The home theater in a box was an ingenious invention. It takes the guesswork out of purchasing compatible parts. The combination has to be just right for the effect to be pleasing. With home theaters in a box you find equipment was made to go together with little effort. The prices range from modest to extravagant as do all, yet the buy of a box tends to run less than what you would pay if you bought everything individually. There are many brands to choose from. Here are a few along with their prices and what they have to offer.

 Toshiba Sd-V55HT is extremely affordable it can be owned for $299.00 and packs a punch for such a small investment it is equipped with 5.1 speakers, 60 w/channel, progressive scan DVD player, VCR, receiver, and tuner. The quality of this system is (per consumers) not the best in sound quality, yet better than what could be expected for the price. The perks of this is the easy set up. Fewer Cords are involved and it comes with a color code.

Panasonic SC-HT720 is another box kit that is affordable it goes for $349.00 and is packed with features such as DVD audio playback, a five disk CD changer, 5.1 speakers, 50 w/channel. This gives more options than the sd-v55HT when control is considered yet (per consumer) the picture and sound quality fall short from what would be expected.

Onkyo HT-S77C is considered a best buy at $700.00 with this purchase one would receive 6.1 speakers, a receiver, a separate DVD player, And the DV-CP702 six-disc DVD changer. This product is said to have superior audio and visual resolutions. The set up seems to be a bit more difficult but is well worth the time.

Gateway KAS-303 & Connected DVD Player Bundle is a more expensive combination that includes 6.1 speakers and a separate DVD player (with the ability to play digital media from a computer) the experienced with this system states that it is less than what it should have been. Though the price may suggest excellent quality the actual audio was far too overpowering and made it less enticing. The focus seemed to have been on the innovated features verses the over all affect. And the set up tends to be time consuming.

There are many more that can be researched. The upside is that all components are combined for reasons you may never have considered.