Home Theatres

“Yes, plus it uses a lot of reds and blues, with helps with the depth illusion. My DVD player upconverts to Hi-Def (I know ... it's not REAL hi-def) which helps.

The interesting thing about up-converters is that they actually do pull more information off the disk. You can see detail (not just interpolated) that you can not normally see.

That's a good disk for surround too.

What are some other good ones???

- Finding Nemo
- LOTR
- Fifth Element (if you find a good txfr)

disagree? what else?”

“Does anybody have any recommendations for a good bulb for sconces that work with the dimmers, and goes to a very low level - specifically, a bulb that doesn't hum?”

“Not the best movie - but I bet the newer King Kong movie would be a good one!”

“I have a bulb in a dimmer in my daughter's room that works real well, no hum.

I will look at it this evening and report back.

I think it is a Phillips bulb.”

“Thanks WK.”

“Good movie choices, I dig them all.

If you are into nature shows, Planet Earth (the Discovery series) was particularly stunning

Unfortunately there was not nearly as many cool explosions as the Fifth Element and every movie could use some Orcs in it.”

“hpm - if you get a chance, check out Equator-HD channel (9471 on Dish). Totally amazing! Best imagery I've seen yet if you like nature shows.”

“Thanks for the tip.

I like them but I can't seem to sit all the way through one. I wander off after about a half hour.
Go figure.”

“Yeah, definitely not as exciting as beautiful.”

“Ok, We're about halfway done with the home theater, but the feel of it is there now. Still need to add risers for the back row of seats, and hide cables and add some finishing touches like pics, etc..., but this is it so far. The "after" pics are only the front half of the room, more when it's completed. The pics are blurry. Sorry.

BEFORE


LIGHTS ON (popcorn in lower right)


LIGHTS OFF


WIFE IN FRONT FOR SCALE (screen is 10ft diag., 1080p - wife is 5' 6.5", 130lb)
”

“*wets himself*


Someone get my wife on this thread now!!!!!!”

“NICE!”

“Thanks. Not to use a cliche, but I don't think the pics do it justice due to the pseudo-lighting necessary for the shots. The mood is much more "theatrical".

It's a fun project. This week I'll be hooking up so that the theater images can be sent to the LCD monitor for my computer (which will be mounted on a retractable arm for one of the back seats) and vice-versa. That way t.v. programming can be done without turning on the whole theater system, and also you can use the theater to run computer programs.

It's 7.2 surround.

I'm almost ready to hook-up (and purchase) the XBox 360 (w/ HD DVD) and the PS3. Right now the wii is up and running. That took some fanagling (sp?) with the large screen and distance from the equipment, but it's working.

Currently it has almost 2 Terabytes of movie storage. (just over half is used up right now). This is fully upgradable as the need arises.”

“Your wife sure has a black & blocky face. Must be easy to pick her out in a crowd!

;)

I assume that's a projection system?”

“Holy #&%!$! SWEET!”

“Yeah Tech, it's a Panasonic pt-ae1000u (the "corrected" version). It's just out of view.

Anybody recognize the character in the 3rd picture? It's trailtalk related.”

“I know, I know!!”

“Biiiicycle, biiiiicycle.....”

“Is that a reference to the Queen song?”

“Boys and toys......”

“Yes. You asked who was in that last picture, and immediately that song started playing in my head.

Make it go away! I hate Queen!”

“LOL. Actually I was asking about the 2nd to last picture ... it's a famous trailtalk character. You've gotta be a little geeky to get it.

PS - That song Bicycle Race is a perfect song for what this is though - a toy just for the sake of having a toy kinda thing.
last edited: 10/22/07 11:51:48 AM”

“Looks pretty cool.

(Much better than that butt-ugly "before" room - ye gods!)”

“Treebeard, huh?

Man, that Before picture looks kinda old lady.”

“I was looking at doing a home theater for my car.

12" Infinity Kappa sub pushing 350 watts in the trunk

2 5 1/4" Infinity Kappa component speakers in the front

2 6"x9" Infinity Kappa 3-way speakers in the back

A Valor head unit with 7" retractable screen w/DVD and 5.1 Dolby surround sound”

“Old Lady, yeah, something like that. All that's missing is the dozen cats.
last edited: 10/23/07 5:06:41 AM”

“I'll be sure to tell the people we bought the house from.

