Newbee A to Z (1 Viewer)

[BrianJJ]

Just bought a house with unfinished basement and was given the ok for HT by the boss. I need to know where to go for info to start. Is there a perfect room size? etc etc

 

[Jim Mcc]

The size depends on what you want to do with it. Will you be using a projector, RPTV or what? What screen size do you want? Give us some more info.

 

[BrianJJ]

I think I am going with a projector, I want a large screen. I want to go all out on this, so I want to make sure I do it right from the beginning. Thanks for the response. Brian

 

[Charlie Campisi]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the house (and on the wife - she sounds like a winner!)

Decide if you want your HT to be a "purchase" or a "hobby." Most of us here consider it a hobby, or more likely an obsession. The difference is that you can buy a bunch of stuff, spend a bunch of money and it will look great. Today's technologies are wonderful. That is a purchase. You could also start educating yourself on all of the components that go into a HT, construction, seating, sound dampening, lighting, audio, video, satellite, dvd, etc. At that point, you start purchasing and trying things out, but you aren't ever "done." You'll always want to keep to up to date with new technology so that you can keep improving your HT. HD-DVD, improving performance of displays, audio formats, etc. That is a hobby or obsession.

Start reading here no matter which way you go. Begin with the primer/faq button just at the top of this page. It will fill you in on basic principles. That'll get you going.

 

[Leo Kerr]

And, once you get going, having read the FAQs and such, don't be afraid to ask questions!

Most of us are remarkably tolerant of beginner's questions, mostly, I think, 'cause we wish we had someone to go to when we got started...

Leo

 

[BrianJJ]

I can see it becoming an obsession real quick. I have been researching since given the go ahead and will try to keep most of the stupid questions to a minimum. I will read the faq first and go from there. do you have any favorite web sites I can look at just starting out.

 

[John S]

At least go look at some of the real awesome theaters some of the memebers here have.

 

[Jeff Cox]

I second that, nothing gets you more fired up than to see some of the amazing theaters and the hard work that has gone into a lot of the theaters.

 

[Jim Mcc]

Brian, I definitely agree to get a projector. I built a 12'X17' room in our basement, where we have our projector and a 106" DIY screen. I would have liked to build a bigger room, but I couldn't. If you want 2 rows of seating, you should build the room at least 20' long. You need to decide if you want a DLP or LCD projector, and a SD or HD projector. It's amazing the picture quality you can get now with current "entry level" projectors(about $1,000). I paid $799 new for my Infocus X1 projector. The best site to learn about projectors is Projectorcentral.com.

 

[BrianJJ]

I do appriciate all replies because I really have no idea what I'm doing, Yet. I budgeted myself 2500 to 3500 for projector and 1000 to 1500 for receiver and really have no idea what make or model to get. I don't want to spend more then I have to but at the same time I would like not to have to upgrade for awhile. I went around looking for a store that had a projector set up but couldn't find one. I did see some nice large projection tv's though. Please keep the replies I really do appriciate it. Brian

 

[Jim Mcc]

I'm assuming you want an HD projector by your last reply. First you need to decide if you want a DLP or LCD projector.
Try to see both types in person to see which type you like best. Then you can narrow down your choices quite a bit. You can get a great system with your budget.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Start hanging out in "HT Construction, Interiors and Automation" and read "Things I wish I would have done differently in my project" thread from top to bottom.

And ask a lot of questions... if there's one thing HT geeks like to do besides watch their HT's, it's to show off how much they know about HT stuff.

Welcome aboard, BTW.