Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down

emocrat posted:

I don't know anything about the extender he uses, but I have 2 separate runs of HDMI in my house one of 35' and one 50' and I have no problem at all with them. 1080p and never drops signal or anything. They are just decent gauge monoprice cables, nothing fancy, plugged into my Yamaha receiver.

I should stay the gently caress away from AVS forum...

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

emocrat
Feb 28, 2007
Sidewalk Technology
Heh, I found that certain parts of AVS forum had really good info and helpful people, and others were just atrocious. If you set your bullshit filter to high there is some fantastic inspiration and information to be had in the Home Theater Builder section.

TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down

emocrat posted:

Heh, I found that certain parts of AVS forum had really good info and helpful people, and others were just atrocious. If you set your bullshit filter to high there is some fantastic inspiration and information to be had in the Home Theater Builder section.

I did post above about the extremely quick and infrequent black out issues I've experienced while playing Xbox and thought it may be attribute to how I have a 15' and a 10' coupled. Now I'm thinking it's something else that I likely won't run down as it doesn't really bother me much.

falz
Jan 29, 2005

01100110 01100001 01101100 01111010
1080p definitely works fine on the longer run of mine in that diagram (Living room TV)

TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down
So it's not the most original setup, nor is it perfect, but it's finished! I have my Xbox and Uverse box in a nearby closet with the wires ran through the basement and back up. Also a HTPC and Wii in the basement directly below it (closet got too hot with HTPC and the Component cables I got lazy and sick of drilling holes to feed through). The only thing upstairs is the sub for the soundbar, and the IR receiver for it only in the front so I cannot hide it easily and still keep it in the room right now. I may move it in a corner or something though. I am loving it though, so clean, and my two 8 month old babies can not interfere with much of anything anymore!

I had moved all the previous equipment (61" DLP from 2004, Bose 701 towers, etc) in to the basement and have created a man cave. What I want to do is get an HDMI switch or something so that I can have the HTPC or 360 (maybe even Wii over component) play on either (or both?!) TVs at my choosing. What do you guys recommend on the inexpensive end while still maintaining simple controls? My up front concern is being downstairs and having to switch the inputs upstairs or something. It's not THAT big of a deal and won't pay a huge premium to alleviate that though. So what are my options? Note that my downstairs TV is only 720P and my upstairs is 1080p. I also don't know if the HTPC will have to calibrate to be a monitor for each or if it can seamlessly switch between the two.



(i'll post more pictures of the basement once I set up the stand and all.)

Thanks for all of the help in the thread, it was invaluable!

dreesemonkey
May 14, 2008
Pillbug

TraderStav posted:

I had moved all the previous equipment (61" DLP from 2004, Bose 701 towers, etc) in to the basement and have created a man cave. What I want to do is get an HDMI switch or something so that I can have the HTPC or 360 (maybe even Wii over component) play on either (or both?!) TVs at my choosing. What do you guys recommend on the inexpensive end while still maintaining simple controls? My up front concern is being downstairs and having to switch the inputs upstairs or something. It's not THAT big of a deal and won't pay a huge premium to alleviate that though. So what are my options? Note that my downstairs TV is only 720P and my upstairs is 1080p. I also don't know if the HTPC will have to calibrate to be a monitor for each or if it can seamlessly switch between the two.

An HDMI splitter + cables for each "source" you want to share would be sufficient and pretty cheap (two splitters and some cables would probably be ~$60-70). The switching of inputs would be done at your tv since each source would be coming in on it's own HDMI cable.

I have two of these and have had good luck with them:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=109&cp_id=10113&cs_id=1011306&p_id=8204&seq=1&format=2

Source (HTPC or XBOX) -> Splitter -> Two outputs (one to upstairs TV, one to downstairs).

I have my dish receiver in the living room being split and run back to my bedroom. You can do this with long HDMI cables or even an HDMI extender. The other one splits the HDMI for my xbox (or did, before I got another one) back to my office so I can play on my HDMI capable monitor.

I don't know if I'm lucky or what but I haven't had any handshaking or any other issues with it, they both work great including the extender that I have.

TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down

dreesemonkey posted:

An HDMI splitter + cables for each "source" you want to share would be sufficient and pretty cheap (two splitters and some cables would probably be ~$60-70). The switching of inputs would be done at your tv since each source would be coming in on it's own HDMI cable.

I have two of these and have had good luck with them:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=109&cp_id=10113&cs_id=1011306&p_id=8204&seq=1&format=2

Source (HTPC or XBOX) -> Splitter -> Two outputs (one to upstairs TV, one to downstairs).

I have my dish receiver in the living room being split and run back to my bedroom. You can do this with long HDMI cables or even an HDMI extender. The other one splits the HDMI for my xbox (or did, before I got another one) back to my office so I can play on my HDMI capable monitor.

I don't know if I'm lucky or what but I haven't had any handshaking or any other issues with it, they both work great including the extender that I have.

Sweet, sounds like HDMI really made things simple in regards to distribution. I think what I'll do is pick one of these up for my 360 and test it with the HTPC. I'm really thinking I will come into issues with the 720p/1080p difference between the two sets. I really want to keep the PC as stable as possible as tossing those settings around can be a real pain.

So if I had that splitter going to my two TVs from the Xbox, I could just turn the xbox on, and whatever TV I want and it'd just work? No interaction with the switch? If both TVs are on they'd both have it? Sounds too good/easy to be true. Also exactly what I'm looking for...

dreesemonkey
May 14, 2008
Pillbug

TraderStav posted:

Sweet, sounds like HDMI really made things simple in regards to distribution. I think what I'll do is pick one of these up for my 360 and test it with the HTPC. I'm really thinking I will come into issues with the 720p/1080p difference between the two sets. I really want to keep the PC as stable as possible as tossing those settings around can be a real pain.

So if I had that splitter going to my two TVs from the Xbox, I could just turn the xbox on, and whatever TV I want and it'd just work? No interaction with the switch? If both TVs are on they'd both have it? Sounds too good/easy to be true. Also exactly what I'm looking for...

I can't comment on the HTPC thing but the xbox thing should will work just fine as that's how I was using mine. For $20 and the price of a long HDMI cable it's definitely worth a shot :)

TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down

dreesemonkey posted:

I can't comment on the HTPC thing but the xbox thing should will work just fine as that's how I was using mine. For $20 and the price of a long HDMI cable it's definitely worth a shot :)

Definitely a low-cost experiment. The only other kink is that the sole HDMI port on the downstairs TV is shot so I have an HDMI-> Component converter. So this HDMI splitter will run into that, but I can't imagine that's going to change anything. So if I do go the route of the HTPC I'll have to get another switch to select whether HTPC or Xbox downstairs, but it'll be right there for that TV. Nice that the upstairs won't notice a thing. (aside from the htpc settings I am leery about, but that's a different topic for another day)

Going to pick this up, thanks!

MMD3
May 16, 2006

Montmartre -> Portland
I'm still looking for a decent turntable/record stand. Something along the lines of this but hopefully a little more modern.

Has anyone seen anything similar in somebody's setup? Looking for actual stands I can purchase online or even inspiration for something I can build myself if the design is simple enough. just needs to be able to hold some records vertically and be a big enough footprint to set a turntable on top.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

jonathan
Jul 3, 2005

by LITERALLY AN ADMIN
Can someone link me to a buyers guide or some sort of room setup guide for projectors ? I'm doing a dedicated theatre room starting October and would like to read up on how to choose a projector and ideal ways to set it and a screen up in a room.

Currently I don't know how to decide on the size of screen or how to mount it in regards to optimal viewing.

Any links or guides would be helpful. Avs doesn't seem to have a good thread regarding this for beginners.

emocrat
Feb 28, 2007
Sidewalk Technology
I don't know of a good guide, but I do have a few things for you.

