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Erkki

Building a home theater...

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I'm thinking about cables now, and am trying to find a way to reconsider where to put my devices:

 

1) I want to avoid routing new cables in walls/ceilings, except for the ones going to the projector.

 

2) Below the wall with the screen would be a somewhat natural place for devices: it has power plugs, 2 ethernet ports and an antenna port (RG59 or RG6 or something). However, getting the HDMI from there to the projector is a problem.

 

3) My previous plan was to put the devices next to the couch. From there I can more easily get a cable up to the projector (through a wall), but I will have to install some new plugs in the wall.

 

The new plan I'm thinking of is to put the devices in 2) (under screen), but somehow get a HDMI signal from there to the projector. The Cat5/e and RG59 cables go from there to the right place, so maybe I could pull a HDMI cable along them (I doubt it). I looked at some info on HDMI <- cat5e -> HDMI adapters, but some are saying they aren't any good.

 

Now I discovered something called HDBaseT, though, which seems to be more complex than just putting the HDMI signal through the Cat5e cable, but it does go through Cat5e. Anyone heard much about that?

 

I'm also thinking that maybe I'll just get stereo speakers initially, and if I go with this new plan I should easily be able to connect them.

 

[edit]then again putting devices including AV receiver next to the couch has the advantage that if I want to (even temporarily) use some wired input device, the wire will be connected close to the couch. In that case maybe I could run only audio through the existing Cat5e cable?

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That's quite some HDMI ports. And it looks like it also had WLAN?!

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Yeah, connecting the AV receiver to the router felt weird. Airplay was nice though.

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I think I found a more sensible one (5.1 but I'll probably use only 2.1 anyway):

L_nr1504_u_b_re.png

 

Edit: I like this one (it's one of the Marantz slim ones and supports AirPlay), but unfortunately it only has pre-amplified L/R/Sub out. How do I run these three channels through a single RG6 coaxial cable? (this is my current plan -- reusing existing cables as I can't seem to pull a new one)

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Hmm... since the plan is to put a separate amp with speakers at the screen-wall, maybe I should not get a full AV receiver, but just a simple switcher? For example, this 4xHDMI switcher has digital coaxial audio output, which I assume is the kind I can run through the RG6 cable to the amp.

 

And this is much cheaper than an AV receiver... Of course I would then miss features like AirPlay, but maybe I'll get an Apple TV as well...

 

[edit]Actually I ordered the 4xHDMI switcher with coax audio out. It will only do stereo because by projector will report that it only supports stereo. But my speakers will also be only stereo. Also it doesn't have CEC. There was another model that had that and a bit more, but they couldn't ship it to Estonia. Anyway, it is so cheap compared to the receivers that I could buy it just to try something out... and I had just enough amazon gift cards lying around.

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I have a Marantz NR1403 and I lub it. I lub it to death. If you are dealing with 6 active speakers, though, I don't know what the hell you are going to use.

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I only plan to do stereo for starters, maybe with this amp (it's a bit expensive but seems to be the only good-looking one).

 

Or if I figure out how to easily get speaker wires everywhere, I might go with a Marantz.

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Damn it, I can't decide whether to stay with the stereo plan or go for 5.1 sound. I've never experienced proper surround sound (outside of cinema) so I don't know what I'm missing. I know I'll probably be content with stereo, but maybe surround would be really awesome?

 

Here's what my room looks like:


post-6047-0-25921000-1383344763_thumb.png

 

It's probably a bit weird to build a home cinema into a room shaped like this in the first place, but whatever, I like how my apartment is laid out. However, is 5.1 even going to make sense here? The screen is offset to the left compared to the couch (it would be almost as wide as the whole wall where the TV is on the diagram) -- it's fine enough for viewing, but I'm afraid the weird shape of the room is going to mess up the sound anyway, so maybe there isn't even a point for going with more than stereo?

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For irregular rooms 5.1 works best for movies, or at least when you "tune" each individual speaker. 7.1 is better, but it requires space behind your couch.

A quality stereo setup is awesome for music, and works equally great for movies in cinema like rooms. Stereo relies a lot on sound reflection, where with 5.1 you can better tune volume of each speaker. But be aware that you can only tune it for a small listening area.

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Bought some materials for building a screen for 15€! Those expensive screens can go fuck themselves. I don't know what exactly it's called in English, maybe "hard fibreboard". In Estonian we say "Finnish cardboard". And some light gray paint (Tikkurila Harmony F500). We'll see how it goes. Now I need to find some instructables... I heard you have to apply some other materials before coloring to get a good screen...

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We probably just call it "American wonderboard" in the US.

 

"Freedomboard."

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Bought some materials for building a screen for 15€! Those expensive screens can go fuck themselves. I don't know what exactly it's called in English, maybe "hard fibreboard". In Estonian we say "Finnish cardboard". And some light gray paint (Tikkurila Harmony F500). We'll see how it goes. Now I need to find some instructables... I heard you have to apply some other materials before coloring to get a good screen...

What, that's hilarious :D I have no idea what you could be referring to. 

 

Doesn't the screen have to reflect a bit or something? I don't know what they made movie screens out of, but I'm pretty sure it's not just a regular light gray colour.

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What, that's hilarious :D I have no idea what you could be referring to. 

Yeah. I would like to know the history of that term as well.

 

And yes, it would be good if the screen reflected most of the light hitting it. :) As for diffuse vs. specular reflection, I'd say that glossy paint is not a way to go. The paint should probably be in the flat—eggshell region in the gloss classification system I just now came across for the first time.

 

Disclaimer: I have never build a projector screen.

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I found this: https://www.carlofet.com/material-comparison-chart

Which would lead me to think you want

ProGray Stiff Supported Material Low to Moderate Ambient Light Indoor, Suspended
or Rolled & Hangs Without Stretching -

High
Contrast
Gray

Because it doesn't need tension and has good contrast and tolerates some ambient light.

 

That looked really nice when I pasted it, but not anymore :(

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I just went with what people I know have used. Could be that it's not the best, but as I said earlier in this thread, the projector even managed to put a pretty good picture on a normally painted off-white wall. The hard fibreboard is very smooth on one side, and I will just apply that matte light gray paint, and maybe cut it to image size or add some black light-absorbing edge material. This is what the material looks like:

 

bfbaa9cdfb3cba34ff7017be52f2616894fcdcef

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Sure, you can always slap something on that later if you want to. 

 

That's... hardboard, apparently.

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The piece I got was a bit wobbly initially, though. I put it under some weights and will keep it there for a couple of days to make it straighter, but I wonder if I should use magnet spacers (for lack of a better word) or something to keep it straight on the wall. I haven't thought through how to attach it yet.

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and maybe cut it to image size or add some black light-absorbing edge material. 

 

Put a frame of black velvet around your screen. It'll eat any excess light, no problem.

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Put a frame of black velvet around your screen. It'll eat any excess light, no problem.

 

Yeah, I wonder if I should add a small wooden frame for the velvet, though, or just put it on the hardboard directly. The thing has almost exactly the height of 96" diagonal screen, which is a good size, so I don't have much room for top/bottom borders.

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Just got my 3D glasses and watched a bit of Life of Pi and played Ico and Shadow of the Colossus*. Life of Pi was pretty good, but in the games I couldn't always see much difference. Occasionally both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus looked great in 3D, though. Ico had an almost tilt-shift like look with some camera angles. I suspect generally 3D might be better when the camera doesn't move much?

 

* projected on my brown wall, still haven't set up the screen.

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Hardboard can warp pretty easily. It might be good to seal the backside of the board as well to make sure it doesn't absorb any moisture.

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