Home Theatre Thread

[selfish]

Ooooh where from? I'm happy to save $111...

[selfish]

And, can you please test for me if it's fine to put them on their side, so they just look like normal cubes? Maybe even take a picture? Thanks!

[Cardsy]

The place I bought them from doesn't stock them anymore, they were on run-out. It was rio.com.au.

The sat's are designed to be rotated.

http://reviews.cnet.com/surround-speake ... 03073.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[selfish]

What's your take on this:

The piano's low notes sounded fine, but Haden's stand-up bass notes were a little uneven, some being a lot quieter than others. Rock music on CD sounded lightweight, and vocals lacked body.

Is it accurate, are vocals a bit lacking, and the bass troublesome, or is it only in comparison to systems double the price?

[Cardsy]

You get what you pay for. Sat/sub combo's are never going to the match the quality of full range speakers. They're a compromise. Go have a listen to a few different sets. It'll tell you much more than reviews or I can.

For the $500 I paid, I'm more than happy.

[selfish]

How low should I expect a sub to go? 60? 50? 40?

I think I need a tone generator and a quiet shop to test these things.

[Ambrose Burnside]

Any new pics anyone?

This is our "setup" at the moment:



Left to right you'll see the 360 in a stand I got from Dick Smith, the Batman from the Arkham City CE and the Batman from The Dark Knight Returns: Part 1, the TV (Toshiba), a couple of cheap Logitech PC speakers (connected to the 360's VGA cable. Don't have HDMI yet because my old launch model 360 didn't support it and I haven't gotten around to buying an HDMI cable for the slim) , Blu-ray player (Sony), Wii, PS2 and an Eye-toy (that my sister gave me when they got a PS3).

So, yeah, not really a "home theatre" But it gets the job done when your whole house is like 4m x 4m and you're saving money like mad!

Anyway, we're building this year and the place will have a home theatre. The TV cabinet, TV and blu-ray player above will all go in the family room of the new place. The Xbox stand and PC speakers will be given away. The home theatre will be my baby, and I can't wait. The new place will have smart wiring throughout and I plan on building an HTPC and stream media (stored on a NAS) thoughout the house but yeah, all that is in very tentative stages and I don't plan on buying it all in one hit, just building it up slowly throughout 2014 (we should be in the new place by Christmas this year), but I was hoping for some pics from you guys of your home theatres/gaming setups

Later on I'll be asking for HTPC advice but after reading through Grey's thread on the topic I think I'll block mech when I ask

[jizzlobber]

I'd live a decent htpc, and I've tried to make a cool Xbmc setup with an old lappy, but I'm finding appletv is the most convenient way to watch movies right now.

Movies are on my lappy with media server things running, iPad or iPhone talks with the server thingo via app, converts to iOS friendly format on the fly as I direct it to the appletv... But the process is as simple as opening the app, selecting a movie and telling it to play on the tv

[edgecrusher]

I'll be buying a new amp later on in the year, I got a onkyo ( great amp ) but I need more hdmi inputs, my current one only has 4. Its 5 years old and I just want a upgrade. I'll put up a pic of mine next week.

[Burnzoire]

I got unlucky with my Onkyo amp. It's spent more time in a repair shop than actually being used. It failed (edit) 4 times before they finally replaced it. All under warranty of course. The Onkyo rep was very helpful in the end, came over and installed it for me and to check that I wasn't doing anything dodgy to make it fail (which I wasn't).

[Peppermint Lounge]

I've had my Yamaha amp for years. 10+ in fact. Not a beat has been skipped. I have sufficient hdmi ports on my telly and plenty of optical audio inputs on the old beast for TV and BR player. Best appliance I've ever owned. Yamaha sub and Tannoy fronts + centre. RP Acoustics dipole rears. When I bought them I posted pics on Playnow.

[Ambrose Burnside]

I'd live a decent htpc, and I've tried to make a cool Xbmc setup with an old lappy, but I'm finding appletv is the most convenient way to watch movies right now.

Movies are on my lappy with media server things running, iPad or iPhone talks with the server thingo via app, converts to iOS friendly format on the fly as I direct it to the appletv... But the process is as simple as opening the app, selecting a movie and telling it to play on the tv

Yeah, I've heard Apple TV mentioned quite a bit when I look up HTPC threads on the interwebs, but if I get that it would be the only Apple product I own so I don't think it makes sense for me to go that way.

