We spent a lot of time reading reviews, checking our finances, and coming to a decision as to what type of DVD system or surround sound system that we would like.
It had finally gotten to the point that we couldn't put up with the speaker in the TV any longer.
We spent time in the electronics stores listening to the different brands.
We checked out the component systems too, which we really liked, but our pocketbook did not.
So that whole style of set-up was ruled out.
Now we knew we needed the surround sound type of set-up.
Since we also needed the DVD player, we needed to decide on what style of that too.
We elected to go with a blu-ray player since it also plays regular DVDs which we have plenty of.
And it really wasn't all that more expensive to go with that type.
We listened to some pretty bad systems, even though they were in our price range.
And the really awesome ones were too expensive.
So we chose to go with a Pioneer system, which has always offered quality products for a reasonable price.
It has 1100 watts, is blue-ray, has a dock for my iPhone, and it has built-in wifi so we can stream movies from online to our TV.
That was the really cool part that we had never even considered in the beginning of our search.
It took a whole day to get everything set up correctly, and learn how to use the machine with the TV and also the VCR as we still have loads of VHS tapes too.
It was well worth the work and effort, and we love the sound of this system.
It retails for $399, and we picked it up, brand new in the box, for $274 shipped to us.
All is working great - I just now need to figure out the wifi streaming part and sign up with one of the online software companies that came included in the system.
We are pleased with our choice and so is the pocketbook!