Anyone here into dedicated Home Theaters??

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BT Tech @ Apr 26 2007, 04:17 PM) [snapback]430855[/snapback]</div>

Not sure if you are aware of this forum...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/

Definitely an addiction here too...

Regards, Peter

 

i wish. :lol:

 

I am into Home Theater too.
I am NoMoShocks on AVSforums as well.

I have a new Panasonic PT-AX100U High Definition Front Projector.
My screen is 165 inch diagonal or about 7.5 high by 11.5 wide.
HD sourses are Dish Network Hi Def DVR-622 with all Portland's OTA HD channels and XBox 360 HD DVD.
Sound is 7.1 channel surround by DENAN AVR-3803, Sony subwoffer and JBL Satellite speakers.

I like House, NCIS, Bones, Cold Case, Nub3rs, Without a Trace, CSI SVU, CSI (all other flavors), and lots of HD DVDs of varying types.

I just finished waxing Lightning for the first time, and I am ready to sid down for some dramas.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(V8Cobrakid @ Apr 26 2007, 08:47 PM) [snapback]430954[/snapback]</div>

The Panasonic PT-AX100U Hi Def front projector is on sale right now from projectorpeople.com. $1499 after $400 mail in rebate. And it has 2000 lumans, 6000:1 constrast so you can have some minimal light in the room and still get a good picture (sports parties, etc.)

Actually cheaper than a good LCD big screen if you don't mind darkening your room just a little.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BT Tech @ Apr 26 2007, 05:17 PM) [snapback]430855[/snapback]</div>

Brian,
I was just remembered our phone conversation about a month ago. Sure am loving my BT Tech plate.
I know there is not a huge mark up, but I hope you were able to get an HD DVD or some other cool thing with the procedes of the sale to me.

 

I just set up a simple deal, with a DLP projector, and a screen and the whole yards. Due to my room, I can only use 96 inches of my 100 inch screen, but I am not complaining.

I have DIRECTV with the HD DVR and also a 'regular' DVD player; I am planing on a BLU RAY or HD DVD when all the dust settles and one format wins. I have my Game Cube hooked up, along with my old 64 and even a PONG game. And a PS2. Maybe I'll get he PS3 and solve the Blu Ray problem. Sound is 7.1 and I have all the HDMI that I can get my paws on. Oh, and I have a SACD player on this set up.

I don't have all the specs, but I like it.

Here is a screen shot, taken from a angle, so as to fit it in all one shot...

 

I'm also into stereo/home theater... wasted many hours at my local shops. Went so far as to sell the stuff for a while some ten years ago. Lotsa fun.

Although my direct experience is now a bit out of date (ten years with this stuff is a lifetime), the principles are still the same and I try to stay current. I'd probably rain on somebody's parade if they spent a ton on their system - you just don't have to. Although the "high end" has gotten silly expensive (even more silly than in my day), technology has made a really rather good picture/sound cheap and easy. Spending a ton on this stuff is only good if you like bragging to your neighbors about how much you spent.

I agree that HD-DVD is probably going to be the way to go for hidef DVD's. Industry (ELECTRONICS industry, by the way) publications are noting that the porn folks are going with HD-DVD - like 'em or not, the porn industry determined the fate of Beta some years ago. If you're considering one, take your time when considering BluRay. (I was going to say "think long and hard" before buying BluRay, but that just sounded awful in light of my previous points!)

 

In the unfinished area downstairs I have an Infocus 4805 and some small Def Tech speakers and sub with a foam core screen that fits inside the frame of a picture window that happened to be very close to 16:9.

Upstairs I have a 503CMX Pio plasma with SVS 12/2+ sub and AV123 speakers and Buttkicker on the couch.

I helped a friend with the wedding of her son at her house so we used my 4805 to project a DVD of the kids growing up etc on an outside screen I made. Turned out really cool so she bought a 4805 and I wired up outdoor speakers to a Pio reciever and now has outdoor movie parties. She still needs a sub which I might build from my left over SVS woofers I have after upgrading.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BT Tech @ Apr 26 2007, 09:01 PM) [snapback]430963[/snapback]</div>

Probably about 16 feet. My cealing is vaulted in only one direction, rising to 11.5 ft above the stairwell, so I project over the stair railing.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TheOtherGoose @ Apr 27 2007, 09:50 AM) [snapback]431215[/snapback]</div>

No raining going on here, I think we are pretty much in agreement. I ususally try to buy the second to the best technology and then you can afford to upgrade more often.

For example, My projector is only 1080i and cost me $1800. Came with a free UpConverting regular DVD player. Now the projector is on sale for $1500. Like I said, cheaper than many big screen TVs.
When the 1080p projectors come down from $4000 to $1800, maybe I will buy another.

