Never mind my old Ht, IT IS ALL DIFFERENT!

[Cal Blacksmith]

Where to start? With the purchase of the Cornwalls, this moved the Fortes to my HT mains with the Heresy center and rear surrounds. The room was starting to look kind of full, as it is only about 10 feet wide and 12 feet deep with 2 walls missing and poor light control not to mention that the ceiling fan/light would need to come down and the wife was not too happy about that.

Now I had asked for help on a CRT projector that was at an auction and I was directed to the AVS forum to do some research. Well long story short, one of the forum members there had an extra projector of the same brand and model that was highly recommended to me by a local high end HT store here where I live, namely it is a Hitachi PJ-TX100 LCD. They have only been out a few months and this guys business had bought two and after setting them up decided to change their minds about the setup they had and so one of the projectors became surplus. As they had used it, they could not send it back so he offered it for a make me an offer price on the AVS forum. I offered what I knew was WAY too low but it was all we had to spare for any kind of a projector deal. He counter offered and we were able to get it for 2/3 retail price. He even set it up to let us watch it and check it out before we bought it. He included a copy of the original sales slip for it to boot! It was shipped on 5-6-05. It has 22 hours on it and the warrantee is still available to send to the manufacturer. We had to drive 350 miles round trip to see it and pick it up but it was worth it!

I talked to the wife about the room we had for TV and told her how much better the Living room would be for a combo/ht room because it was bigger 12w x 18l and it only had 1 window to take care of on the east side of the house where as the TV room faces 30 feet of windows on the WEST side of the house, letting in all that light just when you want to settle in and relax.

Well she was concerned about the noise the HT might make if she wanted to go to bed as the door to our bedroom would be on the wall on the right side of the screen, right by the front speakers. I assured her it would not be a problem and to give it a test try. SHE WENT FOR IT!!! I moved all the speakers, receiver CD player, and VCR player into the new room and positioned everything. I set the new projector up in the middle of the room on a table just to see how the image would look and WOW THIS IS GOIONG TO BE COOL! The room will still be used as a living room but with the removal of 1 picture from the wall when we want to watch movies, we have an instant 100 inch diag theater! At the moment we will be projecting onto a wall (light light blue and textured at that) but the image is still amazing and will only get better with the addition of a pull down screen. This will eliminate the need to remove the picture from the wall and we will have a much better picture to boot!

I got into a discussion with the seller and he told me of the latest craze in his circle of HT people which is to use a PC as a video server as the video card is able to give a 1 to 1 pixel rendition without any converters or sampling. Just set the video card to the resolution of the projector (in this case 1280 x 720) and you are set. I connected the projector to both our DVD player and to my PC and indeed the PC picture was larger and AWESOME!

Now for my problem. I need a sound card that has digital audio out. My receiver can take optical digital, and RCA ended digital signals. I would like to get a sound card that just outputs the signal in digital to let the receiver do all the processing. Does anyone have any good ideas?

All I need to do now is RUN ALL THE WIRES AND HOOK EVEYTHING UP! In short EVERYTHING

Pictures will follow in a few days when I get the time to do so.

Edit, this is a LCD projector, not DLP Sorry guys.

[rplace]

Man, sounds like a giant leap forward. New speakers, new room, new projector.

Best of luck! Let us know how it turns out. I would be interested in hearing about how your PC works out and what video and sound card you end up using.

[nicholtl]

Wayne, we're DEFINITELY going to need pics! And lots of them! You were JUST talking about a projector in that other thread, and badabing! You're getting one! And it seemed it didn't take much convincing on your part to get the Mrs. to agree. You must just have skillz like that.

Congrats on the new gear! Can us LA folk come over sometime to see it one day? I'll bring the booze.

Oh, and by the way, LCD is tight. I wish I had an LCD. You rule.

[Firme]

Congratulations, that sounds like a killer setup.

