BG Tech, build me a new budget friendly Home Theatre set up

[Fr34k]

So my parents 47" plasma just shit out on them, audio works but nothing but lines down one part of the screen. I convinced them to overhaul their entire system, and they gave me a 2k budget to work with. Here's what I want out of it.

TV - They had a 47", so I'd like a 50" or bigger. 1080p, plasma, etc.
Blu-ray player - self explanatory
New Reciever - My dad's old one is old, shitty, and faintly plays a radio station out of one of the speakers when they are watching movies.
New speakers - Old polk speakers, they need a revamp
Something to hold CD's - He has 200 CD's in a rotating thing now, dunno if that's replaceable.

So my first thought was getting the TV, building an HTPC, and then getting some new speakers. I've built my last 2 PC's but I'm a complete noob to HTPC's so I'm not sure if I will still need a receiver and what not. The only uses for it would be TV, movies, and music. Not going to be hooking up any consoles to it.

So BG, what would be the best way to approach this? Replace the existing equipment with new toys, or go for an HTPC and have it all in one? Need suggestions and some help picking out components as well. Like I said, 2k budget and all of this needs to be able to shipped to hawaii or bought locally. Been looking on Newegg for TV's but all the ones I've looked at aren't available to be shipped here >.>

[Darus Grey]

New speakers - Old polk speakers, they need a revamp

They likely don't, speaker technology hasn't advanced very far in 40~ years, and old speakers are just as good as new ones, it really depends on the quality of them originally, you may be replacing them with essentially the same thing or even something worse.

[Furtwangler]

The HTPC will only help if 1) you can get a hold of dvd movie rips online, 2) you want to store all those cd's digitally 3) you get a blu-ray drive for it (can also rip those to computer).
You won't be able to treat it as an actual receiver, and will still need some kind of receiver/amplifier for the speakers.

A good 50" tv is going to run you 3/4 if not all of that 2k budget, so you may need a bit more, or just find a really good deal. irregardless of that, those polk speakers may be just fine, do you have the model number of them? some older polks are still worth a penny today and the amount you'll have to pay for a good set equivalent to them or better is going to def run you over budget.
edit also: I'd get a decent 2-300 dollar receiver, use the polks, and in time they can always add a subwoofer, upgrade speakers, make it 5/7.1 eventually in time. You won't be able to afford all of that for 2k. Hunt around in local retailers (best buy etc) and look at their tvs, and try to find the best price for what they think looks the best.
the htpc is going to be 2-300 also depending on if you can get a hold of a windows license unless you're using some linux distro

[Fr34k]

I was looking at a 50" Samsung on best buy's website for about $1100, that doesn't seem too bad.

As for the HTPC, I was planning on storing all the CD's on the hard drive and getting a blu-ray drive for it so that would knock out a few of the separate pieces. Would HTPC + receiver + TV be fine if I were to go that route? I have a copies of Windows 7 waiting to be used, or have copies of XP so the OS isn't a problem.

For the speakers, they're the M Series M2. 5.1 with a subwoofer that I'm not sure is the same brand and not sure if it still even works. I'll forget upgrading the speakers for the time being and just focus on the basics.

Oh also they have a netflix subscription and get like 3 movies at a time, so I'm not sure if I should just get the receiver + blu-ray player separate and save them the hassle of learning to use the HTPC.

[Furtwangler]

if they have any computer skills at all it's going to be smarter to go with an htpc, but that's for you to gauge. They'll also be able to fairly easily rip those blu-ray cd's they rent which they may want later on. I'd go with that, otherwise if you have to then blu-ray and keep the cd rack.

[Fr34k]

Ok then, so any recommendations for any specific TV or receiver? This was the Samsung I was looking at.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung+...&skuId=9789343

After talking with my mom who's more tech savvy, she is still telling me she doesn't understand how the computer can be used to access everything so I think I'll just keep it simple for them and replace the existing dvd player with a blu-ray and then the receiver with something you guys recommend.

[gt_killa]

I'd recommend looking at the Western Digital Live TV as an alternative to building an HTPC. It plays all kind of video formats (avi.,mkv for hd/blu-ray rip,etc..) as well as mp3.

[Isiolia]

May also consider just using a PS3 or something as the input. It can play a number of formats if you have a server (or from USB/etc), but is also a nice Blu-Ray and DVD player with netflix streaming and so on. The overall user experience and capabilities are better than most stand-alone Blu-Ray players, for not a lot more money.

I'd say you want to try and get a receiver with full HDMI support. You'll want audio processing from HDMI for Blu-Ray.
Do look ahead though. IE, if you'll really want to build up speakers n' stuff, be sure to get something with preouts at least. The amps in most new receivers are a bit lacking, depending on what you want to do.

[Furtwangler]

He has a point with the ps3, can be used not only for blu-ray, but for netflix streaming