Basically my plan is to store all my movies etc. on a NAS (which I'll probably keep in the study in a corner somewhere out of the way), which is connected via smart wiring to an HTPC in the home theatre. Not sure of the specs of the HTPC but it must be small, silent, be able to run HD stuff, record TV etc. and I'd really like it to have a slot-loading blu-ray drive cos I think they look awesome. I'm thinking a Shuttle case. I'd keep it horizontal rather than on a stand, but something like this:



I've been mucking around with XBMC just on my current hardware just so I can get the hang of it. I managed to rip my copy of The Matrix using DVD Shrink, and whacked that on my external HDD, and played it through XBMC just on my regular desktop. It was nice and straight forward, but I'm thinking of whacking Ubuntu on the HTPC and have it boot into XBMC on start-up. Learning Linux etc. will be a steeper learning curve, but it should be fun

I also want surround sound. A lot of friends have a surround sound set up but with visible cables running everywhere. It looks messy and incomplete. How do you guys hide the cables?

Also (and this is much, much further down the track 'cos there will be a lot of boring house-related stuff that gets priority) I want to whack in a wooden platform at the back of the home theatre, carpet it, and have two-level seating. Grand Final day will be at my place

[jizzlobber]

If you are really keen and have time to spare you could organize your cables with those conduit thingos you get from bunnings.

for speaker cables I hide mine under the house, drilled through the floor behind the TV unit and behind the couch.
can't do that shit in perth though, slabs and double brick... maybe up between the brick and through the roof

[Burnzoire]

My old house had picture rails. Perfect for hiding the cables AND for mounting the speakers. Just had to make the cables go through the wall to the height of the rail which is much easier than climbing in the roof. Pity no houses have picture rails anymore! lol

[Candy Arse]

Need some help I think chaps. I'm having issues with my setup where it'll pipe out audio via HDMI without a drama, but the picture is very hit and miss. Sometimes it cuts out, sometimes it is just audio-only.

Have tried the usual - different cables, direct to TV (which does work but TV audio is poop), ripping out power cables etc. I thought maybe the HDCP handshake was screwing up so I turned everything off at the wall, plugged all cables back in etc but something seems to be up.

I even went so far as to try a new AV receiver (Sony, used to be Onkyo). It's hard to isolate if the problem is receiver or TV.

[General Chaos]

It's your new ps4. Chuck it in the bin!

[Cletus]

Told you he'd know.

I also knew he'd find the PS4 to be the problem.

[flipswitch]

It's almost like you two share the same brain.

[Lepo5]

Need some help I think chaps. I'm having issues with my setup where it'll pipe out audio via HDMI without a drama, but the picture is very hit and miss. Sometimes it cuts out, sometimes it is just audio-only.

Have tried the usual - different cables, direct to TV (which does work but TV audio is poop), ripping out power cables etc. I thought maybe the HDCP handshake was screwing up so I turned everything off at the wall, plugged all cables back in etc but something seems to be up.

I even went so far as to try a new AV receiver (Sony, used to be Onkyo). It's hard to isolate if the problem is receiver or TV.

A bit hard to interpret exactly what's happening but it sounds like;

1. HDMI using your receiver as a switch has good sound but flaky picture - yes / no?
2. Direct to TV works but the "audio is poop" - does "poop" mean it works as it should but the TV just isn't as nice as the receiver? - OR the sound is flaky?

If the answers are yes, yes, no respectively then isn't it the HDMI "switch" on the receiver either in or out that's the problem?

EXCEPT you used two different receivers. The exact same thing happens on both receivers yes / no?

[lestat]

Looks like you need another "stability" update.

[Candy Arse]

I seem to be having some success turning the TV on first, then the receiver, then the device....in that order.

[flipswitch]

Your HT setup has OCD.

[lestat]

I seem to be having some success turning the TV on first, then the receiver, then the device....in that order.

Looks like a hdmi HDCP handshaking/pass through issue.

Didn't the latest PS4 updates allow you to turn off HDCP for gameplay? That might be the ticket.

[Candy Arse]

This was a problem prior to the PS4 being installed, but I'll still check it out.

[MiNiStRy]

Definately sounds like the hand shaking problem either that or it's the sony amp.