Home Theater Room

Just arrived.

 

I was hoping to join today, but just got back home after a 2 hour flight. Hopefully, there are follow-up meets, would love to chat and listen in-person the various ideas for planning and building a HT room that are floating around in this thread... cheers!

 

Great time and very productive!
Always good to make new friends with similar interests...

I'll keep you all posted on my progress, and lets try and do this get together regularly!

 

Agreed .... That was a good time and I walked away with some great ideas. Thanks for putting that together ....

 

Here is a nice Yacht themed room I worked on last year... Currently coming up with a personalized screen saver type dvd intro featuring video of the clients home movies from his caribbean vacation...

9.2 surround with front center, high/low left and rights behind the acoustic screen. Brought in a master carpenter to do all the bead board work. Searched and bartered endlessly for lamp sconces and anchor from a ship wreck in the caribbean.

All controlled with a URC 880 for simple operation. Electronics are in a closet where the video devices are shared with three other TVs throughout the house. I also plan to install a relay on the FULL STEAM AHEAD Captains thingy to trigger the URC to power up the room. And yes the lighting is controlled with the remote as well, programmed into the macros to dim when the movie starts and brighten when pause or stop is pressed.

Taken with an iPhone so its a bit grainy...

 

So the rear seats aren't elevated? Does that pose a problem in being able to view the lower portion of the screen for those in the back row?

 

The rear row is elevated, you can see the edge of the platform from this view. And notice the door handles, we used those rope tie-off thingies from a boat. Forgive my lack of seamanship terminology - and I was in the Navy!

 

Did you do DSX heights? Is that what you meant by high/low left and right? What kind of AT screen did you use?

Taking pictures of home theaters is challenging, no matter what kind of camera you have

 

Yes DSX. Used a Denon receiver. I kinda came up with my own layout and was happy with the end result. I thought the wides fronts were a better choice than highs. The client was adamant about having all speakers hidden. So even though I placed the speakers in the top corners of the screen, they are still configured as wides. The speakers have a 15 degree offset and are angled out. The regular left/right speakers are in the lower corners of the screen and are offset inwards by about 10 degrees. The rears are all in the ceiling with DynaBoxes. I had an idea to put round speakers in the walls for the rears and frame them in port hole windows from a boat, but couldn't quite sell him on that. Probably would have looked tacky but it sounded like a fun project.

 

Hope I’m not hijacking this thread with my question, but I’m a relative AV newbie, so please let me know if I should start another thread.

Here’s my situation:

Having a new home built around the corner, and when I chose options, I thought I was particularly clairvoyant in having an HDMI cable pre-wired from a location just above the fireplace to a location about 10 feet away where the AV equipment will be racked. Just did our pre-drywall walk-thru a couple of weeks ago, and I was surprised by the size of the conduit inside which the HDMI is fed. It had to be at least 3 inches in diameter.

We are about a month away from moving in, and I am now on the hunt for a new TV to go above the fireplace (I entirely understand this is not a recommended location for a flat panel, but CINCHOUSE insists it must be there in order to make space for other furniture in the family room). My only criteria for the TV is that is be LED (well that is the wife’s criteria since she wants something as slim as possible), have a decent picture, and not be too reflective in a bright room. I don’t need all the “smart” applications that are loaded on newer models since we will be streaming from either q Blu-Ray player and Roku/Apple TV, both via a Denon AVR-1713 receiver. I also don’t need 3D.

I am finding, however, that most “bare bones” TVs are not ARC-capable, and I only have one HDMI cable running from the TV to the equipment. Plus, I have read in several places that the audio signal passed from the TV back to a receiver via HDMI 1.4 is not necessarily 5.1, and cuts out relatively frequently. But I know the internet is dangerous and not always accurate. Should I:

1. Suck it up and pay $300+ extra for a TV that is ARC-capable but has way more than I need, and may not pass 5.1 sound to the receiver, or
2. Have HomeTheaterGuy pull a digital optical cable from the TV to the AV equipment location, or
3. Some other option I am not at all aware of...

Sorry for the long question.

 

Why do you want audio from the tv? OTA broadcasts?

 

If you're not going to use the TV for online content, then you don't need an audio return. Your Denon will pull the audio directly from the sources. What you will need is for HomeTheaterGuy to mount your TV and sell you a phatty surround bar and kick @$$ remote.

 

My sources will include a cable box (Verizon FIOS), Apple TV, and a Blu-Ray player. All will route to the receiver, and the receiver will connect to the TV. Just so I understand correctly, the audio from each of those sources can be pulled by the receiver?

I negleted to mention that we are also having in-ceiling speakers installed, so I won't need a sound bar. I will, however, take you up on assistance in mouting the TV and figuring out an excellent universal remote. I have my eye on the Harmony One and Harmony 900, but I am sure there are others of equal quality out there.

 

yeah then you'll just be using your TV as a monitor and disabling the built-in speakers.

HTGuy -- what remotes do you usually use? Universal? I still have a few old MX-600 RF ones and love em .. .though activity-based ones are cool too.

 

Nadir - the receiver will pull the audio. Still a good thing you had conduit installed. I'd still suggest looking at all the options for TVs and network features. Let me know when you're ready for me to take a look and quote an install cost.

Boomer - yup I like URC. I use the 450 for simple set ups and the 880 for larger set ups that have media going/coming from different rooms. I've also set them up with activities as well.

 

I don't know anything about home theater so excuse the simple question but.... are any of you doing gaming also? or is all of this strictly for watching movies and TV?

we want to have some kind of home theater but also want a good gaming system set up for our tween and teen kids.

Can you have both in the same room or is it one or the other? Thanks for any advice you can give to this newbie.

 

Webeadams you can certainly do both in the same room. Are you planning on a Front projector or just a standalone TV?

 

Why yes, and I am just starting to build a computer for this purpose. I will use if for movies, internet and gaming, all on my big screen TV.... using a wireless mouse and computer from the couch. Not too hard to do with some computer knowledge and Windows 7 Home Premium.

Sounds like a great excuse to get together again for a "session" to discuss and catch up!

 

Tiger Wood Golf for the Wii is actually lots of fun on a 100" screen!

 

We are thinking about a front projector....