Home Theatre Construction Blog (Archived from DTV Forum)
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Well after almost a year of procrastination, 6 months of trying to find a builder who was vaguely interested in doing the work, and the final few months of planning, soil tests & footing engineering, quotes, negotiations, contracts and planning approval, we finally broke earth and construction of our new Home Theatre/Rumpus room commenced on Monday 5 December 2005.Construction started on Monday 5 December 2005 using a builder recommended by friends. After 2 days we’re happy with progress (if not with the amount of dust in the house!).
These are the plans showing the main downstairs area.
The final room will be 4690 x 6610 (less the feature wall for the flat screen). So it will be approximately 30 square metres.
It includes a recessed alcove to hold a large flat screen display (also not obstruct any future drop-down projection screen).
The room will be fully enclosed with R2.5 sound bats and 2 x 10mm plasterboard on all walls and ceilings.
There will be four Windows (none casting light on the screen) and a ceiling fan (bloody building code) as well as a nice 5kW Air Conditioner.
Here are some Before and After shots from the first two days work
Before
Side of House from rear (Day 0)
Showing potential (Day 1)
After
Home Theatre Hole (Day 2)
Side of House from rear (Day 1)
All wiring to be in-wall with conduits and wall plates.
I’m getting the house wired for data with a total of 14 CAT6 points around the house (unless the cost is too expensive!).
So what’s going into the new room?
To be purchased (once construction nears completion)
A 50” Plasma screen – toss up between Fujitsu P50XHA50AS and Pioneer 506HD
DVD Player – likely to be Denon 1920.
HD STB – no idea at this time.
New Stand/Rack – most likely the Sound Design Furniture Moreton Deluxe
Already own: -
Onkyo DS575TX 5.1 A/V Receiver
Mission 773 Front Speakers
Mission 77c Centre Speaker
Mission 771 Rear Speakers
Mission m5ds Surround Speakers
Energy XL8 Active Sub
Logitech Harmony 880 Remote
I just bought a pair of Mission m5ds surrounds on Tuesday. Got them from Harvey Norman in the bargain area and will pick them up Thursday. Got them for $449 which isn’t too bad considering the RRP of $699.
Ultimately this will lead to an upgrade of the A/V Receiver (eventually) as I now have 7.1 speakers but only 5.1 output!
Just won an auction today on E-bay for a new Logitech Harmony 880 remote – total cost (including shipping) was less than $250. Pretty happy with that.
More to follow……
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The skies went black, the wind howled, the rain thundered down….but fortunately stopped quite quickly.
Well Day-4 ended with a splash! Fortunately not enough water to give the kids the (mud) pool they have been requesting.
Most of the new steel posts are in place, as is the new steel beam but they need to be bolted and welded secure. Plumber has been to do the drainage preparation work. Correction - spoke to the builder on Friday morning - turns out the posts have been welded in place already..my excuse was that I couldn’t clearly see in the twilight.
BTW God it’s not allowed to rain until after next Wednesday (the day the slab is due to go down)!
Picked up my Mission M5ds speakers today. Sweated buckets walking up hill from Harvey Norman in the midday heat.
Thinking about speaker placement in the room. Do I put the M5ds’ at the rear or the M71’s with the other set on the sides. Anyone have any thoughts?
Which has got me thinking about A/V Receiver upgrades (due to 5.1 output but 7.1 speakers).
I could get a refurbished Onkyo 602 with 2 years warranty from e-bay for $700-ish. However, going the whole hog for a new 7.1 receiver appeals (naturally).
Wonder what I can realistically expect for my Onkyo TX-DS575 Receiver? 7 years old never missed a beat. Still have box, manuals, remote. $300? Anyone have a clue?
Bought a P50XHA40US + other toys
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Following reports ofa P50XHA40US in store at Myer Chermside, I went along this morning.
After some negotiations with Nick by 10.00 am I had bought the following as a bundle:-
Prices are Store Price/What I Paid.
LG LST5100P HD STB ($499/$419)
LG RH7798 DVD/HDD Recorder($1099/$932)
Topfield 5000PVRT Black Panther($999/$839)
AND
Fujitsu P50XHA40US ($7999 -> $5999/$5875)
3 Free DVD-RAM Disks
Delivery
Total Bundle price was $8100 including delivery.
Delivery next Saturday.
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Well two things of note happened today.
Firstly, the slab was poured. Almost 14 cubic metres (two truck loads) went in.
Block work starts on Friday.
Second, was delivery of my weekend purchases from Myer. 
Yes it’s a US model! 
Having second thoughts about the LG HDD DVDR – may return it and put the money towards a new A/V Receiver. WAF is diminishing rapidly so all “optional” expenditure is now under “review”.
Need to buy power board (I can get the 8 socket Belkin Pure AV through work cheaply) and some video cables.
