media broadcasts in the US are 1080P and likely to stay that way for many years. In Korea, 4K broadcasts have been compressed and broadcast over conventional HD (1080P) . However, you would need a special setup box or TV tuner for this to work. The broadcast would have to be compressed and decompressed, causing latency in the video stream.

You don't need a Smart TV unless they are a better deal than a dumb TV.  Why,? Because smart TVS are inferior  in many ways to media on a a Roku appliance that features Netflix, Amazon prime and many other apps and news media.

A 4K Samsung Smart TV has the same functionality as a Smart DVD player such as the Samsung BD-F7500 4K Upscaling 3D Wi-Fi Blu-ray Disc Player. The DVD player costs far less than the cost of the TV. So if you want Roku functionality without buying a Roku unit, buy the 4K upscaling DVD player

Watched Ghostbusters I tonight on one of these upscaling  DVD players and it was amazing. The point is if you want to get much out of a UHDTV, you will need streaming 4k media from the Internet  or some 4k mastered DVDs. You will need a 4k Blu ray DVD player for 4k DVDs.

Be aware too that 4K TVs are really Ultra High Definition (UHDTVs). UHDTV is is 3840 pixels wide by 2160 pixels tall (8.29 megapixels). There is even a higher resolution 8K Super Hi-vison TV in Japan.

To finish off you home entertainment system,  check out a 5:1 soundbar. The VIZIO S4251w-B4 5.1 Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer and Satellite Speakers is an excellent system that has a fiber optic TOS interface to a UHD or HDTV. It connects using Bluetooth to a remote subwoofer that has wired connections to two rear speakers. 

Once I got the subwoofer powered up, the subwoofer and the two remotes started to work. Be aware that both your home router and Bluetooth enabled PC can interfere with the Bluetooth connection between the soundbar and the subwoofer. 

You can have such a system for about $1000 depending on what you pay for the UHDTV or HDTV.  An upscaling 4K or UHD DVD player should cost about $200 or less. The 42 inch Vizio Soundbar was on sale for about $200 on Cyber Monday, it is now a $100 more, but watch for a price drop.

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-definition_television

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A trick with Roku and Pandora.

 Roku 2 controller with earbuds connected to Blue Tooth audio jack

If you have a Roku 2 or 3 appliance, ii comes with a controller that contains a female Blue Tooth headphone jack. You can connect a headphone to a standard male 3.5mm connector and listen to Pandora while you work out as long as you are within the 33 foot range off Blue Tooth enabled Roku appliance

Have to change the HDMI input on my TV to bring up the Roku options that include Netflix and Amazon Prime. I then scroll to Pandora and use the shuffle option.

I found Pandora would continue to work even after changing the TV input back to cable TV. 

Instead of using a head phone, I decided to connect a Blue Tooth enabled 808 speaker to the Roku controller using an audio cable that came with the speaker. You can charge the 808 speaker with a USB cable that is also provided with the 808 speaker.

Have the speaker charging from my laptop. There are also USB adapters that will charge the speaker from a wall outlet.

At bedtime, turned off the speaker. When I got up, turned the speaker back on and to my surprise the speaker was still playing the Pandora music.

You can also use the Pause button on the Roku controller to pause music.

So a music aficionado can listen to Pandora all day long while his significant other watches TV that has the same Roku connection. This setup is independent from a laptop or PC.

You can turn off or pause the streaming music and restart it at a later time.

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Roku 3 rocks!

Recently signed up again for Roku streaming media after a six year hiatus.  Have on the original first and second generation appliances and both continued to work with the exception of Netflix and Amazon.

This is because the writer uses a VPN router that terminates in Canada. You might think I Live in the Great White North if you checked my IP address whereas I actually live in FL.

Have the ability to bring up another VPN that terminates in the US, but I was still running into "unable to retrieve activation code messages on my LCD TV. Oddly, I could watch Netflix and Amazon video on my laptop just fine. 

Would also mention if have subscribed to Amazon Prime. It provides free shipping for most of you Amazon orders.  You also will be able to watch a lot of free movies. You can expect a charge to your Amazon account if you watch the newer releases.

I checked the Internet and one person said updating the Roku would fix the activation  problem. Doesn't that almost always work.

So I purchased a Roku 3. The Roku 3 is nearly identical to  Roku 2 except it has an Ethernet port. The Roku 2 only supports wireless connections,.

The Roku  looks like an over-sized hockey puck, but it is powerful. After connecting an HDMI cable to your LCD, LED or HDTV, plug it in and configure the the appliance for either Ethernet or wireless.

You will need a Roku pin to register generic applications in the Channel Store like WSJ Live. To register apps like Netflix and Amazon, you will need an an activation code from the TV that you will have to enter on the Amazon or Netflix web site, for example.

You may be able to use you out of country VPN if you change your domain name servers in your router of cable modem. See https://unlocator.com/.

With the Roku 3, you may be able to opt out of cable service altogether because you can access news, movies and TV shows. It is even has a game player and comes free with Angry Birds. Other low cost games can be purchased, too. 

The Roku controller can also be used as a game controller.

The Roku 3 has a standard 3.5mm audio jack.  You can use the ear buds the Roku comes with or plug in standard head phones.

This is great if you are heard of hearing or hearing disabled because you have blue tooth audio connection with the Roku appliance that mutes the TV audio. You can listen to all of the audio content that Roku provides including the Pandora streaming music service.

A closing comment, the lags that were common the the older Roku appliances are now gone. Videos no longer time out and have to restart. Rightardia was quite impressed with the latest in Roku technology.

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