As far as running the DVD's off of the PC, you would just need a sound card that offered an optical or coax digital S/PDIF output. There are a bunch out there to choose from, such as these, for fairly cheap

http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/products/soundcards/mtgoddl/indetail.asp = $80

http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/products/soundcards/catalina/indetail.asp = $50

or

http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/products/soundcards/riviera/indetail.asp = $30

Just depends on what additional features you would like.

[cyclonecj]

Sound blaster live 5.1 is another option, but I bet the turtle beach would be slightly better. However, the SB can be found for $20. I use it here & it seems to work fine.

[colterphoto1]

GO CAL, GO CAL, GO CAL

Keep us posted and new pix when ready please. Very exciting news for you, you've been purchasing like a madman lately, was wondering what was up wit dat!

Michael

[Firme]

The sound blaster is a nice card as well, and a nice price to boot. The only thing is that it lacks a coax or optical pass through output that the Turtle Beach has, rather, it is more geared for PC DD 5.1 Speakers with its digital 2.5mm out. The type of cable you need to plug into them, would ultimately determine which one is the best fit.

[Cal Blacksmith]

Whew! I took yesterday off from work and the Internet to enjoy the new projector and to try to find a ceiling mount for it. Well the best I could find for a price on a mount was $180 and I would have to wait for 2 weeks to get it sooooooooo, I decided to make my own. Two hours in the shop and now I have a nice mount. I only need to get it up and run the wires for the projector and make the room neat now that I tore it up to run the wires ect.

I can tell you that there certainly is a difference between the 32-inch TV and the 100-inch projector! Yes the room needs to be darkened to make the projector shine but that is a small price to pay! This projector is bright enough that we were able to watch it during the day with only the lightweight curtains drawn. A room darkening shade WILL be installed!

I bought a Turtle beach Catalina sound card with the optical out port and it works GREAT! The signal is just read from the DVD sent to the sound card and converted to a light signal and then through a generic 3-foot long optical cable to the receiver. It is like the computer was not even there. The signal gets processed at the receiver and everything sounds, as it should!

The picture from the computer is MUCH better than from the DVD player. The computers output to the native format of the projector works fantastic. When I had the DVD player hooked up, its native format was that of a TV so the image was first reduced to that format on the projector then the widescreen image was further reduced to fit into the reduced image from the DVD player. The result was a picture that had a lot of SDE (Screen Door Effect) and pixilation when things moved quickly. With the computer feeding the signal, via SVGA cable, there is no interpolation of the signal and thus at viewing distance (150 inches as per the 1.5x diagonal distance rule) you need to REALLY look to see any SDE and there is NO pixilation on movement.

Yes I indeed have been on a buying spree, but ALL the DEALS were just so good, I couldnt say no!

True to my word to my wife we started the process of remodeling the kitchen. I wrote the deposit check for $4000 worth of appliances to be installed in the yet to be installed new countertops along with the new floor and possibly lighting.

Nick, YES by all means come on over! There are lots of places you can see a movie between my house and yours but then again that isnt the real point is it? We could give the Cornwalls a workout then retire to the Theatre, sit in the leather couches, partake of adult beverages and watch some action film (this IS a guy thing!) at theatre volume levels. Kind of a long drive but if you guys want to do so, I am game!

I beg your indulgence for pictures to wait just a little bit longer to clean things up!

[J.4knee]

Wayne sounds great, like you got your rig set up pretty sweet. I have entertained the idea of HT PC but that is about as far as I've gotten. A projector and high-res screen is definitely in the future one day. Congrats on the new rig.

One question though how may horseshoes did you have to make to fabricate the projector mount?

[nicholtl]

Oh boy oh boy, another listening/viewing session coming up soon! Oh, and Tom can bring his new Blueberry preamp this time too!

[Cal Blacksmith]

Ok, what everyone was waiting for;

PICTURES!

This first one is of the newly made projector bracket. Its use will soon be seen!

Next is the bottom of the bracket mounted on the projector. The bright screws are for adjusting level and pitch of the PJ.

The top of the mount attached to the ceiling.

And at last the projector mounted to the ceiling and adjusted, ready to work!

