The flip side to all this, which constitutes my own philosophy, is best illustrated by the saying, "Life is too short to drink cheap wine." I am alive on this planet for roughly 70 to 100 years. Within this short time span I have access to the greatest films ever made and the greatest music ever recorded. In short, great art – according to personal tastes and reference points established over my lifetime to date.

loewe ergo 76 cm widescreen TV (CRT 100hz)

In 2000, Loewe's widescreen picture tube sets were considered state of the art. The prices certainly were. Furthermore, my particular Ergo 76 cm 16:9 television was so new that it was the first of a new batch shipped over from Germany that boasted the latest chassis, which meant it had to undergo the standard inspection for new consumer electronics. That was a long six months, but it was worth it.

The main feature of this telly was its ability to accept both component and RBG video via two SCART sockets at the back of the set. I still use this configuration today, six years later, to receive component DVD signals from the Pioneer (1.5m RCA to SCART) and RGB from the digital set top box (50cm SCART to SCART). Both video interconnects are top shelf items. A third SCART accepted the usual S-Video or composite signals – this is where the dormant VCR goes in.

Even though the TV is not flatscreen – all the rage back then for CRTs – the Loewe technician installing my unit said that the image quality of the flatscreen displays was not as good as my Ergo, which had a better picture tube. And I tell you, the picture quality still impresses the fuck out of me today. Colours are rich and saturated, while the levels of pinpoint detail renders all digitally sourced content utterly photorealistic. Unlike my previous Loewe 4:3 Ergo TV, the geometry of this set is perfect: where there are horizontal bands running across the screen, I can trace thin stripes left to right that are barely millimetres tall that stay the same height all the way across. The Ergo is also refreshes the screen at 100Hz (100 times per second), making the image absolutely stable, although random motion arefacts do appear from time to time, a common problem with any flavour of digital image processing. However, the gains make them a necessary evil.

An added bonus is the classy 3D graphic user interface (GUI), together with a hidden service menu that lets you tweak settings such as image position, image size, pincushion, trapeze, colour balance, whiten drive base levels, progressive scan for NTSC (yes please), and so on. The most useful aspect of the calibration controls that it lets you reduce the amount of overscan, which usually defaults to about 10% from the factory. I was able to change my to about 3-5%, meaning that more image appear on the visible part of the screen rather than being cropped off. That was required in the days of analogue broadcast TV and VHS tapes, but not now. Unfortunately NTSC content is biased slightly left of centre by about 1cm. Attempts to fix this affects the PAL positioning. No big deal considering 70% of what I watch is PAL digital broadcast or PAL DVD.

As for upgrade options, I'm waiting for display technology to reach the following milestones: at least 15,000:1 contrast ratio and progressive 1920 × 1080 (1080p) priced under $10,000. Plasma is preferred because LCD still has response time issues, but I could wait two years for LCoS or SED units, assuming they perform better. The other consideration is a combination Blu-Ray and HD DVD player that has 24p capability, plus enough titles to justify the upgrade. Could be a while.

pioneer DV-S737

Follow the link below to read my full equipment review of this player. As of 2007 it's having trouble reading some CDs, though never major label releases. One or two DVDs, for example The Straight Story UK release, grind to a halt around the layer change chapters and never recovers. It also has trouble playing the UK platter of Shaun of the Dead (the Aussie disc is fine), so perhaps it's related to the way discs are pressed in Britain?

That said, the Pioneer has served me well. It's actually a Hong Kong Region 3 unit that was modified to be region free by The DVD Shop in Melbourne. Those guys used to run Madman Entertainment before it was sold. I bought my first DVD player from them way back, the Panasonic MU 300. It's laser died and I never forked out the cash to have it fixed. There was no point then and no point now, when a new player would cost less than a replacement laser ($350 to $400). I'm hoping the Pioneer will last until I decide to commit to high definition. What will come first, ultra-high speed broadband or the next level of HD hard media? If I do upgrade the player, another Pioneer is what I'd look for first.

read review

teac DVB-400 set top box

Free-to-air digital broadcast is like magic.

The resolution and compression method is the same as PAL DVD: 720 pixels across by 576 lines down, using MPEG-2 encoding. The widescreen option is also in anamorphic 16:9 format. This literally makes television look as good as DVD. I can't tell the difference between the two, except that DVD sounds better, due to being in native Dolby Digital rather than basic PCM stereo. Now, the picture quality is always perfect because the digital information contains error correction within the signal, so there's none of the ghosting or noise associated with analogue transmissions. In summary, you must get a set top box (STB) as soon as you can. There's no reason in the world not to. The only catch is that you might have to upgrade your antenna or rewire the cables if the digital signal frequently drops out or certain channels are not being picked up. A small price to pay. Futhermore, digital gives you access to more channels. The only one I watch is the now essential ABC 2.

My set top box is a second generation TEAC model that cost me $250 and retailed for $300 at the time I bought it. Supported video standards include composite video, S-video, component video via RCA connectors, and RGB video via SCART, although two of component RCAs are the stereo jacks, forcing you to receive digital audio from the optical output. I selected RGB via SCART over a 50cm premium consumer cable.

The DVB-400 boasts an excellent graphical user interface that beats those I've seen on the cheaper set top boxes, including the built-in tuner TEAC has in its own widescreen CRT television. Small and intuitive, the remote control lets you channel surf, display program information, and even choose colour themes and transparency options. Otherwise, the operation of the interface provides the usual features found in most brands. It's only standard definition, too. But that's OK because I don't have a high definition capable display yet.

Analogue is dead. Let it rot in peace and do yourself a favour by going digital.

marantz AV-9000

With a manufacturing date of 1999, this unit is a bona fide dinosaur. Back in its day, the AV-9000 was Marantz' flagship home theatre pre-amplifier and digital surround decoder. And trust me, the available options for decoders were extremely limited in 2002. The decoder market has since exploded to cater for audiophiles who own power amplifiers, a combination that out performs all-in-one receivers in the same price bracket.

Being ancient, the AV-9000 also handles laserdisc bitstream input, a rare feature that influenced my decision to buy the unit, but an option I've yet to use because the laserdisc player has been in storage for years. Other virtues are DTS 96khz/24-bit decoding and a 24-bit D/A converter for CD music – two functions I have used. The fancy pants surround sound modes (Hall, Game, etc) never get invoked during film watching.

My old Arcam 8 CD player is currently used as a transport for the AV-9000. When playing music I engage Direct mode, which by-passes the surround circuits and consequently any noise those circuits might add to the signal. The results are not quite as lush and smooth as the Meridian G08, but I rarely listen to music critically in the living area these days, due to numerous other distractions.

True, newer home theatre decoders would out perform the AV-9000 today. With high defintion media now boasting uncompressed digital audio tracks that cannot be read by existing 5.1 chipsets (vanilla Dolby Digital and DTS), there is no point upgrading until surround sound technology looks like being stable for at least a ten year spell.

pioneer CLD-D790

arcam AV-50

ALR-jordan entry M series

sennheiser HD650

grado SR-325

beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro/80

panasonic HD-670