Post your home theater setup

[Cave Man]

(Please note, this thread should be free of pictures. As moderator Blue Velvet has pointed out, there is another thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=252264) in another forum is for those.)

I'm surprised this hasn't been started yet, and a quick search didn't reveal anything. So, let's get this started...

Home Theater Setup

2.5 gHz quad-core i5 GIGABYTE GA-H67N-USB3-B3 hackintosh (http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=168&t=33412&sid=ae514d6c692d1b3d54eec873c4c6b466) with 8 gb RAM
Plex (http://www.plexapp.com/) media software
Elgato Eye TV Hybrid (roof-top antenna)
1 TB Samsung boot drive
Two 2 TB Hitachi media drives in OWC Mercury dual enclosure
LG GGW-H20L Blu-ray drive (yes, Blu-ray disc playback under OS X (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=841318))
Sanyo PLV-Z2000 1080p projector (connected by DVI to HDMI cable)
Onkyo HT-S580 5.1 DD/DTS surround sound HTIB (connected by Toslink cable)
Harmony 520 remote
Draper LUMA 69x92" matte white screen


Apple TV Setup

Modified eSATA (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=438073) with 750 gb Samsung boot drive in Rosewill enclosure
Samsung 40" LCD TV (connected by HDMI cable)
Onkyo HT-R420 5.1 DD/DTS surround sound receiver with 2.1 speaker system (connected by Toslink cable)

[belvdr]

You'd be unimpressed. I have a 32" TV, DVD player, and a DirecTV HR21-100. Sound comes from 2 powerful 10 watt speakers located at the bottom of the TV.

[Blue Velvet]

While it's not quite the same as listing components and configurations, there's a long-established picture thread over here called Post your Home Theater (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=252264).

:)

[Cave Man]

You'd be unimpressed. I have a 32" TV, DVD player, and a DirecTV HR21-100. Sound comes from 2 powerful 10 watt speakers located at the bottom of the TV.

As long as it works for you, that's all that matters. My wife thinks I'm insane (and is surprised I haven't electrocuted myself).

While it's not quite the same as listing components and configurations, there's a long-established picture thread over here called Post your Home Theater (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=252264).

:)

Yeah, I was hoping to avoid an image-heavy thread.

[rhett7660]

Panasonic BD-35
Denon AVR-3200 soon to be Pioneer VSX-01TX (Christmas present can't open it)
Apple TV 40gig (streaming mode)
HP MD5880n dlp 1080p
Three Crown 402 amps
Denon CD Player (hardly used any more)
Atlantic Technology 350 speaker system with dual 12 inch subs (Love these guys)
xbox 360 :)

All of my cables are either blue jean or audioquest.

All my gear is on four dedicated 20amp lines that have power conditioners at the box.

[kavika411]

My little system is simply:

Hitachi 42" plasma
Apple TV
generic DirecTV HD DVR
Marantz SR7200
Airport Express
Klipsch tower speakers

I've dumped my VCR and my DVD player. I find myself generally able to get whatever content I want via my computer or Apple TV, both of which get the content on to the TV.

I'm in the market to change my setup a bit. Specifically, I want a new receiver/amp (either all-in-one or separate) to replace my Marantz. But I want to wait a bit and see if HDMI is going to become the industry standard so I'll know if I need some inputs.

[TheCheapGeek]

42" Vizio LCD TV
40 GB Apple TV
Aluminum 20" iMac (streaming around 600GB of media to the Apple TV)
Xbox 360
Elgato Eye tv (soon)
Attic Antenna (soon)
Dish Network DVR (soon to be removed)

[BBC B 32k]

Sony 44" rear pro TV - love this set and in no hurry to get rid of it
Sony STR DB 940 receiver
Sony 200 disc DVD multi changer
Mission M74 fronts
Mission cinema surrounds and centre
QED silver interconnect
Airport express for music
Elgato eyeTV
iBook hooked up for computer based media
X-Box, Wii

Eyes on a Phillips AmbiLight screen. Or maybe a projector.
Still waiting for an improved MacMini for my setup.

[wwooden]

My setup is in the other home theater thread, but I will post here as well:

Living room:
Samsung LN46A550 46" 1080p LCD TV
Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player (I only have a few HD-DVD's left, I use it for DVDs now)
40gig PS3
40gig AppleTv
Comcast HD DVR box
Onkyo 605 HDMI receiver
Polk Audio RM6750 5.1 speaker set
Logitech 880 Harmony remote
I have a 3-1 HDMI switch because I have 4 HDMI devices and only 2 HDMI inputs on my receiver.

All my HDMI cables are from monoprice.com, speaker cable is some 14ga stuff my friend got me super cheap because he worked at best buy.

Bedroom:
I have a Westinghouse 26" HD LCD TV with built-in DVD player mounted to the wall. I will eventually get an AppleTV for that so I can watch all my tv shows there as well; just waiting till after the holiday season.

[Oneness]

Here we are:

*2.16 ghz Mac Mini with 2gb RAM\80gb HD\Superdrive
*1 TB MiniStack v.3 external HD (already too small - :()
*Sony KDL-46Z4100 LCD TV
*Onkyo TX-SR606 AVR
*5.1 ELT Mini Monitor speaker system from av123.
*STF-2 sub from Hsu
*Harmony 880 remote - sync'd with Remote Buddy on the Mini
*Apple wireless keyboard & Keningston Slimblade trackball mouse
*Eye TV-250 with attic mounted antennae (no cable or satellite!)

Cheers!

[knux11]

TV 1:
40" 720p LCD TV
Mac mini CD 2.16 ghz, 2gb ram, 320gb hdd
60gb PS3
ATT UVerse w/total home DVR

TV 2:
LG 50" pLasma 720p TV
40gb Appletv
Sony DVD changer
Onkyo TX-sr606 Receiver
Pre-wired for xbox 360 and PS3
Nintendo WII
ATT Uverse w/total home DVR
all sources outputting or upscaled to output at 720P

TV 3:
Mitsubishi HD1000 720p projector at 107"
Xbox 360
ATT Uverse w/total home dvr

All three can stream media from a 1TB NAS in RAID 0.

[peskaa]

Samsumg 40" M87 1080P LCD
Sony STR-DA2400ES AV Receiver (DTS-HD, HD-MA)
Sony SSB4ED Floorstanders
Mordaunt Short 302, 304 & 309 Satellites/Centre & Subwoofer
Sony BDP-S550 Blu Ray
Sony SCD-XE597 Super Audio CD Player
Sony PlayStation 3 60GB
Apple TV 40GB
Nintendo Wii


Works fairly well. Looking at replacing the Samsung TV with a Sony model, so I can used the BRAVIA Theatre Link stuff, which enables a single remote to control the whole system. As is, I get bits of it working (ie: turning off the TV will turn off the receiver & bd player, but not vice versa).

The bedroom has a 26" Samsung (720p/1080i) with a Sony BDP-S350 BluRay player hooked up to it.

[Consultant]

Hum quick search:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=252264

[Cave Man]

Hum quick search:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=252264

Yeah, yeah. Known about and reiterated by Blue Velvet above - or did you not read that? Not interested in a picture, just the cold hard facts.

[dbwie]

Sony 19" LCD HDTV (model KDL-19M4000)
Apple TV 40GB
JVC RX-6042 5.1 A/V receiver
Jensen center speaker
Yamaha 100W subwoofer
4 Yamaha speakers (L/R/back)

I ditched my DVD/VCR combo player after getting the appleTV, don't miss it at all.

My living room is only 140 square feet, hence the small TV.

[MacCoCo]

Samsung DLP 56"
Denon 1803
Boston Acoustics Towers
Sony DVD 1080P
UVerse TV - Fiber Optic HD
Apple TV
iMac - Movie/Music Server
iPhone/Apple Remote

Coming Soon-
In Wall - Whole Home Speakers

[Capt Crunch]

I'll post an image because I feel like it:

http://gallery.me.com/capt_crunch/100102/IMGP3392/web.jpg

Specs:

Phillips 42" LCD HDTV
Harmon Kardon AVR-154 5.1 receiver
NHT VS-2 center channel
ADS CM-5 Bookcase speakers

24" 2.8 GHz aluminum iMac
Drobo
Timecapsule
iPod touch remote
Logitech Harmoney 550 Universal Remote (I use this more than the iPod)

The iMac is connected by long DVI-HDMI and optical cables tucked under the wall siding. Gets the job done, but ideally I wouldn't have sold my mac mini.

[mohanman]

TV: Panasonic 42" Plasma 42PX500U
Onkyo SR-806 THX2 Receiver
Aperion Audio 5.1 speakers (awesome speakers!)
Tivo Series 3
Appletv 160gb
Xbox 360
PS3
Wii

Controlled by Universal Remote MX-950

Appletv streamed from Mac Pro connected to Infrant NAS with 1.5 TB

Mo!

[wwooden]

I'll post an image because I feel like it:

Specs:

Panasonic 42" LCD HDTV
Harmon Kardon AVR-154 5.1 receiver
NHT VS-2 center channel
ADS CM-5 Bookcase speakers

24" 2.8 GHz aluminum iMac
Drobo
Timecapsule
iPod touch remote
Logitech Harmoney 550 Universal Remote (I use this more than the iPod)

The iMac is connected by long DVI-HDMI and optical cables tucked under the wall siding. Gets the job done, but ideally I wouldn't have sold my mac mini.

Looks like a Phillips tv to me.

[rogersmj]

Looks like a Phillips tv to me.

Haha, especially since Panasonic doesn't make a 42" LCD!

I've got:
- 42" Samsung plasma
- TiVo HD upgraded to 750GB
- Xbox 360 Elite
- 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo Mac Mini running Plex
- Panasonic XR-55S slim digital receiver powering 5 Yamaha speakers
- Monoprice remote-control 4x1 HDMI switcher
- 12" Velodyne sub that's way, way too powerful for the rest of my stuff
- Logitech Harmony 550 remote that can even control my lights via X10

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2213/2243413662_3d50976259_m.jpg
Pics on Flickr (http://flickr.com/photos/rogersmj/sets/72157603856977227/)
Posts about my experience with Plex on my blog (http://rogersmj.com/tag/plex/)

[belvdr]

Haha, especially since Panasonic doesn't make a 42" LCD!

That, and it says "Philips" right on the front of the TV. :D

[rogersmj]

That, and it says "Philips" right on the front of the TV. :D

Well yes, I was just supplying some corroborating evidence! :)

[belvdr]

Well yes, I was just supplying some corroborating evidence! :)

I like your evidence much better than mine. :D To be honest, I read the first post with that TV and didn't even think to check the specs listed according to the picture. I glossed right over it.

[VolcomLegend]

Samsung 40" 1080p LCD TV
Sony SF2000 Receiver
Sony Tallboy 5.1 Speakers
Apple TV 40GB (HDMI)
BT Vision 160GB PVR (HDMI)
Toshiba HD-EP30 HD-DVD Player (HDMI)
Samsung HD-950 Multi-Region Upscaling DVD Player (HDMI)
Sony PS3 (60GB, Wi-Fi, Memory Card Reader) (HDMI)
Xbox 360 Premium (VGA + Optical)
Nintendo Wii (Component)

I think that's it. Along with about 8 remotes including iPhone 3G!!