Personally I would decide what you want for a screen size and aspect ratio first. You may be able to google up some calculators that take into account optimum viewing distance, but personally I would just mock up a screen with tape or cardboard on a wall, and figure out what you like best. In my experience the location generally dictates the size of the screen (most people wants as big a screen as they can comfortably fit) and seeing it mocked up on the wall makes deciding stuff easier.

Once you have screen size go here:
http://www.projectorcentral.com/projectors.cfm
And you can enter screen size , throw distance and select features and get an idea of what projectors will work.

If you have an idea of which projectors you are interested in you can go here:
http://www.projectorcentral.com/projection-calculator-pro.cfm
and get a pretty detailed breakdown of the abilities of the projector and some interactive sliders where you can change screen sizes and get a range of acceptable throw distances or vice-versa.

trilobite terror
Oct 20, 2007
BUT MY LIVELIHOOD DEPENDS ON THE FORUMS!

MMD3 posted:

I'm still looking for a decent turntable/record stand. Something along the lines of this but hopefully a little more modern.

Has anyone seen anything similar in somebody's setup? Looking for actual stands I can purchase online or even inspiration for something I can build myself if the design is simple enough. just needs to be able to hold some records vertically and be a big enough footprint to set a turntable on top.



I personally think that turntable/amp/receiver combos only look good on more substantial pieces of furniture. I see stands like that in pictures every once in a while and they always look so cluttered and top-heavy with A/V equipment stacked up on top of them.

I think urbanoutfitters.com (ugh) has a bunch of stands like the one you posted, though- in metal and wood. They cost around $50-$300 IIRC.

I'm currently a few weeks away from moving- and when that's done, the first thing on my agenda is replacing the faithful old IKEA Expedit 4X4 with something a bit more interesting and "grown up" (although I'm going to have to move the bulk of my LPs to another, bigger Expedit elsewhere so I haven't outgrown them entirely).

My ideal would be a proper vintage midcentury credenza- unfortunately, those are just far too large and far too expensive for my space. So, I've been looking at ideas for building/modifying myself a turntable console:

http://sjotime.com/portfolio/lp_stereocab/


Something like this would be fairly easy to put together for a lot less than the $1200 that this thing costs.

My other big option is going all "IKEA hackers" on a Besta cabinet. The taller of the two cabinet sizes is relatively close to ideal with some added legs.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/living_room/11794/

(I've posted some pictures of various Besta combinations- including the one I set up in my parents' house- previously in this thread. I'd recommend going to an actual IKEA store if you can, you'll get a much better idea of the sort of thing I have in mind if you see the cabinets in person.)

trilobite terror fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Aug 24, 2012

himajinga
Mar 19, 2003

Und wenn du lange in einen Schuh blickst, blickt der Schuh auch in dich hinein.

MMD3 posted:

I'm still looking for a decent turntable/record stand. Something along the lines of this but hopefully a little more modern.

Has anyone seen anything similar in somebody's setup? Looking for actual stands I can purchase online or even inspiration for something I can build myself if the design is simple enough. just needs to be able to hold some records vertically and be a big enough footprint to set a turntable on top.



For records it's Expedit or nothing.

MMD3
May 16, 2006

Montmartre -> Portland

himajinga posted:

For records it's Expedit or nothing.

sorry, we have a 3 Expedit piece limit in our household. :D

savesthedayrocks
Mar 18, 2004
I didn't really know where else to post this, but those of you that mounted your TV's above your fireplace, how far away did you put your theater speakers?

I have a cubby that is built to hold a tv over the fireplace, but I'm not sure where to put my speakers without damaging them from the heat.

Tremblay
Oct 8, 2002
More dog whistles than a Petco

savesthedayrocks posted:

I didn't really know where else to post this, but those of you that mounted your TV's above your fireplace, how far away did you put your theater speakers?

I have a cubby that is built to hold a tv over the fireplace, but I'm not sure where to put my speakers without damaging them from the heat.

What kind of fireplace?

Hippie Hedgehog
Feb 19, 2007

Ever cuddled a hedgehog?

savesthedayrocks posted:

I didn't really know where else to post this, but those of you that mounted your TV's above your fireplace, how far away did you put your theater speakers?

