The Home Theater Showcase Thread

Yep! I'm just playing around at the moment, getting the 5.1 set up properly (I'll need new cables for the front 3 speakers now) and marvelling at how badly I had calibrated my old monitor. A wireless keyboard would be best but I'm loathe to let go of my old MS Sidewinder X6, which I love.

Any tips for HTPC-ing?

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

None, as I don't run it. I just enjoy my friends set-up with a 55 LCD. The blacks aren't quite there, but the tech is easy to use and impressive, from what i have seen.

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55? Sheesh, I thought 42" looked big in here with a keyboard and mouse perched in front of it.

I'm gonna look into a DVI/HDMI cable because, even though the PC looks good via the TV's VGA connection I know how much better DVI was on my monitor. The TV will apparently recognise any of the HDMI inputs as a PC as long as you label it as such. Press a button and it's all configured properly like you used to do with the old CRT monitors.

Need new speaker stands for the fronts now that I'm thinking about it. Damn.

EDIT - I could use Windows Media Centre for TV/PVR duties but will have to check out the latest PC builds of XBMC. It was a wonderful media centre on the old Xbox, totally open source too.

Yeah, I listen to a fair amount of music, so I had to drop some cash on floor standing fronts, as 5.1 satellites just don't cut it for music.

Very true. A pair of floor-standing speakers either side of the screen would be ideal but maybe next year. My dishwasher is making strange noises as I type this.

A couple of stands for the satellites will do in the mean time. They're Yamaha and I got them last year to go with the receiver. Best small speakers I've ever had.

My system is overkill for my small apartment. I don't know what I was thinking when i built it out!

This is the problem I'm facing. Just getting rid of the PC monitor and moving the TV to a different wall has made the room appear much bigger already. The last few years has seen me have a 'new toy in, old toy out' policy otherwise I just wouldn't have the space.

It sounds logical but it's amazing the stuff you just throw in cupboards 'just in case'.

I'm cookin' with gas now!

Got my HDMI/DVI cable this afternoon and then remembered I've got a HDMI to DVI converter in my graphics card's box. Ah well, it was only a couple of quid.

Took me ages to get my speakers working with the graphics card though. I ended up having to plug the HDMI into port 1 of my AV receiver - it wouldn't work in any other port - but now I have 5.1 (potentially) HD sound. The graphics card configured straight away and while the detail is the same as VGA, colour quality is much richer.

My TV card also arrived today and it's running nicely with Windows Media Centre (the bundled software is a bit pants and picked up 20 channels less than WMC) but it's a bit clumsy to navigate with a mouse.

Next, and probably last, thing I need is a decent media remote.

With my whole AV re-jigging I've got a lot more space in the room so I bought a couple of 'proper' speakers to replace the FR and FL satellites for the surround system and they make an appreciable difference. Free standing would be overkill for the size of the room but they're as good a quality bookshelf speakers as I could afford.

What this now does is give me a couple of excellent little satellite speakers to turn the 5.1 system into a 7.1.

I'll need a pre-amp first - the AV receiver will output proper 7.1 LPCM but only higher range models have the connections natively so I need to connect another amp. I'd used my old AV receiver as an amp to test the 7.1 but the speaker connections are din sockets and the satellites have the bare wire.

I could probably track down some sort of connector but I'm crap with a soldering iron and I can get a pre-amp for a boat or caravan on eBay for Ł10.

EDIT - Bought 4 solderless phono plugs for Ł2.99. We shall see what the quality is like - I've tried solderless banana plugs before and they're terrible.

I can has 7.1!

The solderless RCA plugs arrived today and were a lot less fiddly to attach than I imagined so I hooked up my old receiver to the new one, enabled 7.1 in the new one's set-up and .... I had sound.

The Audssey mic makes it a breeze to calibrate levels but, just as I started, every little spide in town seemed to be revving their engines outside my house so it took nearly an hour for the speakers to get in sync with one another.

Next, I checked on the mighty Blu-rayStats.com for the, no doubt, huge list of 7.1 movies to check off which ones I had in my collection to test.

I've got one. Oldboy.

Of all the Blu Rays on the market only 220-odd have 7.1 capability and the vast majority of those (My Bloody Valentine 3D etc) I wouldn't allow within a country mile of my living room. Oh well, maybe things will improve down the line.

7.1 in games is a lot more common - The PS3 recognised my receiver as a 7.1 system before I even thought about the extra 2 speakers and I had to untick all the 7.1 boxes. Now they're all ticked.

It's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it, I suppose, and the upgrade only cost me a couple of quid for the phono plugs so it's not as if I spent any money on it.

EDIT - Windows 7 sees the 7.1 as well but I don't see it being much use in that environment.

I just bought a 24" monitor and I use my PS3 for Blueray. About as basic as you can get. The picture quality is nice and I got it for less than 200.

Edit: I'm thinking of swapping out my monitor for an LCD tv. I'm mainly looking for one that has low ms response time for gaming. Is this lcd hdtv worth checking out?

Well, I just bought myself a Christmas present tonight:

Harman/Kardon HK-3390 Stereo Receiver


Polk RTi4 Bookshelf Speakers


Polk PSW505 12in Subwoofer


I couldn't justify swingin' 800 dollars for a pair of Polk RTi12 floorstanding speakers. I figure this setup will hold me over till I have the extra cash to buy them. Also, when I do the subwoofer can still be utilized, the bookshelves can become rears, I can upgrade to a 5.1 receiver, and buy a center channel speaker. Until then I'll at least have a very nice stereo system to spin tunes on.

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

Woah! Awesome news, man! Have you set them up yet? How does everything sound?

I bought them online, so I won't have it all till next week.

I would, but I'm not fancy enough to want to show it off.

Been looking for a thread for this, think I've found the right one...

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Nice.

Here's mine:



The Onkyo is bottom left, 3 Yamaha speakers, 42" LG plus PS3 for DVD/Blu Ray duties. Out of shot's the other two surround speakers on stands. Sideboard's filled with my DVD collection, most of them are unboxed and stored in those 200+ soft-form cases to save space. Blu Rays to the right and TV box sets to the left on the shelf.

Everything kinda landed where the removals guys set them but I'm happy enough.

EDIT - Other side of the room has the PC but that's only there temporarily. I've got a sideboard in the dining room which needs getting gone then the PC can live in there.

Your TV is bigger than mine

I need a new TV though tbh. My huge one packed up so I'm using that 28 inch Samsung.

I'm out of the loop as far as TVs are concerned. My mate's just bought a 50" Panasonic with all the Smart TV motion sensing gubbins. It's great in theory but he insists on having all the picture enhancements on which means you see everything as a mild acid trip.

I offered to lend him a calibration DVD but he declined. Philistine.

Yeah, I just edited my Command Centre () post...

All I can remember about my gear is who made it, Panasonic, Samsung etc. I'm no good with model numbers or funny twiddly specs that Salesmen throw at you.

I just know my way around the menus and what the different functions do... my DVD player is the oldest piece of kit though. Near 15 years old and still going great (touch wood).