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Damn Xmas is very busy. Hardly had time to think let alone post. I’ll add some piccies later.
On Monday I returned the LG 7796W HDD DVDR to Myer for a full refund with no hassles.
On the construction side, things have slowed down.
The Block work is done. Also the waterproofing in preparation for the backfilling that is scheduled for tomorrow and then that’s it for a couple of weeks. We resume on 9 January and already I have mixed news with the windows not being available until 27 January (although they will be $1000 cheaper - apparently).
It’s strange how your perception of space changes as the once seemingly large area is slowly reduced by foundations, walls, etc. No doubt this will exacerbate once more work is done, especially when the stairs and the internal walls go up.
Thank God for the Harmony 880 remote. Not only does it make the watching of TV/etc simple but the Optus Digital remote has given up the ghost. Fortunately the Harmony makes a more than adequate substitute whilst we wait for a replacement.
Kids played a couple of hours of PS2 with the Fuji for the first time a couple of days ago. I sat in the corner somewhat anxiously watching for signs of image retention. Nothing to worry about so far.
Local shop still hasn’t received it’s Yamaha RX2600’s yet. Yet another thing that will be a post Xmas activity.
Cooking with Gas (and without!)
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As Robin Williams once said “It’s hot, damn hot….”. We’re cooking here (although our air con is just coping in a couple of rooms). Where’s the damn rain?!
Well the last week before Xmas was a crock as the backfill didn’t happen as the tradies went AWOL and it took 5 attempts to get the truck load of debris collected from the front lawn before Xmas. Grrrr 
Yesterday, Origin Energy joined the growing list of wreckers of the front-garden when they installed our natural gas supply. So naturally today, I went out and purchased the Rinnai Infinity 26 Continuous Flow Hot Water heater. Our tame plumber is on holiday for another week (along with builders) so it will sit in a box until then.
On the way home, I stopped in at Living Sound in Newmarket where they had just finished setting up their demo Yamaha RX-V2600B. After some hands on and demo by John I bought one on lay-by. Thanks John & Karl!
p.s. They had one more in stock if anyone is interested - next shipment due late Jan/Feb 2006.
I didn’t get too much HT stuff as Xmas as Santa had already pre-delivered my 50″ PDP and other goodies. Got Star Wars III, Sin City and Wife got Mr & Mrs Smith & Jaws 20th Anniversary, Kids got Charlie & Chocolate Factory, & Madagascar.
(Mr & Mrs Smith & Charlie came from UK as presents where they already out just in case anyone noticed that they are not released here yet!)
A belated Merry Xmas and advance Happy New Year to you all.
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Jan 9 2006, 07:49 PM |
Well official “Construction Restart Day” came and went with slight progress.
The Termi Mesh guys arrived but without the builder they were unable to complete the install. They’ll be back.
Two truck loads of stone for the refill were delivered - partially blocking the drive way and further mashing the front garden into oblivion.
The builder is back tomorrow with the bobcat (to move the stones) and will start framing on Wednesday but then informed me of a week delay next week whilst we wait for the Windows ETA 27 January - presuming they are on time of course!
On the HT front, I am now looking at the thorny issue of IR emitters and receivers so that I can control at least the 2600 and the Optus box from upstairs (Zone 2). I will have the remotes to do both but I need an IR receiver and emitter for downstairs.
Not being a fan of wireless I having been looking at various solutions which are not exactly common. Been to the Clipsal and HPM sites where their products look a bit scarey (price wise at least) for what should be a simple solution.
How hard can it be?
Feature Walls, Racks, IR Solution,
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Things are taking shape with most of the frame going on today. All the Termi-mesh work is done.
The backfill is complete and it’s nice to be able to reach the back garden without risking a cave in or humiliation.
The Feature wall with the Plasma Alcove is moving along nicely too.
After I arrived home I had a chat with the builder (also called Aaron) and as a result I nipped out today to get the Wall Mount for the Fuji so that the builder can have the studs in just the right position.
The Plasma Alcove is approx 200mm deep and design to leave 100mm space from each edge of the PDP for air flow. There was a slight delay as I converted the Imperial dimensions on the Fujitsu Wall Mount instructions into metric for the builder who’s tape measure only had metric.
Mounted 110mm below the Plasma Alcove will be a smaller alcove for my Mission Centre speaker.
On each side of the PDP Alcove will be a smaller 300mm wide alcove which is the same height as the PDP Alcove. Each will have a downlight (with dimmer control) and a couple of glass shelves. Should hold and show off the dragon collection nicely.
When it’s light I’ll take some photo’s.