The view of the living room from the front door, the door to the bedroom is in the front right corner.

Looking back at the front door from the bedroom door.

Looking at the right rear of the room from the front left corner. You can see the receiver and computer in this shot. At the moment, this is the only feed to the projector.

Looking into the room from the right rear of the room.

And what everyone wanted to know, HOW BIG IS THE PICTURE???

WELL HERE IT IS!!

I am totally willing to invite you guys over but the rooms are small. In fact the sweet spot in the 2ch room is only big enough for 1 person at a time. The Theater can be arranged to seat 5 with a little moving of furniture.

This was also posted to the see your ht thread.

[colterphoto1]

Cal, good work on the rooms, I really like your bracket- I've had wires dangling in my new gallery for a year now, still put my Canon on the coffee table when clients come over. Just can't see paying the ridiculous prices for the brackets and don't want a cheesy wood shelf suspended from chains. You've used your skills very applicably there on your projector base. Going into business?

Question on the speakers- you have Forte's as main fronts and Cornwalls for the rear? Seems like it would sound better for 2ch, and possibly look less cluttered if you could swap those. Just a thought, Also, when movie watching, you do move that single Heresy down into actual center postion (in front of the firebox) don't you? I've often thought of a combination firescreen/center speaker stand that could hold the center speaker suspended and angled, yet still maintain the appearance of a fireplace screen. Just the project for the inveterate metal worker.

You've made a quantum leap with your new room and projector. Do you feel that the audio out of the computer is as good as a DVD player? I understand what you've said about the native video resolution. Do you have a very good sound card in there as well? That will do 6.1?

Next up- Cal's super subwoofer- stay tuned gang!

Michael

[Cal Blacksmith]

----------------

On 6/16/2005 9:42:34 AM colterphoto1 wrote:

"Cal, good work on the rooms, I really like your bracket- I've had wires dangling in my new gallery for a year now, still put my Canon on the coffee table when clients come over. Just can't see paying the ridiculous prices for the brackets and don't want a cheesy wood shelf suspended from chains. You've used your skills very applicably there on your projector base. Going into business?"

NO but I could possibly do something for a buddy GRIN! You need to be careful to not block any vents with the bracket and like you said, a shelf just would not do the job! Send me a PM and we will talk about it.

"Question on the speakers- you have Forte's as main fronts and Cornwalls for the rear? Seems like it would sound better for 2ch, and possibly look less cluttered if you could swap those. Just a thought, Also, when movie watching, you do move that single Heresy down into actual center postion (in front of the firebox) don't you? I've often thought of a combination firescreen/center speaker stand that could hold the center speaker suspended and angled, yet still maintain the appearance of a fireplace screen. Just the project for the inveterate metal worker.

You've made a quantum leap with your new room and projector. Do you feel that the audio out of the computer is as good as a DVD player? I understand what you've said about the native video resolution. Do you have a very good sound card in there as well? That will do 6.1?"

You sort of have it. I have the Forte 1s as front main speakers with the Heresy 1 as a center. The Heresy is mounted on a platform behind the love seat and has only the top 1/2 (laying on its side)exposed. It is just under the painting on the front wall. To show movies, for now until we get a screen mounted, the painting comes off the wall. The bottom of the projected movie picture is right on the top of the Heresy center and goes from the center of one Forte to the center of the other Forte. This is a picture of 105-inch diag.

The rear speakers are Heresy 2s, mounted on 30" stands in the back corners of the room. One is visible next to the front door and the other is just behind the fireplace. These will be mounted up next to the ceiling someday. I have yet to mount and run the wires for the back channels. As is, this is a 5.1 setup but the only thing keeping it from being a 7.1 setup is me and getting around to mounting the back speakers

The sound card only passes on the digital signal from the DVD so any processing to the signal is done at the receiver. The sound card is only there to be someplace for me to plug in the optical digital cable. This is not an expensive sound card. It is a Turtle Beach Catalina and retails for about $50. The sound card is capable of processing and outputting 7.1 but as I said, it is not used in that way. It is only a connection to get the digital out of the computer, just like you would do with a stand-alone DVD player.