I stayed with Dolby Pro-Logic for a long time until I found a Sony Dolby Digital Amp for $220 in 2000. That has moved to the bedroom, and my current DENON amp was about $800, a little on the high side for me. Speakers are recycled from a subwoofer satellite system I bought for $750 back in 1994. I had to replace the Subwoffer in about 2000 with Sony subwoffer $150.

XBox 360 add on HD DVD was only $179. May buy a dedicated HD DVD player when combined HD-DVD/Blue Ray player come way down or Blue-Ray goes away. I agree, HD-DVD is way out in the lead, partially due to XBox 360 add on for $200 and dedicated player first to drop below the $500 price point.

My screen is simply the eggshell painted wall. I project directly onto the slightly textured sheetrock. I did get samples of some very expensive screen materials and placed them in the field of the projected image, but they do not look that noticably better than the painted surface. I found no justification at all to buy a screen that would cost more than I paid for the projector.

I rent my HD DVDs from Blockbuster on-line. I find it hard to justify building a personal library.

 

Im lovin my 50 in Panasonic plasma.Viewed from 5 ft its like a movie screen or a 3d window .
Are projectors more involving ?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BT Tech @ Apr 26 2007, 07:30 PM) [snapback]430944[/snapback]</div>

I'm kinda in between things right now as I am remodeling a house and have most of my stuff in storage. That said, I do have a JVC RS-1 Projector (purchased from Alan) sitting in the box in a spare room. I fired it up for about 15 minutes to check that it worked and that's it! I have both HD-DVD (Toshiba XA2) and BlueRay (Samsung BD-P1200). I think I have about 100 discs so far but have not watched ANY (too busy)! I used to own a Vidikron Vision One (9-inch CRT), and various projectors by Sharp, Optoma, Sony, etc., and various Faroudja processors, etc.

For movie audio, I have a full Meridian Digital Theater (in storage). My two channel system is in limbo as I don't have a place for it so no need to spend any funds yet...

As you can see, I have a long sordid history in blowing too much money on this nasty hobby! But did I mention that it is tons of fun!?!?!?!

Regards, Peter

 

I keep wanting to set up a drive in movie night. Find a nice parking lot with a large while wall and then maybe get a low power FM transmitter so all can listen to the audio on their car sterios.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BT Tech @ Apr 28 2007, 12:07 AM) [snapback]431599[/snapback]</div>

Ahhh..I do remember the G90 well. I almost got one when they were in the $30K range. The first time I saw one was at the 1999 CES. Faroudja was using it to demo their latest processor. William Phelps was the calibrator (one of the two best in the nation). William works for Meridian-Faroudja now and works on many other projectors. As soon as he has cracked the RS-1, I will be taking mine over for his special touch. Luckily, he is about 15 minutes from my house.

The Lumagen equipment is quite fun to work with. I helped a friend of mine set his up and found its controls quite useful. I spoke with Jim Peterson about his latest and hope that he gets the bugs out soon!

The Meridians are okay. They are not that much fun as it is a closed system. Every year or two, I change everything completely. I have this bad itch for the latest toys and to constantly tweak. My friends love it as I take the depreciation and they get my hand-me-downs.

As to the RS-1, my viewing has been split over demos from the manufacturer and reps, and the 15 minutes I've spent here at home. Suffice to say, there is still room for improvement. I'd like to see even better contrast, less misconvergence, better uniformity, quieter chassis, higher modulation transfer function, etc.

That said, although not better than my CRT in everyway, I do not miss the 275 lbs hanging over my head, the unending convergence, the warm up time, the lower output, etc. It'll keep me satisfied until the next big thing!

Regards, Peter

 

I've got some questions regarding big screens if you don't mind me asking. Lately I've been looking @ Plasma, LCD, LCD rear projection, DLP, DLP LED, etc. It's confusing. I almost purchased a Samsung DLP yesterday but decided further research is required. Glad I did because I read several reports of issues with the color fly wheel.

I've got a home made media center which includes a large music collection, several DVD movies, integrated TV recording (my own Tivo), plus more. I've leaning towards DLP LED Engine because:
1) Plasma can still burn in- my kids tend to leave the media screen on the TV once they are done watching cartoons. This doesn't happen all of the time but I just do want to take the chance I could get image burnt into the screen.
2) LCD/LCD rear- concerned about degradation overtime + bad pixels showing up. I really despise hot pixels in camera or notebooks. It would drive my nuts seeing a bad pixel on a 52"
3) DLP- Potential problems with color wheels going out since they spin at something like 14KRPM + the light bulb needing replacement every X thousand hours.

So I'm leaning towards DLP LED since it seems the technology is new and appears to have addressed my two issues listed above for DLP...no spinning flywheel or and the LED lights run for something like 20,000 hours. If I were to watch 8 hours of TV everyday then I'll need to replace the TV in about 6 years.

Just curious if others here @ priuschat have any insight into this mystifying technology... I have heard that the issue with Plasma burn in has gotten better but most sales guys steer me away from it once I mention the media center ...
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