Home Theater Mega Thread

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by TheGrimm

Shot in the dark, but did you happen to run CAT5 to your projector? Might be able to run HDMI over it. If not, re-terminating HDMI can probably be done, but I've never attempted it so YMMV.[/URL]

Don't you need dual cat cables to run HDMI over them?

[fundmark19]

Nope solo

http://www.monoprice.com/Product/?c_...t=1#largeimage

[J Diddy]

Wired is always better but if you can't get it working you may want to look at a wireless HDMI kit, which works surprisingly well (even with video games...producing no lag or blocking). Quite a few projectors have wireless HDMI built into them these days but if you don't have this feature then you can buy a transmitter/receiver kit. I am not sure who the leader in the space is or what the price points are but a google search should be able to get you some decent results.

[DoubleK]

^^^

You are still paying a couple hundred bucks for something that isn't as good as a cable.

For that kind of cake you could pay a contractor to drywall + rewire for you. That tech isn't quite here yet...

[14]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

Don't you need dual cat cables to run HDMI over them?

Thanks for input. No Cat5 either. I have seen the 'connector' tool and asked about it on AVS forum also. Iffy reviews. The slicing is the option I think I need to look into. I know it will be on longer process that is why I have decided to hire someone to do it.

Any suggestions on who? Not sure if this is a normal Electrician project or a Specific Home Theatre install company.

I appreciate all of information and input so far guys.

Thanks.

[14]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

^^^

You are still paying a couple hundred bucks for something that isn't as good as a cable.

For that kind of cake you could pay a contractor to drywall + rewire for you. That tech isn't quite here yet...

Wireless would be great if Tech was better.

The Drywall replacement and rewire is an option i will look into. The problem is the wiring (even new wiring) is in the ceiling that I drywalled and down the wall to the Media centre. The wiring does and needs to run perpendicular to the floor trusses in the ceiling so I had to drill a hole through to run all the wiring when I did it the first time.

Frustrating endeavour to find a solution.

Thanks again for input.

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

^^^

You are still paying a couple hundred bucks for something that isn't as good as a cable.

For that kind of cake you could pay a contractor to drywall + rewire for you. That tech isn't quite here yet...

I agree it isn't cheap but it is convenient. As for the tech not being there yet I'm not sure what you mean. There are dozens of devices that do 1080p streaming flawlessly. How is an HDMI transmitter any different?

[14]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

I agree it isn't cheap but it is convenient. As for the tech not being there yet I'm not sure what you mean. There are dozens of devices that do 1080p streaming flawlessly. How is an HDMI transmitter any different?

I will look into this in more detail. Thanks.

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by 14

I will look into this in more detail. Thanks.

The home theater shops will be able to demo it for you. Try Insight Home Solutions by Chinook (Daryl is great!)...or one of the other 145 home theater shops in the city.

I am looking to get into the home automation\home theater industry...I had no idea it was so saturated in Calgary.

[Meelapo]

We're just getting our living room set up in our new house and we've got some speakers built into the ceiling. What I wanted was TV/bluray/streaming/etc. (essentially all devices) to have sound come out of the TV speakers but when I switch to Speaker B the sound comes out of the ceiling speakers.

We've got our TV mounted and only have one HDMI cable going through the wall. What do I need to get the set up that we want? My TV has an ARC input but my receiver does not. Is that all I'm missing?

[Vulcan]

If your receiver has pass through, I'd try turning your receiver off, and enable the sound on your TV, if it's turned off.

Another type of pass-through on some receivers is standby pass-through. With it you don’t have to power on the receiver and its attached speakers and subwoofer when all you want to do is watch the news using the plasma TV’s own speakers.

[Meelapo]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

If your receiver has pass through, I'd try turning your receiver off, and enable the sound on your TV, if it's turned off.

Tried that. I put the receiver in "Amp" mode and sound comes out of the speaker B system but there's no audio at the TV when I switch to something other than speaker B.

If I set the receiver to "through" mode then I can get audio at the TV but no sound from the ceiling speakers.

[Brannigans Law]

So good news for me is by putting my telus box and Xbox on surround sound output my logitech actually have proper digital surround.

One interesting weird anamoloy though is that on GTA V my gunfire and sound in general sounds odd. When I put my Xbox back on stereo and had the logitech uoconvert to pl2 it sounded better than true digital. What up with that??

[Deviaant]

Sorry this is kinda a pure bragging post feel free to ignore. It's kind of a sad day for me. I've been on a personal quest to build myself the best darn sound system I could. For me that product was sonos and I've just picked up my last 2 components. I needed a couple of play 3's to go along with my new tv and Xbox. I'm am happy as heck to say I am the very proud owner of x2 subs, a soundbar, x4 play 5's, x4 play 3's and x2 play 1's. Every room is now filled with blissful amazing sound.

