picky Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 Most of you who hang around this place know that it took 26 months for me to build our Small House Theater, which was completed last October. Now that I am no longer playing with nailguns and wallboard knives during every moment of my spare time, I have spent the Winter reacquainting myself with my family, the newspaper, crossword puzzles, and my owner's manuals. I'm discovering that reading the owner's manuals for your home theater equipment can be both very dry and enlightening. I've had our entire system operational for more than a year and long before the room itself was completed. When I first energized our system a year ago, I did a quick read-through of the manuals and chose my settings in haste (I am discovering). Through this forum I have been reading reviews of various DVD's and in them members were remarking how good their particular DVD sounded because of the added rear surrounds in 6.1. Here I am running 7.1 (I thought) and I've got nothing coming out of the rears on the same DVD!! On some broadcast televison sounds I have rear channels and on D-VHS, too. But, never on a DVD! TRY READING THE MANUAL YOU DUMBASS! Of course, the above is in reference to me....(the dumbass). In reading my Pioneer Elite VSX-49TXi's manual the other night, not only did I discover that I had the two rear channels set for 1-foot apart (they are 8-feet apart), but I also had them set to "OFF" during certain modes. And, it was all because of my lack of knowledge of my own receiver. This being Pioneer's "flagship" model, I'm finding it's only real fault is all of its imbedded menus can become very comfusing. But, I am slowly over coming this and in three short nights I have actually improved the sound in our theater a good deal, after having thought it couldn't sound any better for the last year. "Oh, ye of little faith," Another device I am discovering all over again is my Phillips Pronto TSU3000 theater remote. I read its manual yesterday and I am now the "MACRO KING!" WOO-HOO! One button: Entire System On! One button: Entire System Off! No more needing to know any channel numbers: Press on the ABC Icon, and the tuner goes to ABC-HD! Press the HBO Button: HBO-HD! I even created special menus for my wife to use because he hates to use remotes and wants it kept simple. She's never even tried to touch the system. Now in three pushes of a button, she's watching 'Oprah' in HD! So, if any of you think that going out an buying more gear is the only way to improve your system's sound or functionality, consider this: When was the last time you broke your owner's manuals out and blew the dust off of them? There may be something in there you didn't know about? Give it a try! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PYRO Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 Use mine all the time, informative aren't they. What do think about the TSU 3000? I am considering the TSU7000. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted April 2, 2005 Author Share Posted April 2, 2005 ---------------- On 4/2/2005 9:13:16 PM PYRO wrote: Use mine all the time, informative aren't they. What do think about the TSU 3000? I am considering the TSU7000. Rob---------------- PYRO: Yes, you are right, Rob! They are VERY informative! I really like the TSU3000 fine. The 7000 is a lot nicer, but I could not justify the expense for myself as there would have been no value added regarding functionality as the 3000 already does everything. So, I would have been spending a lot more just for esthetics (color screen). But, if you've got the cash and color is what you want: Go for it! -Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurs Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 Picky, wanna send me your file for your 3000 so I can leverage all your hard work???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted April 2, 2005 Author Share Posted April 2, 2005 arthurs: PM Me with your email address and I'll attach the pcf file for you. I am running ProntoEdit NG Version 2.0.9.0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PYRO Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 LOL Glenn, I saw a TSU 7000 at buy.com for $630 Bucks(New). Yes, it's expensive but what the hell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurs Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 so what are you guys up to tonight? anything good playing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted April 2, 2005 Author Share Posted April 2, 2005 The wife and I are sitting here down in our office, each on our own computer. She's working on her genealogy, and I am sitting here wasting everyone's time on this forum. TV Sucks tonight and I don't feel like getting into a movie. It was a dreary, windy, rainy day here today. I suppose I am feeling a little dreary myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen Traveler Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 I am watching "one night only! Rod Stewart, Live at Royal Albert Hall." Very good picture quality. It's the first time I've seen Rod in a while. At first I thought the audio wasn't going to be too good, and in fact it may not be, but the experience watching it brings back memories (although I'm not fond of the "big band stuff" in the middle). I think it gets better as it goes along (or the Belhavens are enhancing the experience;-). Arthurs--Where did you get "David Gilmore live?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurs Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 sorry to tell, it was 75 and sunny here in beautiful Texas today. pretty good basketball game on right now if you watch it at all. I'm doing that, listening to Madeline Peyroux "Careless Love" and wasting everyone's time here.....now that I wrote it down, that seems too be a bit much multi-tasking for a Saturday night.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurs Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 Amazon I believe, but have seen it at Best Buy, etc. It is a smaller band, cello, choir etc. and it's really really cool....replaces synth on "Coming Back to Life" with the choir, really cool stuff like you'd expect from Gilmour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted April 2, 2005 Author Share Posted April 2, 2005 arthurs: Yeah, I knew about the final four game. I just can't seem to get into basketball this year. I'm still bummed about there being no hockey season, but I'm not going to start whining about that. Baseball starts this Monday. Maybe the Tigers will do better this year? They are so WAY overdue for a good year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurs Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 Mich State is on dude, and giving NC hell! I miss Hockey too. Rangers were better last year here, so hopes are high going into this season...raised a life-long Cub fan so I understand dreaded anticiaption when it comes to baseball... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted April 2, 2005 Author Share Posted April 2, 2005 Hmm...let me see: Read more owners manuals / Go watch Mich State kick ***............tough decision. SEE YA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurs Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 god bless wireless, I'm vegged on the couch with laptop watching... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurs Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 wow, that game got ugly in a hurry....still some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mca_bagom Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 I am still tweaking my TSU 7000 setup after 6 months. It is a lot harder then I thought it would be. If you to RemoteCentral.com there are a lot of files ready to download. The people that took the time and effort to make some of these file are amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted April 3, 2005 Author Share Posted April 3, 2005 ---------------- On 4/2/2005 10:08:39 PM arthurs wrote: Mich State is on dude, and giving NC hell! ---------------- arthurs: Dude! Mich State got KILLED! I tuned-in with 12 minutes left in the 2nd half. I looked at the score and I said, "WHAT?" It was ugly: Mich was 12 points down. The Spartans got way out-played and are all done in the playoffs. Thanks a lot for the invite to a massacre! -Just kidding, man. It was actually quite a game. NC looked really good second half. They deserve to advance. Monday's game should be awesome. The Spartans's shoudl still be proud of how far they made it this year. They have nothing to be asshamed of for the way they played their season. BTW: Kudos to CBS for doing an excellent job on thier Hi-Def feed of the game last night. It was like sitting inthe stands! mca_bagom: At first I thought the same thing about my TSU3000, that it was pretty complicated to set up. But, at the time, I was also very distracted by all of the construction work on the theater and I was in a big hurry just to get things up and running. However, now that my mind is more clear, I've noticed that my comprehension-level has improved. Now, when I read the manual, things seem to fit together a bit better and I understand the remote much better now. But, you are still right: It is a complex device. It's just that now, I "get it". I agree with you that Remote Central is probably one of the greatest resources for program files for Pronto users. They also have a wealth of button image files (bmps) and network logos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted April 3, 2005 Share Posted April 3, 2005 ---------------- On 4/2/2005 9:10:52 PM picky wrote: So, if any of you think that going out an buying more gear is the only way to improve your system's sound or functionality, consider this: When was the last time you broke your owner's manuals out and blew the dust off of them? There may be something in there you didn't know about? Give it a try! http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/images/smilies/2.gif"> ---------------- Yup, been there, done that! I went through that when I got my new TV and to go and set everything up. I took my time and read the manuals to make sure I did not miss anything. For exammple, I noticed a setting that I missed on my JVC DVD player, which prevented me from getting the DTS tracks to play. There was several settings I had to fix regarding the video settings of my gear, since I went from an old standard-def TV to a new HD widescreen TV. The weather here in VA was pretty crappy also, although rain did break long enough for me to go out and replace the battery in my truck. Now that skiing is over, this is my first truly "free" weekend since at least Christmas. Spend a lot of time just doing general cleaning up around the house, and much needed grocery shopping. Was nice to sit down and finally get around to watching The Incredibles yesterday evening. Awesome movie, and was friggan sweet on the big 55-inch TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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