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Just put this together in my new house. The furniture is temporary. Television is a 42" LG 42LG70. Receiver is an old Sony STR-D711. The CD player is an old Sony CDP-M19. The speakers are Angstrom Legatos. And an Xbox. The sad part is I can't watch anything. The closest outlet is ungrounded (despite the fact that it has a 3-prong receptacle). Surprisingly enough, the TV has a 3-prong plug - everything else is two prong.
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Apr 16, 2011 04:11
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^^^ I've got the same meter. At a job site someone borrowed it from me without telling me and swapped the probes to measure current. I grab it a few minutes later and check out some 277 - BAM! Scared the hell out of me, but it still works somehow.
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Apr 16, 2011 13:52
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Here is my setup with my new sound bar (panasonic SC-HTB10). There is a PS3 hiding behind the soundbar, and the TV is a panasonic G25 46 inch. I also have a PC running PlayOn so we can watch Hulu, CBS, etc on the TV via the PS3 slim. My favorite part about this setup is that there is 1 remote total, the TV remote. This means my wife never complains or gets confused about how to do stuff. The only exception is quitting Netflix on the PS3, or searching. Netflix, in their great wisdom, has made it impossible to quit or search over HDMI CEC, so we need to turn on an actual PS3 remote for that. edit: If this were an episode of CSI, someone would enhance the photo and to prove I murdered someone. Also I wish the PS3 were quieter. modig fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Apr 16, 2011 |
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Apr 16, 2011 22:27
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poppingseagull posted:^^^ I've got the same meter. At a job site someone borrowed it from me without telling me and swapped the probes to measure current. I grab it a few minutes later and check out some 277 - BAM! Oddly enough, mine just broke after I found out that the outlet has 117V hot to neutral but 0V hot to ground. Now it just displays '-1' and won't measure anything, even dc. Maybe I'll open it up and look inside.
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Apr 17, 2011 00:47
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 TV is the Samsung UE46D7000 46". Amp is the Marantz Special Edition PM-66SE Mission 701 speakers DVD player is the Sony DVP-S725D PS3 for Blu-Ray Sky+HD Wii
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Apr 25, 2011 12:45
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i see a harmony in your future
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Apr 25, 2011 15:30
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future? i'd say right now. A harmony is the best A/V money I've spent in terms of cost/reduction of headache. The wife is happy, i'm happy it's easy to set up, and it never fucks up unless you don't charge it.
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Apr 25, 2011 16:42
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I love my Harmony but I get really sick of the input lag. Is it even possible to make that fully go away without having it miss commands all the time?
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Apr 25, 2011 21:20
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Glottis posted:I love my Harmony but I get really sick of the input lag. Is it even possible to make that fully go away without having it miss commands all the time? I'm the same way. Compared to the little apple remote for my Apple TV, my harmony is dog poo poo slow. It works just fine, it's just slow. I've tried changing the timings and nothing seems to fix it.
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Apr 26, 2011 00:42
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I have been thinking about a Harmony, but reviews and you guys suggest that this lag/delay is pretty annoying. Which is the best version to get? I have probably 5 devices that would require some kind of remote although 2 of those are Sky+HD and the PS3.
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Apr 26, 2011 13:20
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Sonic H posted:I have been thinking about a Harmony, but reviews and you guys suggest that this lag/delay is pretty annoying. Which is the best version to get? I have probably 5 devices that would require some kind of remote although 2 of those are Sky+HD and the PS3. Try it and see if it bugs you is all I can say. I've used the One for about 3 years, works great. The PS3 bluetooth/IR bridge seemed wonky at first. I haven't had a problem since I changed apartment complexes so I'm thinking something else was going on.
