So, I'm your average guy. Except I have a degree in Film and TV Production, so, of course, I enjoy watching TV and films.

I bought a 16:9 video camera a while back, and I was shocked at how great it looked. And then I plugged it into the firewire port on my dell laptop and used the software that came with my computer to make a video... I used to sell systems that did this back in the early 90's for over $50,000...

I began to wonder what was now possible in the home theater market...

I'm not some audiophile, and I don't like to spend a bunch of money on "name" brand stuff... But, I like good sound, and great picture quality.

I wanted a theater in my basement that I just finished. I talked to a bunch of "theater" stores, and they all wanted a TON of money to do a 130" system in my basement. And I figured it really can't be that hard to do one for a reasonable budget. The local Best buy and Circuit city had no clue...

So I made of a budget of say, $2,000.00.

I put in my system about 3 months ago (selling stuff on ebay to support my "habit"), and I've been saving up for my screen. Which I got yesterday, and put together and installed.

Researching for this project, I found that it is hard to figure out what you need. Luckily we had a home show (homearama) here in town right when I was ready to start buying, so I checked out the $80,000 dollar systems all the way down to the $5,000 dollar systems and used the knowledge I gained to put in my own theater.

I just installed my screen last night, and other than doing some final adjustment of the color, I am simply amazed.

But, I figured this would be a good place to put down what I figured out, and learned from all my research. If you have a room where you can control the sunlight (we use blinds during the day). This is an amazing system for the money. And very easy to install.


First off you need a good projector. These are VERY difficult to judge because hardly anyone has them installed so that you can see what they look like. I was lucky enough to see a Mitsubishi HC 1500 about 2 years ago at a home theater showroom here in Cincinnati, (which since went out of business). It is a 720p DLP projector (meaning it doesn't have the "latest and greatest" resolution of 1080p.) But, most broadcast is filmed in 720 still because the 1080 camera equipment is SOOO expensive... They broadcast the 720 signal at 1080 resolution. So it isn't as crisp as it could be, but it is MUCH better than a 480 projector. And it is DLP (digital light processing) so the color is AMAZING. Lamp life is about 2,000 hours on high quality mode, so you will need to budget a bulb every 3 years or so, projection tv's are the same. (I did read that some people see “rainbows” with this type of projector, but no one in my family, or any of my friends, has this issue)

Also, you want 16:9 aspect ratio native. This makes sure that it is the largest size possible without black bars around the image. The other thing you want is and HDMI input on your projector, if you want to set it up like mine.

I got my Mitsubishi HC1500 projector from Amazon for under $800 shipped.

The next critical component is the receiver. I wanted a receiver that upconverted. Which means it takes HDMI inputs, and component and increases the resolution to 1080. So even 480 from tv looks good (although it is 4:3 aspect ratio). The biggest reason I wanted to go with an upconverting receiver is because if you are like me and enjoy playing the wii with your kids, the quality of the upconversion is amazing. Your Mii will jump off the screen in clarity. Now, when I bowl in my private bowling alley in my basement, my youngest daughter (who beats me consistantly) her Mii character is actually larger than she is!

I picked the Onkyo 606 7.1 receiver from Circuit city with a coupon for $400. It has 4 HDMI inputs and a couple of component inputs (all of those inputs are upconverted to 1080p if you use the HDMI output on the receiver.)

Next with a projector you don't have a TV tuner. And half the fun is being able to watch TV in high def. I'm not a NASCAR fan, but WOW, in high def even I will sit down and watch a while! I didn't want to pay for the satellite companies HD channels at an additional $15 a month... Here is a great workaround, I picked up a Panasonic DMR-EZ48V VHS and DVD recorder with digital tuner (open box buy for $200 at circuit city). Plugged into my home antenna (a Wineguard 2002 omni directional antenna mounted on my roof) I get free HDTV from about 25 different channels. Just run the HDMI cable out of the dvd recorder into your receiver, and all video and audio is connected with one cable. (another tip is to buy your cables off ebay, they are MUCH cheaper than buying them at your local big box store for a pretty penny...) After I started watching in HDTV, I ended up switching to Direct TV with a HD receiver in my basement, and also upstairs… So, I could have gone with a cheaper DVD player. But, I like being able to record. I wish I had gone with a HD DVR... We use our DVR upstairs so much that when we go to the theater downstairs we always miss being able to pause and rewind...

I picked up a component cable for my wii for $6.00 (ebay)
HDMI cable 6 foot for $6.00 (ebay)
HDMI cable to run to my projector 50 foot for $50.00 (ebay)
All shipped directly to my house.

Now you need sound. The onkyo 606 is a 7.1 surround sound, which is only available if you have a blue ray disk, but it also "simulates" 7.1 so that all speakers play, and sound great.