I have a feeling your house (house?, is that the right word MarkO?) is a beauty. Mutt, how does your mom decorate your place? LOL!
last edited: 10/23/07 5:19:16 AM”

“Oh, right it was the former owners. Sounds real....likely.

But the point is you did a nice job. If I was so materialistic I might do something similar.”

“That's pretty funny. Actually, for anybody interested in doing something similar, we went many years without cable or anything fancy to save for this. (We have one car, I've owned from 1997 that we share - to give an idea of our minimalist lifestyle) The biggest expense is the furniture, which if you're furnishing a home, you would likely buy anyways. The rest is black paint and attention to detail. The overhead projector is capable of displaying top-notch quality video, but the cost of the projectors are less (apples for apples) than the LCD, plasma and DLP screens people are buying these days. If it's something you're interested in, with proper planning you won't have to put a lot of money into it. We live very simply, but when we do buy things, we like for them to be nice. Last game system I had before this was when my dad bought Atari pong as a kid. I've always wanted to wait for the game systems to reach a certain level of quality, and I think they're pretty close to that level now, which is why I bought a PS3 this weekend. It's less than the cost of a Blu-ray player, but with many more features.”

“I couldn't just give you a straight compliment. ;-)”

“"Last game system I had......."

Uh.........you play games?

It must be a generational thing.

How many cats?”

“I do now.

I hate cats.”

“Sarge, can I come over to watch the Super Bowl?”

“Excellent, I'll bring some beer!”

“Absolutely Noncon.

So, who else on here has an HT? I can't be the only one. ... squirrelbait? Any progress?”

“What the devil is an HT?

Do I need one?”

“HT = home theater, MarkO”

“I want to play Madden over at your place”

“Which is better? Madden or NFL 08? I'm going to buy whichever is best.”

“Ha ha !!

Just jivin' witchya, Sarge.

My boys play games...........I just don't get it.

I mostly play with myself.”

“Madden, I think if the better, but I could be wrong. I will ask my gamer friend on the train today and let you know.”

“My 15-year-old receiver gave up the ghost last week, so I ordered a new one. Its an Onkyo TX-SR575. I wanted the 875 but my wife insisted that the new receiver had to fit inside the cabinet (like the old one) and not on top, so I had to downsize until I found a unit in that line that did fit. The 575 gives me 1/4 inch to spare up top, so I added a fan to make sure it stays cool.

So far I'm blown away. Even the older Dolby Pro-Logic II is way clearer than my old receiver's PLII. Dolby Digital (which the old one did not have) is intense. I still would like some of the capabilities of the higher-end unit, but so far no buyer's remorse. Best of all, while it retails most places for around $350-399, I found it on Amazon Warehouse Deals for $250, shipped. About $500 less than I was prepared to spend on the 875, so now I have mo' money for other toys. Not backpacking toys though, I haven't needed to buy anything in a couple of years.

Oh, and for the first time in years all my components (TV/VCR/DVD/SAT/receiver) finally match color again. A long time ago they were all black, now they are all silver. I figure the trend will go back to black in a few years.”

“I like my Onkyo.

Pics coming soon of the (pretty much) finished product btw.”

“Which model do you have?”

“TX-SR674”

“I lost the battle of putting one of these in the basement. Guess I will have to live through you guys.”

“Keep fighting the good fight. We compromised and I got to put my system in the family room. No official "theater", but good enough for me.”

“I just put an Onkyo 605 in my house. I put (2) polk 8" speakers in for the front and 6's for the rears, these are in ceiling speakers. I put a 10" sub woofer and Csi3 center channel in.

I wanted the 605 so I can run a 2nd zone out to the pool. I'll wait and get the pool speakers this spring. I had wire pre run during construction, but of course, wound up wanting everything in a different spot. I still have wire run for a future zone 3 into the kitchen and hearth room, but that's well into the future.”

“PS, so far it sounds great. I need to get a CD/DVD changer but will wait a bit on that one.”

“I am going to wait until we move in 2 or 3 years.

DH, look into the HD DVD players. Totally sweet picture”