I also am going to add a room darkening shade and possibly heavy inner curtains to the window to cut out the light from there.

We were able to watch a movie with only the light curtains drawn, but the dark scenes were a little hard to see in the daytime. At night, it is fantastic, just like the cinema you pay to see the movies at.

"Next up- Cal's super subwoofer- stay tuned gang!"

BTW, the sub is located behind the "weeds" in the left front corner.

The Cornwalls are in a different room and are used for 2 ch only.

Michael

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[colterphoto1]

Sub- oh, I see, the white box, that disappears better than a black box, doens't it?

From the one photo, the top of the rear Heresy appeared to be at Cornwall height, which is just about right for seated position. I don't know if getting them at ceiling height would really be necessary. I'd try it temporarily to see how it looked/sounded (maybe stepladder for a night)

Sorry, I was looking at the fireplace wall and got confused seeing the heresy on the stand. You project on the wall with the painting- never mind on the center thing.

Cornwalls make a great 2 ch system, although I have everything integrated into one system, I know of lots of guys with enough equipment to specialize like this.

Welcome to the next level!

Michael

[nicholtl]

I posted this in the "Let's See Your Home Theater" thread too, but I'll post it again for good luck.

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude. That last photo? Smoking! It's like a mammoth, overgrown, mutant-sized PC computer screen! That is one sick, phat, crazy, ill, nutz, bodacious, awesome, killer, wicked, amazing, rad, righteous, insane projector you got Wayne! Even BETTER and BIGGER than I imagined. And hell, I got one hell of an imagination, lemme tell ya. Plus, WHO said size isn't everything? Them idiots, them...

I can't even begin to imagine how your theater experience must be like now. With your commendable collection of Heritage, some very sweet gear (VTL's, anyone?), and that DISGUSTINGLY HUGE SCREEN (in a good way), the aural, visual, and visceral effect must be spellbinding. Talk about pleasing the mind, body, and soul!

Your wife is probably secretly smiling, although she'd never show it. Gotta keep her man in check, you know? But then again...with a $4000 check for kitchen appliances, she'll probably be brown-nosing you for a week, maybe two, at most. =)

Congrats again, Wayne. That's money well spent. You have what I would officially call a pimp pad. Hahaha, ok ok, more like a sophisticated, tasteful, modern, and chic multimedia theater.

TIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!

[J.4knee]

Dang Nick I was just going to type that exact passage. Oh well...

Seriously Wayne, now that I have had more time to peruse your rig. Wow that Projector image is friggin awesome. Nicely done indeed. You should be justifiably proud!!!!!!! It is clear the HTPC thing is the way to go. Congrats on one seriously sweeeet rig.

R/Jim

[Cal Blacksmith]

Nick, you crack me up! What is an old married fart that is balding with a gut going to do in a "pimp pad?" Not only that but wouldn't a simple "coooool" have been enough

Jim, thanks, I am still working on the HTPC thing but it looks hopeful. I need to get a pc trimmed down to only support the video and audio functions. The pc I am using I stole from my desk and there are a lot of programs that run in the background that need to be shut off for the player to play smoothly. I am still looking for the best for me software to play DVDs with.

[Cal Blacksmith]

This is to tie up some loose ends. I have settled on a software for the computer to run. It is Power DVD v6 I have run Power DVD version 2 on my laptop and was happy with it but things have changed big time with improvements in the software. It has support for the optical digital audio out to bypass any processing possibilities, it has a long list of certs for theater standards, has a great, easy to use setup and interface and you can get a remote to use with it! I use the "vivid" output setting for daytime viewing as there is a bit of light in the room. Normal or Cinema work great for evening viewing.

I am running it on an 1800mhz AMD computer with a gig of memory and hardware acceleration. Movies play great, no hang-ups, pauses (unless you ask for them )or artifacts in the video.

The program can be downloaded for a 30 day test try or purchased at

HTTP://www.gocyberlink.com.