I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on speakers that would just hide inside the wall, so I did a bunch of research and the best value for my money was Acoustic audio's 7.1 surround speakers available on ebay for $160. for the HT-87.

Wow, was I impressed, they sound AMAZING. (and not only because they were relatively cheap) I'd put them next to my father in laws, Bose AM series! in sound quality.

Plus they were very easy to install with the furnished cardboard cutout piece, Just mark it on your drywall and cut it out, and the speakers go right in. The only thing I did was throw away the cheap speaker wire they came with and put in some beefy speaker wire instead.

After seeing the quality of these acoustic audio speakers, I decided that I would try out their powered subwoofer. Since they had great range, and at the cost they just couldn't be beat price wise. So I picked up a 12" down firing 500 watt home theater sub for $129 shipped. WOW, is it amazing, it really rattles the windows, I have it turned down to 1/4 power and it still shakes the floor! (I got my speakers off ebay seller name thedeepdiscount or www.thedeepdiscount.com ) they arrived in 2 days and shipping was only $9.99!

I can't say enough about how amazing my theater sounds. And even on my dark colored wall the projector looks amazing. I put in my new screen (from ebay, seller “shoppingdeals”) last night, easy to install and looks great. They made it custom for me for only $260 shipped. With black felt boarder, and easily stretchable and high quality.

I got my projector mount from ebay as well, from seller name kramerica_incorporated, it is an excellent mount, and came with every type of hardware to install it in any situation. For $50 shipped!

The only drawback to a projector is that if you have windows shining on the wall where the projector will shine, it will wash out and not be watch able. So make sure you have an area where you can control the lighting. I put in can lights on dimmers in my area so that I can turn off the lights above the screen, but still have lighting over the seats to be able to see all those little buttons on the three remote controls!

A couple of years ago, when I did my framing layout for my basement, I figured I would have 5.1 surround sound, so I did have to go back and run an HDMI cable, as well as two speaker wires for the extra 2 rear speakers. But, after a bit of elbow grease, and a small hole cut into the drywall, I had all the cables run. I also put in dynamat extreme on my ductwork, and furnace. My HVAC system is so quiet now you don't even hear it kick on or off... My next "upgrade" will be to buy Dynamic Control dynabox's for all my in wall speakers to keep the sound in the basement.

I have my projector about 17 feet from the wall, and I am projecting it 10 feet across which is 120 inches wide! Since they figure screen size by diagonal, it ends up being a 130 inch TV…
You should see how big your Wii characters are on it!

But, it is a fun way to spend the evening, and with the cost of gas, and the ticket prices today. I'd rather set up my own theater in my basement and rent old movies from the library to entertain my kids, or "take" them bowling at home!

With the cost of a standard HDTV today, you can get this amazing system for less money than their largest set type TV, and you will be thrilled with the picture quality, sound, and everyone will want to watch movies and TV at your house.

With all the work it took to figure out what was needed, I wanted to put it all down so others could save all this trouble and know exactly what they need if they want to have a home theater.

Mitsubishi HC 1500 $760.00
Onkyo 606 receiver $400.00
DVD player with upconverting $150.00
Acoustic Audio HT-87 7.1 in-wall speakers $160.00
Acoustic Audio 12” 500watt sub $130.00
Custom 130” Fixed Theater screen $260.00
Projector ceiling mount $50.00
HDMI cables $56.00
Speaker wire $30.00
Total $1,996.00

no pics?

sounds good though. similar to what im going for. low budget/high fun factor install!

Before

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/P1010079.jpg

After framing and electric

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/P1010002-2.jpg

After drywall, and tile, ready for carpet.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/tile2.jpg

Carpet in, woodwork done, fireplace installed.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/basementa3.jpg

I'll take pics this weekend of the finished product with the theater installed.

Nice looking basement!

I had the same M.O. as you when doing my theater. Make it as nice as possible for as little money as possible.

I also used thedeepdiscount on ebay for my in-walls and sub, though I recently bought a second yamaha sub for the opposite front corner. Now the theater really rocks.

I also just recently purchased an Onkyo 576 which passes TrueHD from my HD-A3 dvd player via HDMI multichannel PCM.

Since you have the 606, it is a must that you ditch your current dvd player and go w/ HD-DVD. Or PS3 if you prefer, though an HD player can be had for much, much less $$. The benefit of course will be TrueHD (and DD+) sound. I only say this because you have that option with your receiver.

In another coincidence, I also have the HC1500 and also used Kramerica for my ceiling mount - although they were only charging 36 bucks last year.

You could've titled your thread "Complete 130" Home Theater for under $1,800, If I can do it, so can you!" by painting your own screen on the wall. :p

So how much did the room construction cost you. This needs to be factored into a HT build.

Hmm. I'm not sure, as I finished the entire basement, and it is all open.

There is an arcade, a kitchen/kraft room, bathroom, and huge playroom, and pool table room...