Oh, and a pretty decent movie collection...

http://Library.SpecialEdition.me.uk

[Capt Crunch]

Thanks for the catch that Phillips != Panasonic everyone :)

[viking396]

Apple TV 160gig
Apple Mac Pro (late 2008 edition) with 12gigs of memory and 8800GTS
Denon 2309CI Receiver (worst remote I have ever used by a long shot)
Denon DVD Player with Upscaling (best I have ever owned, awesome picture)
Comcast HD DVR
Technics 5 disc changer
Technics Pro level dual tape deck
Samsung 50inch 1080i Plasma TV (about 2 years old, picture rocks)
Klipsch KSF 10.5 main speakers
Klipsch KSF-C5 Center Channel
Klipsch KSW-15 Subwoofer
Klipsch THX rear channel speakers (can't remember model)

[MAYBL8R]

52" Samsung 1080p 120hz
Denon 3808ci reciever
60 Gb PS3
40 Gb apple TV
Nintendo Wii
*All connected with monster cable 10.2 gbps HDMI cables

Monster Power power cleaner/ Surge protector
DirecTv HD Dvr
2 Definitive Technology power towers W/12" sub and 500 watt amp in each
Definitive technologies center channel
Mac Pro 2.66, 11 GB of Memory, and 3Tb internal and 2 Tb external storage streaming 900 gb media to apple TV
Harmony 1 remote to control it all...

[Donar]

*Samsung LE-40A789 TV
*Popcornhour A110 Streaming client
*Sherwood 5.1 AV Receiver
*2 x Heco Victa 500
*Dreambox 8000 SatPVR

Popcornhour Streaming from a Synology 207+ with an WesternDigital MyBook Studio 2 Terabyte hooked up over eSata.

[mikeyinsd]

Samsung 50" DLP
mac mini 1.5 intel
1tb WD external (movies pics and music)
Mirage unitheater with bookshelf and sub
Directv HR20
Denon avr 1803
Logitech 520
Wii w/4 controller sets and wii fit
airport extreme
logitech ps3 bluetooth keyboard/touchpad
iphone (snatch) keyboard/touchpad
toslink to Denon
DVI to HDMI to Samsung
Hardwired for 1000mb/s
apple isight with magnet mount on top of Mirage unitheater
Can also control mini with Macbook pro via screen share

I burned all my dvd's to the 1tb drive attached to airport extreme.
Trying to get he whole Blu Ray External Drive thing working....

Fry's had a sale and got an LG ggc-h20L for $90! wooot!

;)

[tkidBOSTON]

Current:

TV:

46" Sharp Aquos LC-46D65U (http://www.sharpusa.com/products/ModelLanding/0,1058,2021,00.html)
Media:

:apple:TV 40GB (http://www.apple.com/appletv/whatis.html)
SD DirecTV (http://directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPageNR.jsp?assetId=P4380070&footernavtype=-1)
Gaming:

PS2 (http://www.us.playstation.com/PS2/Systems)
Nintendo Wii (http://www.nintendo.com/wii/what)

Future:

Sound System
Receiver
Blu-Ray Player/ PS3
HD DirecTV Receiver

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I've got a home theater system plus a music only system, the latter of which will eventually get a flat-screen tv mounted above my Roland digital piano, which sits between two 6 foot tall Carver ribbon planar speakers, which are biamped with a custom active crossover and about 440 watts per channel total. I guess that will technically make it a second home theater room. I've also got Klipsch THX PC speakers on my Mac in the Den as part of a whole house audio/video system along with two AppleTV units and an Airport Express 802.11N which is currently being used as a 2nd in-house network (so my iPod Touch doesn't slow down the main NetGear network for my MBP and AppleTV units). An upgraded (1.8Ghz 7448 G4 with 1.5GB of ram, Radeon 9800 Pro and two 500GB Sata hard drives) PowerMac Digital Audio serves the audio/video content from iTunes (the library currently takes up 144 GB between music, music videos and home movies).

The Home Theater room itself (picture attached) contains:

-Panasonic PT-AX100U 720P LCD Projector with a 93" 16x9 DaLite matte white screen

-6.1 Speaker setup using 4 walnut finished identical PSB "Image" monitors (3 across the front and 1 in the back of the room center) along with two white "Image" surround speakers mounted on the left/right walls alongside the main couch (bipolar speaker design with two sets of drivers angled to front and back of the room-- the drivers themselves, though are 100% identical to the ones in the front and rear of the room, producing a coherent soundfield. The frequency response is rated at +/- 1dB from 60Hz to 20kHz).

Note that my center speaker is NOT a typical "turned sideways" type 'center', which ALWAYS results in undesirable combing effects (frequency response is uneven at listening positions other than dead center). Since I have a drop down screen and all three speakers sit underneath it, identical speakers result in identical and perfectly even sound with no combing issues. I don't understand why so many places sell 'center' speakers to go with projectors. It doesn't make sense.


A Definitive Technology Powerfield 1500 Subwoofer (15" driver with a 250 watt amp) sits a foot behind an end table on the left side of the room with the driver facing towards it. Using a sound meter to try many possible positions, this position and direction provided the flattest bass response in the room. I got suck-out issues anywhere else. I know it seems odd to face it towards the end table, but that produced a relatively nice flat response (within 3dB except for a problem notch or two) at the main listening couch position and so it blends quite nicely with the PSB monitors. The crossover point is set to 80Hz.

The Yamaha receiver I have (HTR 5960 DD/DTS with 110 watts per channel) has active room correction in the bass range using a microphone; this flattened the overall response out quite nicely in those notch areas, giving a corrected flat response within +/- 3dB across nearly the entire spectrum. The Yamaha receiver is connected to a rooftop antenna for better quality FM reception (I briefly tried out an OTA HD tuner but found the NBC olympics looked idential to the cable feed I have so I returned it).

I have a JVC 6-disc DVD changer with DVD-Audio on it. I connect that to the multi-channel inputs on the Yamaha receiver to listen to some DVD-Audio discs directly (Dark Side of the Moon with the Alan Parsons Quad Mix found on the Net is unreal).

There's a Pioneer CLD-501 Laserdisc player (I have over 80 laserdiscs from the pre-DVD era and this allows me to continue to watch them).

I have an AppleTV unit which lets me rent HD movies and listen to my large music and music video collection and along with my large photo collection (photography is a hobby of mine) in HD on the projector.

The cable box is a Motorola HD + DVR unit. My cable company currently has almost 40 HD stations.

I've got a Nintendo GameCube connected as well. I plan to add a PS3 in the future for HD gaming and Blu-Ray movies.

[hitekalex]

Family Room:
TV - Panasonic AX100U Projector, 100" screen
Media - AppleTV 40GB (streaming library from iMac)
BluRay - Sony PS3
5.1 Dolby Digital Receiver, 7 speakers

Living Room:
Airport Express AirTunes to 2 x Bookshelf Speakers

Kitchen:
TV - Vizio 22"
Media - AppleTV 40GB (streaming library from iMac)

Bedroom:
TV - Sharp 32"
Media - AppleTV 40GB (streaming library from iMac)

Office:
iMac 24" iTunes Server
2TB in USB-attached storage

Everything controlled via iPhone AppleRemote & 3 x Harmony 880's.

[dubhe]

28" CRT widescreen TV (that is as deep as it is wide...)
Sky+
Cambridge Audio stereo amplifier w/ Mission bookshelf speakers
JVC DVD player
iPod cable for music/videos/pictures

I'm waiting for the TV to die so I can justify a new one, but after 8 years it is still going strong, and despite the shear size there is nothing wrong with it...

I have a JVC 17" flatscreen with built in Digi in the bedroom too

[arthursiew]

Samsung 40" 1080p LCD
PlayStation 3 60GB
Xbox 360 Premium
Bose 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers
Cable TV

[entropy1980]

Current:

TV:
50" Panasonic TH-50PZ77u 1080p

Media:
Apple TV 160GB
DishTV HD
PS3 for Blu-Ray
Toshiba HD-A1 HDDVD

Gaming:
Nintendo Wii
PS3

Audio:
Samsung HT-AS720ST (being replaced by Onkyo SR606 in 2 weeks)

My pride and joy though is the 3 TB of RAID 5 on a server powering my movie collection to my AppleTV So far I have 1.5 TB of movies on it. :)

[atthecross]

Family room
TV - 65" Mitsubishi WD-65833
Receiver - Sony STR-DG800
Blu-Ray - Sony BD-350
Speakers - Bose Acoustimass 5 Series III
Logitech 880 remote

Bedroom
TV- 42" Olevia LT42HVI
DVD - Sony DVP-NC85H/B
Logitech 880 remote

[eljeffe]

Mac Mini
- MTR 3.0-R14m
- Handbrake 0.93
- Dual Maxtor OneTouch III 1.5TB External Drives (Primary and Backup)
- iTunes Movie Library
- DVI to Sony STRDE5300ES Receiver HDMI 5
- Digital Optical to STRDE5300ES Receiver TV Digital Optical

AppleTV
- Streaming library from Mac Mini
- HDMI to Sony STRDE5300ES Receiver HDMI 4
- Component to Audio Authority AVX-661 Component in 4

DirecTV HR20 DVR 1
- HDMI to Sony STRDE5300ES Receiver HDMI 1
- Component to Audio Authority AVX-661 Component in 1

DirecTV HR20 DVR 2
- HDMI to Sony STRDE5300ES Receiver HDMI 2
- Component to Audio Authority AVX-661 Component in 2

Sony BDP-500 Blu Ray Player
- HDMI to Sony STRDE5300ES Receiver HDMI 3
- Component to Audio Authority AVX-661 Component in 3

Sony DVP-CX860 301 Disc DVD Changer
- Component to Audio Authority AVX-661 Component in 5

Audio Authority AvAtrix AVX-661 Video Distribution System
- Component over Cat-5 out to Master BR, Family Room, Game Room Study, Guest BR, and Patio
- Component out to Sony STRDE5300ES Receiver Component in 3
- Component In from Apple TV, HR21, HR21, BDP-500, DVP-CX860

Sony VPL-VW60 Projector in Media Room (106" screen)
Sharp LC-46D92U LCDTV in Master BR
Mitsubishi WD-65833 in Family Room

Logitech Harmony 880 Remotes all around

[rhett7660]

Current:

My pride and joy though is the 3 TB of RAID 5 on a server powering my movie collection to my AppleTV So far I have 1.5 TB of movies on it. :)

Did you build this or was it something off the shelf? If you built it, mind sharing what you used?

Thanks!!!

[iknowyourider]

rhett, What are you doing with your Mac Mini? I looked at your sweet 3-Crown setup. I'll post mine soon. Mick

[CLuv]

Not mine, but my parents since I'm getting them an TV for Xmas:

A/V Receiver:

Integra DTR-7.3

TV:

Sony KDL-52W4100 52" Bravia W-Series LCD Flat Panel HDTV

DVD Player:

Sony 1080p Upscaling DVD Player

CD Player:

Onkyo 6-Disc CD Player

Verizon FiOS HDTV Motorola Multi-Room DVR

Speakers:

JMLab Chorus 716 for the front L/R

JMLab Chorus 700 CC for the front center

JMLab Chorus 705 for the rears

JMLab Chorus 700 SW for the subwoofer

Interconnects:

Straightwire Maestro for CD player

SnapAV Binary 5 Component video from FiOS to Integra

SnapAV Binary 5 Digital Coax from FiOS to Integra

SnapAV Binary 5 Component video from Integra to TV

SnapAV Binary 3 Component video from DVD player to Integra

SnapAV Binary 3 Optical cable from DVD player to Integra

Monster Subwoofer cable

*Soon to be installed:

40GB TV with SnapAV Binary 5 HDMI and Binary 3 Optical Cable to TV and Integra

My system:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=252264&page=15

[rhett7660]

rhett, What are you doing with your Mac Mini? I looked at your sweet 3-Crown setup. I'll post mine soon. Mick

The Mini is in the wife's office/craft room.

I love my Crowns. I just got a new receiver, don't get to open until the 25th thou :(. Got the Pioneer VSX-03TXH along with a blu-ray player! I can't wait.