I have a cubby that is built to hold a tv over the fireplace, but I'm not sure where to put my speakers without damaging them from the heat.

Don't do it man, you'll hurt your neck watching that thing.

Edit: Here's how to space your speakers properly, ignoring the fireplace issue.

http://www.dolby.com/us/en/consumer/setup/connection-guide/home-theater-speaker-guide/index.html

Input your viewing distance etc. Looks like the front speakers should be at a 22-30 degree angle from the TV for optimal listening.

Hippie Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 08:55 on Aug 30, 2012

savesthedayrocks
Mar 18, 2004
It's a gas fireplace. I've never had one so I don't know how much heat they put out.

Here are some crappy pics to show the living room set up.



Here's the primary viewing angle. I'd rather sacrifice having to point my eyes up a bit to save some floor space.



The room is pretty small, and my current tv is rediculously huge. I'm wanting to buy a tv that will fit in the space, and then get a freestanding av rack for my equipment to save on some space.

glompix
Jan 19, 2004

propane grill-pilled

savesthedayrocks posted:

It's a gas fireplace. I've never had one so I don't know how much heat they put out.

Here are some crappy pics to show the living room set up.

Here's the primary viewing angle. I'd rather sacrifice having to point my eyes up a bit to save some floor space.

The room is pretty small, and my current tv is rediculously huge. I'm wanting to buy a tv that will fit in the space, and then get a freestanding av rack for my equipment to save on some space.

That's a huge size downgrade. Are you sure you're not going to hate it? Personally, I'd just use some kind of sculpture, art, pictures or whatever to fill that space above the fireplace. That's a perfect place to show off sais or small katanas, for instance.

Beyond that, what does the rest of the room look like?

dreesemonkey
May 14, 2008
Pillbug

I assume you're renting? I'd say screw it either way and mount that tv to the wall where it's at and get a much shallower rack for your components.

bEatmstrJ
Jun 30, 2004

Look upon my bathroom joists, ye females, and despair.

dreesemonkey posted:

I assume you're renting? I'd say screw it either way and mount that tv to the wall where it's at and get a much shallower rack for your components.

Pretty sure thats a DLP TV that can't be wall mounted. Not a very good space to work with, but whatever you wind up getting i'd probably mount it to the wall next to the door.

dreesemonkey
May 14, 2008
Pillbug

bEatmstrJ posted:

Pretty sure thats a DLP TV that can't be wall mounted. Not a very good space to work with, but whatever you wind up getting i'd probably mount it to the wall next to the door.

You appear to be correct, don't know how I missed that. If the poster was gung ho on buying another tv anyway, I agree with beatmstrj and I'd mount it where it's at on the wall. Maybe relocate your components to the top cubby if you can find a decent way to un-ugly the wires?

savesthedayrocks
Mar 18, 2004
Thanks for all the replies. Yeah, I'm renting. I don't really like the idea of wall mounting because of that.

I measured it out and I should be able to fit a 42" in there, which is 9" smaller. I am hoping that since I am going to rearrange the furniture the viewing angle will be closer and hopefully will compensate for the smaller screen

Glompix - that is pretty much the room unfortunately. I was standing against the stairs. Here are a couple other pics for reference.



dreesemonkey - I thought about putting the components in that cubby, but I was worried about the head of all of those components together. That amp puts out a fair about of heat and the WHS already complains about heat.

After researching some stands I was leaning towards a tower like this and placing it where the TV currently is, and moving the love seat on that wall as well.

kri kri
Jul 18, 2007

You can also kind of wall mount with this Ikea stripper pole like things. I think they are tension based so thats no holes in the wall. Really though just get a media stand thing and put it next to the door.

Hippie Hedgehog
Feb 19, 2007

Ever cuddled a hedgehog?
Throwing out the DLP will let you put your components under the TV rather than in front, so that will already save you tons of floor space. I'd also much rather have the TV on the wall behind where your current one is, but if you can't put the components somewhere else, you'd still be stuck with some piece of furniture on the floor, so don't bother wall mounting. Get a good AV stand that will fit all your components, and put the new TV on there.