I did all the framing, electrical, plumbing, lighting, wiring, and woodwork myself. I wimped out and hired the drywall, and carpet.

If I had to guess what the "theater part" only cost...

Drywall $300
Wood $100
Lighting $50
Electrical & phone wiring $50
Circuit Breaker $15
Carpet $300

But, I wouldn't consider those costs as you could do this in any room that had a wall that size and the right distance to throw the projector beam.

I know and appreciate how proud you are of your home grown Home Theater room as are others that posted - don't break your arm patting yourself on the back - I don't mean that badly or meanly - just having a bit of fun with you as you and we have a laugh at the expense of those that spend so much cash to have nothing much more than you and we have.

We bought our fixed high contrast screen for $50 bundled with a projector that had been dropped and broken at an outlet store. Our image is just shy of 120 inches - not quite your size but fine for us.

We bought our HT projector for $600 almost two years ago at same outlet store - not 1080p but is 720p Panasonic and was close to state-of-the-art at the time we bought it.

We just put the PJ on an existing shelf in our room - assembled and hung the wonderful Da-lite, Da-snap fixed wall screen in an hour or two and hooked up our several years old 5:1 Onkyo surround system and Shazzam!! - we were in almost 10 ft image Home Theater heaven at a total cost of $650.00 plus the $110.00 we subsequently paid for an upconverting dvd player so our collection of near 400 dvd movies would look near HD when stretched across that big a diagonal - Done - fantastic but a ton cheaper than $2k. LOL - so you just enjoy your 130 inch HT and pity the many who think their 50 inch or 62 inch or even 73 inch TV equals Home Theater when you and we know that NO tv can compete and ain't really ever Home Theater!!!

just having a bit of fun with you as you and we have a laugh at the expense of those that spend so much cash to have nothing much more than you and we have.

I wouldn't say "Not much more" at all.

That's kind of like saying I bought a 1981 honda civic for $1500 and the guy next door bought a brand new ferrari for $150,000. But his is not much more of a car than mine...

I mean sure they both get you from point A to B, but the classy look, enhanced experience and smoothness of the ride all play a big factor which makes it very much more...

just having a bit of fun with you as you and we have a laugh at the expense of those that spend so much cash to have nothing much more than you and we have.


I'm surprised at such an ignorant statement. :rolleyes: Apparently you have never had the pleasure of experiencing a state of the art home theater setup. Everyone has an allotted budget based on their requirements, and I respect and appreciate all theater price points. But it truly is a naive statement to compare hundred thousand dollar theaters to two thousand dollar one's and claim they are "nothing much more". If that's the case why aren't you still watching your VHS tapes on a 19" TV. ;)

Hey I wan't to see pics of the arcade! I see a pin in the background there.

I'm surprised at such an ignorant statement. :rolleyes: Apparently you have never had the pleasure of experiencing a state of the art home theater setup. Everyone has an allotted budget based on their requirements, and I respect and appreciate all theater price points. But it truly is a naive statement to compare hundred thousand dollar theaters to two thousand dollar one's and claim they are "nothing much more". If that's the case why aren't you still watching your VHS tapes on a 19" TV. ;)


There is definitely a point of diminishing returns in the AV industry, probably more so than anywhere else. I'm not saying it is a large factor at this price point, but theaters that cost a fortune, can be practically equal with ones that cost much less.
Like said though, everyone has a budget, and if you work hard you can get a lot for your money these days.

There is definitely a point of diminishing returns in the AV industry, probably more so than anywhere else. I'm not saying it is a large factor at this price point, but theaters that cost a fortune, can be practically equal with ones that cost much less.
Like said though, everyone has a budget, and if you work hard you can get a lot for your money these days.

We'll agree to disagree, and this coming from someone who has minimal invested in his HT. ;)

FreeEnterprise, I will commend you on the nice job you did with what you had to work with. It turned out very well and you should get a lot of enjoyment out of it. I wish I had a pinball machine in my game room. :)

I took these last night. While I don't discount high end systems, (I used to sell barco projectors). I just was impressed that I could put in such a nice system for under $2,000. I've been grinning for weeks, I am just so amazed.

camera's don't do projectors justice.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/P1010102.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/P1010083.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/P1010093.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/P1010100.jpg

my arcade, I have a mame computer to put in my sega stand when I get a few hours... with 4,400 video games on it.
My pinball is a 1978 williams flash, first pinball with flashing lights, and it has two sound cards, original bells, and then digital sound. I traded $50 and a table saw for it, years ago.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/P1010097.jpg

Nice room! I like the colors too. It is pretty amazing what you can do with a small investment. That means more money available for other things! Hard to see a down side to that.....
Very nice!!

Where did the piece of furnature under your screen come from. I am looking for a very low approximately 8' wide piece and that looks about right.

