Surround Sound Help (Please)?

I recommend you go online to Home Theater Magazine and read the reviews on receivers and speakers. Pioneer and Onkyo are the top brand for entry level receivers. For speakers look at the following brands: Definitive Technology, Energy, JBL, Infinity, Klipsch and Polk Audio to name a few. Also Onkyo makes a receiver and speaker package are are also good starting with the HT-S3400, it is a 5.1 receiver and a set of speakers. Those home theater in a box are not worth the money. They are not flexible for adding anything to them or upgrading. Keep in mind, you get what you pay for. Demo them first before you buy. Hope this will help you out.

1. A home theater receiver, a set of speakers (5.1 or 7.1, your choice, which would mean one center speaker, two fronts, two or four sides/rears, and a subwoofer), and some disc player, be it upconverting DVD or BluRay, which also upconverts standard DVDs. 2. Pioneer, Yamaha, Harman Kardon and Denon for receivers. Infinity, Polk, JBL, and Klipsch for the speakers. Don't mix brands in a HT speaker sytem. Disc players are pretty much all good. 3. A basic 5.1 set can be had for about $500-$600, but a $1000 will get you better gear, and let you got 7.1, rather than 5.1. 4. Yes. Make sure that the receiver has enough inputs of the right kind. The game devices should go in by HDMI, as will the disc player. You may need a hidef cable box.