Anyway whilst picking up the Plasma Wall mount I got chatting to Carl and John about racks. Five minutes later I had a deal for their display but otherwise virgin Sound Design Moreton Deluxe rack. Made of real wood by local craftsmen, it is infinitely superior to the the flat-packed s**t sold by Harvey Norman et al.
May have also solved the Infra Red relay quandry. Living Sound recommended at Andrews Audio IRR-300 Kit which has everything I need to pipe IR signals from upstairs down to the HT room.
All-in-all a quite constructive day - in the literal sense as well. Starting to look forward to completion.
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After a slight delay here are some piccies.
Side of House (pre-Xmas & post-Xmas)
In the room, most of the frame is up with work on the Feature Wall well advanced.
The Feature Wall has a large cavity for the Fujitsu 50″ PDP with the manufacturers recommended air ventilation. Below the Plasma Alcove is a smaller alcove for the centre speaker. To each side of the Plasma alcove will be a 300 mm wide alcove with glass shelves and a down light (with dimmer). I plan to put my dragon collection on display down there.
First incision into our living space - hole cut for the stairs.
This was quite traumatic for my better half as this was (with the exception of the back wall of the garage being taken out for construction access) the first real incursion and incision into our existing house.
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We had a week’s holiday away on Sunshine Coast - great except for last 3 days of overcast and rain plus we all got ear infections from water in ears…me last (still have it)!
Came home on Saturday to find builder trying to finish last of Frame prior to inspection.
Whilst we were away the plumber installed the gas hot water heater but it is temporarily powered by an extension cord from garage (until Monday when Electrician comes).
Tomorrow (Monday) will be busy..
Kids are off to school (Daughter in Grade 6 and Son starts Grade 1)!
Electrician is due at 8.00 am (bad timing as it conflicts with kids going to school).
Frame Inspection is due.
Scheduled activities this week are: -
Monday - Electrician, Frame Inspection
Tuesday - Electrician, Relocation of Air Conditioner from Study rear wall (now inside new HT room)
Wednesday - Plasterboarders start, Progress Payment due (Boo!).
Thursday - Plasterboards keep going (apparently they get Friday off and hence 3 day weekend) despite it being Australia day.
Friday - Stairs go in & ETA for Windows (appendages crossed).
If all this happens then we will be nearing completion rapidly with only another week or so to go presuming there are no issues with tiler or a/c installation.
As the Electrician is coming tomorrow, I spent today dashing around getting lights, wall plates, and paint blurb. Only have a small list for the electrician including 6 double power sockets, 12 CAT6 data ports, Antenna and Optus duplication/relocation, as well as lights, a/c power supply.
Will update when I get a chance.
Jan 27 2006, 10:25 PM
Well it’s been a couple of days of progress and some frustrations as well.
Because many of the remaining tasks are linked and have dependencies and constraints, all it takes is one to fall outside of schedule for many, if not all, of the remainder to also be impacted negatively. So after a couple of cancellations on Tuesday it all went a bit sour through to Thursday.
However, as I write this (Friday) we have achieved “lock-up” which means the extension (and the house) are secure. No more plywood “security” in the garage. The HT room has walls, windows and stairs! It looks like a room. More importantly it’s starting to look like a Home Theatre.
The electrical pre-wiring has been done.
Separate Power Circuit just for the A/V Receiver and TV
Separate Power Circuit for Air Conditioner
Additional circuit for Lights and Fans (too much load on existing circuits).
3 new power point upstairs
Approx 120m of Speaker Wire (2 pairs for fronts (bi-wired),centre,surrounds and rear surrounds)
12(!) runs of CAT6 for data (5 in study, 3 in HT room, 3 in bedrooms and 1 in Living Room) and another for Infra Red relay from Living Room to HT Room.
3x RG6 for RCA feed to Living Room (for Zone 2 Video & Audio)
TV Antenna and Optus Coaxial relayed to HT Room.
Today (Friday) was the day of significant progress. What occurred today was: -
Last of the Sound Bats
Plasterboard
Windows
Stairs
Completion of Electrical pre-wiring and completion of Networking
Relocation and reconnection of study air conditioner
Anyway the following pictures should show progress better than my ramblings.
Plasma Feature Frame with cable conduit
Front of Room showing Plasma, Centre Speaker & Display alcoves
Rear of Room showing under-stair storage, and pre-installation for air conditioning
Cabling for HT Rack - before plasterboard
Cabling for HT Rack - after plasterboard
We have stairs!
Due to some physical limitations I’m “forced” to swap my Surrounds and Rear Surrounds around. There wasn’t space on the side walls for the Mission M5ds speakers so instead the Mission M71’s on Vogel V100 wall mounts will go on the side walls whist the M5ds move to the rear.
My study has been out of action since Monday as most of the contents (i.e. the computers) had to be removed to make way for the CAT6 cabling and air/conditioner relocation. This caused plenty of complaints are the only remaining functional computers (my daughter’s SFF and my laptop) then had to be divided between 4 avaricious users!