But first of all, clean the place up and hang some loving curtains, your living room looks like the most bachelor place around. ;)

jonathan
Jul 3, 2005

by LITERALLY AN ADMIN
Is there a component rack that is functional and decent looking without costing $1000 ? I'm going to either put all the components in a closet or maybe the back corner of the room so that all you see is projector screen and the front soundstage. If I end up keeping the components in the same room, I will need some sort of rack to place the amps, htpc, and set top box on. Costco has some dark grey plastic modular rack for $60, but it looks like something for the garage, not a dedicated home theatre room.

My stuff isn't rack mountable though, so I need something with actual shelves.

falz
Jan 29, 2005

01100110 01100001 01101100 01111010
There's chat about racks and shelves on the previous page, including some links to some on monoprice.

TraderStav
May 19, 2006

It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down

Hey all, I posted this same picture earlier of my set up and wanted to see if any of you creative types (which I am NOT) could suggest a decorative solution for the subwoofer. Something along the lines of a wicker basket to cover it and/or the components next to it. Maybe a piece of furniture, or something else clever that would make the wall look nice without that box just lying on the side. Ideally, I'd like the box to be upright so the IR would be more responsive (Harmony isn't hitting it at times) and potentially better sound as the woofer will be directed at the floor.

I appreciate any insights, interior design is one of my weakpoints!

note, I have small children (2 eight month olds) so keeping the wires hidden is a prereq!

mobby_6kl
Aug 9, 2009




That's an Epson EH TW3200 with a $100 5.1 set of computer speakers hooked up to either an old ThinkPad or my desktop which I drag over when I want to play something. The picture is about 120" which is plenty at this viewing distance. However the second photo reveals a serious issue with that setup: bright parts of the scene light up the nearby wall, which in turn reflects everywhere and fucks up the contrast. There's a door frame immediately to the right so the only option is reducing the size or painting everything black :black101:

Now, as you can see, the projector is standing on its own box with two others under that one, which is hardly the ideal long-term solution. Any ideas how that might be set up? It's rather unlikely that I'd be allowed to set up a ceiling mounting so I'm thinking of getting some kind of AV cart perhaps, where I could also put the (currently nonexistent) receiver and laptop/HTPC and move it around as necessary.

jonathan
Jul 3, 2005

by LITERALLY AN ADMIN
Point the projector at the other wall ?

Don't worry the light glaring off the sides is like that retarded led light setup people are putting behind their TV. Ambience !!!!!!!!

But yeah why can't you just spin the contents of the room around so you're facing a full wall ?

MullardEL34
Sep 30, 2008

Basking in the cathode glow
Just picked up a pair of mid 60's Altec Valencia 846a "Iconic" speakers, a massive horn loaded loudspeaker more akin to something you would find in a theater or concert hall than a living room. The Valencia consists of a 15" H-811B HF horn and a 16" 806A full range driver. They were a home version of the famous Altec A7 Voice of The Theatre. I found them at a junk store for $300, an absolute steal. They're a perfect match for my late 50's- Early 60's tube setup. Famous Valencia owners include Frank Sinatra and Piss-Jar era Howard Hughes.






DAT HORN :flashfap:

http://www.vintageaudioonline.com/altec-valencia-846a-speakers/

MullardEL34 fucked around with this message at 07:47 on Sep 9, 2012

jonathan
Jul 3, 2005

by LITERALLY AN ADMIN
I love old vintage horn loaded speakers. That same site has a pair of Klipschorns for $2600. Not a bad price for the condition they're in. Add $500 for shipping and a few hundred for some new crites crossovers and you have a speaker set that will go toe to toe with any speaker system that will fit in a home.

Some people argue that the jubilee speakers are as good or better than the klipsch heritage stuff.

Once I take possession of the new house, I'm going to set up an entertaining room. It won't have a TV, just furniture, some books and a set of Heresy or Cornwalls with a stereo amp and a CD/turntable and a mini stereo jack for iPod listening. If I had room I would go for klipschorns or la scalars.

jonathan fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Sep 9, 2012

Hippie Hedgehog
Feb 19, 2007

Ever cuddled a hedgehog?

