CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Hi,

It's not like I've just finished or just made changes to my Home Theater or something.

But,.. I guess it finally occured to me how much I'm enjoying the realization of my HT dreams so I thought I would share some details.

I've been a lover of CRT FP for maybe a decade since I saw them in action at my community college (a Sony 1031 and Ld player FTW!) and got my first CRT FP in 2000. More recently, I became a home owner and built a small dedicated HT in a corner of the basement.

The gear is simple but effective and I think represents high value for reasonable prices.

The Main Source component is a PS3

1080p from the PS3 via HDMI is made simple by way of the Brilliant HD FURY

Finally the pj is a G70

The Audio side begins with a Denon AVR 2700 I bought from a friend

The speakers consist of in-expensive Paradigm and 4 of them are Titan V2's

I control it with a Harmony 659

A IR543 lets me control the x10 lighting with my universal remote

And a cheap Radio Shack IR repeater is used because the gear is outside the theater room.

I'll go take some screenshots in a bit,...

-Brian

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

Brian, how do you like that Harmony? I've been thinking of a new remote but I was having trouble justifying the cost of an 880. It looks like the 659 has good programming abilities, "soft" labels on the LCD screen, etc. How powerful is it? No problem bouncing signals off the screen to components in the back of the HT?

Z-Photo · Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 2:14 pm Post subject:

I have been very impressed with my PS3 - especially combined with the Fury and a Kimcoder.

I was having some issues with reading flashcards (photos) and the internet store but the last software upgrades took care of that.

Pete

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Hi,

I went to take a few pix and you'll note right away I'm no Pete with a camera.

Still.. here's some pix.

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Gary,

I prefer the buttons of the 659 to the 880. I bouce off the screen for the projectors IR sensor just fine. The screen wall has a IR repeater shown in the first post that transmits to everything else which is outside the theater. I've used the 659 since day 1 with the PS3 using the known work-around of a PS2 remote and a PS2 to USB adapter.

In short,.. I love the 659.

-Brian

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Some other bits,

Gear I didn't mention includes a LD player for Pink Floyd's Delicate Sound of Thunder and a SACD player for Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.

(My PS3 plays SACD's but I don't have a AVR with HDMI yet which you need if you want to hear the 5.1 mix.)

I have DVE and Avia and use a Radio Shack SPL meter to balance the speaker output and a ColorVision Sypder Color-Meter with HFCR freeware for the grey-scale (though right now I have color adjusted by eye because last time I tuned I just was lazy I guess.)

-Brian

Z-Photo · Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 3:27 pm Post subject:

Hey - what the easiest way to get music uploaded to the PS3? I have not messed with that at all.

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Pete,

I use a freeware for PC called Exact Audio Copy. When you put in a cd and hit cntl-G (I think) it looks up metadata (album name, artist, ect.) Then you can ask it to make MP3's. I use something called LAME to encode the MP3's and it's also free (so long as it's on the hard drive I think EAC finds and uses it for you), you can pick the bitrate you want. Then I put the MP3's on a flash drive and copy to the PS3. (If you make a folder called MUSIC then the PS3 finds them easier.) I also snag the cover art from Amazon and once the files are on the PS3 you can give each CD it's correct cover art. It should all be easier then that but it's not too bad anyway.

Alternatively,.. you can just put a CD into the PS3 and rip it directly with several options, but then I think you have to put in all the metadata manually.

I had made a DVD-r of most of my favorite CD's long ago thinking I would have a MP3 player some day. I still don't have one but it was a snap to move all the MP3's onto the PS3 since I sort of did it all right ahead of time.

-Brian

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Hey,

Forgot to mention I have some theater chairs from the local multi-plex when they renovated but they are painful for home theater use so there's a simple futon sofa in there. (At least it's black and the slip cover is a red that sort of matches the room.)

By the way,... comments, critique, suggestions and the like are clearly welcome. I see lots of ways to improve this setup (newer AVR for lossless soundtracks, better screen, better seating, ect) but I'm loving it the way it is and using most of my theater budget these days for Netflix and Blu Ray movies.

-Brian

stefuel · Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 6:57 pm Post subject:

"Hampsters home theater"
Good thing your name isn't Homer. Then we'd have to call it Homo's home theater Laughing

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Yeah,

That's a good thing I suppose. I do have good friends that are gay though and also family members.

Anyway,..whatever gets um though the night I suppose.

-Brian

picree · Joined: 31 Mar 2006 Posts: 351 Location: Johnson City, TN

Great screen shots! What kind of screen is that? If it's a painted wall then you've done a great job smoothing it out cause it looks like satin.

I use a Radio Shack 15-1995 remote. It has the JP1 connector and can be programmed to control anything via PC (if you want to mess with writing the code for it-which I did). It controls the Barco, Oppo, DirecTV, Yamaha, Samsung HD box, Lutron, and the Crystal Image. Don't know if RS still makes them but you can get them on eBay....I like it.

Curt

overclkr · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 4227

stefuel · Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 9:48 pm Post subject:

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

The screen is a simple piece of melimine (sp?) board I bought at Home Depot with a little trim around it cover-ed with some in-expensive velvet.

The screen shots are at 1080p and I think I can make better ones I have to go look up the screen shot taking thread and see what happens.

I had a screen made of Jo Anns Black Out fabric followed by a sheet of Parkland Plastics and now this one.

I'm still tempted to try to get a Stewart screen or something like that someday. By the way Mr. Stewart of Stewart filmscreen gave me a projector once. I had to drive down to near LA (from the bay area at the time) as he was replacing his CRT with a Sony Digital pj. He seem-ed like a real nice fella and had quite the nice house overlooking the waves breaking on rocks below.

=Brian

Z-Photo · Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 1:05 am Post subject:

stefuel · Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 1:59 am Post subject: