hGhazel wrote
what does the "pioneer thingy" do ? ( pricy too)
it's a home theater receiver, it powers the speakers and you can connect all your hdmi devices and cable devices to it.
if you want surround sound an HT receiver is mandatory
http://hometheater.about.com/od/audiocomponents/bb/bybaavreceiver.htm
Stores in Lebanon sell stuff like this
http://www.khouryhome.com/audio-video/home-theater/samsung-surround-ht-j5150p.html
where a small receiver is built-in the DVD component.
usually those devices have a mediocre and low sound quality and you can know that since a high quality receiver can be known as high quality by its weight.
weirdly "khoury hon" also has stuff like this
http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-HT-S3500-5-1-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B0077V88V8
its called an HTiB , home theater in a box, it's a good entry level system in the AV department.
Seems like macrotronics had that case a couple of years ago before their website.