I used two items after installing the sheetrock. For the front third of the room, I glued acoustical ceiling tiles directly to the wall. I then purchased a heavy black fabric made for upholstering furniture. I had the fabric sewn to add large pleats, giving a wave effect to the material. This...
My Sony STB went wacky after a rescan a few months ago. After removing the power for an hour and re-running the scan, the channels were in the correct locations and the picture was fine. As an aside, what are you using for an antenna? Any amp?
---Andy Garabedian
I use my FPTV for the DVD, LD, HDTV, PC, and Xbox. Since my room is dark already, the contrast and brightness are only 1/3 the way up. If the set is properly setup in a dark room (The only way for a FPTV) you will not have any problems using a game systems (assuming a resonable period of play. I...
Just hype. Use a shielded video cable for the 3 inputs and you will be fine. I make my connection from quad RG6 for all my low level audio and component video connections.
---Andy Garabedian
I recently had an co-worker ask me about a HDTV purchase. I suggested a Toshiba, but he went with a Samsung. I received a phone call from him a few hours after delivery of the set asking me what was wrong. Cable looked very bad and DVD playback had motion artifacts durng fast moving scenes. He...
Turn it down. Your frequency is in my head. Sorry. Someone had to say that. I too can hear when a TV is on, but my wife cannot. Then again she is a few years older than me and remebers the '70's disco music. I wonder how much that affected her hearing......
---Andy Garabedian
Someone at work just purchased that set a few weeks ago. I suggested a Toshiba since I have had good experience with their DTV sets as well as they have had several years to work out the bugs in their sets.
He was very dissapointed in the Samsungs picture. Although he is using a digital cable...
I have been using this box in my HT for a few month now (HD-100 Built July 2001). The only problem I have had is the VGA out has an error which shifts the picture to the right. Since I have a FPTV I can correct this issue, but if you are going to use the VGA connector VS the component, you need...
I know how you feel Bill. Got mine a few months back. I can now enjoy broadcast TV on the big screen. Now if the other stations would follow WBZ, that would be the icing. Hopefully they will come around....
---Andy Garabedian
[Edited last by andyg on October 21, 2001 at 09:49 PM]
A good test is seeing if analog UHF is receivable at your location. If the quality is decent(little snow, watchable picture and sound, but does not have to be perfect), then you most likely will be able to receive HDTV OTA. This is assuming you local stations are transmitting digitally, which...
The best advice I can give is get some plastic chairs and place them in the locations you feel is the correct spot. You then have the ability to move the chairs around left, right, up, down. This is what I did while building my HT. This gave me real data to test my seating locations. You also...
If you do not see a grounding block leading from the connection at the dish, then it was not installed properly. The grounding block should be as close as possible to the dish or point of entry to the building. The grounding block should have a larger diameter wire connected to a rod 4'-6' long...
I have 2 types of surge protection for my HT. First, I installed Hospital grade surge protected outlets. Not cheap, but if they save my projector it has paid for itself. Secondly, I have a Leviton whole house surge protection installed at the main fuse panel. It connects to both power legs and...
You should be able to find out what are the codes in your town. In my case I had to ensure any wire I was installing was CL-3 rated (in-wall use). It may vary in your area. You should be able to find any CAT5 or RG-6 with this rating. I would suggest a CL-3 RG-6 Quad-shielded with a solid copper...
Most likely it will, if both sets of wires are in close proximity and are unshielded. In my case I installed metal cladded AC cable and ran all AC down one side of the room and all low voltage/speaker wire down the other side of the room. There is nothing better than isolation. If you really...
I also used 12/2 for the equipment. I have one circuit for the audio and one circuit for the video. Both terminate at the panel on the same leg. I used Hospital grade surge suppression outlets from Leviton. A bit of over-kill, but if a problem ever occurs hopefully the whole-house surge...
X10 is a military spec. It basically sends a digital code over your existing AC wiring. The devices you install receive the codes and decide if the code is for them. If so it does the appropriate action(On,Off,Dim). X10 is great because you do not need additional wiring to make it work, but that...
I would also go with the 14-4 UL rates for in-wall use. This will allow you more flexibility if you want to bi-wire in the future. Go with the RG-6 quad copper core as suggested. This is the set I ran to every section of the room I built (All corners plus an extra set in the front middle and...
I used extra deep metal boxes an added 2 holes near the back of the box. This allowed me to use 3" screws through the box into the studs and still left me extra room even when clearing 1/2" sound board, 5/8" drywall, 1/2" acoustical panels and drapes.
---Andy Garabedian
I run 5 Bass Shakers in parallel/series to give me about 6 ohms resistive. I have them connected to a 300W@4 ohms channel. At first I had them cranked to shake the hell out of everyone, but the novelty soon wore off. I set them so they can only be felt during heavy LFE. I used Tomorrow Never...
I set the room to 75dB, but set the sub to 80dB. Why? Cause I like the extra push. I have experimented in my basement HT with position and levels, but I ended up with the sub a bit off center at the front of the room at 80dB. That location seemed to have the best linear sound when walking around...
Can you believe I built an HT in the basement revolving around a DVD player of course, but I now have a LD player to join the ranks. My friend was about to throw out a Pioneer LD player he has had for atleast 10 years. I said NO. I'll take it. Granted it only has composite video out and analog...
I used a wooden exterior grade door for the entrance. Stained one side and painted the other. My test was my wife talking on the other side of the door during the construction phase. In the dead silent HT room, I could just barely hear her and she speaking well above normal speaking volumes...
With my setup, LFE can be felt one floor above. I have an HT in the basement with only ~7' 6" before construction started, concrete to bottom of above floor joist. To keep enough headroom and keep the CRT high enough I could not build a double ceiling, just your usual strapping with R30 in the...
Andrew,
Sounds like you have done your pricing homework. You should have a great setup with the price points you described. I spent about $18,000 for my equipment setup, which included your list plus a Lexicon DC-2 and Atlantic Technology speakers. I also was going to use the HTPC, but since...