Thanks!

that's a nice basement, nice and open with the right stuff. I'm gonna get mine done, but with a poker room near the projector and weight room on one end.

I picked those cabinets up from IKEA. The just opened a store next to my office. It is actually three of the same piece, and I didn't install the wheels on the bottom. I also didn't install the shelf on the far right piece so I could put my sub inside.

Make sure you measure your components though, the first set I purchased I had to take back, as my receiver was too tall to fit...

Nicely done.

-J

How are those speakers, for less than $120 shipped I know they are not high quality but exactly how good are they? MSRP is $800 and the deepest discount is the only retailer of these speakers so thats screams white van.

The packaging was flimsy, but the product was good. And no damage when shipped, I got them in 2 days. The speaker wire should be thrown away... I used nice thick wire.

But, I am really impressed with the sound quality of the speakers. They are matched together, so as long as your are using the entire set and not trying to match them up to some existing speakers, I would think you would like them.

I don't turn my system up any louder than a movie theater, and they sound amazingly great. The magnets are very large, and the tweeters are able to be moved slightly to direct the sound, which was helpful in my installation of my rear channels up high on my walls. I pointed them down toward my seats. My receiver sets my room automatically, and this was very accurate with good overall sound quality right away.

I was VERY impressed with the quality and ease of installation. They sound great and I would recommend them to anyone who wants great sounding speakers for not much money.

The only one who will know that they were inexpensive will be you.

Their 500 watt downfiring 12 inch sub is amazing too... only $129! I have mine only half way up and it shakes my house.

Oh, mine are the HT-87's they "retail" for around a grand... I don't know about the $120 set...

Any chance you could post a close-up pick of the Ikea cabinets under your screen? Do you remember the name of the cabinet?

Great basement!!! I like how you painted your in-walls black. I left mine alone (an off-white color) but I may paint them now that i've seen yours.

Mitsubishi HC 1500 $760.00
Onkyo 606 receiver $400.00
DVD player with upconverting $150.00
Acoustic Audio HT-87 7.1 in-wall speakers $160.00
Acoustic Audio 12” 500watt sub $130.00
Custom 130” Fixed Theater screen $260.00
Projector ceiling mount $50.00
HDMI cables $56.00
Speaker wire $30.00
Total $1,996.00


So how did you get the HC1500 for $760? I cant seem to find it for anything less than $850. Amazon is listing it for $1500...:(

So how did you get the HC1500 for $760? I cant seem to find it for anything less than $850. Amazon is listing it for $1500...:(

Sorry this is off topic, but I got my HC1500 for $540 (closeout) at Best Buy. It was $599 and I found a 10% off coupon. There is a thread in the projector forum called "Discontinued Mits HC1500" or something like that talking about the Best Buy closeout.

Awesome basement!

great set up
happy to see another BMXer into HT too haha

I find it reassuring that a person doesn't have to spend $25k to get a decent experience, because I know that I sure can't right now. The "Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" analogy works in lots of scenarios. I resisted planting a bunch of spruce trees between our house and the neighbors, because I kept waiting until I felt like I had an extra $1500 to drop on a bunch of nice big potted trees. This year, it dawned on me. If I had spent $10 on seedlings that first year, I'd have had 10 Norway Spruces growing up to 3' per year. I planted the little trees this year.
We could all sit around and wait until we had the time and money to build something really stupendous, but if it never comes to fruition...

I got my projector a few months ago, Amazons prices change weekly it seems. Just check around, they had them on ebay at the same time for around $800.

I waited until the price was good. Then after I bought it amazon lowered the price $20 bucks less... Oh, well. Its still a great projector.

Our power was out since Sunday from Ike... Just came on this morning. I'll try and take some pics of the cabinets when I get a minute.

Oh, and I always plant small trees. Usually ones on closeout at lowes. They don't know they are "bad" trees when you prune them up and give them a few years, and lots of mulch and feeding.

When I painted my speakers I used gloss black spray paint, and took out the speaker so that I didn't get paint on it. Then painted one side, waited for it to dry, and then flipped it and painted the other side, it turned out great and I didn't use the foam inserts since the speaker was black. They look like they came that way. 1 can did all three speakers. Just take your time, and make sure they are clean with no grease or marks on them, also position the tweeters before you paint, so that you don't have to move them once the paint dries.

Here is a link to the stand I used. I bought three of them, and left the wheels off.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50104477

Hey Free,
Where did you get your screen and what brand is it?

scott

I got it from Shoppingdeals on ebay. He makes them himself.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Projector-Screen-Home-Theater-Movie-130-Fixed-Wall-HD_W0QQitemZ230428859654QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_ 0?hash=item35a6a15d06

He made it the exact size I wanted. Which I determined after everything was installed so that it would be the absolute maximum size based on where I located my projector.

Excellent screen for the money. And my brother in law sells screens, so I could have gotten one wholesale from him... This was a better deal than a Wholesale screen!