I had a few home theater amps prior to moving to the Crowns. A Rotel and ATI 5 channel amp along with a few others over the years. Once I read a thread at avscience.com about using pro-amps in a home theater, I used one of my buddies amps and did a side by side. The Crown was IMHO a lot cleaner sounding, more robust. I am by no means a professional reviewer but I could tell the difference and my wife could to. I was sold. I sold the ATI and I have not looked back.

[rhett7660]

Cluv, how do you/parents like the Integra? I was looking to get the 9.8 but I found a rather good deal on the Pioneer. I know there are a lot of happy people at some of the forums I go to with the Integra, just curious on your thoughts.

[iknowyourider]

In The Family Room;
Samsung 42" Plasma
C2D Mac Mini
WD 250 gb hdd w/ 120 gb movies & 20 gb concert video
Apple Bluetooth KB & MM
DVR from Comcast

In The Home Office;
C2D Macbook
Acer 22" WS
Alesis M1 Active studio Monitors
WD 320 gb hdd
Pioneer eDVD
This was my main setup w/ the mini before we got the plasma

[iknowyourider]

The Mini is in the wife's office/craft room.

I love my Crowns. I just got a new receiver, don't get to open until the 25th thou :(. Got the Pioneer VSX-03TXH along with a blu-ray player! I can't wait.

I had a few home theater amps prior to moving to the Crowns. A Rotel and ATI 5 channel amp along with a few others over the years. Once I read a thread at avscience.com about using pro-amps in a home theater, I used one of my buddies amps and did a side by side. The Crown was IMHO a lot cleaner sounding, more robust. I am by no means a professional reviewer but I could tell the difference and my wife could to. I was sold. I sold the ATI and I have not looked back.
Congrats on the Pioneer Blu-ray. I hope my wife is using her last PC. She has a nice HP 17" notebook but I think she may come around. I like pro equipment too. I am currently very low-end audio wise. Twenty-five years ago I had a massive audio setup. My amp was a Pioneer spec 4 with a series 20 pre-amp.

[CLuv]

rhett7660, I would highly recommend the Integra. I've owned Denon & Onkyo myself. I used to sell high end audio and sold Marantz, Pioneer Elite, Yamaha, Sunfire, and Sony ES for A/V Receivers and I still go back to the Integra for overall sound. That's before you get into the higher end stuff like Rotel, McIntosh, and the likes.

Very clean sound for an A/V Receiver before you start to get into separates.

I currently own a Denon, and the one thing I do like about my Denon is that it does some processing of digital media files to enhance the sound. I still get a thrill listening to my Dad's Integra receiver considering it's close to 6 years old. I hope that gives you an idea of how good it is.

If I don't do separates in a media room, I will be going with the DTR 9.x series. I'm sure at the point I build my room they'll use a different naming scheme since they're at 9.9 now.

You can't go wrong, and I think you'll like it much more than the Pioneer. The Pioneer to me has always sounded too bright. They seem to lack a "full" sound. I like a musical amp, since music is natural while home theater sound is man-made. If the amp plays music great it'll have no issues with home theater. An amp that specializes in "home theater" sound, it's not going to sound that great with music.

I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Oh yea, they also use a Harmony remote to control their system. Integra codes are in the Harmony database if you were wondering.

[rhett7660]

rhett7660, I would highly recommend the Integra. I've owned Denon & Onkyo myself. I used to sell high end audio and sold Marantz, Pioneer Elite, Yamaha, Sunfire, and Sony ES for A/V Receivers and I still go back to the Integra for overall sound. That's before you get into the higher end stuff like Rotel, McIntosh, and the likes.

Very clean sound for an A/V Receiver before you start to get into separates.

I currently own a Denon, and the one thing I do like about my Denon is that it does some processing of digital media files to enhance the sound. I still get a thrill listening to my Dad's Integra receiver considering it's close to 6 years old. I hope that gives you an idea of how good it is.

If I don't do separates in a media room, I will be going with the DTR 9.x series. I'm sure at the point I build my room they'll use a different naming scheme since they're at 9.9 now.

You can't go wrong, and I think you'll like it much more than the Pioneer. The Pioneer to me has always sounded too bright. They seem to lack a "full" sound. I like a musical amp, since music is natural while home theater sound is man-made. If the amp plays music great it'll have no issues with home theater. An amp that specializes in "home theater" sound, it's not going to sound that great with music.

I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Oh yea, they also use a Harmony remote to control their system. Integra codes are in the Harmony database if you were wondering.

I currently have a denon, ala a few years old but I love the sound. The pioneer I feel will hold me over for a few years. With the HDMI thing really taking off I want to see where it goes.

I have both onkyo and pioneer gear in the past, not the elite however. This will be my first piece of gear on the elite side. Looking forward to it. I got a rather smoking deal on this product. To good to pass up. I have been looking really hard at the integra's thou. I had a B&K ref 30 for a while also. I actually didn't like the sound. Was disappointed with it. I went back to my old denon.

I have been using one of the older pronto remotes. Love it. I haven't tried the harmony. But once my batteries go on the pronto (which are getting harder and harder find at a decent price) I will move into something else. I really like my pronto thou.

Can't say it enough. I love my Crowns. Love them!

Congrats on the Pioneer Blu-ray.

Sorry if mislead, I am getting a Pioneer Elite Receiver and I am also getting a Panasonic blu-ray player for christmas!

[iknowyourider]

Sorry if mislead, I am getting a Pioneer Elite Receiver and I am also getting a Panasonic blu-ray player for christmas!

I just wasn't paying close enough attention. That sounds like a great set though.

[Koola]

Livingroom
Panasonic Viera 37" Plasma HDTV (http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/709883/index.html)
Sony RDR-HXD995 (http://www.sony.co.uk/product/dvd-recorder/rdr-hxd995)
Sony STR-DG520 (http://www.sony.co.uk/product/hcs-home-cinema-receiver/strdg520b.cek)
Sony 500GB PS3

Bedroom
Sony 26" LCD HDTV (http://www.sony.co.uk/product/t15-p-series/kdl-26p3020)
Sony 250GB PS3

PS3 beats the AppleTV hands down...

[CLuv]

rhett7660, you can't pass up a great deal especially if it's a Pioneer Elite. I wanted Integra, but it's hard to pass up paying cost on Denon since I still have my contacts from when I used to sell high end audio. I'm hoping at some point my buddy will carry Integra or his distributor will pick them up so I can get it at cost like the Denon.

Plus with the setup I have now, I didn't need the top tier item from Denon.

The Pronto is a nice remote, used to sell and program them all the time. For the price the Harmony isn't bad, and does the job. The Universal MX-3000 is very nice, if you want something that's more robust.

I dream of a Crestron system, but right now that's just fantasy.

[rhett7660]

I dream of a Crestron system, but right now that's just fantasy.


Ohhh you and me both!!!!!! You and me both.

[CLuv]

rhett7660, once I put another TV in the bedroom, I'll be all set. Planning on getting a 32" HDTV in the bedroom, and with the new TV software update I'll be streaming to the bedroom.

If you don't have one now, I do recommend a Panamax power conditioner/surge protector. Don't do Monster, I've seen them smoke during tests vs the Panamax. It's a great piece to have in a system. Nice, clean power, and it watches for spikes and drops in voltage to protect your system.

[rhett7660]

rhett7660, once I put another TV in the bedroom, I'll be all set. Planning on getting a 32" HDTV in the bedroom, and with the new TV software update I'll be streaming to the bedroom.

If you don't have one now, I do recommend a Panamax power conditioner/surge protector. Don't do Monster, I've seen them smoke during tests vs the Panamax. It's a great piece to have in a system. Nice, clean power, and it watches for spikes and drops in voltage to protect your system.

It is funny you mention that but that is who I have, the Panamax 1500. No complaints so far. I have had it for a few years but it is still doing the job.

[mark34]

AppleTV... bone stock (well I added Boxee but dont use it)
JVC RS-1 Front Projector
DVDO VP50 external video processor
McIntosh MX-119 Pre-Pro
McIntosh MC-207 7 channel amplifier
Playstation 3 Blu-Ray player.. going to buy new one with 7 X analog outputs
Toshiba HD-XA2 HD-DVD player. analog outs to McIntosh for lossless audio
Time Warner DVR with eSATA hard drive
Klipsch THX Ultra2 7 channels (fantastic for home theater, a little less popular with the pure 2 channel audio people)
JL F113 subwoofer (so good I replaced the awesome 2 subs from the Ultra 2 with it)

URC MX 3000 remote
135" Stewart Fixed Screen
8 theater seats / 2 level seating, approximately 21' X 12'
Butt kicker transducers in every seat with separate amplifier for each row.
Full acoustical treatment
All the misc power conditioners, etc

I built my house a year ago and had the opportunity I dreamed of: to have a clean sheet opportunity to design a dedicated Home Theater. I am fortunate to be a pretty busy guy otherwise I could disappear in this place.. Amazing. I am so grateful for the experience.

[Killyp]

AppleTV... bone stock (well I added Boxee but dont use it)
JVC RS-1 Front Projector
DVDO VP50 external video processor
McIntosh MX-119 Pre-Pro
McIntosh MC-207 7 channel amplifier
Playstation 3 Blu-Ray player.. going to buy new one with 7 X analog outputs
Toshiba HD-XA2 HD-DVD player. analog outs to McIntosh for lossless audio
Time Warner DVR with eSATA hard drive
Klipsch THX Ultra2 7 channels (fantastic for home theater, a little less popular with the pure 2 channel audio people)
JL F113 subwoofer (so good I replaced the awesome 2 subs from the Ultra 2 with it)

URC MX 3000 remote
135" Stewart Fixed Screen
8 theater seats / 2 level seating, approximately 21' X 12'
Butt kicker transducers in every seat with separate amplifier for each row.
Full acoustical treatment
All the misc power conditioners, etc

I built my house a year ago and had the opportunity I dreamed of: to have a clean sheet opportunity to design a dedicated Home Theater. I am fortunate to be a pretty busy guy otherwise I could disappear in this place.. Amazing. I am so grateful for the experience.

Pictures, or it didn't happen. :rolleyes:

FWIW, you may be better off using a top-notch external decoder instead of the Toshiba's internal decoders, especially with speakers as bright and revealing as the Klipsches.

[northy124]

My (Parents) set up in the Lounge:
LG 32LX2R (32 inch model if you couldn't work it out:p)
Sky+HD (Full package)
PS3 (40GB)
Panasonic DVD/VHS player (Upscaler for DVD's as well)

I am thinking of getting a Mac Mini after christmas so I can use that as a media centre in my room (I also plan on getting a HDTV for myself), do you guys think it would be a good idea?

[mark34]

Pictures, or it didn't happen. :rolleyes:

FWIW, you may be better off using a top-notch external decoder instead of the Toshiba's internal decoders, especially with speakers as bright and revealing as the Klipsches.

Agree, but to be honest, I don't use the HD-DVD player any more... I will post pics if you wish :cool:. They are on difft computer

[mark34]

OK here goes a couple of crappy iPhone pictures of my Theater.

[rhett7660]

^^^^

Love the setup. Would that be McIntosh equipment?!?!?! Very nice

[mark34]

^^^^

Love the setup. Would that be McIntosh equipment?!?!?! Very nice

Thank you.

Yes it is. I listed the equipment in a post yesterday. Someone suggested that without pictures it does not exist, so voila.

[nhouse]

Well, that tops my hacked together media network which consist of:

AppleTV(upgraded to 160gb) w/ boxee - accesses my afp media library(1.5tb)
Maxent 50in plasma
Media Server - Gentoo box 2gb ram running MythTV(haupaugge pvr-1600)atsc, ntsc, qam capture.
Running firefly and aviah for broadcast itunes library w/ drop boxes for new media.
Ripping Workstation - Asus p5q pro, quad 2.5 q9300 overclocked to 3.2 w/ 8gb ram and 4 x 22in flat panels. I've got the retail version of Leopard installed on it.