A couple of issues for the builder to resolve.
One problem is that there are only 11 network point terminations in my study. There should be 12. It would appear that the data point for the Living Room has been missed. This could have been caused by confusion over a CAT6 cable running from the Living Room to the HT Room for the infra-red relay. 
Another is that the second of the pair of speaker cables to the Right Front speaker (to be bi-wired) is not locatable despite some fishing behind the wall. 
These should get sorted.
However, I’m pretty damn happy. 
This weekend will see the first coat of natural varnish onto the stairs, and serious paint and tile shopping. Plasterer is due Monday and the cladding, doors and other fixtures will go on. So by the end of next week the only outstanding items should be the painting, tiling and finalisation of the electrical and other cabling.
…then setup of the HT begins in earnest. 
Painting, Panting, Anticipating
Feb 5 2006, 10:05 PM
Sorry there’s been no update for a while.
Life’s been hectic with kids back to school, customer’s project entering pilot stage (i.e. extra hand holding required), and the usual domestic issues.
Anyway back on topic.
The last week saw the following occur: -
Plastering finished.
Interior finishing (doors, skirting boards, etc).
Exterior cladding.
Upstairs Wall by new stairs.
Wife hated the new upstairs wall - so in approx two weeks time its getting ripped out and replaced by wooden ballistrade. Of course it goes without saying that this is an additional cost. 
Anyway over the last two days we have been painting pretty much non-stop. In two days we’ve prepped (sanded, washed down), undercoated, and painted (at least two coats except for ceiling - it got the looks pink but turns white one coat stuff) all surfaces in the room. It’s been damn warm and sweaty - damn sub-tropical climate!
Just got some retouching to do but looks good. Just downloaded photo’s from my camera. Note the flash is not kind to the actual paint colours.
Stairs with 1st coat of varnish…before plasterers trampled dust etc into them
My Wife Hates This - soon to be gone VJ stair wall
On your marks!… brushes/rollers at the ready…paint!
Feature Wall #1
Feature Wall #2
Feature Wall #3 - Probably closest to actual colours.
Tomorrow the electricians come back to finish off. They will also be pulling my new 10m HDMI cable through the conduit, and installing my Fujitsu 50″ onto it’s wall mount.
Tiler is expected Wednesday/Thursday (2 day job) but no ETA for air conditioning guy yet.
Who knows I may be able to actually commission the HT functions next Saturday.
We have power…..standby for…..
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Sparkies came and went like electrical fairies today.
We now have lights, powered wall sockets, speaker posts, and a wall mounted plasma!
Onto the pictures.
Longshot of Feature Wall …the room is a mess
Feature Wall with 50″ Plasma mounted
Insert AV Rack here …note some holes left to fill. Getting Closer…Tiles down
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Tiler laid 46m2 of tile in new room and in garage today.
Grouting tomorrow.
Getting excited! Just air conditioner to go.
HT Room with Tiles
View of new tiles in Garage
Yes I know it’s not ideal for sound but we’re throwing some rugs down and some other furniture to minimise the impact.
Was hopping to have new HiFi Rack and Yamaha RX-V2600 delivered tomorrow. Will be Friday or Saturday morning now.
Still fairly excited. Need to hang speakers first (need some longer self tapering screws and to relocated the noggins behind the plasterboard).
PureAV™ Home Theatre Power Console
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Ordered a PureAV™ Home Theatre Power Console PF30.
Bit of a punt, but I did want something a bit better than my 8 year old DSE board.
Getting through work so wholesale prices plus GST & some admin & shipping fees.
Will report how it goes (eta approx 4 working days).
Tiler is back to grout this afternoon and tonight I pick up my Receiver and HiFi Rack
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Picked up my new Hi-Fi rack, the Yamaha RX-V2600, and a bucket load of cables.
Couldn’t resist the temptation and wait until I had installed the speaker mounts and setup the speakers. So did some pure video testing with the universal mute (no speakers option).
Unboxed the 2600, the HD STB and dug an old DVD player out.
The 10m HDMI cable works fine linking the RX-V2600 to the Fujitsu. You see the HDCP check message and then the image appears.
Connected up the LG 5100 STB and fed the signal over Component. Looked good.
Only defeat of the night was that I couldn’t get the LG STB box to output over the DVI using a DVI to HDMI converter and HDMI-HDMI cable into the Yamaha or direct to the TV to pass a signal. Will try a DVI to HDMI cable tomorrow to see if that helps.
Connected up the old Toshiba SD2109 DVD player via component and upscaled the 576i through all the settings (576p, 1080i and 720p). There was a difference. Too early to say how good a one but I could notice on menu’s of Finding Nemo.