I wish I had that much room in my basement. It's nice though

Free,
One more question. Are the coners butt end or 45 degree angle?

Thanks,
Scott

butt end, its a little tricky to get it perfectly square with a frame that size, especially when you stretch the material. I notice mine off a little, and I'm sure I could square it up better, but no one else notices. I may take it back down and mess with it when I have some time.

The bottom and top rails are butted together too, as they don't ship that long. So there is a seam there as well. They hold up pretty good, with minimal sag. There is some sag though. To make it perfect, you could drill it right into your wall instead of hanging it onto the wall. I may move mine slightly so I just have it hung on a couple of screws right now.

Sorry this is off topic, but I got my HC1500 for $540 (closeout) at Best Buy. It was $599 and I found a 10% off coupon. There is a thread in the projector forum called "Discontinued Mits HC1500" or something like that talking about the Best Buy closeout.

BB doesn't allow you to apply coupons to discounted items, ever!

Needless to say it wasn't a pleasant surprise.

If you are finishing your basement, here is an important tip.

Dynamat your ductwork!

It makes a HUGE difference. We use our basement all the time now, and when it was unfinished the sound from the furnace kicking on (boom) was very annoying. And you could hear it all over the house.

I put Dynamat Extreme on all my ductwork and also on my furnace and it ELIMINATED the noise.

I can't even tell when my furnace kicks on now, unless I am standing next to a vent and feel it...

Truely amazing. I'm not sure the "official" way to put it on, I just tapped on each duct and put some until it sounded like wood. Then drywalled over it all. I even have one of my sidewall speakers next to my duct work and there is Zero vibration or noise from the duct.

Great stuff.

Here are some pics.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/P1010006.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/p2010003.jpg

I also used it where the ceiling ducts open into the rooms, as they would often vibrate and rattle. Not anymore.

Dynamat is a Great product, not only for car audio, but also for your home!

You just cut strips of Dynamat and placed it on the ductwork in intervals? Never seen it done that way...soemthing to look into....

One thing that I would like to know is what kind of theater seating you have. They look exactly like what I have been eyeing and I bet I have about the same budget you had when you bought them.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say I truly hope your standards of "good" and "amazing" don't make it into the motion pictures that I watch in the future.

With that being said, for what you spent, your room doesn't look too bad. As long as you're happy, that's what matters.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say I truly hope your standards of "good" and "amazing" don't make it into the motion pictures that I watch in the future.

With that being said, for what you spent, your room doesn't look too bad. As long as you're happy, that's what matters.


My Mom once told me, if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything!! Nice!!

I'm going to go out on a limb and say I truly hope your standards of "good" and "amazing" don't make it into the motion pictures that I watch in the future.

With that being said, for what you spent, your room doesn't look too bad. As long as you're happy, that's what matters.

damn, that's harsh brah

I'm going to go out on a limb and say I truly hope your standards of "good" and "amazing" don't make it into the motion pictures that I watch in the future.

With that being said, for what you spent, your room doesn't look too bad. As long as you're happy, that's what matters.

are you on crack? his room looks great? i dont see how you can say
"for what you spent, your room doesn't look too bad"

i for one think his room does look good and amazing


some people :confused:

I'm going to go out on a limb and say I truly hope your standards of "good" and "amazing" don't make it into the motion pictures that I watch in the future.

With that being said, for what you spent, your room doesn't look too bad. As long as you're happy, that's what matters.

Who peed in your cornflakes?

One thing that I would like to know is what kind of theater seating you have. They look exactly like what I have been eyeing and I bet I have about the same budget you had when you bought them.

I got them at the local entertainment store called Watsons here in Cincinnati. I picked them up at the beginning of summer (that is when they discount theater seating as most people purchase this stuff in the fall and winter.)

I got all three for $1,450. Bark-o-lounger (However that is spelled).

They are very comfy and keep your head facing the screen no matter how far back you recline in the seats.


I am thrilled with how it turned out, My wife and I are doing some changes, we moved the fireplace, and some other stuff, and when its done I'll post some more pics. Best part is, Because of the low cost, I paid cash for all of it. So no payments on anything.

Sure, some guys may want way higher end stuff. Thats great. But, for the money I spent, and what I now have...

I'm thrilled.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say I truly hope your standards of "good" and "amazing" don't make it into the motion pictures that I watch in the future.

With that being said, for what you spent, your room doesn't look too bad. As long as you're happy, that's what matters.

I got to wondering... Why would someone take the time to bother posting something like this? Then I searched his posts...

Being an A/V dealer myself, I have my own opinions.

As a consumer I'd want to at least know that I'm being taken care of. Buying an extended warranty doesn't grant you the right to expect the world. When a dealer takes something off of the shelf and loans it out to a customer, he's placing that very expensive piece of equipment into the hands of a stranger. That unit comes back scratched, marred or in any way damaged, he can no longer sell that unit as new.