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Apr 26, 2011 14:59
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Sonic H posted:I have been thinking about a Harmony, but reviews and you guys suggest that this lag/delay is pretty annoying. Which is the best version to get? I have probably 5 devices that would require some kind of remote although 2 of those are Sky+HD and the PS3. I use a Harmony 700 with XBMC via a USB IR6 dongle, a receiver, PS3 and some other junk. The Harmony is a bit slower than the Media Center remote I have but it's not intolerable or something. Some people have likened it to the delay you see using a cable STB remote but I've found it far better than that in terms of responsiveness. The odd time it will send a command twice when I'm holding down the button to skip through long lists but it's a small price to pay for the convenience factor(5 remotes down to 1). That said I do understand why people are a bit miffed about any delay when they are spending $250 on a remote. I use a 700 so I'm not sure if the One is worse in this regard either, it could very well be. The 700 I got was $50, is backlit, has physical activity buttons instead of a silly touchscreen and only lacks the cradle. The Gunslinger fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Apr 26, 2011 |
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Apr 26, 2011 15:12
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Glottis posted:I love my Harmony but I get really sick of the input lag. Is it even possible to make that fully go away without having it miss commands all the time? Get something from http://www.universalremote.com/. I have a MX-900 for my theater area downstairs and a Harmony One for my small stuff upstairs. The MX-900 beats it in pretty much every area except consumer marketing.
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Apr 27, 2011 05:12
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I've used the Harmony 890 for a couple years. Lag hasn't been an issue, and I can count on one hand the number of times it's misfired on a sequence. I've got it programmed to work for the TV, receiver, PS3, fans, lights and a digital photo frame. I really can't imagine something doing all of that so reliably with an easier interface (unless I could get an iphone app do it). My only real complaint is that the volume+- and channel+- buttons aren't working like they should anymore. I have to really press hard to get the click to register. I'm pretty sure it's just the rubber mat that is worn out for those buttons & I'm starting to look into getting replacement parts. If nothing else I can just reassign the buttons to map volume & channel controls elsewhere. I'm considering just buying another one just to have it for when the current one gives up the ghost. It seems that model is no longer being produced & I really don't want to be without it.
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Apr 27, 2011 06:03
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Xixox posted:I've used the Harmony 890 for a couple years. Lag hasn't been an issue, and I can count on one hand the number of times it's misfired on a sequence. I've got it programmed to work for the TV, receiver, PS3, fans, lights and a digital photo frame. I really can't imagine something doing all of that so reliably with an easier interface (unless I could get an iphone app do it). Call Logitech support and see if they'll replace it, seriously. They may replace it or at the least give you a discount on a new one. I did this for an out of warranty Harmony 1000 and they gave me 50% off of an 1100. Not ideal but really generous of them regardless.
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Apr 27, 2011 07:14
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You need to tweak the settings for devices that are responding too slowly. I got my Harmony to work way better than most of my stock remotes, especially the one that controls the volume on my preamp.
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Apr 30, 2011 05:41
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Nija posted:Get something from http://www.universalremote.com/. I have a MX-900 for my theater area downstairs and a Harmony One for my small stuff upstairs. The MX-900 beats it in pretty much every area except consumer marketing. I love mine (I have the MX-880), but there's some serious caveats to owning one of these. If you buy it from Amazon, for instance, you don't get access to the programming software without either being a licensed installer, begging the the manufacturer for it, or finding it on the internet somewhere. Even then, the software is NOT as user friendly as the Harmony line. It's OK once you learn it, but it took a solid 6-8 hours to get it setup the way I wanted to the first time around. It is substantially more customizable, but it's like they make the software specifically to sell training for it. I was considering selling it and picking up a Harmony recently, but a friend of mine bought the One and asked that I program it for him. I couldn't stand the delay, and no amount of adjusting seemed to fix it. Now that the wife uses an XBMC app to start videos/music on the HTPC from her phone, I'm considering getting one of those IR repeaters that can be controlled by iOS.
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Apr 30, 2011 12:49
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Be sure to check out Sony remotes like the RM-VL600 or whatever its current version is. $25 and it will do everything- just takes a while to program. Also apparently theres a newer harmony 300 (i think) thats much cheaper than the others but can still do the same stuff, just has no screen.
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Apr 30, 2011 14:24
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falz posted:Also apparently theres a newer harmony 300 (i think) thats much cheaper than the others but can still do the same stuff, just has no screen. Its garbage, don't bother for anything except for a very, very basic setup. You don't use the normal harmony based software, it's some web plugin monstrosity that doesn't have half the capability for programming as the normal software.
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May 1, 2011 02:27
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EC posted:I love mine (I have the MX-880), but there's some serious caveats to owning one of these. True. Sometimes I take things for granted. I have the software and I can get the software for you and I can probably offer programming assistance or provide examples. It makes a lot of sense after using it for awhile.
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May 1, 2011 21:30
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I've had an MX-850 with the RF base station since 2005 and I love it, but it wasn't the easiest thing to get going. That being said there is pretty much nothing you cant do with it. Apparently I have the non updating version of the software, so the one or two times I have had to update my remote I have to go searching for files on remotecentral.com. However I knew this going into it that this model was considered an installer model. If I could change one thing it would be for URC to allow anyone to buy the most current software. It really is pretty straight forward once you get in and mess around.
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May 2, 2011 16:28
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devmd01 posted:Its garbage, don't bother for anything except for a very, very basic setup. You don't use the normal harmony based software, it's some web plugin monstrosity that doesn't have half the capability for programming as the normal software. It's not that bad for the price. The biggest thing holding it back is the lack of macros. It will only do one macro for "Watch TV". I have two of them for my tv's with simpler setups. (TV, Blu ray player and an Apple TV2) and it works just fine for that. My wife uses it without an issue. I had no problem programming them either. It took maybe 5 minutes to get everything working. I have an 880 for my main tv. (Which is a more complicated setup.) It is on its third battery pack and some of the buttons are getting hard to press. My wiring closet (it has a door and is in the basement, thankfully)  Dish 722k, Logitech Revue (Google TV), 4x4 HDMI Switch, Media Server, and Sling Adapter. Family Room  50" Samsung Plasma, Sony Blu ray player and Apple TV2. Living Room  56" Panasonic rear projection, PS3, Wii and some crappy receiver. Bedroom  50" Samsung Plasma, Panasonic Blu ray player and Apple TV2. ssspy007 fucked around with this message at 16:57 on May 2, 2011 |
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May 2, 2011 16:41
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Hi guys, here's my current setup... I think I need some lights for the background, this thing is just killing my eyes when it's the only thing on in the room.. What's a good backlight setup for a 55" tv? I was looking at something like this.. http://www.cyron.com/p-28-media-highlighter-pro-system-htp2402e-enhanced-2x24.aspx
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May 4, 2011 04:21
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Having a tall lamp behind the couch helps a ton I find although I'm not sure the size of your room. I forget what they are called but one of my ex's bought me a standing lamp that's about 6 feet tall and provides great background light to the whole room without being overpowering. I find it's just bright enough that I don't get eye strain but it doesn't really put any glare on the screen during dark scenes in movies. I tend to turn it off for horror movies and stuff like Dark City but that's more out of preference.
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May 4, 2011 14:15
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What I did was visited Lowes and bought their slimline LED undercabinet lighting, and a remote control system. Works great, maybe $40 invested. The remote is nice as it's just a keychain remote like a car alarm.
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May 5, 2011 17:34
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System that I'm pretty proud of but I still realize I'm open to a bunch of ridicule. Or, "This is what you get when you don't have much of a budget and you have to make a shitload of concessions with your wife" Insignia 50" 1080p plasma tv Rebranded Samsung panel. Bought it on sale. With $200 in BBY cards, it was $700 Insignia 450w 5.1 receiver Apparently rebranded Onkyo. On sale for $223, cost $73 after $150 in BBY cards. Speakers are from a cheap rear end $150 receiver I bought over 5 years ago. 60w JVC powered subwoofer Bought it off some dude on craigslist for $20. Z-Line Designs Remington TV Stand - Mocha Originally $159 but we had some sort of discount from Target from something I forget. Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD Thanks to TWC, we will be paying for this... forever! Xbox 360 Partially paid for by gift cards! Kinect Sorry to disappoint you- paid full price for this. However, I did cheap out by not buying the stupid $30-$50 stand/mount for the damned thing. In fact, that thing right there is attached with sticky back Velcro(tm)! One-For-All SmartControl remote (OARI06G) Paid full price. Here is how I choose to defend myself: 1. At $24, that's nearly $20 less than the Harmony 300. But drat this remote does everything I need. I have it all macro'd and smarted up and all that nonsense. 2. It's the best looking remote in that price range. gently caress. In the end, that's still a large chunk of money. But all of this crap was bought over a 3-year time period. And, YES, my speaker placement is screwed up. That right there is the ONLY place we can put the TV in the living room. YES, there is a buttload of heat coming out of that damned TV stand. That is the only one that my wife and I could agree on. Her demands: "Hide the poo poo that people don't need to see". That means, all the xbox games/crap and other miscellaneous bs. So that's what the drawers are for. And, of course, we have to get a stand that fits in that odd corner. The wife won't let me remove the back panel from the TV stand because she doesn't think it looks good, with all of the mess of wires and the fact that seeing the back wall through the stand is ugly. She won't let me drill more holes into that back panel because it will look ugly. I think the only thing I can do is to remove the back panel, attach some wood to the back to space it out, and then re-attach the back panel to the wood- effectively creating a gap from the back of the tv stand and the panel that allows heat to escape. Oh, one more thing. No, my cable box isn't floating. It's actually resting on a black wired paper inbox that you can't even notice unless you're bending over manually pressing buttons on the cable box. I had to put that thing there since I just got the receiver and don't want to ruin it and the stupid cable box puts out so much freakin' heat it's unbelievable.