I'll add I'm a single guy and frankly I quite dislike my neighbours.

Forza is gonna sound so good I can't wait to get home and hook up my new toys.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by Deviaant

Sorry this is kinda a pure bragging post feel free to ignore. It's kind of a sad day for me. I've been on a personal quest to build myself the best darn sound system I could. For me that product was sonos and I've just picked up my last 2 components. I needed a couple of play 3's to go along with my new tv and Xbox. I'm am happy as heck to say I am the very proud owner of x2 subs, a soundbar, x4 play 5's, x4 play 3's and x2 play 1's. Every room is now filled with blissful amazing sound.

I'll add I'm a single guy and frankly I quite dislike my neighbours.

Forza is gonna sound so good I can't wait to get home and hook up my new toys.

With Sonos are you going to play the Xbox while having your entire house sound like a race track or just keep it in the one tv area. I vote you make your entire house sound like a track everytime you play.

[Deviaant]

Oh without question the entire house will be shaking tonight with the sweet sweet sounds of my McLaren p1.

[Table 5]

My Toshiba LCD is starting to exhibit signs of death. We'd have this random color strip on the side for the last few months, which we've learned to ignore. However we have now started seeing a much bigger strip down the middle at random times, which makes me think this thing will die sooner rather than later.

Last time I had to buy a tv (about 5 years ago), I descended into this deep spiral of research madness and spent months on avsforum.com. I'm trying to avoid that this time around, but I'm not really sure what's relevant in tvs these days. So I'll ask you guys a few pertinent questions that hopefully will help make this a lot smoother and faster.

1) What are the features that are truly important? We tend to watch a lot of sports and movies...gaming not as much. I don't care about 3D, as I cant watch it due to issues with my eyes.

2) 120h vs 240hz? Worth it to go 240? I assume 240hz is better for sports, but I dont want that soap opera look that I remember 120hz gave to movies (although maybe you can turn this effect off now).

3) Which brands should I focus in on? Is it still Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Toshiba? To my eyes, Sony has always looked the best, but I'm not sure if that's the case anymore.

4) Is this a good time to buy? When do new TV generations typically come out? I assume there will be some Boxing Day deals to be had, but I figure they just want to get older gens out the door. Getting a "deal" is not my priority if it is old tech.

[Northendzone]

I'll comment on 240 v 120......if there is a difference I can't see it. But mathematically 240 is twice as much as 120.

I like sony, but someone will come along and say they are crap.........these days there are sales on all of the time. I think the secret is go out out make a decision on what o buy, pull the trigger, and quit looking as you will find a better deal.

I'd say make sure the new tv has a couple of hdmi inputs.

[J Diddy]

The best advice I can provide is to google the "best TVs of 2013 cnet" and "best TVs of 2013 whathifi" and ""best TVs of 2013 sound and vision".

Otherwise, here are my opinions...

1.) I like THX certified plasmas for movie watching. It gets you the closest to how the movie is suppose to look. Deep black levels are a must for me which is easy to get with plasma but usually only available with higher end LEDs. I'm not a fan of SmartTVs because I find the software built into these TVs is not maintained and gets outdated very quickly. I prefer a smart device outside of the TV like Apple TV or Roku. I have a 3D TV and I never use it. There isn't a lot of content and unless you have a 120' screen it loses something.

2.) Most TVs that have 240 use 120 the majority of the time but when they detect fast movement on the screen that is when the 240 kicks in. I consider 240 a gimmick...and I'm with North...I can't see the difference. Some higher end TVs allow you to adjust to a custom hz...the one I know of is one of the 70" Sharps. If you don't want the soap opera effect and watch more movies than sports you may want to look at a plasma...but hockey on a plasma < hockey on a LED IMO.

3.) Panasonic for plasma...Samsung and Sharp and Sony for LED. If you want a plasma you may be able to get a smoking deal on a Panasonic (I recommend the VT60) as plasma is toast....RIP.

4.) This is a great time of the year to buy because of price (especially boxing week). They are clearing out the 2013s and getting ready for the 2014s in March. The issue I have usually run into at this time of year is stock on the good TVs. They are in limited quantities if they are even available at all. January and February are pretty brutal times for buying...and March is pretty bad as well as all the new models are out but at full price...plus they haven't been mass consumer tested to weed out the problematic sets.


After all that I will once again recommend the VT60.

[Table 5]

Thanks for the suggestions, really appreciate it.

Does Plasma still need a dark room to really look nice? Our living is really bright most of the time (west AND south facing windows), and I know plasmas in the past were better for more of a basement home theatre type of experience.