As a dealer, I'd say the situation would vary. With our products in a lot of cases, we simply do swap-outs. You buy a product from me and something happens under the warranty, in a lot of cases I will simply trade your products. On top of retail sales, and custom installation, we're also one of the two service centers for our area. We service 30 some odd brands and have the most knowledgeable electronic repairs guy around. Suffice it to say we've got customer service beyond anything I've personally ever seen, and it's nice to be able to tout that.

This strikes me as funny since Chris is a dealer... Whoops, guess I shouldn't have "given" out all the "free" info on how to do your own for "cheap".

No worries mate, there are tons of fish in the sea.

I got to wondering... Why would someone take the time to bother posting something like this? Then I searched his posts...



This strikes me as funny since Chris is a dealer... Whoops, guess I shouldn't have "given" out all the "free" info on how to do your own for "cheap".

No worries mate, there are tons of fish in the sea.

To paraphrase ol' Rummy, "You build a home theater with the budget you have, not the one you wish you had."

If a good (enough) A/V experience for under $2000, more power to you! Maybe we should still be riding our bicycles and feeling bad about ourselves because we don't drive Ferarris. I'm sure $50,000 setups are better; that's why they're $50,000. Just because I can't afford the best doesn't mean that I can't be happy with something less.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say I truly hope your standards of "good" and "amazing" don't make it into the motion pictures that I watch in the future.

With that being said, for what you spent, your room doesn't look too bad. As long as you're happy, that's what matters.

The exposure that you're a dealer a few posts back was quite funny. It's obvious that you're quite mad that people on here are making quality theatres for much cheaper than you likely charge at your establishment.
http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/6173/retardbeatinghimselfupeu1.gif

Nice setup you got there. I would have to say that mine would actually come out cheaper if I don't factor in the chairs (like you). Overall most of my cost went to the projector and seats. I also agree that one doesn't need the best to enjoy.

$2,000 ??

I did mine for around $1,100.

$550 - Optoma HD projector (clearance at Best Buy)
$180 - Onkyo stereo (buy.com)
$125 - JBL speakers (on clearance at Tweeter)
$30 - Philips upconverting DVD player (clearance at Sears)
$100 - cable and wires (monoprice)
$100 - MTX subwoofer (clearance at Circuit City)
$10 - screen (painted drywall and framed with lattice)

furniture was additional $1500 for 6 recliners.

Bill

Hey "FreeE."

Man I love the AVS Forum, where people share cool ideas, projects & even show us how they pulled it off the DIY way!

Great job man, thanks for the photos of your wonderful theater.

If & when I get to turn my living room into a budget HT, threads like yours will help show me the way !

John :D

Well, my wife has been busy. She does all the decorating, and she did her thing with the basement. We moved the fireplace about 5 times until we were happy with it.

She saw that clock at the local JC penney's and then went home and looked at jcpenneys online where it was about $40 less? So she ordered it online.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/theater1.jpg

Of course we had to go with the obligatory movie posters. She found those hangers for $1.85 each vs. frames which cost a ton more...

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/theater5.jpg

She also put some black fabric behind the holes in the back of our cabinets so that the wall wouldn't show thru. And added the boxes to store all our Wii stuff. The sub is turned so that I can access the volume control and turn down the bass when I don't want to rattle the house.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/theater.jpg

Thanks for the input guys. I almost feel bad when I'm down there watching tv. As I don't have any friends with a theater... except online :)

Your basement looks awesome. Looks like you stretched your money very well. I love reading about these types of builds that show how much you can do with a limited budget. I find it much more interesting to read about how a guy stretched a couple grand and made a really nice room vs. some guy who hired contractors to do 90% of the work and has more money in his HT than my house is worth. My only complaint is the screen shot of Fox News, terrible stuff :)

This turned out great! That screen is the perfect size for that space. I like your paint colors as well.

I would of pushed my left and right in-walls closer to the outer edges of the screen though. Just my $0.02 :D

Hi Free,

Love your theater man. When can we come over ?

Are you in wall speakers the black squares below the bottom screen frame ?

John :D
PS: FOX news rocks !

yeah, Here is a pic before I painted them black. I was limited with the location by the studs, so I had to put them in a little more than I originally desired, but when I was framing I didn't think about speaker location...

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/P1010080.jpg

My kids now LOVE our basement. especially with their huge playroom on the other side.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/basementa4.jpg

I put in a 25 foot VGA cable this weekend for my daughters birthday. I got her the Dance Praise 2 game for my pc. I have two of the dance pads, and hooked it up the sound from my laptop and the vga output is amazing on the HC1500.

It is so cool!

My kids and everyone who came over loved it.