I am getting a blu ray burner tomorrow and will by trying to encode blu ray disks to store on my media server to stream to my apple tv via boxee over afp. I have VirtualBox installed w/ Vista. I plan on using AnyDvd, Cyberlink PowerDVD bd edition, and AVGO Media Recorder to encode the blu ray titles in 720p for viewing on the appletv. Is there an easier way of doing this?

[rhett7660]

Thank you.

Yes it is. I listed the equipment in a post yesterday. Someone suggested that without pictures it does not exist, so voila.

Do you visit any other home theater forums? Your setup looks familiar.

[mark34]

Do you visit any other home theater forums? Your setup looks familiar.

I did quite a bit when I was shopping. I don't think i have ever posted pictures before.

[fireshot91]

120" Projector screen
Mitsubishi 1080P Projector(forgot Model)
7.1 surround
Sony Blu-Ray (forgot model, but its the cheapest they have)
Yamaha Receiver
Dish DVR/HD box
Xbox 360 ELITE which streams music/videos from my PC
and...yeah thats it.

[bacaramac]

Current Setup:

Hitachi 42HDS69 42" Plasma
Sony PS3 80Gb
Sony HT-IS100 5.1 System with the Wireless surround package
Apple TV 40Gb
DirecTV HD Receiver
Logitech Harmony 550 (thinking of getting the Harmony One or 1000).

All connected via HDMI. I am going to be moving the plasma into the living room and upgrading to a 46" Sony LCD.

I have moved all media off of TC and onto an external drive as my library keeps growing and 1TB is no longer enough. I am hoping to get a Drobo very soon and connect to the TC. I use my current iMac to support ATV library, but hopefully Apple releases a new Mac Mini soon so I can pick-up an old one even cheaper and use it as a media server.

For those looking at micro theater systems, the Sony HT-IS100 is incredible.

[rhett7660]

I did quite a bit when I was shopping. I don't think i have ever posted pictures before.

Gotcha... Either way very very nice setup!

[NOD]

nevermind

God forbid we post pics...

[glynn]

appleTV
Yamaha DVD player
Samsung 23" LCD (component)
Sony cineza HS 50 720p ceiling mounted projector (component)
Topfield DVR 250Gb (RGB scart to Samy S-Video to projector)
Wii (component)
Sherwood Reciever
Mission center and FL and FR speakers, gale surrounds and eltax active sub
Atlona component matrix unit (switching between displays)
Joytech switch box (for optical, RGB and s-video switching)
Harmony 525 remote (cheap as chips - for managing in the touch of a button all of the above)

Loving my setup, wife can use it, so we are all happy

One wish should've shelled out for 10m HDMI but at the time couldn't afford it.

[trip1ex]

Drum roll please...........

[trip1ex]

Read it and weep.


Living Room:

32" Sony Trinitron CRT

Tivo Series2 with 160gb replacement drive

Technics Stereo Dolby Pro Logic Receiver of ~100W.

2 Bose Tower Speakers

part-time Airport Express for AirTunes

Bedroom:

23" No-name brand CRT TV ($60 new slickdeal from Best Buy :) )

Samsung non-scaling Dvd player.

I know. I know. You need pictures. Otherwise it doesn't exist.

[Cave Man]

Actually, this is supposed to be a picture-free thread. The picture thread is in another forum.

[JBaughb]

A little late on this but since its been bumped I'll contribute.

46" 1080p Bravia LCD (KDL-46V3000)
hacked :apple:TV (just new codecs installed so it looks stock)
Pioneer Elite receiver
Samsung BDP-1500 Bluray
Infinity Beta towers, center channel, and sub
cheap sony rear speakers for the rest of my 7.1 setup
Monster HTS3500 power center
Xbox 360 for games and netflix
PS2 for guitar hero 3
Wii
Airport Extreme with 1TB drive for timecapsule

In the bedroom...
24" 2.8GHz Core2Duo iMac that I use as my bedroom TV
1.5TB drive for streaming my DVD rips and tv shows to the :apple:TV
RSS torrent feeds and automatic folder actions for all my episode downloads. Everything gets downloaded, "appleTV fooled", added to itunes,and synced to the appleTV without me doing anything. I just go into itunes once a week to rename the downloads so they match up with everything else.
frontrow with understudy plugin for netflix.
Its a good setup.

[khollister]

Toshiba 42XV545U TV (needed to fit in existing furniture)
Marantz SR5003 AVR
Pioneer 51FD & Panasonic BD35 Blu-ray players (I use the Pioneer most of the time)
DirecTV HD22 HD-DVR
Apple TV
B&W 604's (main), 601's (surrounds), matching B&W center speaker (don't recall the model number)
Velodyne HGS-10 subwoofer
Monster speaker cable and Monoprice HDMI cables
Brick Wall series mode AC surge suppressor
Harmony 880 remotes (2 - one to charge, one to use)
Airport Extreme (to extend N network from main router for DVR, BDP & ATV)

For what it's worth, I use the ATV mostly for streaming music and watching certain HD TV series I don't want the commercials in. I use Netflix for movie rental (usually Blu-ray if available). The ATV movie rentals are too expensive IMHO. I planned to convert my SD DVD's and play them back on it, but I get a lot better quality letting the Pioneer upconvert them.

[bemt17]

Mines simple
40" Sony Bravia HDTV
40 GB Apple TV with a 1TB external plugged into it with all the movies I own on it.
PS3
Macbook 2.1ghz, 1GB ram

[ceiph]

Samsung 40inch 1080p lcd
Apple Tv 40gb
Xbox 360
Wii
Astro a40 mixamp and headset

its not much and i want to add to it but it works and the a40 is a great set up for 360 and occasional late movie. it keeps the noise down while letting me think i have surround sound.

[dlewis23]

OK here goes a couple of crappy iPhone pictures of my Theater.

What company did your theater?

[thermodynamic]

(Please note, this thread should be free of pictures. As moderator Blue Velvet has pointed out, there is another thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=252264) in another forum is for those.)

I'm surprised this hasn't been started yet, and a quick search didn't reveal anything. So, let's get this started...

Home Theater Setup

2.33 gHz Core 2 Quad Q8200 Hackintosh (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=690333) (Asus P5N7A-VM) with nVidia 9300/4 gb/750 gb
Plex (http://www.plexapp.com/) media software
Elgato Eye TV Hybrid (roof-top antenna)
1.5 TB Seagate
Sanyo PLV-Z2000 1080p projector (connected by DVI to HDMI cable)
Onkyo HT-S580 5.1 DD/DTS surround sound HTIB (connected by Toslink cable)
Harmony 520 remote
Draper LUMA 69x92" matte white screen


Apple TV Setup

Modified eSATA (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=438073) with 750 gb Samsung boot drive in Rosewill enclosure
Samsung 40" LCD TV (connected by HDMI cable)
Onkyo HT-R420 5.1 DD/DTS surround sound receiver with 2.1 speaker system (connected by Toslink cable)


Aren't there possible legal issues with Hackintosh/OSX86? I just found about that a few days ago, not to mention just buying a proper Mac outright in lieu of tinkering and hoping it works... Apple's build quality is definitely a step above the rest and there's no bloody spyware and bloatware... not to mention the 24" iMacs make up the cost on their own with the monitor panel used (H-IPS and not the rubbish TN garbage in consumer 24" units selling for $500...)

[Cave Man]

Possible? Sure. Likely? I doubt it. It's unclear if the EULA is enforceable if you buy a copy of Leopard (which I've done for both of mine). In all likelihood, Apple isn't too concerned about hackintoshes that use a purchased retail copy of Leopard, but that's just speculation on my part. I know more than a dozen people who made hackintoshes out of their PCs and enjoyed OS X so much they ended up buying a real Mac (mostly laptops, but a few Minis/iMacs). It seems like a good "switcher" tool, IYAM. I think one has to have specific needs not filled by Apple's lineup to build a hackintosh. For me, there's only one Mac (Mac Pro) that can do what I need but I don't want a server-grade computer. It would be way overkill for my purposes.

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Possible? Sure. Likely? I doubt it. It's unclear if the EULA is enforceable if you buy a copy of Leopard (which I've done for both of mine). In all likelihood, Apple isn't too concerned about hackintoshes that use a purchased retail copy of Leopard, but that's just speculation on my part. I know more than a dozen people who made hackintoshes out of their PCs and enjoyed OS X so much they ended up buying a real Mac (mostly laptops, but a few Minis/iMacs). It seems like a good "switcher" tool, IYAM. I think one has to have specific needs not filled by Apple's lineup to build a hackintosh. For me, there's only one Mac (Mac Pro) that can do what I need but I don't want a server-grade computer. It would be way overkill for my purposes.

Considering you can easily build a mini-tower Hackintosh that will beat a 4-core Mac Pro in most tests for $800 (plus the cost of OS X) and is at least as expandable if not more so than the real one, I'd say Hackintosh is the way to go at this point. You can get a pretty nice Hackintosh Netbook for $350 or less too (hardware only). Apple cannot or will not compete with every day consumer hardware and I'm afraid it will eventually be their undoing. When people realize they're buying the same hardware parts for 1.5-3x as much (just look at the cost of ram or graphics cards for the Mac Pro and what Apple wants for them versus the same parts for the PC from just about anyone else and you'll see what I mean). To me, there's a difference between making a fair profit and gouging and Apple likes to gouge because they know they have no true (supposedly legal anyway) competitors for hardware if you want the OS X operating system. If you're going to promote Capitalism in the US then you should have to compete, IMO. Apple has been protected for far too long as it is, IMO. They're clearly making huge profits due to the lack of competition for hardware and that's just not right when the hardware side is just off-the-shelf parts. Charge for OS X if you must, but don't mark up hardware just because you can. That's just bad business, especially when the moved production to Communist China and didn't even lower the prices (just milked the extra profits). I can't help but wonder if the quality drop in Macs over the past several years have been due to that move for that matter. It just seems like everything made in China is sub-standard quality compared to when it was made in the U.S. or Japan or any other number of countries where they pay more than 10 cents an hour for qualified workers. At least Dell still assembles their PCs in the U.S. I'd much rather buy their hardware than Apple's for that reason alone even. Ironically, I would be willing to pay substantially more for an Apple brand computer IF they were still made in the USA like my 2001 era PowerMac was.

[Apocrathia]

I live in a college apartment, so I don't have much room for an extravagant setup. I keep my tv in my bedroom in front of my bed, mounted on the wall to conserve space. My current media setup is a work in progress since i'm upgrading the server end of my network. so far I have;
Sony Bravia 46" XBR4
Mac Mini (2.26ghz, Current Model)
PlayStation3
No major sound system
the bravia's speakers are phenomenal and i'm in an apartment anyways
I'm using plex as my interface (i can't wait for them to implement absolute ordering, my library is absent of all of my anime)

The server end of my system is run off of an ubuntu 9.04 box, 2 tb drives shared over smb, one for backups, one for media (9.04 broke my netatalk install). I'm moving all of the server roles to the mac mini and getting a drobo though. It can handle the extra cpu cycles. The current server is an old 1.8ghz athlon xp (32-bit). It needs to go.

I'm also working on getting a logitech harmony one since plex natively supports the harmony remotes, and an elgato eyetv hybrid.

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/apocrathia/3451530104/in/set-72157615678874267/

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3656/3451530104_0c3cc39b73.jpg?v=0

[vendettabass]

I live in a college apartment, so I don't have much room for an extravagant setup. I keep my tv in my bedroom in front of my bed, mounted on the wall to conserve space. My current media setup is a work in progress since i'm upgrading the server end of my n...

nice jag+tele!