The 2600 GUI is very good. A godsend and worked at all resolutions over HDMI.
Now for some sound tomorrow. Must remember to get the right size self-tapering screws for the wall mounts (the ones I have are either too short or too long).
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….plugs that is!
Saturday was spent cleaing the new HT room, and ajoining areas to remove the building debris, finishing off painting the walls, and hanging the speakers.
After a painting and preparing all day Saturday I finally got an agreed “outage” (kids went to bed) to dismantle the living room HT setup and reassemble downstairs.
So starting at about 9.30 pm I moved everything down and carefully reassembled. It actually takes a lot longer than you expect.
Most of it was straight forward except for the sheer effort required in wiring speaker cable for 7 speakers (including 2 bi-wired) between two sets of binding posts in a small space. It occured to me that I should have got banana plugs (as advised by the Hi-Fi guys). I’ll correct this oversight this week.
Discovered a couple of minor wiring issues - wrong polarity connected to binding posts, and High &* Low Freq pair for Front Right biwire reversed (now that did sound weird in YPAO tests!). Of course the lack of banana plugs made correcting these more than a trivial task it should have been.
Finally gave up about 1.30am on Sunday morning. Collapsed into bed after a shower at 2.00 am.
Sunday was spent to doing domestic tasks and getting the Harmony 880 working (still having a few issues with commands to the 2600 and more so the LG 5100 stb).
Haven’t got round to setting up and trying Zone 2 output. Will try this sometime in next few days.
Haven’t had a chance to take pictures at all this weekend. Will correct this oversight in the next couple of days too.
Builders are back on Wednesday for pretty much the last of the work, as it the air conditioning guy. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
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Couldn’t get Zone 2 output to upstairs working. No matter what I tried. The Yami 2600 appeared to be doing all the right things, I was only feeding it analog over composite, but no joy. Went to bed frustrated.
Anyway, after a night’s disturbed sleep, the little light came on (Son going to bathroom!) so up I got and I tried reversing a couple of connections at the wall socket whilst using a VHS player to directly feed the link. After some trial and error I had signal and sound. Changed over to using Zone 2 output from the Yami. Works but volume is extremely low when feeding TV (a problem for another time).
So how hard is it to cross-wire 3 cables?
Obviously too easy for the apprentice who connected my composite feed to upstairs.
Two composite wall plates with YRW RCA sockets linked by RG6.
The final result is that from downstairs the connections are W->W, R->Y, Y->R
Will get the electrician back to fix that too.
First Impressions of PF30 PureAV™ Power Console
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My Belkin PF30 PureAV™ Home Theatre Power Console arrived today.
Had to come in from overseas as none were in stock with Ingram Micro when I ordered. After waiting 2 weeks it finally arrived today despite a threat yesterday to slip another week.
Anyway here’s my first thoughts based on a frantic unboxing and setup before my son noticed Optus had gone away! I’ll follow up on this over the next week or so.
What’s in the box?
User Manual
PureAV™ Power Console PF30
Rack Brackets
1.8m RJ45 Ethernet Cable
1.8m RJ11 Phone Cable
1.8m F-Type Coaxial
1.8m Coaxial Aerial Cable
1 Sheet of PureAV Cable Labels (try saying that 5 times quickly!)
Technical Specifications
Electrical Rating 240V~8A/1920W
Product Weight 4.0 kg
Dimensions 435 x 205 x 92 mm (WxDxH)
Number of Sockets 7
Cable Lenght 3M - SD500
Joule Rating 3850J
Max Spike Current 132,000A
Response Time <1 nanosecond
Coaxial Protection 3-in, 3-out
‘Phone Protection 1-in, 2-out
Ethernet Protection 1-in, 1-out
Overload Protection Yes
First Impressions
- Unit looks nice
- Manual is very light on technical stuff
- Taking it out the box, I’m already thinking I should have got the PF40 model
- Mains power lead is thick and long
Pro’s
- Can’t tell any difference from before
- Looks good, box looks good too!
- Mains Lead is nice and thick and insulated
- Relatively small (could be put at rear of equipment rack/shelf)
- Can be rack mounted
- Included Cables are of good quality
Con’s
- Can’t tell any difference from before
- Manual is very brief and vague - no real detail on what the Video and Audio filters actually do.
- Only 3 Video Filtered and 3 Audio Filtered Circuits plus 1 High Current Socket.
- Mains cable is too long at 3metres!
- Damn 1.8m = 6ft US lenght cables!
I haven’t tried passing the Optus cable and FTA cables through for the PureAV™ experience. That will have to wait to the weekend.
Note - the manual explictly states that: -
“Although your PureAV Power Console is built to withstand large power surges, we cannot guarantee that it will protect all of your equipment in the event of a large lightning storm. In the event of a lightning storm, it is best to unplug your Power Console from the wall. Once you have done this, there is no need to unplug any of the equipment that is connected to the Power Console.”
Note - Warranty and the $1million “insurance” is still valid for lightning according to the small print.
The pictures:
The Retail Box - and very impressive it is too in the PureAV™ corporate colours
Inside the Box
Rear View and Contents
In - or On more precisely - My Rack - not sure if this is the final resting place
Attack of the Remotes - give an impression of unit size.
And yes I know I need to tidy my cables!
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I’ve been a bit slack in updating the overall progress of the project. The builder arranging to come round with the Final Bill kinda got my attention though!
The HT/Rumpus room is largely completed. We’ve moved furniture in, and cleaned and scrubbed the construction dust from the house.
The enthusiasm levels have dropped a bit. Mainly because it’s all the messy little things left to do. We’ve still got a lot of finishing touches to do, but we can actually sit down and watch a movie/TV etc now. Actually that’s part of the problem…why paint when you can watch?!
Pictures: -
Long Shot of Feature Wall/Screen - Fujitsu P50XHA40US, Mission M773e speakers and M77c centre (the shelf underneath the centre speaker is yet to be stained).
Side Wall - showing the Windows and one of the Mission M771 speakers
Rear Wall - showing the Air Con unit and Mission M5ds speakers
Saving Private Ryan Omaha Beach in DTS of course!
I am very pleased with the Yamaha RX-V2600B I purchased. It does everything I want it too, and pretty much all of it well. Of the features only the HDMI upscaling is delivering mixed results and this is mostly attributable to the source media. For instance Saving Private Ryan looks best at native resolution where as The Incredibles actually looks better at 720p.
The 
On Screen GUI is a very useful feature and works for me across all resolutions on HDMI.
Some of you may have notice my little rant about bananas. Well reinforcements arrived today…..
Meet the Banana Army. Will introduce them to the “enemy” (speaker cable) and have a little bit of co-mingling and fraternisation!
Zen And The Art Of Harmony Maintenance
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It’s been a long, long time between posts.
Firstly, after 10 months of relatively hassle free service the Harmony 880 started on the dreaded not charging in the dock problem.
A quick search on the Internet found a solution for me. Taken directly from the post here.
QUOTE
The problems you may be having may not be with the remote/battery, but with the cradle itself. There is a known problem with the early releases of it.
The contacts within it are recessed in the unit too far and do not make contact with the remote to charge it.
You can try and contact Logitech and have them send you a new one. Or you can try and fix yourself (to be safe, try both 
)
Unplug it first, then use a flathead screwdriver to take off the soft rubber pads on the bottom, thus exposing 4 screws.
Unscrew the 4 screws with a philips screwdriver. Then, with a small flathead, you should be able to pry it open.
Place some non-conductive material under the base of the contacts to raise them. I used thick paper folded over, myself. Make sure the contacts still float, so when you place the remote back on, it will make contact w/ all three of them.
Snap the unit back together, and see if it charges your remote.
If it does, put the screws back in, and then put the sticky pads back on, and you should be good to go!
If not, maybe try raising the contacts a bit more. If that doesn’t work, then well, it very well could be the battery or the remote.
Even after doing this, I’ve found I needed to put a weight on top of my remote so it makes contact with all three of the contacts.
Simple, even a certified amateur like me had it done in about 3 minutes.
So after the battery state had reached red and the reboot cycle my 880 is once again charging. It’s not a perfect solution but will tide me over whilst I decide whether to try and get the thing exchanged or simply look for a better quality (in build and reliability) remote.
Moving on I am still deciding on what do about a DVD player. I have fairly simple needs and a relatively limited budget.
My considered options at the moment are :-
- Denon 1930
- Cambridge Audio DVD89
- Marantz DVD6600 or 6001
- Pioneer 989AVI
- Toshiba HD-E1
Of them, the Toshiba HD-E1 is definitely the outsider and dark horse.
Oh decisions, decisions. 
Finally Ordered My New Dvd Player……
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Well after possibly setting a record for procrastination, umm-ing and ahh-ing, driving local Hi-Fi stores (one in particular ) to distraction, prevaricating and generally not being able to make up my mind……
I have finally decided on my DVD player upgrade…..
/drum roll
Denon DVD2930 in Black.
/drum roll off
I have one of the last six (in black) of pre-Christmas stock (i.e. no more until New Year) at Audio Products winging it’s way to me tomorrow ETA Friday hopefully.
So get thee hence Sony NS50 and make way for my new deck of godliness.
So why did I choose the 2930?
