Continuing from my previous feature on HT systems under 50K, this feature describes optimal products that can go into your home theater system if you have a budget of 1 lakh. The products mentioned here naturally belong to the midrange segment. This segment reveals some top-quality stuff, however – occasionally even better than high-end, more expensive gear!

The main issue here is identifying that extra feature, or fractionally better performance quality, as it's a well-known fact that the higher you go in the price range, differences in quality become less evident. The products we've featured in this article are easily available though, from company showrooms and retailers such as Sumaria.

Still, all those entertainment buffs who want to take a closer look at these options had better bring out their cheque books as well…

DVD player
Denon DVD-1730- Rs.15,000
The source of your fun, this unit holds the key to your system's performance. All the audio and video quality directly depends on this. So we have selected the Denon 'seventeen-thirty' as it is commonly called. It’s a superb DVD player from a superb company that also manufactures AV receivers and stereo systems.

The player comes in two colors (black and metallic gray) in a rather chunky size of 435 x 310 x 75 mm. It weighs 2.3 kg. This unit will require a whole shelf of your tray; it’s a unit that can demand attention even though in Denon’s range it is still the entry level model!

One killer feature it offers is the high quality progressive scan engine, something that really affects the clarity of the signal. Audio is handled by Burr Brown 24 Bit/192 KHz DACs, another renowned product. It plays DVD, DVD RW, DivX, CD, MP3 and WMA formats, plus Kodak And Fuji Film picture discs, in case you want to see photos on your TV (read: if you're bored).

HDMI outs enable you to select upscaling till 480p/720p/1080i, while the regular composite and component bunch of outputs are available as well.

The unit performs very well, with minimal distortion and artifacts in the video, and an enthralling color representation. The black depth is insane; indeed the overall dynamic range of colors is accurate and beautiful. Fast scenes produced minimal blur, and most importantly the upscaled images through HDMI out were killer in terms of clarity.

There's a slight disadvantage in that the menu and operation are a little complicated. So ease of use is slightly compromised. Still, one look through the manual and you are good to go.

Features:

• Music/Video CD/CD-R/CD-RW Playback,DVD-R/RW Video
• Kodak Picture CD Compatible, Fujifilm Fujicolor CD Compatible, JPEG Photo-File Viewer
• WMA9 Playback
• 3:2 Pull down Detection
• 108 MHz, 10 bit chip.
• Super Sub Alias Digital Filter
• Buffer Memory to decrease Layer change:2MB
• Multi-speed DVD-ROM Drive - 2X for DVD, 4X for CD
• Burr-Brown 24/192 Audio DACs (DSD/PCM Discrete)
• Built-In Dolby Digital, DTS Decoders with 5.1 outputs
• MP3 Audio Decoder for CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW Discs
• 4:3 Aspect Ratio Shrink and Zoom Adjustments for 480p
• Parallel Digital/Analog Audio Outputs
• Parallel Video Outputs
• True 24-bit/96kHz Digital PCM 2-Ch
• HDMI 1.1 (HDCP Compatible – SiL9030) - With Selectable Scaling – 480p/720p/1080i
• Black Level Adjustment
• Discrete Power On/Off
• Remote I/O Ports
• Auto-Power Off
• On-screen Display
• Virtual Surround Sound
• Weight: 5.1 pounds
• Width17.1"
• Height3.0"
• Depth12.2"