Opportunity to design a home theater

Rocky,

Not sure how you feel about the AVSForum site but let me recommend that you read this particular thread over there that will teach you just about everything you ever wanted to know about a home theater by following the construction of the Home Theater of this particular forum member. It is 3300 replies long and has been viewed over 1,000,000 times. It took me 3 days to read through it but it is one big education in a hurry. If you register, I hate to ask anyone to do that, then you will see dozens of great photos to help as well.

Amazing and very informative! It goes through everything from soundproofing to equipment and everything in between. Live through each agonizing decision, each return, and each final satisfying result.

Sandmans Home Theater Construction Begins! - AVS Forum

Thanks. I have been using AVS for callibration info for the Sony XBR. Will check it out when I get a chance. And will check out John's too.
 
8bit:

That's fine. His is far more detailed. I don't have DIY skills so I had to have professionals do it. Thankfully I had one of the best in Dennis Erskine's Design Cinema Privee doing the job.

Mine isn't nearly as ornate as some of the "show palaces" that others have. But the audio and video results are first rate.

Cheers,
 
8bit:

That's fine. His is far more detailed. I don't have DIY skills so I had to have professionals do it. Thankfully I had one of the best in Dennis Erskine's Design Cinema Privee doing the job.

Mine isn't nearly as ornate as some of the "show palaces" that others have. But the audio and video results are first rate.

Cheers,

I have NO DOUBT that the audio and visual results of your setup are amazing.
 
I was in Bed Bath and Beyond the other night. ^They had a couple of fairly classy wall decorations. One was a pair of film reels with film threaded between. The other was a sceneboard that was fairly good quality. Probably too soon to be thinking about this, but they change their stock fairly regularly, so you might want to check it out.

The other end of decoration is posters. This is a hobby of mine, and I own a few hundred. My comment is that it is just as cheap to buy the real thing than to get a repro that is the wrong size and of fairly poor quality. Plus you can have posters that fit your tastes, and not just another Star Wars ripoff that everybody has. Let me know when you get to that point, and I can steer you to some reputable sources. If you want to start looking, you should check out eMoviePoster.com - Vintage Movie Posters. Bruce's paper is always accurately represented, prices are fair, and if you are patient, everything will eventually show up. However, if what you really want is a Universal Frankenstein one-sheet, be prepared to pay six figures, or settle for a cheap repro.
 
I have NO DOUBT that the audio and visual results of your setup are amazing.

Dennis Erskine is a HT god. His firm also does DIY design plans. http://www.designcinema.com/services.html


If you don't have a central vacuum system for the house it's a nice add-on. I have a VAC port in the HT and it make cleaning up the place a snap. Really easy for a new build but a pain for retro-fit install. (like mine)
 
I was in Bed Bath and Beyond the other night. ^They had a couple of fairly classy wall decorations. One was a pair of film reels with film threaded between. The other was a sceneboard that was fairly good quality. Probably too soon to be thinking about this, but they change their stock fairly regularly, so you might want to check it out.

The other end of decoration is posters. This is a hobby of mine, and I own a few hundred. My comment is that it is just as cheap to buy the real thing than to get a repro that is the wrong size and of fairly poor quality. Plus you can have posters that fit your tastes, and not just another Star Wars ripoff that everybody has. Let me know when you get to that point, and I can steer you to some reputable sources. If you want to start looking, you should check out eMoviePoster.com - Vintage Movie Posters. Bruce's paper is always accurately represented, prices are fair, and if you are patient, everything will eventually show up. However, if what you really want is a Universal Frankenstein one-sheet, be prepared to pay six figures, or settle for a cheap repro.

Thanks for thinking about this. I'll admit, I had not given it a thought yet -- but will start. :) And I like the idea about the posters.

But I will probably not do anything until I actually see the room. Its hard to visualize just from a blue-print, and not being there during the construction phase is hard.
 
If you don't have a central vacuum system for the house it's a nice add-on. I have a VAC port in the HT and it make cleaning up the place a snap. Really easy for a new build but a pain for retro-fit install. (like mine)

The house is setup for central vac, but we won't probably put in the motor at the beginning -- but probably later. Lots of expenses right now.
 
SO I am now working with the HT Design Company that will do the wiring and am under the gun to make decisions about a projector, so we can set the distance for the projector mount.

I HATE that this is all moving so quickly - in that I do not have the time to properly research everything.

He said that most of the 720p projectors should work at 14' on a 120" screen.

DO you agree?

I have asked him for some prices on projectors - since he is a retailer of this stuff.
 
SO I am now working with the HT Design Company that will do the wiring and am under the gun to make decisions about a projector, so we can set the distance for the projector mount.

I HATE that this is all moving so quickly - in that I do not have the time to properly research everything.

He said that most of the 720p projectors should work at 14' on a 120" screen.

DO you agree?

I have asked him for some prices on projectors - since he is a retailer of this stuff.

14 feet should be fine for your mount. 15 feet is closer to the halfway point between full zoom and full wide on the Epson and Panasonic but both will work fine from there with the other shorter throw PJs.
 
Just too add; it really is not all that hard to add the projector afterward if you want that perfect last minute measurement.. I did my two in pre-existing homes and the wires are all fished; even ran the power into the space with an installed outlet.
 
14 feet should be fine for your mount. 15 feet is closer to the halfway point between full zoom and full wide on the Epson and Panasonic but both will work fine from there with the other shorter throw PJs.

Thinking about this -- the room is 17' long, we could put it at 15.'
 
Looking at this Mitsi: Amazon.com: Mitsubishi HC1500 720p DLP Home Theater Projector: Electronics

Price is right - $800; and it got an editor's choice award from Projector Central. And its a DLP projector - and if the home versions are anything like their big cousins in the movie theaters, I am confident of the PQ.

Thoughts?
The HC1500 is probably your best bet under $1K. There were a few expensive models being cleared that had better PQ but also seemed to have either a lamp issue, noise issue, or some kind of bowing which may or may not have worked for you as well as they were being cleared out.

I would say for the money, the HC1500 is a good deal. Be sure to get it ISF calibrated for best performance.
 
Hey 8bit:

What about screen size? Is that too big for the room? Projector Central's room calculator says that for that PJ, it could handle 115" fine.

I am also going to look at other PJs, but not spending $2K on one. I'd rather start with a 720p and then upgrade in a few years to a 1080p when the prices go down.
 
Are you familiar with Rainbow Effect? Some people cannot look at DLP PJs because they see rainbows in the pictures and get headaches. Have you spent any time with any DLP projectors?

Two other PJs to look at that are LCD are the Epson HC720 and the Panasonic AX200u. Both of them have good lumens for driving a large screen and the Panasonic has the Smoothscreen Technology which allows you to sit closer to the screen.

I would say the Mits has enough light to drive a 120" screen.
 

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