1. Decided to wait out the first couple of rounds of the HD format wars
2. I wanted improved audio playback and support for SACD and DVD-A as well as HDCD
3. I wanted a non-Faroudja chipset - 2930 has HQV Reon
4. Best of the SD-DVD players I reviewed (deliberately didn’t view a 3930 or Marantz 9600!)
5. Good to very good reviews in media and on net.
6. Wife doesn’t know how much it cost 
Closest contender was the Pioneer 989AVI - very good but no black and Denon was just that bit better and worth the extra IMHO.
Eliminated after evaluation were the Cambridge Audio DVD89 (v.good audio but only good video and inserts pause in SACD playback!), Denon 1930 (good video, but big lip sync issues), Marantz 7600 (excellent audio, but some menu and other weirdness in video menus in my demo plus retailer didn’t want to move much on price).
Eliminated as they aren’t available - Marantz DVD7001 (no ETA for Oz), Yamaha DVD-S1700/S2700 (again no ETA for Oz), Toshiba HD-E1 (no ETA, Castel have no reliable info, doesn’t play required audio formats).
This will be my last SD-DVD player.
Denon 2930 Brochure (PDF format).
This PDF shows differences between current Denon DVD player line up. Lcd For The Bedroom And Waiting For My 2930
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Well my 2930 is stock at Audio Products but undergoing “pre-delivery” so it won’t be with me until mid week.
This afternoon we picked up a 32 Inch Samsung LCD with integrated HD tuner for $1900 from JB Hifi.
Samsung LA32R71BDX
Damn good price.
It’s going into the bedroom to replace a 22″ CRT. We’ll be hooking the Topfield 5000BP and a Pioneer DVD to it.
Oh, managed to find Pink Floyd DSOTM 30th Anniversary Edition SACD at JB too. Pretty happy about that too. Still Waiting
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Dec 5 2006, 08:49 PM |
My 2930 should be in Brisbane tomorrow.
John (from Living Sound) is making me some 60cm cable for the multi-channel input to my Yammy 2600.
Mild anticipation is probably the best description of my current state.
Still haven’t unboxed the Samsung 32″ LCD. Will try and make time for that tomorrow too and must do it by Saturday in case I need to return it.
It’s Here - My 2930 Is Sitting In Its Box…..
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in my HT room waiting for my kids to stop using the TV!
Picked up a Kordz Diamond 1m HDMI cable and 6 custom 60cm cables for analog. 2930 Installed And Working!
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Well I finally got the Denon DVD-2930 installed when my wife took kids shopping so I temporarily regained control of the HT.
It certainly looks the business - full depth, weighs about 8kg, and exudes quality. Only the tray disappoints, was hoping for something more solid.
Hooked up with custom component, and a Kordz Diamond 1m HDMI cable for video, and 6 custom 60cm RCA cables for multi-channel audio as well as an optical cable.
Ran through the setup menu but haven’t actually changed anything yet.
Just the default playback at 576p over HDMI it is instantly apparent how much better the image is compared to the Sony NS50 it replaced. Changing resolutions didn’t vary the overall quality too much (but the scaler in my 50″ Fuji would also be participating).
Music wise I’ve had a chance to listen to DSOTM and Brothers in Arms SACDs in all in their glory. Had the 2600 running in Pure Direct mode. Stunning. Even wife and daughter were impressed by the clarity and detail. Other music is also improved but it is the SACD that impresses most.
Oh and I’ve reprogrammed the Harmony 880 too.
Unfortunately Harmony 880’s don’t bounce too well on tiled floors (my son dropped it) and now it has a cracked screen. But still working.
Search For A Media Player Begins…..
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OK, it’s official, I’ve got the s**ts with burning movies to DVD to watch on my HT. Same goes for showing off the large photo collection and playing music from our library.
So now I’m looking at options for a media player. I’m considering the whole range of options from “simple” media streamer to full media centre.
At the moment, I am leaning towards a full media centre. Then comes the decision about “rolling my own” or buying pre-built.
“Rolling my own” appeals from the budget perspective as I have more MS licenses than I can use even in a house of computer junkies (I’m a Technet Plus subscriber as well as working for a MS Gold Partner), and extensive self building experience.
However, on the pre-built side you can find something like the Asus Asteio D22 DAV which is whisper quiet (26dB) and extremely nice. I had a chance to play with one briefly just before Xmas. Worked fine including running Vista Ultimate RTM (thanks to some beta drivers direct from Asus - courtesy of the Microsoft Media Centre guru who was working with us).
Now that doesn’t rule out media streamers and the like so long as they are better than the current generation.
One interesting one is the forthcoming Netgear EVA8000 which is due around May and should have a RRP of approx $649 (based on information I’ve received from our Netgear Account Manager).
…More to follow Media Centre Getting Closer.
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Well I’m fairly close to finalising my Media Centre.
