Post your AV set-up

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Post your AV set-up

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

falz posted:

I have a boner.

What's the "coupler"? Did you have to fiddle with your DTV box IR channels to not get interference from each other? And does your DTV box pass signal over HDMI and component simutaneously? (i.e. watch tv on basement projector and patio at the same time?)

# ¿ Aug 2, 2012 21:25

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# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 10:56

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

falz posted:

Yes, it outputs component and HDMI simultaneously. The coupler is this thing- I have no idea how it works, but it does work just fine. There's no IR issues, the DirecTV DVRs allow at least two (but maybe four?) unique IR "channels".

If I had to change something, I would swap out my 4x2 HDMI switch for the 4x4 HDMI switch and eliminate the component run and the 1x2 splitter. Since I have four sources and four TVs, I could watch any source on any TV, or all simultaneously (would be awesome for a Super Bowl party). The 4x2 splitter does allow the same features, just fewer outputs.

I drew up that image to help me visualize how the hell to hook everything up. It definitely helped.

Thanks for the explanation. I guess you need to have harmonies and IR repeaters in each location to be able to switch signals? That 4x4 switch is pretty awesome, I don't think I'd need something as complex as that but might as well for the price.

I think the most helpful thing for me would be getting another satellite box so we could at least watch two separate things wherever we wanted in the house. Centralizing this stuff seems to make a lot of sense, plus it's freaking super cool!

# ¿ Aug 3, 2012 14:48

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

falz posted:

I do have IR repeaters in all locations, but not fancy remotes. I have Sony RM-VL600's in every room. There's a few newer versions of it now (RM-VLZ620) but for ~$20, it can control everything nicely.

The best thing about them is the component select buttons such as DVD, TV, etc. Quick press to tell the remote to control that device, long press to execute a macro. As long as your macros are proper, all of my stuff is wife friendly in that long press on 'DVD' will send a macro to switch to discrete input for DVD, send discrete power on, etc etc. It does take a few seconds, but if anything is ever screwed up you simply hold the button again. Programming can be complex so I created a google doc spreadsheet to help remind me if I ever have to do it. To me that's worth saving $100 for each viewing location in the house or carrying one fancy remote all over the place.

poo poo now I think I'm going to pick up a RM-VLZ620 for $25 to see if it's as good since they added a few more buttons. I dislike almost everything Sony makes now except their budget-ish remotes.

Yea I had heard their universal remotes were extremely nice for the price. I have a mid-range harmony for our living room and I like it, but the sony's sound tempting for other locations as we add them down the line.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2012 15:50

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.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2012 17:46

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

# ¿ Aug 20, 2012 18:45

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

savesthedayrocks 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.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2012 19:26

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?

# ¿ Aug 30, 2012 21:20

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

wandler20 posted:

Nearly finished with my theater. Basically just need to finish up the baseboard.

Fuuuuuck that's a sweet looking room.

jonathan posted:

Ol' Lady says we should black out the drop ceiling tiles.

I think that would look nice. Maybe paint the projector cover a satin black or something as well? You probably don't notice it while watching stuff but since you mentioned blacking out the ceiling that's all I can see, haha. Looks good, though!

# ¿ Oct 26, 2012 19:37

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

Furniture chat: If you don't mind "cheap" furniture, check Big Lots if you have one in your area. A few people I know have bought stuff from there and they've been very happy with it.

I was just down there and they had a really nice low slung leather sectional and huge ottoman for under $1000 for both (may not have been real leather but it was nice enough to the touch). Someday when I have disposable funds that will mostly likely be a starting point for me.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2013 18:08

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

MMD3 posted:

My thinking I guess was to have everything hidden in drawers (w/ IR repeater or something mounted somewhere) other than the TV and speakers. Component size wouldn't matter if there is a cabinet w/ adjustable shelves in it... even if components all go away in the next ten years you could still use the shelves for other gadgets or cleaning supplies that you want to keep out of sight. The TV hole would be the only thing that would be harder to deal with. I'm still open to the idea of just mounting a tv on the face of a wall like this, I was just hoping to track down any examples of people who have done this slat-wall style. The idea is we have a basement den that has one wall that will be the most obvious for putting a tv on, it's a common wall between the den and the laundry room so it would be easy to cut holes in it to pass cabling through if we needed to. I just thought it would be a nice clean way to build a unique media center w/ everything but the tv being hidden away in drawers/cabinets.

Have you thought about relocating whatever components you'll want to use to a closet or something instead? Once you go the route of built-ins, what happens if you decide to use the room as a bedroom/guest room? Or if you sell your house and someone has the same idea? It may just be my personality but I don't like the idea of built-ins just because you're really stuck with whats there unless you rip it out.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2013 15:21

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

MMD3 posted:

it would be easy enough to cut a hole in the pre-existing wall and put a cabinet in it w/ a screen front. We might just end up pushing that wall out into the laundry room a few feet though too to make more room in the den.

I guess the alternative would be to find some clean/modern A/V furniture but I feel like most of the nice consoles I've found are $2-3k and for that much we could probably do a built-in for not much more and have something that is completely custom.

Does anyone have examples of really clean examples of A/V home theater installs that don't scream "home theater" with large plush reclining chairs and such? We like movies and tv shows a lot and want the den to feel cozy but we don't need to be able to seat 10 people and the goal would be to hide away as much of the cabling and components as possible.

This is sort of the aesthetic we're going for w/ the rest of our remodel, we just want a den/tv room that works with it: http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/slideshows/slide-show-the-bright-way-to-design-march-2013#slide=1

So the laundry room is on the other side of the wall? If you don't particularly care about aesthetics in the laundry room, you could do a small server rack mounted somewhere up on a wall with your components in there, and then just have your HDMI/wires run through the wall to the TV and speakers.

Here is what we did in our living room, sorry it's the best picture I have (this was 6 months ago and the drywall is still not finished, haha)

TV and in-wall speakers. The small coat closet behind to the left holds our blu ray player, everything else is run to a server rack in the basement. I have HDMI over CAT5 and and IR repeater setup and everything works great over 40-50' of cabling. This confusing chart shows our setup.

You could easily do a slat wall incorporated into something similar. On the bright side it's clean/minimalist because nothing is poking it's way into the room taking up space.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2013 21:40

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# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 10:56

dreesemonkey: May 14, 2008; Pillbug

Those examples make it seem like a pretty good sized room, I think you could keep the tower speakers if you really wanted to.

But anyway, it's your house and money - do what YOU want

# ¿ Dec 10, 2013 21:56

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Post your AV set-up