[Donar]

Over the last months i replaced and relocated some of my equipment, so here is the new list:

Living room:
Samsung LE-40A789 TV
Popcornhour A110 Streaming client
Sherwood 5.1 AV Receiver
2 x Heco Victa 500
Dreambox 8000 HD SatPVR 750 GB HardDisk runnning CCCam server for "HomeSharing"

Cellar (Game&Computer room):
Sony Bravia 32V4000
Playstation 3
Dreambox 800 HD SatPVR 320 GB HardDisk connecting to CCCam Server

Bedroom:
Samsung 22' LCD TV
Dreambox 7000 160GB connecting to CCCam Server

Popcornhour Streaming from a Synology 207+ with an WesternDigital MyBook Studio 2 Terabyte hooked up over eSata.

Seems i should take a rest from buying and setting up things and actually use all this stuff... :eek:

[spice weasel]

I live in a college apartment, so I don't have much room for an extravagant setup. I keep my tv in my bedroom in front of my bed, mounted on the wall to conserve space. My current media setup is a work in progress since i'm upgrading the server end of my network. so far I have;
Sony Bravia 46" XBR4
Mac Mini (2.26ghz, Current Model)
PlayStation3
No major sound system
the bravia's speakers are phenomenal and i'm in an apartment anyways
I'm using plex as my interface (i can't wait for them to implement absolute ordering, my library is absent of all of my anime)

The server end of my system is run off of an ubuntu 9.04 box, 2 tb drives shared over smb, one for backups, one for media (9.04 broke my netatalk install). I'm moving all of the server roles to the mac mini and getting a drobo though. It can handle the extra cpu cycles. The current server is an old 1.8ghz athlon xp (32-bit). It needs to go.

I'm also working on getting a logitech harmony one since plex natively supports the harmony remotes, and an elgato eyetv hybrid.

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/apocrathia/3451530104/in/set-72157615678874267/

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3656/3451530104_0c3cc39b73.jpg?v=0

Kids these days! I had a 13" TV with rabbit ears, a Mac SE/30, and a Hayes 2400 baud modem back when I was in college. I was the shiznitz for being the only kid in my dorm with a computer and a Prodigy account.

[QCassidy352]

Sony Bravia 40" TV
2009 mac mini: 2 ghz, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB 7200 RPM HD
eyeTV hybrid 2009
logitech dinovo edge mac edition

That's all. :) (have put it together over the last two weeks with the final piece, the keyboard, getting added yesterday. So far it works extremely well for what I want, and I don't think I need anything else. My one complaint is with the eyeTV - it's on the back of the mini, obviously, so the eyeTV remote really doesn't work because it doesn't have a line of sight to the receiver.)

oh, btw: the dinovo edge is expensive but "only" $106 (instead of $160) if you get it on Amazon. and it's worth every penny. What an amazing product - i still use the apple remote, but the dinovo edge is really the only input device needed.

[omni]

I know there is another thread where people can post pictures that show off their mac setup, but this is the home theater setup thread and it really is better with pictures.

But i'll play along:

Living Room
50" Sony SXRD
PS3, 360, Wii
Denon 3806
Kilipsch Rf-25 set of speakers
40gb AppleTV
Harmony 880

Bedroom
42" Panasonic Plasma
40gb AppleTV
Sony HTIB, forget model - just use it to have 5.1 in the bedroom
Harmony 880

2nd room
26" sony lcd
40gb AppleTV
no audio solution aside from the speakers in the tv.

All of this is driven by a 20" iMac with a Drobo connected to it, with 4 1TB western digital green hard drives.

[mac.jedi]

My setup keeps evolving, but I think we've got it pretty much set. At the beginning of the year, we cancelled DirecTV after 11 years and getting all our content OTA-HD and over the internets. Everything is pretty much automated thanks to Hazel, Applescript, shell scripting, Automator and Windows command prompt.

OFFICE: SERVER/RIP/ENCODE (All content is processed, stored and served from this machine)
Mac Pro (Early 2008) 8-Core 2.8Ghz
(4) Internal Seagate 1.5TB SATA HD (RAID-0)
Internal LG Blu-Ray/SuperDrive (Optical Bay-1)
Internal Pioneer SuperDrive (Optical Bay-2)
Drobo FW-800 w/ (4) Seagate 1.5TB HD (Clone Backup)
NewerTech Voyager e-SATA Dock (Archiving and Off-site Backup)
Mac Software: Mac OS 10.5.6, FairMount, HandBrakeCLI, mp4v2, MetaX, Hazel
VMWare Fusion/Windows 7 Software: AnyDVD HD, Eac3to, TSMuxer

FAMILY ROOM:
Mac Mini (2009) 2.0Ghz (DIY Upgrades: 4GB Ram, 320 WD Black 7200rpm HD) (The Main iTunes Library is located on this machine and always running, media is streamed from Mac Pro)
NewerTech MiniStack FW-800 w/ Seagate 1TB SATA HD (Clone Backup and EyeTV Storage)
Elgato 2009 EyeTV Hybrid & Turbo.264 HD
Software: Mac OS 10.5.6, EyeTV 3.1x, Front Row, Boxee, Plex, Remote Buddy, AirMouse, Hazel
AppleTV 160GB w/ ATV Flash Hack
Pioneer Kuro PDP-5020FD Plasma
Panasonic BD-55 Blu-Ray Player
TiVo HD DVR
Pioneer Elite VSX-45TX Receiver (Used as pre-amp for 5.1, internal amps drive back speakers for 7.1)
Anthem MCA-50 5-Channel Amplifier
Nintendo Wii
Atlantic Technology System-370 THX Speaker System
AudioQuest & MonoPrice Cables
Logitech Harmony 890 w/ Wireless Extender
Dedicated 1st Gen iPhone

BEDROOM:
Sony 42in LCD
AppleTV 80GB w/ ATV Flash Hack
URC MX-650 Remote

[gkarris]

^^^^ eh....

Home Entertainment Centers....

You all can report back when you get REAL Home Theaters... A projector and a screen... :eek:

I don't see LCD Panels at the movie theater.... :p

[TheCoupe]

At present:

Samsung 40" LCD (Wall Mounted)
B&W (Bowers and Wilkins) MT-30 5.1 wall mounted speaker setup - bloody awsome :):)
Silver Anniversary Speaker Cable
Onkyo SR606 Amp (replacing my Yamaha 1700 series which now resides in the spare bedroom setup - not yet complete)
PS3 - 60Gb
Mac Mini Core Duo with dual 250Gb Externals Striped
Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
Apple TV 160Gb
Sky+ HD
IXOS HDMI Leads
Logitech Harmony 885 Universal Remote

Only 1 HDMI goes to TV, everything else via AMP and upscaled if required.

[gloss]

All that McIntosh equipment makes me weep tears of jealousy.

My set up:

Sony KDS-R60XBR1 60" SXRD RPTV (older, but classy)
Klipsch RF-3II mains
Klipsch RC-3II center
Klipsch RS-3II surrounds
SVS PC12-Plus cylindrical subwoofer
Nintendo Wii
Sony Playstation 3 60GB
Xbox 360 Elite
Sony STR-DG800 7.1-Channel Receiver (the current weak link in the system - no HDMI audio and the sound quality is nothing spectacular)

[Dappler]

AppleTV... bone stock (well I added Boxee but dont use it)
JVC RS-1 Front Projector
DVDO VP50 external video processor
McIntosh MX-119 Pre-Pro
McIntosh MC-207 7 channel amplifier
Playstation 3 Blu-Ray player.. going to buy new one with 7 X analog outputs
Toshiba HD-XA2 HD-DVD player. analog outs to McIntosh for lossless audio
Time Warner DVR with eSATA hard drive
Klipsch THX Ultra2 7 channels (fantastic for home theater, a little less popular with the pure 2 channel audio people)
JL F113 subwoofer (so good I replaced the awesome 2 subs from the Ultra 2 with it)

URC MX 3000 remote
135" Stewart Fixed Screen
8 theater seats / 2 level seating, approximately 21' X 12'
Butt kicker transducers in every seat with separate amplifier for each row.
Full acoustical treatment
All the misc power conditioners, etc

I built my house a year ago and had the opportunity I dreamed of: to have a clean sheet opportunity to design a dedicated Home Theater. I am fortunate to be a pretty busy guy otherwise I could disappear in this place.. Amazing. I am so grateful for the experience.

Guys...

That URCMX3000 remote is really great. Though I did have to dive in for a new battery more quickly than i wanted...

I've used these guys for it (and for other similar stuff): www.batterytex.com

Pretty good prices, staff, etc.

No complaints.

-D$

[GreatDrok]

ATV 40GB streaming from 400GB disc attached to Mac mini
Samsung BD-P1500 BD/DVD player
Pioneer DVL 919E LD/DVD combi player
Xbox 360 + HD DVD drive
JVC SVHS
Series 1 TiVo (hacked to work in NZ)
Yamaha RX-V861 HDMI upscaling amp
Arion Electra valve (tube) amp
Celestion 7000 ribbon speakers (4 feet tall, amazing sound quality), Celestion centre and surrounds
InFocus In76 DLP 720p projector
100" 16:9 ceiling mounted screen

Sorry about the rather poor quality of these images. Basically just showing that the screen folds right away and when in use it is the biggest image I could get in the room.

[Vagrant Pistol]

Home Theater

Sharp 46" 'D64U series'
Denon AVR988
Polk Audio RTI A7 (fronts), CSI A6 (center), RTI A3 (surrounds)
Omni Mount stands for my RTI A3's
SVS SB12+
Xbox360 Black w/ HD DVD add on and a white first gen Zune for streaming music
PS3
Apple TV w/ a Drobo=3 Western Digital Black 1TB for now
Toshiba HD DVD HDA30
FIOS HD
Monster Power HDP1800
Monster Power HTS 3600

...all in my Bedroom BTW.:D

[Vagrant Pistol]

SVS PC12-Plus cylindrical subwoofer


nice set up.:)
Hows that SVS treating you?

[ipoppy]

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/dfc285d275.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Sony Bravia 40"
Sony Home Cinema DAV-IS10 with really small great speakers (one of them visible on floor:D)
SKY HD
Apple TV (of course!!!)
Panasonic DVD recorder.

Not much in compare to rest of you guys but works great for me.

I got Slingbox in other location so I am thinking of Slingcatcher now. But since upload is not the best now for TV quality I will stick to my Slingplayer on iPhone.

[munkees]

Mines simple
40" Sony Bravia HDTV
40 GB Apple TV with a 1TB external plugged into it with all the movies I own on it.
PS3
Macbook 2.1ghz, 1GB ram

can you plug external dives into the Apple TV and use them?

[ipoppy]

can you plug external dives into the Apple TV and use them?
Yes , you can. You need hack your :apple:TV. There are few free options available but most elegant which I came across is aTVflash (https://www.atvflash.com/).
After when you crack it :apple:TV become a bit unstable but you gain few more features there in exchange to play with and one of them is to connect external hard drive.

[Arn1499]

32" LCD HDTV
Dish Network HD receiver w/ my own 650GB external HD for DVR
Modded xBox w/ upgraded 80GB HD (for games, etc...) w/ XBMC
500 GB NAS (Buffalo LinkStation) for media - mostly movies
Progressive Scan DVD player
Yamaha receiver
Yamaha speakers
HDMI and Toslink connecting everything except the xbox which is YPbPr and analog audio

I'm sure there's more advanced setups - especially for the media center capabilities, but XBMC has played everything I've thrown at it, and it works great for me. Plus I can play tiger woods and halo between movies without having to move a muscle :D

[Durandal549]

100" 16x9 High Power Da-lite Screen
Mitsubishi HC1600 720P Projector
Onkyo 7.1 Reciever
Mac Mini (2.2Ghz 4Gig Ram)- DVI-HDMI/optical audio
500G external storage w/FW800
Time warner HD cable - Component/digital audio
Xbox160 - Component/optical audio
Wii - Composite/LR audio


The cable modem and dual band router are in this "rack" as well. Mini and Xbox are wired connections. I have all the video running into the projector and the audio going to the reciever seperatly. The room is not totaly light controlled due to a very large bay window. The high power screen gives a good picture even during the day with the curtains open. With the curtains closed or at night the picture is stunning.