It took my wife and I about a hour figuring out how to run the cable through the walls... Not fun, but now its done...

wow what a great thread! my hat goes off to you dude - nice job. i wish we had basements in dallas, i'd love to trick one out with a HT.

Really awesome work Free! I am getting ready to start a project of my own for about the same budget. Needless to say, you have given me some good ideas! Enjoy the space!

FreeEnterprise

I did the same thing too in my small gameroom (12X25 feet). My family and friends think I've spent well over $3k into this. Here's my list::

VP4001 720p PJ=$1200 (I wanted a decent 720p PJ to hold me over 1080p)
2 X Infinity Towers=$180 (EBay, 2 separate bids)
Polk R50 Towers for surrounds=$100 pair
Refurb Onkyo Receiver=$189 from ShopOknyo
120" Wilson DIY screen=$140
Sony PS3 =$289 (Sony CC offer deal)

TOTAL=$2100 approx

Very nice theater there Free. Like I always say "you don't have to spend a fortune on your home theater unless you really want to". ;)

So, I got my kids a pc game that I mentioned above...

It caused me some issues hooking it up, so I figured I'd post all the stuff I did before I finally just ran a vga cable from the projector to the pc...

First I got a vga to hdmi cable. I figured that way, my onkyo would upconvert and I'd be fine... Except my 1 year old laptop with vista wouldn't recognize the cable, or output for hdmi...

Then I tried a scan converter.

Ah, NO. It reduces the size down and the quality is horrific. I blew it up as large as I could and it was only half the size of the screen, and you couldn't read anything...

Terrible.

So then I just got a 25 foot vga cable and "ran" it through the ceiling and down the wall. Which took a while, I removed my speakers and used those holes as my access points. The quality is amazing, most projectors are made for outputting pc vga anyway, and you will be shocked at how good it looks. Plus I used a super long cable, so I can put my laptop in a bunch of different places and it will still reach.

I wish I had thought of this before I put up my drywall. I would have run a vga cable all the way to the front of the room... And then just gotten a wireless keyboard/mouse.

But, you need to hook up a computer to your system. It just adds so much versatility. Plus dance praise (like dance revolution, but with Christian music) is such a fun game...

I have wireless high speed, and we were down there watching youtube video's in high quality on the big screen.

Way fun.

Well, I added a race track to my room... The kids and I have a ton of fun with it.

These are Xmod cars, available at radio shack. And when they come out with new models they really blow out the old ones... I've paid less than $20 for each of my cars, the police car I got this summer brand new for $7.00...

Here is a pic when I was building the track, it is a left over piece of vinyl, (one side for drifting, the other side for traction) 12' X 5'. Then get some 1/2 inch pvc pipe and foam to cover the pieces, and lay out your track.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/IMG_0112.jpg

cover the pieces with the foam, and you are ready to race.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/IMG_0114.jpg

You can set it up in under 5 minutes. I took it out this weekend to show a friend, and within minutes all 5 of the little girls at our house were racing!

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/IMG_0117.jpg

hey free, just stumbled onto your thread. fantastic job. you basement/theater/game room looks like so much fun. like you, my only friends with HTs are my fellow AVSers. cheers!

That looks freakin BADASS !! man i can't wait to get my house built.

awesome work man.... not much to say that hasnt already been said. i thoroughly enjoyed spending the last half hour lookin at this though!

Finished the track last night...

and made a little video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9odSKfNvimw

I must admit, I was a bit frosty when I first heard of the race track. But it could really be fun.

So, we had a Wii party for the family, and had around 30 people over, and the Theater was a big hit. I'm glad I went without walling in my theater as the large room really helped accommodate that many people. Good thing I had the game system in the arcade as well, to keep the little ones busy while the adults were playing Wii...

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/IMG_0041.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/IMG_0033.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/IMG_0044.jpg

If you need to move heavy stuff in your basement, get some of those little sliders to help! I moved that huge couch over there from the other side of the basement, by myself easily. They are smooth plastic with a foam on the other side, and you just put them under the feet of whatever you want to move, and then they just glide over the carpet.

OK Free, I am officially jealous!! My HT only has an 82" screen. LOL!

I basically did the same thing you did in my living room around 3 years ago for similar cash. Mine looked pretty crude until this past week when I started to finish the project by putting on the wood trim and a credenza around the pull down screen. Now it finally looks fairly nice.

I added up all the costs and I am at about $3690.00. But I also included in this price, all of the wood trim, a coffee table PC for my jukebox, a 42 inch plasma (on clearance for $379, used for regular TV) and 2 custom made glass table tops.

The picture and sound quality in my opinion for these prices are truly amazing. You can't go wrong with a HUGE screen and 7.1 surround for $2-4K. I have a wife and four kids... so what does that break down too? One trip to the Kalahari Resort in the Wis Dells, and taking the kids out to a dinner and movie once a month for a year. They all voted for canceling the trip and movies to pay for our own HT back in 2006. It has been well worth it. Here we are 3 years later still enjoying our own HT that we affectionately call "The Dixon IMAX", and we enjoy it together as Family.

