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The home theater thread

LagunaH1

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,703
Location
Lake Forest, CA
Sooo... since it seems that we tend to have several hobbies / addictions in common, let's talk home theaters.

Post it up here!

What do you have? Why did you chose what you chose? How do you get your content? Do you stream mostly or do you use "real" DVD/ Blu rays?

Discuss......
 

cgalpha08

"Like Nothing Else"
Messages
3,584
Location
Indianapolis, IN
52 inch 1080p sharp aquos......soon to be 70inch 1080p led sharp aquos. One of the reasons we chose sharp aquos over the other brands is that we found that they had a better viewing angle.

Sent via Tapatalk
 

twinmill28

Spilled Milk
Messages
1,545
Location
El Centro, Mehico (Way So Cal)
We've got a 46 inch flat panel Magnavox with built in Blueray. Classy, I know, but it works like a champ and it was cheap. Originally bought it for the bedroom when my wife was recovering from all of her surgeries, but since we've moved, it replaced the clunky 12 year old RCA 36" with no sound--which leads me to the surround.
Originally we got a smoking deal on a really good 1000 watt surround unit with powered sub that was a display at Sears, it came with no remote, but it was awesome. It died last year and has since been replaced by a Sony 1000 watt unit without powered sub. Not having a powered sub sucks, it works, but not near as well.
Also, since we built our house, we got the chance to pre-wire outlets for surround in the main living room and the basement living room. So I've got the satelite speakers mounted on the wall with some awesome (read: cheap) brackets that cost $20 at Wally World. So we have true surround and you can hear weird noises all over the room when you're not expecting it.
Eventually we may end up with something from Bose unless we can find something that sounds better---which I haven't been able to do. The surround unit we got as a blowout from Sears was pure luck as I had bought, installed and returned something like 4 different surround sound systems that sounded like crap and we figured we had nothing to lose with that one. Turns out it was the one we loved best.
I'd like to read a post from somebody who'd got a real surround system out there, maybe that cost more, but is worth it in sound quality. What are you guys running???
 

[__--MUD--__]

Well-Known Member
Messages
125
Location
South West Michigan
Everyone that comes to my place and checks out my setup says its "The ****".

I built a new box I use as my main pc and home media server. Pretty high end- Asus crosshair iv formula, dynamically overclocked amd phenom 6 core processor, 120GB SSD drive for OS, 2TB dump drive I use for my downloads. 2- 3TB drives setup in a mirror. 12GB ram. Ceton Infinity quad tuner cable tv card.

I have an xbox at each tv which makes basically a remote desktop connection back to the media server which displays a modified (by me) media center interface. I pay for 1 cable card that runs the entire house. I was getting jacked for each cable box, plus extra fee for HD (which technically most of the HD channels are included in the 1st couple subscription levels, you just dont have hardware to decode the video) plus extra DVR fees. The on screen cable guide is so much faster than comcast best box. DVR content is actually stored on the mediacenter pc and is available from any location. You can remove all the channels your not subscribed to which was a big bitch I had... Comcast has no easy identification on their guide indicating you are subscribed to any channel. TV shows are recorded to a special folder, which has a software package that analysis each video, removes all the commercials, then moves the movies to a final completed folder ready to be watched commercial free from any location. I use an addon for the movies I aquire. Nice easy interface showing the last 20 or so movies added to the system. Browsing through the movies is almost like looking at IMDB.ORG. I have access to my network cameras and weather info. Also all my music. I could talk about this for an hour.

I had been using my ps3 for limited access to the media server, but that was **** compared to xbox as a media center extender. Wish I would of switched over to xboxs earlier. The only thing I miss is the timeline feature the ps3 had w/ movies. This is just the way tv truely should be. So nice, simple, easy to use. I did need to buy some logitech $100 remotes to easily control the system.

If my 2.5 year old is watching a movie and its finished, from my pc I can select a new movie and tell it to play on a xbox. You can independantly control everything through the xbox also.

Just bought new pioneer receiver w/ DLNA on it. I access my mediserver library on my pc or from my cell phone and send it through the ethernet directly to the server. The android app for media center is bad ass. I can also fully control the receiver from my phone. Its just awesome. I'm all done blabbing about it, but will answer anyone questions about this setup.
 
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Steve #1

Well-Known Member
Messages
534
Location
TEXAS
Eventually we may end up with something from Bose unless we can find something that sounds better---which I haven't been able to do.