Motherboard = Intel DG965WHMKR
Processor = Intel C2D e6300 or e6400
CPU Fan = Zalman 9700LED
Memory = 2 GB PC6400 DDR2
Case = Antec Solo
PSU = Zalman 460W Noiseless
Graphics = Gecude X1300 with HDMI out
Hard Disks = 2 x Samsung SATA 400GB
DVD = Pioneer DVD106 (left over from another PC.
Tuner = Dvico DVB-T Dual Tuner
Operating System = Vista Ultimate
Still investigating the following: -
* Silent Cooler for Video Card
* 1 x Analog Tuner (required to ensure Analog input under Vista Media Centre)
Just waiting for the rumoured CPU price drop around 22nd of April.
My priorities are: -
1. Being able to record Optus Digital (I’m a Rugby Union tragic)
2. Playback of media (video & music) from hard disk (sick of burning DVD’s & CD’s for playback via my DVD player).
3. Still being able to watch Optus Digital in Zone 2 (upstairs) which requires component video & audio from the Pace box into my AVR as well as into a Analog capture card.
I guess I may be a little different in that I not really that bothered about FTA digital.
Primary concerns are:-
1. Getting Output from the PC in via HDMI (there seem to be issues with HDMI to Plasma screens)
2. Still being able to watch Optus Digital in Zone 2 (upstairs) which requires component video & audio feed to my AVR
3. Not have to have the PC on all the time.
I think I may have found a solution for the routing of Optus analog output but using a VDA4 Audio, Composite & S-Video Distribution Amplifier. http://www.questronix.com.au/products/vda4.htm. This will allow me to record Optus Digital whilst not impacting Zone 2 functionality or require the AVR to be on when I record. Alternatively my PC doesn’t have to be on when I want to watch Optus.
Composite Video Support Required….
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After much research - most of it over at the extremely useful Australia Media Centre Community - i’ve decided to go for a analog capture card with an inbuilt MPEG2 processor.
The Hauppage cards come well recommended, have Vista support but my first choice - the PVR-150 MCE - no longer appears to have the composite video and stereo RCA inputs I require since it’s transition to a low profile card.
I am now chasing down a supplier with the original PVR-150 card in stock for a reasonable price.
Processor will be a e6420 which seems to offer excellent price/performance ratios. Media Centre Pc Is Go…..mostly
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Well, I picked up the parts last Friday and after an overnight delay for a DOA power supply, had it all hardware installed and Vista Ultimate functional on Saturday afternoon.
I have to say that when you use current generation hardware, Vista installations fly. On the whole driver issues have been minor. I can’t use the new ATI Catalyst 7.4 drivers as there is no HDMI support (for some strange reason) in the initial release, and the Hauppage and Dvico drivers clashed on install from Windows Update. Restarting and installing them manually worked.
On Monday night I took the plunge and moved the PC from my office into the Home Theatre room.
I plugged the HDMI from my ATI X1300 graphics card into my Yamaha 2600. About 30 seconds later I have my MC outputting native 720p@50Hz to my Fujitsu over HDMI (via my AVR) – which all worked first time. Now this isn’t 1:1 pixel mapping but I could only get interlaced output at 1360 x 768 using the ATI Catalyst 7.3 control panel. More research required. But I was very impressed that it just worked over HDMI into my AVR then to my PDP.
Last Night I got Digital TV and the EPG running – remarkably easily. Quality is good, Dolby Digital is working too.
Next up is Optus Digital. This will require some trickery as there is no official support for simultaneous digital and analog tuners in either MCE2005 or Vista MC.
My Dvico Fusion MCE Remote isn’t playing ball – it works sort of (yes I installed the Dvico IR Transceiver software) so I figure I may as well get the MS MCE Remote….but I need a wireless keyboard. Need to decide which one.
For those that care here are the final specifications: -
Motherboard = Intel DG965WHMKR
Processor = Intel C2D e6420
CPU Fan = Zalman 9700NT
Memory = 2 GB PC6400 DDR2.
Case = Antec Solo
PSU = Antec NeoHE 430W
Graphics = Gecube X1300 with HDMI out
Hard Disks = 2 x Samsung SATA 400GB (already had the drives)
DVD = Pioneer DVD212 SATA
Tuner #1 Digital = Dvico DVB-T Dual Tuner
Tuner #2 Analog for Optus Digital = Hauppage PVR-150
Operating System = Vista Ultimate
It’s Dead Jim…oh No It’s Not..it’s Blogged Off Elsewhere
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It’s been a while since I posted here.
Actually I’ve been busy with a few projects. One of these is getting my own blog up and running. It is still early days but it is progressing slowly.
It can be found HERE!
One of the things I am doing is archiving my DTV blog onto the site.
In future I probably won’t be maintaining this one (not that I have for a while) and will be putting my efforts into my new blog site.