I got a DVD surround for my Samsung. On my set I had to use digital optical audio out (sometimes called Toshlink) it looks like that is what your model has too. Certainly get a surround system with one of those as an input.
Surround sound is a bit complex but essentially my Samsung Freeview HD TV puts out the following over the optical digital output:
- On standard tv channels it outputs stereo. Sometimes (particularly during movies) the stereo sound is encoded with Dolby Pro Logic II so you get surround sound through the stereo signal.
- On BBC HD channels and Channel 4HD a digital 5.1 surround sound is output, my surround stereo picks up the digital output and automatically switched to digital surround
- ITV HD outputs a digital 5.1 surround sound but only actually transmits a stereo signal over this. Therefore I have to manually tell the surround sound system to use Dolby Pro Logic II to get surround sound (e.g. on films)
Basically you want a system with the following specs:
- Optical digital audio input
- DTS (Dolby theatre sound) with audio codec HE-AAC 5.1 for the HD channels to get native digital surround sound.
- Dolby Pro Logic II to get surround sound on the non-HD channels
You will need to get two cables to connect it up:
- Optical digital audio cable (toshlink) to get sound from your TV to the surround sound system
- (Assuming you get a DVD/blue ray home cinema) an HDMI cable to get the picture to the TV
Nice to have decent sound when listening to Radio 6 Music using the tele to receive it!
In terms of buying a suitable surround sound system - I took 2 Samsung ones back due to hiss from the speakers. Cheap design I guess. I bought a Pioneer DCS 404 system for £250 which I'm pleased with. The same one with smaller speakers was floating around for £150 a few months back. An updated model with Blue Ray and internet features is currently £299 from John Lewis:
http://www.johnlewis.com/231327283/Product.aspxA lot of other brands don't have RDS FM tuners (which I wanted) and restrict DVDs and Blue rays to the local region (I have some from other regions) so look for these if they matter to you. Pioneer seem to play all region discs BTW.
PS: If you don't use Sky or any other set top boxes you don't need to know about the third bullet point in your post.
Have fun!