Stop storeing pebbles in your ears and finding something better than Bose should not be hard. :wink:

As much as I would like a setup like MUD's (I understood everything you said), it would be just to do it because I rarely watch TV or movies.

I have a 47" Sanyo (SIL worked for them and got a good deal) with some random black boxes plugged in. When I bought the majority of my setup, I took the gamble on DVD not being the next Laser Disk and got a DVD player and a fancy new VCR too. :) My Sony ES Vision Touch reciver had the rear channel go out a few years ago, but my Boston Acoustic speakers are still awesome. OK, I feel old and outdated now.
 

ReconH3

Guardian Angel
Messages
2,288
Location
Raleigh, NC
I have some Boston Acoustic speakers from 1990, and they are still running strong. I have yet to find something better. I also got an Adcom tube amp, from the same period, that also is hard to beat. Rest is all Sony so I can run everything from one remote.


"Ex Umbris Venimus"

Sent from my iPhone
 
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LagunaH1

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,703
Location
Lake Forest, CA
My home theater consists of a 52 inch Pioneer Elite plasma TV, a Denon 4308 surround receiver and a set of Danish speakers from DALI. -They are pretty old but they are excellent quality and sound great. I use a cheap set of Cerwin-Vega speakers for surround center and rear speakers and I have added a powered Velodyne subwoofer to augment the bass from the DALI's

I mostly stream TV shows and movies via Netflix, but also use Hulu. Finally, I also have a 1st generation Apple TV that I use to play my iTunes content, to rent movies, etc. I do have a Samsung Blu Ray player but it is very rare I actually use it. I get Netflix and Hulu from a PC which I equipped with a digital TV tuner card, but I can't seem to find any good locations for the TV antenna so I hardly ever watch "real" TV
 

skeptic

Well-Known Member
Messages
737
Location
Orygun
60" Sharp Aquos. Been years since I would even consider Sharp, but recommendations and reviews convinced me otherwise.

Logitec Z-5500 5.1 surround sound speakers (sound surprisingly good for what they are and what I paid).

Zotac nettop media center front end. Full 1080p, optical spdif out, small, quiet.. Running MythTV front end.

HDHomeRun network attached dual Tuner TV card (in wiring closet).

Really, it's the client/server media center setup I run that brings everything together. MythTV with a dedicated backend server and multiple frontends throughout the house. One remote (or android/iPhone with mythmote app) in front of any TV in my house, or any linux computer in the house, gets you live TV, recorded TV, my entire movie collection, news, weather, access to my security camera's live view and saved events, hulu desktop, music, etc... Gotta love opensource projects.

It's very rare that I actually play a DVD directly on a frontend. It supports it, but my preferred method is to rip the movie on my desktop and copy it to my server. Frontends can also rip, but I prefer to use handbrake on a desktop - more control. H.264 video, AC3 passthrough, burned in forced subtitles, and .mkv container file.
 

Flash

Well-Known Member
Messages
195
Location
Michigan
Still viewing tube television. 32" Sony Wega (very heavy). No Blue ray - still running DVD and even VCR. 6.1 surround with Klipsch legend series KLF-C7 center, KLF-20 front mains, KSW-150 subwoofer, Polk Monitor 70 tower surrounds and a single KLF-C7 rear. It rocks!!!
 

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twinmill28

Spilled Milk
Messages
1,545
Location
El Centro, Mehico (Way So Cal)
[__--MUD--__];23285 said:
Everyone that comes to my place and checks out my setup says its "The ****".
I built a new box I use as my main pc and home media server. Pretty high end- Asus crosshair iv formula, dynamically overclocked amd phenom 6 core processor, 120GB SSD drive for OS, 2TB dump drive I use for my downloads. 2- 3TB drives setup in a mirror. 12GB ram. Ceton Infinity quad tuner cable tv card.
I have an xbox at each tv which makes basically a remote desktop connection back to the media server which displays a modified (by me) media center interface. I pay for 1 cable card that runs the entire house. I was getting jacked for each cable box, plus extra fee for HD (which technically most of the HD channels are included in the 1st couple subscription levels, you just dont have hardware to decode the video) plus extra DVR fees. The on screen cable guide is so much faster than comcast best box. DVR content is actually stored on the mediacenter pc and is available from any location. You can remove all the channels your not subscribed to which was a big bitch I had... Comcast has no easy identification on their guide indicating you are subscribed to any channel. TV shows are recorded to a special folder, which has a software package that analysis each video, removes all the commercials, then moves the movies to a final completed folder ready to be watched commercial free from any location. I use an addon for the movies I aquire. Nice easy interface showing the last 20 or so movies added to the system. Browsing through the movies is almost like looking at IMDB.ORG. I have access to my network cameras and weather info. Also all my music. I could talk about this for an hour.
I had been using my ps3 for limited access to the media server, but that was **** compared to xbox as a media center extender. Wish I would of switched over to xboxs earlier. The only thing I miss is the timeline feature the ps3 had w/ movies. This is just the way tv truely should be. So nice, simple, easy to use. I did need to buy some logitech $100 remotes to easily control the system.
If my 2.5 year old is watching a movie and its finished, from my pc I can select a new movie and tell it to play on a xbox. You can independantly control everything through the xbox also.
Just bought new pioneer receiver w/ DLNA on it. I access my mediserver library on my pc or from my cell phone and send it through the ethernet directly to the server. The android app for media center is bad ass. I can also fully control the receiver from my phone. Its just awesome. I'm all done blabbing about it, but will answer anyone questions about this setup.
60" Sharp Aquos. Been years since I would even consider Sharp, but recommendations and reviews convinced me otherwise.
Logitec Z-5500 5.1 surround sound speakers (sound surprisingly good for what they are and what I paid).
Zotac nettop media center front end. Full 1080p, optical spdif out, small, quiet.. Running MythTV front end.
HDHomeRun network attached dual Tuner TV card (in wiring closet).
Really, it's the client/server media center setup I run that brings everything together. MythTV with a dedicated backend server and multiple frontends throughout the house. One remote (or android/iPhone with mythmote app) in front of any TV in my house, or any linux computer in the house, gets you live TV, recorded TV, my entire movie collection, news, weather, access to my security camera's live view and saved events, hulu desktop, music, etc... Gotta love opensource projects.
It's very rare that I actually play a DVD directly on a frontend. It supports it, but my preferred method is to rip the movie on my desktop and copy it to my server. Frontends can also rip, but I prefer to use handbrake on a desktop - more control. H.264 video, AC3 passthrough, burned in forced subtitles, and .mkv container file.

UUmmmmm what??

Still viewing tube television. 32" Sony Wega (very heavy). No Blue ray - still running DVD and even VCR. 6.1 surround with Klipsch legend series KLF-C7 center, KLF-20 front mains, KSW-150 subwoofer, Polk Monitor 70 tower surrounds and a single KLF-C7 rear. It rocks!!!

I gotta stick with Flash here. Maybe I'm getting too outta touch with technology, but uh, yeah, I'm still plugging RCA cables into my DVD players and VCR's. Main living room has Blu-Ray built into the tv, and DVD is part of the surround set-up. The other 3 tv's in the house each have a DVD and VCR connected since my kids have alot of VCR tapes and a few DVD's.
This thread got interesting as I was thinking it would be you guys talking about your tv and what kind of rocking sound system you're running; reading these posts, it sounds like a few of you have direct links to NASA, NORAD and the GPS satelites!
 

skeptic

Well-Known Member
Messages
737
Location
Orygun
UUmmmmm what??
Client/server type media centers. A central server where your movies, music, recorded TV, tv tuners, etc. all live plus one or more front end clients connected to a TV with easy access to that media. Stand alone Blu-ray/DVD players and cable/satellite boxes are so 10 years ago. Smart TVs, GoogleTV, Roku and other dedicated "media center" type boxes are easy to use but limited versions of this concept. I'll not try to explain the details or why after much research I chose MythTV over Microsoft Media Center, Boxee, XBMC, Freevo, LinuxMCE (used this for a year or two before switching to MythTV), etc.

Google it, you might find it's something you want to try. MS Media Center or one of the other options that has a Windows native option is probably better for you than Myth, at least to start. One other thing to check into is HDHomeRun Prime, a networked digital tuner that supports a cable card (so you can watch/record encrypted TV).
 

05Mudiak

Well-Known Member
Messages
731
Location
Lake Charles, LA
61" Samsung DLP LED, Yamaha 7.1 receiver, all Yamaha speakers. All on fiber optics and monster speaker wire. Can't rememebr the model numbers right now sorry
 

LagunaH1

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,703
Location
Lake Forest, CA
60" Sharp Aquos. Been years since I would even consider Sharp, but recommendations and reviews convinced me otherwise.

Logitec Z-5500 5.1 surround sound speakers (sound surprisingly good for what they are and what I paid).

Zotac nettop media center front end. Full 1080p, optical spdif out, small, quiet.. Running MythTV front end.

HDHomeRun network attached dual Tuner TV card (in wiring closet).

Really, it's the client/server media center setup I run that brings everything together. MythTV with a dedicated backend server and multiple frontends throughout the house. One remote (or android/iPhone with mythmote app) in front of any TV in my house, or any linux computer in the house, gets you live TV, recorded TV, my entire movie collection, news, weather, access to my security camera's live view and saved events, hulu desktop, music, etc... Gotta love opensource projects.

It's very rare that I actually play a DVD directly on a frontend. It supports it, but my preferred method is to rip the movie on my desktop and copy it to my server. Frontends can also rip, but I prefer to use handbrake on a desktop - more control. H.264 video, AC3 passthrough, burned in forced subtitles, and .mkv container file.

I have always been intrigued with the Myth stuff, heard lots of very good things about it. So, you get new content (movies) by purchasing / renting / whatever real physical discs? How does the MythTV systems handle content from iTunes? I think they still DRM their stuff...

I'm a lazy butt most of the time and I love the convenience of downloading / streaming everything. I wish I could get real 1080p content more easily then having to get and play a Blu Ray
 

skeptic

Well-Known Member
Messages
737
Location
Orygun
I have always been intrigued with the Myth stuff, heard lots of very good things about it. So, you get new content (movies) by purchasing / renting / whatever real physical discs?
Couple different options. You can play DVDs directly, just put them in the box and go. I hate this method, keeping track of a stack of movies, thumbing through them trying to decide what you want, etc. You can also put a DVD in the drive and let Myth rip it to your server making it available to any front end. What I like to do is rip it on my desktop using more efficient encoding. The options I go with compress a typical 4.5G movie down to about 1G-1.5G with no visual difference in quality. I also like having just the movie, not the full DVD with menus and options and such (what you get from just playing a DVD directly or ripping the entire DVD). Ultimately, get a video to the server, scan for new videos from a front end (on screen option), and it's there. If it is named well, it automatically pulls in all the IMDB type data, cover art, fan art, etc. If the name is ambiguous you can use onscreen menu to find the right movie and pull in all that data.
How does the MythTV systems handle content from iTunes? I think they still DRM their stuff...
No idea, I have never used iTunes. Basically, if you can get DRM free media to the server Myth can play it. If you have DRM protected iTunes stuff you'll probably have to rip the DRM stuff out - I've heard there are apps for that but I've never looked into it.
I'm a lazy butt most of the time and I love the convenience of downloading / streaming everything. I wish I could get real 1080p content more easily then having to get and play a Blu Ray
Blu Ray is a bitch. Plenty of illegal ways to just download movies, but lets stay off that subject. What you can do is rip a blu ray movie on a desktop (if you have a blu ray drive) then copy that to the server. Remember, native blu ray movies are like 40G - they eat a ton of disk space. A great quality H.264 mkv is in the 5G-10G range. There are other issues like forced subtitles (blu ray works different than dvd), so you're better off googling this, but I'll just say it's more work and while perhaps tedious it's not terribly difficult.

If you are interested in Hulu/Netflix... Today, MythTV is essentially Linux only. Netflix is not available on Linux. However, I believe the next version of Myth will run natively on Windows, AND Netflix has announced they are working on a Linux native version. Hulu already runs natively on Linux. MythTV is easily configurable. If you can run something in Linux, you can integrate it into your MythTV setup and launch it with your TV remote. FWIW, there are tons of plugins for MythTV for things like web browsing, playing games, youtube type integration, etc.
 

Flash

Well-Known Member
Messages
195
Location
Michigan
UUmmmmm what??



I gotta stick with Flash here. Maybe I'm getting too outta touch with technology, but uh, yeah, I'm still plugging RCA cables into my DVD players and VCR's. ...

I run a Yamaha RX-V663 receiver. It has HDMI outputs bt until I get a different TV, they're just sitting idle. For anyone not familiar with Klipsch speakers - you owe it to yourself to listen to some. Lots of used gear out there for some pretty reasonable prices - if one was so inclined. I've replaced all my Bose stuff (easily sold at garage sales) with Klipsch and Polk. Picked up my two KLF-C7's for $300 each from different sellers. I'm no serious audiophile, but I do like good sound. One reason my H3 has a Monsoon.

Here's a link to the Klipsch forum in case anyone is interested http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/
 
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Kurt

Well-Known Member
Messages
955
Location
Orange County, CA
I work in the film industry, so the stuff I have daily rounds and reviews in usually blows the doors off home setups and is relatively unaffordable for home use :( I just search for the biggest bang for the buck for home theatre use since technically speaking, once you past a certain threshold on cost, the benefits start dropping off pretty rapidly.

-70" Sony Grand Wega XBR2 SXRD, etc tv. I got this through an employee discount at Sony Pictures, there were B-stock units [factory remanufactured returns with full warranty for 70% off retail].

-I tie everything up with a Pioneer VSX-1020K that I got for 60% off at best buy, it was a return that was missing the remote which is the reason why no one wanted it. The funny thing is, the remote is trash on these receivers, they are just a slab with 50 tiny buttons, since the receiver has i-os support, I used an old ipod touch to configure this receiver.. :)

-I use 2 sets of PS FS51 speakers and one SP-C21 center channel speaker. I ran through a series of speakers on a common receiver, and these had the best performance until you reach the $1000+ range.

-PS3 for blu ray and a xbox 360 with a direct tv receiver.

-I got a blue tooth receiver for the PS3 and hooked it up with a Logitech Harmony One remote so I control everything through that one remote including the PS3.

For what it is, it's fine, I'm still renting and I don't want to blow the doors off my neighbors wall and I seldom watch tv too much these days. I figure when I buy a house in 2-3 years, I'll have a dedicated A/V room, where I'll get a projector setup, a few sofas for folks to lounge on, and get a speaker/repeater/amplifier setup from a commercial audio production shop.
 

alrock

El Diablo
Staff member
Messages
10,442
Location
Scottsdale
Flash;23425 For anyone not familiar with Klipsch speakers - you owe it to yourself to listen to some. Lots of used gear out there for some pretty reasonable prices - if one was so inclined. I've replaced all my Bose stuff (easily sold at garage sales) with Klipsch and Polk. [URL="http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/" said:
I had some great Klipsch but ended up selling them and picking up Bose. (Sorry, not worried about you Bose haters). I loved the Klipsch sound but I just didn't want 36" talll speakers in my living room with 14" rear channels and a 24" wide center channel. Most of my stereo is from about 1992 - Denon and Sony ES - and is capable of Dolby 5.1 but nothing newer. Still works great but for me it is less about home theater and more about simple, unobtrusive enjoyment.

If I had a dedicated theater room, might be a different story. Though with that luxury I'd probably go for my favorite speakers, Martin-Logans.
 

skeptic

Well-Known Member
Messages
737
Location
Orygun
... but I just didn't want 36" talll speakers in my living room with 14" rear channels and a 24" wide center channel. .. for me it is less about home theater and more about simple, unobtrusive enjoyment.

This. My equipment would probably be considered crap by most AV enthusiasts. However, I want clean and simple appearance with as much functionality as possible. I went with the Logitec Z-5500 over a real receiver so I could have small hidden surround sound speakers and a very small device to control volume and input (only use the optical spdif). The sub is the only large piece, but to get decent bass there was no way around that. Instead of a set top box, blu ray/dvd player, cable box, etc. I went with a mini booksized pc for the frontend. Wireless RF remote means the frontend can be completely hidden, not even a wired IR receiver poking out somewhere (or I can use an Android app to control it all). TV mounted to the wall, not sitting on a stand, and all wires hidden.
If I had a dedicated theater room, might be a different story.
FWIW, this IS a dedicated theater/TV room. I just don't want to see the AV equipment other than the TV.

Everything is a compromise, no setup is perfect for everyone.
 

Kurt

Well-Known Member
Messages
955
Location
Orange County, CA
That's a big thing, I'd like to hide everything including the dvd/blu ray collection. I'd like to route everything through the walls and then have an A/V closet tucked away with just the screen and speakers visible.

I'd have to rip all the discs to a big drive and run some sort of pc-based set top box as a video jukebox of some sort. Haven't looked into those options yet....
 
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