[BigStrip]

58" Panasonic Plasma 1080p
Pioneer 1016 reciever
PS3
Directv HR22
Kilpsch RF 82 RC 52 RS 52 Sub 12
All Monster wiring
Monster HTS 1600
Harmony 1000

I have my PS3 networked with Vuze so all my movies on my PC stream, Vuze is sweet if you've never used it!

(I used to work at Best Buy so emp. discount was awesome, all this prob would have cost me $10K but I prob paid $3K)

[hegor]

42 in Panasonic Viera
Apple TV 40 gig. Streams my movies from iMac with external 1TB HD, kids movies on Apple TV's HD.
Directv HDDVR
Playstation 3 80 gig

All three connected via HDMI.

The Viera is the cheaper model that doesn't do 1080p, which I don't think matters unless the TV is bigger than 50 inches.

I don't have any external sound at this time, maybe I'll get when my kids are older and won't attack the speakers.

[LightSpeed1]

Its not an IMAX experience but close.............LOL.

[apprehendingeve]

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with a general question. I have been mroogling for a while now reading about home theater set ups. I was considering getting a mac mini or a hackintosh but don't have a ton of money being a college student and all, and I have to upgrade my Powerbook G4 that has served me well for over 4 years. I am trying to set up something that can rip blu-rays, stream shows, run plex, etc. to a 37 inch 1080p LCD TV.

- My first question is will the new 15" MBP be able to handle all this and serve as my personal computer?
- Second, would it be worth upgrading from the 2.8GHz processor to the 3.06GHz for an additional $270 knowing that I am going to be ripping and playing large files?
- Third, would a SSD upgrade improve speed or performance of ripping over the ATA@7200rpm?

I have had a lot of experience ripping DVDs but have not yet attempted to rip a blu-ray.. I don't think my current computer could handle it. Sorry if these questions have been posted already I have searched MRF and have not concluded anything so I thought I would post a question for the first time on here.

Thanks!!

[natasha69]

Main
Onkyo 805 Receiver
ADA MP500 Amplifier (speakers)
Crown CTS3000 Amplifier (subs)
Sony Playstation
ATV
TiVo HD
RTI Remote control system (T4 / RP-6 processor)
Equitech X 2
4 Richard Grays

Bedroom
Integra DTR 9.1 Receiver
ADA 6150 Amplifier
Panasonic Blu-Ray Player - BD55K
Sunfire Super Junior Subwoofer
Fujitsu 55" Plasma
ATV - set to streaming only
TiVo HD
RTI Remote control system (T3 / RP-6 processor)
Equitech
2 Richard Grays

Media Server
Mac Mini upgraded to 4Gb RAM
DROBO connected via firewire to MacMini - 3 1.5TB drives

Gigabit Ethernet hubs throughout the house

[nws0291]

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with a general question. I have been mroogling for a while now reading about home theater set ups. I was considering getting a mac mini or a hackintosh but don't have a ton of money being a college student and all, and I have to upgrade my Powerbook G4 that has served me well for over 4 years. I am trying to set up something that can rip blu-rays, stream shows, run plex, etc. to a 37 inch 1080p LCD TV.

- My first question is will the new 15" MBP be able to handle all this and serve as my personal computer?
- Second, would it be worth upgrading from the 2.8GHz processor to the 3.06GHz for an additional $270 knowing that I am going to be ripping and playing large files?
- Third, would a SSD upgrade improve speed or performance of ripping over the ATA@7200rpm?

I have had a lot of experience ripping DVDs but have not yet attempted to rip a blu-ray.. I don't think my current computer could handle it. Sorry if these questions have been posted already I have searched MRF and have not concluded anything so I thought I would post a question for the first time on here.

Thanks!!

1.) Yes I have one and it works fine but I use my dedicated Hackitosh core i7 machine
2.)Not going to make much of a difference but it will help slightly with Encoding
3.) No you will be limited by the read speed of the Blu-ray drive that you select. Which brings me to the next point that you will need huge amounts of storage to store the Blu-ray rips (20-30GB each just for the main title). If you want to encode them and compress them then answer to question #2 comes into play. Encoding will take hours to complete when a direct rip of the disk using MakeMKV will take 30 -45 mins.

[hitekalex]

Pictures speak thousands of words right?

[pecinko]

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/7127/avatjd.png



Home Theater Setup

Core 2 Quad Q6600 Hackintosh with nVidia 9500GT/ 4 GB
XBMC (http://xbmc.org/download/) media center
2.75 TB WD
Harmony 510 remote


HTPC 2

ASRock 330 nettop with 320 GB drive running XBMC live (http://xbmc.org/download/) ( 1080p )
MCE remote
Samsung 40" LCD TV (connected by HDMI cable)



---------------------------

Want to play 1080p on your ATV?
With Crystal HD & XBMC (http://xbmc.org/davilla/2009/12/29/broadcom-crystal-hd-its-magic/) you can!

.

[Cave Man]

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/7127/avatjd.png

I think we're related. ;)

[Fa7mac]

22in LG LCD HDTV
40GB Apple TV
1T Western Digital My Book Media
120GB Playstation Slim
Airport Express
L-Trigue 3400 Creative Speakers System

[pecinko]

I think we're related. ;)


pecinko (pećinko) = cave man in Serbian. That's my nickname since I was 12 :-) Furthermore, I was born in Reutlingen :-) Only difference is you are using Plex, but since Plex is a fork of XBMC... :-)

[wombat888]

Sony Bravia XBR 46" (KDL-46XBR4)
Verizon FIOS TV and Internet - 15mbps - w/wireless G router
Verizon DVR/set-top box
Panasonic 5-disc changer and surround sound system (relatively cheap, $220ish from a few years ago) - 5.1 with wired speakers
PS3
Apple TV
XBox 360

Everything is connected by HDMI to the TV where possible. The Xbox 360 is connected by component to the TV due to lack of HDMI support. The TV has optical audio out that connects to the surround system.

The ATV, Xbox 360 and PS3 are connected to the router with ethernet. My MacBook uses wireless.

I want to upgrade to an N router, but it hasn't been an issue so far. The only device that uses wireless most of the time, my laptop, sits about 8 feet from the G router and has maximum signal.

I feel like I should upgrade the sound system, but what I have sounds good to me ... I'm not much of an audiophile.

[H.isidorius]

Samsung 40" 1080p LCD TV

Oh, and a pretty decent movie collection...

http://Library.SpecialEdition.me.uk

Impressive library. However, I always wonder how often do you (review) movies you have seen already?

Even with movies I really like, I have trouble to see them a third time... not trying to think about even more often :-). I know this is probably strange, because when reading a book, I have no problem reading good books many times again.

My system:
Bang & Olufsen BV10
Bang & Olufsen speakers (BS3 and BS4000)
Pioneer BDP LX-52
Humax HD recorder
Nintendo Wii
Apple TV

[Jimf1234]

I don't have wired ethernet near my setup so I have a different kind of setup.

I have 1 20"imac with a drobo attached hooked to the internet via wifi. I then share the wifi connection thru the ethernet port on the imac. I have a 4 port wireless dlink router plugged into the ethernet port on the imac. I have 2 series 3 hd tivos and a apple tv hooked to the router. I also have 3 other apple tvs hooked to the router over wifi.

Here is the advantage to this. I'm able to take shows off of my tivos quickly because they are hooked up thru a wired connection. The other advantage is the apple tvs and tivos don't take up bandwidth on my network because they are isolated. I use toast to take the shows off of the tivos and remove the commercials, i then put them in itunes. I have kids and have setup smart playlists in itunes and there apple tvs are instantly updated as they watch shows. They are set to keep 10 shows and only put in the shows that have not been watched recently.

I have a large living room/kitchen area so I have a 58" Samsung Plasma in the living room, and a 32" visio in the kitchen. I use a 6 port impact component switcher with 2 outputs to control the content and to keep both tv's mirrored. (in case anybody cares I used rapid run cable to connect the vizio to the switcher.) I use the Harmony 880 remote to control everything.

[shootingstar64]

This is, what i have:

Panasonic TH-46PZ85E Plasma
Onkyo TX-SR606 Receiver
Onkyo DV-BD606 Bluray Player
Klipsch RW-10d Subwoofer
Bose 304 Front
Bose Cubes Rear
Bose VCS-10 Center Speaker
Apple TV 160GB
Sony Playstation 3 Slim
Microsoft XBox 360 Elite
Wii Black Spezial Edition
Logitech Harmony One

[Bye Bye Baby]

Here we go:

Sony 46Z 5500
PS3 Slim (250 GB)
Apple TV (40 GB)
iMac
Mac Mini 2.5 GHz (2009)
Drobo (4 TB)
Movies: 400
TV Shows: 1112 episodes
Songs: 6807

Logitech Dinovo Mini Keyboard



To be added when finances permit:

Onkyo TX-SR607E Amplifier
B&W speakers
(Perhaps an XBOX 360?)

[syner]

53" Samsung Plasma
40" Samsung lcd
Denon receiver
Boston Acoustics Speakers
Bluray
CD/DVD Player
Xbox360
Cable Box
Lutron Maestro IR Lighting
Total Control Remote Edition Iphone IR Remote

[steezy1337]

This thread needs more pictures!

still waiting to have the money for a mac mini to be used just as a HTPC so i'm using plex through my iMac conected to my 37" Sony bravia

[johnnj]

Ok, here goes...

3rd Floor office:
Macbook Pro running Plex feeding a Dell 2408WFP monitor
Logitech Z-5500 5.1 system
Fios Digital STB that feeds both a 2nd Dell 2408WFP and the tv in the bedroom below
RF receiver for Logitech 890 remote also in the bedroom

2nd Floor:
Sharp Aquos 42" TV wallmounted
Logitech 890 remote
Popcorn Hour A-100 (soon to be A-110)

1st Floor:
Pioneer Elite Plasma 50"
Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver
Polk speakers
Klipsch sub
Popcorn Hour A-110 (soon to be C-200)
Apple TV w/ ATV Flash and 250 gig HD
FiOS networked DVR
Panasonic Bluray player (I forget which model, I hardly use it)
Logitech 1100 remote
Lutron Maestro IR light dimmers

Basement:
Home built media server- used to use an HP 470 media smart server, now using one I built myself:
Norco 4u rackmount case
Intel i5 650 CPU @3.2GHz
Asus P7P55D Evo motherboard
4 gigs Corsair DDR3 1600Mhz RAM
LG Bluray drive
Rosewill 5 bay eSATA drive chassis
Sans Digital 4 bay eSATA drive chassis
total of 16 1.5TB Seagate drives, all but two are in the storage pool (2 are used for backup of critical data) 19.1 TB usable storage in the pool
MS Windows Home Server w/ PP3
UPS

All floors are connected via Cat5E running a gigabit network. Every floor has at least one gig switch and FiOS Internet connectivity is running at 25/15.

John

[Sweetwater Mac]

I'm new and still setting everything up but here goes:
Samsung PN58B860 58" Plasma
Mac Mini 2.6
Pioneer Elite VSX-23THX Receive
Pioneer Elite BDP FD Blu Ray
Drobo 4 bay storage array
Logitech Dinovo Edge Wireless Keyboard/Trackpad
Boston Acoustics Lynnfield speakers - front & center
Orb Audio - 2 sides and 2 back surrounds.
Belkin PureAV Power Console PF31

I'll probably be back with questions!

[Duffinator]

This thread needs more pictures!

Here you go.

Home Theater Equipment List:
Denon AVR 3808CI
Denon POA-2800 powering the Fronts
Monitor Audio S6's Fronts
Monitor Audio SLCR Center
Niles PR-6 In-Wall surround speakers
SVS PB12-ISD Subwoofer
Panasonic 58" 1080P Plasma
Sony N460 BD DVD Player
DirecTV HD DVR HR20-100 W/750 GB HD
AppleTV Digital Media Player Networked to an iMac
Nintendo Wii
Panamax 5400-EX Power Conditioner
Home Theater Master MX 500 Remote
Niles OS-10 Patio Speakers
Bluejeans Cable (Belden): HDMI and Interconnects
Belden 12 ga. DIY Speaker Cables
Salamander Synergy A/V Cabinet

http://i918.photobucket.com/albums/ad21/duffinator1/IMG_4630.jpg

[Duffinator]

Ok, here goes...

3rd Floor office:
Macbook Pro running Plex feeding a Dell 2408WFP monitor
Logitech Z-5500 5.1 system
Fios Digital STB that feeds both a 2nd Dell 2408WFP and the tv in the bedroom below
RF receiver for Logitech 890 remote also in the bedroom

2nd Floor:
Sharp Aquos 42" TV wallmounted
Logitech 890 remote
Popcorn Hour A-100 (soon to be A-110)

1st Floor:
Pioneer Elite Plasma 50"
Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver
Polk speakers
Klipsch sub
Popcorn Hour A-110 (soon to be C-200)
Apple TV w/ ATV Flash and 250 gig HD
FiOS networked DVR
Panasonic Bluray player (I forget which model, I hardly use it)
Logitech 1100 remote
Lutron Maestro IR light dimmers

Basement:
Home built media server- used to use an HP 470 media smart server, now using one I built myself:
Norco 4u rackmount case
Intel i5 650 CPU @3.2GHz
Asus P7P55D Evo motherboard
4 gigs Corsair DDR3 1600Mhz RAM
LG Bluray drive
Rosewill 5 bay eSATA drive chassis
Sans Digital 4 bay eSATA drive chassis
total of 16 1.5TB Seagate drives, all but two are in the storage pool (2 are used for backup of critical data) 19.1 TB usable storage in the pool
MS Windows Home Server w/ PP3
UPS

All floors are connected via Cat5E running a gigabit network. Every floor has at least one gig switch and FiOS Internet connectivity is running at 25/15.

JohnVery nice systems. How do you like the ATV Flash? With FiOS Internet connectivity running at 25/15 you're ready to stream 1080P video. Now if we can just get providers like Netfilx to provide the content.

[curtmm1]

I remodeled our basement in 2004. Money "saved" doing the remodel myself went to this -- however spouse not amused/impressed by this explanation... Upgraded receiver and added game systems over time.

Yamaha RX-559 AV Receiver (with iPod dock accessory)
Yamaha YST-SW215 subwoofer
HTD AL-W65 in-wall speakers (2)
HTD MP-65 ceiling mounted speakers (2)
In-ceiling speaker (directional) (also wired outdoor speakers on our deck)
Dell 2300MP projector (1080i) - ceiling mounted 12 ft from screen
Draper Silhouette Series screen (66” wide)
Scientific Atlanta Explorer 4240HDC (Cox Cable)
Panasonic DVD-F87 DVD/CD player
Nintendo Wii
Microsoft Xbox 360 (wireless internet connectivity)
Sony PlayStation
Memorex Karaoke machine

[johnnj]

Very nice systems. How do you like the ATV Flash? With FiOS Internet connectivity running at 25/15 you're ready to stream 1080P video. Now if we can just get providers like Netfilx to provide the content.

Thanks very much. To tell you the truth, I really only use the ATV as the music player on my main system. I got the ATV flash just to see what it was like. I did really like the last major revision of the ATV's native firmware though, especially with the new features of the iphone remote control app.

As for the FiOS, I actually just put in an order today to upgrade it to the new 35/35 service. Let the games begin!!!

John

[nightfly13]

I designed my home theater around two critical limitations: I'm cheap and I buy all my gear in the US but actually live in India, so everything has to come across in a suitcase, from Mac Pro to Subwoofer to 30" monitor. It took a few trips. I'll include the rough prices I paid, just so the masses can see that you can have great, mid-range performance without breaking the bank.

Video source: Mac Pro NVIDIA 8800 (see sig) mainly 720p 5.1 MKV files -- $2,000 + a dozen upgrades
Receiver: Panasonic SA-XR57 Fuly Digital Amplifier (Class D - chosen because it's a third of the weight of other 7.1 amps and uses way less power - handy since I'm running my theater on a 1.4KVA 24v battery backup system since we have daily power outages) -- $230 shipped
Subwoofer: Velodyne VX10 (reviewed very favorably yet fit (barely) in a standard suitcase) -- $170 shipped
Center/Satellites: Velodyne CHT (http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_7_3/velodyne-cht-speakers-8-2000.html) - really happy with these. -- $200!!!! People were shocked when they retailed for only $599.
Display: Mitsubishi HD1000u 720p DLP projector on 0 gain gray screen at 96" -- $800 for the PJ and another $100 or so for the custom-framed screen.

The general rule around the house is, for 1h or less (if we're just going to watch 1 episode or something) then we 'make do' with the 30" 2560x1600 display, but for 2 episodes or a movie, we fire up the projector. I presently have no plans to upgrade any of my components, which is something that shocks all of my friends. I am in the market for a better remote, but I'm thrilled by the Home Cinema experience I have now, without breaking the bank - $1400 + Computer for flawless (ie. no obvious short comings, obviously not the greatest on earth) HD & surround performance.

My father has a 52" Mits 1080p DLP with better audio gear than mine, but I totally prefer the 96" screen, and 720p still fills plenty HD for me. I sit 1.5x screen size away (12 feet) and it's just terrific. A friend has a 1080p HT setup, and I was pleasantly surprised how little improvement there was even on the Planet Earth BluRay - it's double the pixels, but only a 10% detail improvement, imho. 720p is the budget sweet spot... and I've been saying that for 2 years, but for projectors (and the mkv 'market'), it's still true.

My living room has a 24" Dell 2405 with a (PAL) TiVo knockoff (Tata Sky+) and Logitech Z680 speakers (only running 2.1 at present) with an Airport Express piping iTunes into that room for parties/dinner music and the kids have inherited the old 29" CRT with 160gb iPod as poor-man's AppleTV. I connect it to my computer every week or two and sync new episodes/movies I've downloaded for them, but they have like 60GB of movies/kids episodes presently, so they're pretty spoiled as is.

[nightfly13]

Dell 2300MP projector (1080i) - ceiling mounted 12 ft from screen


Hey just a heads up, don't want to be a jerk, but there is no such thing as a 1080i projector. Your model can receive (and perform admirably, for sure) a 1080i signal, but it'll always scale any video source back to the native resolution - 800x600 (SVGA).

I started with a SVGA projector - blew my socks off and I loved it. Then went to 1024x768 (used to courier it back and forth from the classroom to my house on weekends) then I finally upgraded to a 720p HT projector and the better colors and depth (contrast) really made it a worth-while upgrade.

[rayward]

Sony 55" XBR8 LCD
Denon A/V Receiver
Comcast Cable Box (inc. HD & DVR)
PS3
Apple TV
Speakercraft 5.1 Surround Sound (in ceiling except for the sub-woofer)
Logitech Harmony 900 remote

The room has a lot of ambient light, so I went with the Sony because it's LCD and has a matte screen. If I went with a Samsung LCD (for example) or a plasma, which have glossy screens, all I'd ever see is a reflection of my kitchen. The Sony is great, though, and an excellent compromise between usability and quality.

The Denon receiver has got plenty of HDMI inputs, and the set-up is via on-screen menus, which is handy. It puts out more than enough sound and it's high quality. It upscales any video input less than 1080p, and the picture it feeds to the Sony is excellent. It has an iPod connection, but I don't need that because of the Apple TV. It also drives a second zone of in-ceiling speakers for the dining room, game room and two locations outside (each with their own independent volume chokes).

The Speakercraft speakers are fantastic. The front three have independent gimbles for the woofer and tweeter, and so can be pin-pointedly focused onto a seating position. For the rear two speakers I opted for fixed units as they are positioned in the right place naturally. They have incredible bass performance, which I noted even before the sub-woofer was hooked up. They also provide amazing sound detail such that I have paused movies a number of times because I thought something on the movie was happening outside or behind me.

The PS3 is becoming more and more redundant as I don't use it for games very much these days, and now that I'm ripping Blu Rays to my Mac, I tend to watch them on my Apple TV rather than going through all that effort to put a disk into the PS3. Picture and audio from the PS3 are amazing, though.

The Apple TV is fed by my Mac via ethernet, but my media is stored on a Western Digital NAS. I have just under 100 movies (and growing daily), plus a bunch of TV shows (including the entire BSG saga, natch), most of which are rips from Netflix rentals. I'm now going back around and ordering the Blu Ray versions and re-ripping in dual resolution - one for Apple TV and one for my iPhone. I use MetaX for tagging, plus Subler to put in the HD tag and cnID to get iTunes to nest the two versions under one entry in the library.

All this is controlled by a Logitech remote, which is sweet. The remote sends an RF signal to a receiver which means that the compenents can all be closed up in cabinets. The receiver converts the instruction to IR and sends it out via IR blasters. The IR bounces around inside the cabinets and is picked up by the appropriate component. Logitech also have a PS3 adapter (sold separately) that picks up the IR signal and converts it to Bluetooth, so I can control everything from the one remote, including the second zone sound output. It works very well with negligible lag.

[Psychic Shopper]

My cable free setup

40"Sony bravia LCD
Dell computer w/ blueray drive and TV tuner
80 Watt Harmon Kardon receiver w/ Boston Acoustics speakers W/ subwoofer
roof top antenna
DSL

Hulu and adult Swim both look good coming from the internet, and it's nice to have you tube on the big screen.
Football from over the air broadcasts look fantastic, and I can use the computer as a DVR, so I can start the game a half hour late and skip thru a bunch of comericals.

[Duffinator]

Thanks very much. To tell you the truth, I really only use the ATV as the music player on my main system. I got the ATV flash just to see what it was like. I did really like the last major revision of the ATV's native firmware though, especially with the new features of the iphone remote control app.
JohnThanks. I use my ATV mainly for music and photos but am curious what surfing the web (on rare occasions) on the ATV would be like. Maybe Apple will move the ATV from a hobby to a serious media hub in the near future.

[Cliff3]

http://www.coates3.com/modules/gallery2/d/24695-2/home-theater-002-20091001.jpg (http://www.coates3.com/modules/gallery2/d/24693-1/home-theater-002-20091001.jpg)

Pioneer PDP5070HD 50" plasma, Yamaha HTR-6090 AVR, Yamaha DVD player (never use it now that I have the Apple TV), Oppo HDMI switch, Apple TV, Comcast HD STB, Slingbox AV, Harmony One remote, Infinity TSS-4000 L/R/C and sub, and TSS-1100 surrounds. The Apple TV is supported by an HP EX490 server with 6TB of internal disk and an upgraded CPU (Intel 2.8GHz E6300) running an iTunes 9.02 client. The Slingbox and Apple TV are hardwired to gigabit ethernet drops.

[RaceTripper]

Video Equipment
Samsung HL-67A750 67" 1080p DLP
DirecTV HR21-700 HD DVR + 1 TB WD ext. drive
Apple TV 160GB
Sony Playstation Slim 120 GB
MS Xbox 360 Elite
Nintendo Wii

Audio Equipment
Arcam DiVA AVR300 7.1 Receiver (DD EX, PLIIx; DTS ES, 96/24; used as a pre/pro, except for rear channels w/120 WPC @ 4 ohms)
Arcam Alpha 10P/3 Power Amp (3 x 170 WPC @ 4 ohms)
Arcam Alpha 9P Power Amp (2 x 140 WPC @ 4 ohms)

Speakers
Front L/R: Dynaudio Audience 72
Center: Dynaudio Audience 122C
Surround Side L/R: Dynaudio Audience 52SE
Surround Rear L/R: Dynaudio Audience 62
Sub: Dynaudio Sub500 (250 W)

Harmony One remote with PS3 Adapter

[Donar]

My Setup, no "home cinema" more like some entertainment stations through the house:

Living Room:
LED TV: 40" Samsung LE-40A789
Streaming Client: Popcornhour A110
BluRay:Playstation 3 Slim
SatPVR: Dreambox 8000 HD SatPVR
AV Receiver: Sherwood 5.1
Speakers: 2 x Heco Victa 500 + Subwoofer + Frontspeaker
Remote: Harmony One + PS3 Harmony Adapter

Bedroom:
LCD TV: 22" Samsung 225MW
SatPVR: Dreambox 7000 SatPVR

"Office" (more like: My Playground):
LCD TV: 32" Sony Bravia V4000
SatPVR: Dreambox 800 HD SatPVR
Streaming Client: Popcornhour A100
Game: Playstation 3 Fat 80GB

Streaming clients are connected to a Synology 509+ with a 7,3 TB Raid 5 volume (5 x 2 TB Western Digital green Harddrives) over Gigabitethernet. Sometimes i use the Mac mini to transcode/stream podcasts to the PS3.

[Tilpots]

Samsung 40" LCD 1080P HDTV Model LNT-4066F
late 2009 Mac Mini base model - Plex, EyeTV 3.3, ESPN360 (godsend)
EyeTV hybrid 2009
Audioengine A5 speakers
Seagate 1TB external- for all media
G-Tech G Drive 500 GB - backup for all personal media
Dinovo Edge Keyboard
Apple Remote

So I finally went the Mac Mini HTPC route and it's really sweet. I was able to cut $100 a month from my cable bill. I kept the basic channels so I wouldn't need an antenna and I still get RoadRunner through TWC. Thru a family members account and at the guidance of an ESPN rep, I get access to ESPN360 even though TWC isn't one of the providers. It's what made the switch possible... well, that and the HGTV Plex plugin for the wife.

The whole setup can be controlled mostly by the Apple Remote. It's taking a bit to get used to, but we're getting the hang of it. Got the Dinovo Edge Mac Edition but the battery was shot. Tried to replace it through Logitech, but it's discontinued, so I got the Windows version instead. Plan on getting iPhones later this year, too, so I'm seeing those as the missing link for complete one device control.

All my media is on the Seagate External by FW800. I've only got my OS and Applications on my internal. Both are plenty fast for what I need right now. I'm backing up the most important stuff: photos, movies, and music on a spare 500GB drive I already had. Everything else could easily be replaced in the event of a crash.

That's it. Thanks for all the posts and help I've gotten to get this up and running!

[CrAkD]

pardon the mess we just built the wall for the tv and I havent really had time to clean everything up. plus the flash shows all the wires more then you can see them normally. when your standing infront of the setup all you can see is the devices its all dark behind them so you cant see the wires.

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r159/yourcrakd/tv3-1-1.jpg


58" Samsung B860 Plasma
Apple TV w/ 320gb external HD
Playstation 3
Xbox 360
Wii
Slingbox Solo
Verizon Fios HD DVR
Denon AVR w. All Bose speakers
Klipsch 8" Powered sub

[abmedic]

Yamaha RX-V665 A/V Receiver
Classic xBox running XBMC, converter for connection via HDMI to Receiver
Mac Mini running Plex 0.8.5, Linkyo converter for HDMI to receiver
All media streamed via PowerLine 200mbps adapters from D-Link DNS-323 with two 1TB Western Digital green HDs
(planning to upgrade NAS server to Intel Entry Storage System SS4200-E NAS based upon thread on MacRumors Forums started by pastrychef)
Vizio 37" 720p LCD HDTV
Panasonic dual DVD/VHS connected to receiver via optical audio / component video
TiVo Series 2 connected to receiver via composite Video/Audio (Red White Yellow...)
Onkyo subwoofer, main, front and surround speakers (wired)

Main system controlled without difficulty by Logitech Harmony One remote, although Snatch Remote for iPhone/iPod Touch functions perfectly with Plex

Separate setup in basement with another classic xBox running XBMC, generic 29" Daewoo TV (circa 2001), with media streamed from DNS-323 via PowerLine 200mbps adapter

XBMC is fantastic, but in my assessment Plex blows XBMC away for use on a Mac system.

[Fast duck]

main room
42 inch vizo lcd wall mounted with all Boston speakers and sub. kenwood reciver and a blueray player.
man town
42 inch toshiba lcd with hd dvd player.
bedroom
48 inch mitishubi rear projection 720 p :( with hd dvd player yamaha reciver with cambridge sound rears and center and snell acoustic tower and veledone 8in with a 10 passive sub
all on comcast hd and a wii on all tv

[tommylotto]

I just sold my house where I lovingly installed integrated wiring and built-in surround sound in the living room and the office/man cave. Now my Harman Kardon DPR 2005 7.1 Channel Surround Sound Digital Path Audio/Video Receiver is gathering dust in the garage and I'm starting all over.

The same set-up is in both the Living room and the Family room:
Panasonic TH - 50PZ85U - 50" plasma TV - 1080p
AppleTV
DIRECTV Plus HD DVR HR23 HD DVR

In the bedroom:
Sony 50" Plasma KDE-50XBR950
DIRECTV Plus HD DVR HR23 HD DVR
Slingbox Solo

In the boys' room:
TC32LZ800
DIRECTV Plus HD DVR HR23 HD DVR
AppleTV

In the Office / Man Cave:
iMac i5 27"
2TB WD MyBook Mirror Edition (x2)
1TB Time Capsule
External LG HD-DVD BluRay Player HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW GGC-H20L
SlingPlayer for TV from the bedroom
Plex for most everything plus 1080p MKV
Front Row for iTunes Store content
Soundsticks for stereo audio :-(


As you can see, disks are history. Every disk immediately gets ripped to a hard drive then the disk gets stored away in the garage. All movies are streamed from the iMac's external hard drives to the AppleTVs. I really miss somewhere to watch a good ground thumping surround sound action movie, but the kids are at an age that I would need a separate home theater and I just do not have the space.

[tbayrgs]

Main system controlled without difficulty by Logitech Harmony One remote, although Snatch Remote for iPhone/iPod Touch functions perfectly with Plex

You know the Harmony One can be programmed to control Plex as well? It takes a little work but once set up properly, it works great. I only have to bust out my iPhone if I need to enter anything via keyboard.

[abmedic]

You know the Harmony One can be programmed to control Plex as well? It takes a little work but once set up properly, it works great. I only have to bust out my iPhone if I need to enter anything via keyboard.

I did, although I wasn't clear in my post. I use the Harmony One exclusively for all TV/TiVo/Receiver/Plex functions - the iPhone/iTouch Snatch remote was only for controlling Plex before I bought the Harmony One. There are some nice remotes from Snatch for controlling iTunes, Safari, and the trackpad is helpful for Mac functions, but for Plex, the Harmony can't be beat.

[KCWolfPck]

Here's my main viewing area:

Processing & Power:
Pre-amp/Processor: Anthem AVM-50 w/ Anthem Room Correction upgrade
Amplifier: B&K Components Reference 200.5

Video:
Projector: Panasonic PT-AE3000U
Screen: Carada Criterion 100" 16:9 BW (1.4 gain)

Speakers:
Main Speakers: Paradigm Reference Studio 100 v.5 (rosenut)
Rear Speakers: Paradigm Reference Studio Esprit v.4 (rosenut)
Center Speaker: Paradigm reference Studio CC-690 v.5 (rosenut)
Subwoofer: (2) JL Audio Fathom f113 (gloss black)

Source Devices:
Blu-ray Player: Sony PS3
HD-DVD Player: Toshiba HD-A30
Media Manager: Escient MX-531
DVD/SACD Changer: Sony DVP-CX777ES
Sat HD/DVR: DirecTV HR-20 Video
Game System: Microsoft XBox 360; Sony PS3

Power Management:
PS Audio Power Director 4.7

Component Cabinet:
BDI Avion 8529

Other:
Remote - Harmony ONE
Video Distribution - Slingbox Pro-HD
iTunes Access: AppleTV
Black MacBook (2008)
AirPort Extreme

Pictures:

http://images.blu-ray.com/htgallery/18114.jpg
http://images.blu-ray.com/htgallery/18097.jpg
http://images.blu-ray.com/htgallery/18099.jpg
http://images.blu-ray.com/htgallery/18101.jpg
http://images.blu-ray.com/htgallery/18103.jpg
http://images.blu-ray.com/htgallery/18105.jpg
http://images.blu-ray.com/htgallery/18108.jpg

[Cuthbert]

Here's my main viewing area:



Nice setup! I'm thinking of going with some paradigm's myself for my future setup. Probably monitor 7's or 9's though.

Questions:

Your room seems pretty bright. Do you have some strong shades on those windows for the projector? They look like light blocking shades... How does the projector function with the shades open?

Does the sound just blow you away?! I suppose though if you went with the paradigm's, you're shooting for quality over quantity of sound. But wow!

[KCWolfPck]

Nice setup! I'm thinking of going with some paradigm's myself for my future setup. Probably monitor 7's or 9's though.

Questions:

Your room seems pretty bright. Do you have some strong shades on those windows for the projector? They look like light blocking shades... How does the projector function with the shades open?

Does the sound just blow you away?! I suppose though if you went with the paradigm's, you're shooting for quality over quantity of sound. But wow!

Thanks. We keep the blinds closed when viewing the projector during the days and yes, they are blackout shades. There is still ambient light coming from the kitchen/sliding glass patio door, but the projector is planty bright enough to project a viewable image without having to put it in "torch mode". Obviously, night time viewing is ideal.

Yes, the sound does have a lot of impact. The 2 JL Audio subs play a big part in that. :D

[vandorenb45]

I've seen you have POA 2800 amp
Im stock with set up my system
I have avr 789 and cant figure volume control to use both units together
THank you



Here you go.


Home Theater Equipment List:
Denon AVR 3808CI
Denon POA-2800 powering the Fronts
Monitor Audio S6's Fronts
Monitor Audio SLCR Center
Niles PR-6 In-Wall surround speakers
SVS PB12-ISD Subwoofer
Panasonic 58" 1080P Plasma
Sony N460 BD DVD Player
DirecTV HD DVR HR20-100 W/750 GB HD
AppleTV Digital Media Player Networked to an iMac
Nintendo Wii
Panamax 5400-EX Power Conditioner
Home Theater Master MX 500 Remote
Niles OS-10 Patio Speakers
Bluejeans Cable (Belden): HDMI and Interconnects
Belden 12 ga. DIY Speaker Cables
Salamander Synergy A/V Cabinet

http://i918.photobucket.com/albums/ad21/duffinator1/IMG_4630.jpg

[Duffinator]

I've seen you have POA 2800 amp
Im stock with set up my system
I have avr 789 and cant figure volume control to use both units together
THank youUse an interconnect from the L and R preouts on the AVR into the L and R inputs on the amp. The AVR will control the volume on the amp with the volume control.