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May 6, 2011 17:31
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I have a similar situation, with a closed in TV stand in a corner of the room. My wife was the same way as well, she didn't want to see anything behind the stand. So i removed the cover and got some sort of dark porous fabric at a Lowe's (or maybe WalMart? this was a bit ago). I stapled the fabric at the top and let it hang down, and I got much better heat ventilation. The 360 doesn't spin up loudly except in the afternoon (my living room faces the setting sun, yay). It's also much, much easier to get back there and gently caress with the cabling now. Just a thought.
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May 7, 2011 13:39
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I made a quick video of some touch ups done to my theater. Continual work in progress: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA0MkGP6rfE Picked the dimmest mode with pretty much no fan noise. Casio XJ-A240 projector Hand-me-down Onkyo 5.1 receiver Home built front tower speakers Infinity center channel and rear speakers. Waiting for a 7.2 receiver to hook up more in the rear.
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May 8, 2011 13:25
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I'm trying to decide how to setup my home theater in my new apartment. I see two possibilities mainly, but drat is 7.1 annoying to setup. I think this not to scale picture I drew would be the best option for wiring and the theater design, but maybe not for the use of the room. I liked having my cable modem, router, and switch on my TV stand like I did in my last apartment so I could network my 360, PS3, and computer together. I think I might drill a hole through that right wall and run a cable into my roommates room and then do one more ghetto from his room to mine. The only coax jack is on that 10'6" wall so I'd put a rug where that lower right entrance is and run the cable under it along with that lower on-wall speaker cable, and the speakers on the stands. I don't know what to do about the cables that would be going to those ones on the stands though. Something to cover them up? There would also be a speaker wire running up the wall to the side speakers. Last time I didn't have a problem because there was a porch door and window that they ran against so you couldn't see them. Putting those on stands wouldn't really leave much room to walk there and people are already going to have to watch their head I think. Right now I only have the one couch, but I was thinking of getting another and putting it along that top wall. The 6'5" viewing distance I calculated for my 50" TV doesn't leave much room for another couch though especially in this setup. If the room is 20 feet and the couch is only at most 10 feet total from the wall, it seems kind of silly to have half the room empty. The other option would be to put the TV along that 10'6" wall. After making this picture, I'm actually starting to think that's a better option. What do you guys think? Any tips on what to do with cables? 
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May 12, 2011 00:09
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Putting the TV along the 10'6" wall looks like a much better option
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May 12, 2011 14:57
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Yea I put the TV against the 10' wall. I haven't done any of the speakers yet. I'm going to have to run everything along the right side. I was thinking a rug on the right entrance to cover them up, but then I'd probably need another huge rug to put the couch on and also cover up the wire running from the wall in the little bit of space behind the couch. Do people do anything for speaker wire running up the wall? I'm not sure what I could do there.
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May 12, 2011 17:14
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Is there a reason why you want to be only 6.5' away from a 50" TV? Other than that constraint, it seems like the shorter wall is the best option.
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May 12, 2011 19:23
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KingKapalone posted:Do people do anything for speaker wire running up the wall? I'm not sure what I could do there. I ripped up my carpet in my apartment and ran all the cable between the wall and the tack strip. It's not that hard, but be prepared to find a lot of poo poo under there. You'll want a vacuum and a hammer to tack it back down. All of my speakers were on stands near a wall, though. If your speakers are gonna sit in the middle of a floor you could try cutting a tiny slit in the carpet right where the stand will be and run the speaker cable through it. Once you remove the cable it'll be practically invisible. As for going UP the walls to speakers, you can probably do one of those white cable track things. Not the greatest but in an apartment you can't really go poking holes in the walls unless you want to get hosed when you move out.
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May 12, 2011 20:49
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Glottis posted:Is there a reason why you want to be only 6.5' away from a 50" TV? Other than that constraint, it seems like the shorter wall is the best option. That's what the distance calculators said to do. Where I put it right now is at about 7.5' from screen to eyeballs. I might just push it back a little more because I don't think I'll have any use for that bit of space behind the couch. I don't know if I'm prepared to rip up the carpet. Running it around the bottom of the wall I don't really have a problem with, it's just the part where it would stretch across open floor.
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May 12, 2011 23:56
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CaseFace McGee posted:
Are you a Sinfonian? Whatup bro! 
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May 17, 2011 04:12
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Finally after a 1yr and half and tons of lurking and saving I finished my multipurpose Living/game/movie room. I want to first thank people from A/V Arena because in one way or another you helped this project. Omegaslast Hob_Gadling King Hotpants Hippie Hedgehog jonathan From AVSForum.com Mississippi Man skyman00 Rahl  PS2 Onkyo TX-SR507 5.1 receive Optoma hd20 1080p projector modded old school xbox for NES emulator Powered via Tripp Lite surge protector You can also see I use Velcro to secure the remotes under the cabinet when not in use DJ hero controller Cans  Equipment in relationship to the seating. Will be getting a white cable cover for the cables running behind the couch.  Rear left speaker & curtains.  This screen at 96 inches, this is actually a white board picked up from Home Depot that has similar reflective properties to a Da-Lite screen. You can find out more on the AVS forums searching for DoAble Screen. The company no longer makes the board but there is a product with the same inventory number. The frame was built buy me. It's 3in boarder wrapped in velvet.  This is how the screen was hung on the wall. I use a 2X4X6 to make a French cleat. Bolted it to the wall then used liquid nails to hold the board to the cleat.  Ran cabled through the ceiling/walls and mounted speaker mounts so I can change out the speakers. These are Polk Audio monitor30 series II. I have 4 of these for left/right, front/back.  Here you can see the old speakers are now being used as end tables. This is the Polk Audio PSW505 pron.  Trying to show some detail of the screen for 1080p goodness but camera doesn't pick it up that well. Although you can see the black quality and the light that splashes outside of the screen. This won't be fixed till we move to a new house as it's not a huge issue at the moment.  Me love you long time. sterster fucked around with this message at 18:22 on May 18, 2011 |
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May 17, 2011 15:36
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sterster posted:Trying to show some detail of the screen for 1080p goodness but camera doesn't pick it up that well. Holy crap, it looks like it picked it up fine to me. I can't believe how bright and clear that is.
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May 18, 2011 02:30
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Very creative use of space mounting your gear like that on the wall, were you at all worried about sitting under it at first?
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May 18, 2011 13:36
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You could get some vinyl wall stickers to make the wire going down your wall more appealing. Credit goes to Lifehacker.
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May 18, 2011 14:00
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niss posted:Very creative use of space mounting your gear like that on the wall, were you at all worried about sitting under it at first? You have no idea. A quick guess suggest 30bls of equipment and cables not including the weight of the cabinet. When I first put it up I used the standard screws that it came with which where working but it still made me feel uncomfortable. I ended up getting some thicker, longer 2 1/2in ones and using those. Now there isn't a problem and I feel fine. It was definitely an issue dealing with my limited space. The room is only 14ft that run the length of the couch X 12ft which is from the projector to the screen. durk onion posted:You could get some vinyl wall stickers to make the wire going down your wall more appealing. This is a pretty sweet idea, I don't however think those decals would fit the room nor would there be enough space between the couch & AV cabinet. Appreciate the suggestion though.
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May 18, 2011 15:25
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