They look great!

What do they sound like? I would have assumed that speakers that old would need to be at least re-foamed?

Retarted Pimple
Jun 2, 2002

It looks like treated cloth surrounds from the pics, if so they're good for, maybe not forever, but a hell of a long time. Hard to believe that that much sound can come from that little hole.

SAinDenmark
Jan 19, 2007

The Red Army's conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
Just finished up my first home theater with a 5.0 system. Had some coworkers over to watch "Snow White and the Huntsmen," and it looked and sounded great although lacking some bass. We determined that I'll need to pick up a sub before we watch "Jurassic Park" or the Alien Anthology. It's been a fun experience and I can't wait to dive more into it.






pastis
Aug 1, 2004

Ouzo is for louzos

MMD3 posted:

I'm still looking for a decent turntable/record stand. Something along the lines of this but hopefully a little more modern.

Has anyone seen anything similar in somebody's setup? Looking for actual stands I can purchase online or even inspiration for something I can build myself if the design is simple enough. just needs to be able to hold some records vertically and be a big enough footprint to set a turntable on top.


Well I've got this Crowsley stand and it's actually quite fine once you remove the "LP" dividers on the bottom. I've got a Technics LP-12200mk2 sitting on top of some custom feet and it's been a great display platform and performer. There's a Cambridge Audio MM/MC Pre-Amp just below it, with a wonderful little PRO-Ject Head Box S included.

All my LPs are stored a few feet away in a 4x2 Expedit. Classy.

pastis fucked around with this message at 07:48 on Sep 23, 2012

Legdiian
Jul 14, 2004

pastis posted:

Well I've got this Crowsley stand and it's actually quite fine once you remove the "LP" dividers on the bottom. I've got a Technics LP-12200mk2 sitting on top of some custom feet and it's been a great display platform and performer. There's a Cambridge Audio MM/MC Pre-Amp just below it, with a wonderful little PRO-Ject Head Box S included.

All my LPs are stored a few feet away in a 4x2 Expedit. Classy.


Is that wall plate screwed directly into the wall with drywall screws?

jonathan
Jul 3, 2005

by LITERALLY AN ADMIN
So I need to make a decision: the "stage" measures 135" x 85". Obviously I can't run the screen right to the bottom.

If I DIY the projector screen, I can go 7'1" wide by 48" high which gives me a 94" diagonal 16:9 screen. I have to leave room on the sides for the speakers.

The other option would be to build a stage, and buy an acoustically transparent screen, and go the full 135" wide, or perhaps slightly less so that I can have a frame. This would require putting the front 3 speakers behind the screen. Viewing distance will be roughly 10 feet away for the front row. I will be putting the rear row on a riser, but its hard to calculate how high the riser needs to be to give the rear row a proper view.

The store bought solution could give me a screen size of around 135"x78" at the large end. Is this too big of a screen ?

jonathan fucked around with this message at 02:11 on Sep 26, 2012

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

emocrat
Feb 28, 2007
Sidewalk Technology
I have a theater setup that is very similar in size to yours. I don't have my measurements handy but its within a few inches of yours both in height and width.

I opted for a 92 diagonal 16x9 screen and very happy with it. While that is small by projector standards, its all about how it fits in the room and if the room is small also and it fills the space it will look great. I probably would have gone for something more like 110-120 diagonal if I could, however soffits on the sides presented a limiting factor.

While getting the extra width of the 135 would be great, I think in your setup you will run into problems with sight lines to the bottom of the screen. If your room is 85 high, and the screen is 78 even if you have it flush to the ceiling (which would look terrible I think) the bottom is 7 inches off the ground and even the front row will be a bit strange.

A 120 diagonal would be a decent compromise I think, with a height of around 60 inches. You could bias it high but still have a 18 inches or so off the ground as well as fit speakers around it without having to build a false wall or use acoustically transparent material. At 10 feet 120 is a pretty drat big screen.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply