If the suround speakers are ceiling mounted, I suggest just using a plastic telephone wall plate and just running the wire out to the speaker. This type of plate is available at most hardware stores for a buck or two.
Take a look at www.bluejeanscable.com for the HDMI cable.
I suggest running two receivers, one for the home theater and one for the kitchen. The output from all source equipment (cable, DVD, so on) can be fed to both systems and accessible simultaneously in both systems.
I had a Mac Mini connected to my Home Theater for a couple years. I never...
If you turn the receiver all the way down and the TV sound up, do you still have the same issue? If so, there could be a defect with the discs. If not, the issue may have to do with copy protection or with the wiring.
Connecting your Blu Ray player directly to your receiver via the optical or...
IMHO, the TV (or projector and screen) is the most important element, followed closely by the speakers. Given you have a tight budget, I suggested saving a few dollars on the furniture and buying better equipment. You probably can pick up some nice used furniture on gregslist or at estate...
Component, composite and s-video are analog signals, and HDMI is a digital signal. The receiver would need to encode the analog signal into a digital signal to make it available on the HDMI output. This is possible, and separate devices that do this are available for hundreds of dollars...
The keys to sound proofing are density and isolation. Additional layers of drywall will help. Using sound insulation instead heat/cool insulation will help as well. Look for the Sound Transmission Class (or STC) number (higher is better) of the materials you are using. Here are some examples...
I suggest connecting all source components (cable/satellite box, PS3, DVD player) to the receiver, then connecting the receiver to your TV. If all source components are connected to the receiver via HDMI then you will only need an HDMI connection to the TV. However, in most instances, if any...
The digital video portion of a DVI connection is the same as the video portion of an HDMI connection. HDMI to DVI cables are readily available at most video stores (see here). For reasonable lengthed runs (less that 30'), taking the DVI output from your video card into your TV should produce...
Sounds like a grounding problem. I suggest making sure the outlet you are plugging your equipment into is properly wired (most hardware stores carry a device like this) and all equipment is attached to the same electric phase (use one properly sized circuit for all equipment). Also, I suggest...
HMDI is a digital format. Composite, component and S-video are all analog formats. Most receivers today do not encode analog signals into digital. To make your configuration work, you need to connect everything using digital, or connect everything analog. In order to run mixed source...
Based on my read of the manual, it seems you must physically unplug the HDMI cable and wait up to 10 seconds to activate the analog video connections (see page 11, items 3 and 6 as well as the DVD/VCR Output Chart). Your DVD/VCR will decode its digital DVD signals into an analog format and make...
In my configuration source selection is done by a receiver. All source components, the receiver, and the whole house audio equipment are located together in a central location. Selection and control of the equipment is handled using an RF remote control. If you were not planning to put a...
Will all source components be located in the central closet? If so, the number of wires run to each location can be reduced to what ever is essential to deliver a signal (one HDMI and/or one component). If you plan to put source components at each TV, then a single (or double for some dish...
My 2 cents worth on your questions... No. Keep the speaker wires and electric wires apart from each other. All wires (speaker, coax, electric, telephone, light control, so on) should either run parallel (with sufficient distance apart) or at a 90 degree angle to each other. Also, it is advisable...
THX suggests a 36 degree field of view for home theaters and SMPTE had a standard that recommended a 30 degree field a view. I created a calculator based on the THX and SMPTE recommendations that approximates viewing distances. Using the numbers you provided, a 100” screen is ideal. As between...
First a couple bits of background information that may be useful. Most versions of DVI contain both digital and analog signals. HDMI contains only digital signals. HDCP is a digital copy protection scheme, not analog. I'm guessing your converter is not actually converting the digital signals...