I have come to realize that it is not about the price or quality of the equipment, it is about family coming together for a nice dinner and a movie and spending time with each other at home.

(RIGHT!!! Who am I kidding?!! An 82 inch screen and a 28 speaker 900 Watt 7.1 Surround System!!! The wife and kids only gave me a HUGE fathers day gift that year!! LOL!!!! )

Great Job on your HT FreeEnterprise!

Very nice party room.

I just viewed your XMod video and noticed some chairs that looked like "bean" bag chairs but seemed to have a back rest on them. Can you tell me a little more about these chairs?

I have two of them, the large, (good for kids) and the extra large (good for adults, and kids).

http://www.amazon.com/Leather-Luxe-Extra-Large-Black/dp/B000F6WJ80/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1231032574&sr=8-2

We love them, easy extra seating that is portable, and easy to move around when "Wii"ing.

I just finished reading through the whole thread, including the drama from Chris. I also spent very little on my setup and I'm really happy with it. I spent just $600 on my projector setup 1.5 years ago. I already had the surround/speakers/room so I couldn't say what the price was for all that, it's ancient by today's standards. It's only Dolby Prologic II (no digital anywhere!).

Anyway, nice setup and more importantly, it seems you've gotten some people over to enjoy the setup.

Our family watched "Igor" last night.

I've been planning on taking some pics of the screen to show what the picture is like on a HC1500. I love this projector, the picture quality is amazing, the blacks are great and the color is amazing. But, enough of my ranting, check out the pics.

Here is a very dark scene, you can see how the projector is very good with blacks, not faded out like many of the lcd projectors.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/IMG_0133-1.jpg

Here is the other end of the spectrum. Very bright scene, but notice how the whites of the eyes aren't blown out. Very clean picture.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/IMG_0134.jpg

Here are a couple more pics.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/IMG_0132.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/IMG_0130.jpg

I am still pinching myself each time we watch a movie. I haven't been to the real theater since we put ours in...

Just an awesome setup. Great work! I bet you must enjoy it even more knowing that you did all of it. Again, wickedly awesome freakin setup.

I too love this setup and check this thread frequently for more updates. How does the projector do during the day time? Looks like you get some sunlight coming through the sliding glass door?

Any regrets on not painting the walls (particularly around the screen) any darker? I keep reading that improves the contrast of the screen picture a lot, but I am a little hesitant to paint my walls that dark. I want the atmosphere of the room to be nice and open like your's and not so completely dark.

Dave,

First off, love your theater room. I was always a big Wolfpack fan as a kid. I even delivered pizza to Jimmy V back in the day, as I grew up in Raleigh...

The windows and door are not a problem for 90% of the time. They are on the same wall as the screen, so I only have to worry about sunlight bouncing into the room and then reflecting back on the screen.

In the winter, when there is snow on the ground and it is morning (when the sun is low and on that side of the house) it is very bright. I can still see the screen ok, but I usually close the blinds to brighten up the image.

But, most of the time we leave the blinds open. The HC 1500 is very bright. And with my screen having a black felt boarder, it blocks any direct light coming in the window or door.

Concerning painting the walls a darker color... Honestly, I never notice the walls. I look at the screen when I watch a movie. Its logical that darker walls and ceiling would create less distraction and reflection. But, you would have dark walls... I personally don't like the "cave" like look of dark walls. Shoot, I put in 50 can lights for a reason. I like my rooms bright. And even with all the lights on, it doesn't wash out the screen. Its not as bright, but it is still plenty bright enough. We even run lights over our chairs when watching movies. Not turned up bright, but barely on so you can see the popcorn in your lap...

When people come over to my house, they always comment that the basement feels just like the upstairs. That is because we strived to make it bright, with high ceilings, and similar color schemes. As well as the same woodwork, doors, tile, ect.

I guess it is a personal preference.

Thanks for the comments guys. We doubled the square footage of our house with our finished basement, and we use it all the time now. I hooked up my laptop with my mame games on it the other night...

Wow...

Oh, I forgot to mention, that I unscrewed the bulbs in the two can lights that are right next to the screen, as they were bathing the screen with light. So, I guess we have 48 lights now...

I am totally with you on keeping the space multi functional and making it fit in with the rest of the house. My wife actually likes your setup the best of some I have showed her (always wise to get the WAF as I go along planning :) ).

If I lived by myself, I might do the man cave thing, but knowing this will be a family room with kids, in-laws, etc. I think a multi-use atmosphere is the direction we are planning too. (BTW we are planning for our next house that we hope to build in 12-18 months).

I am glad to hear you get satisfactory results with the semi-bright walls. I will not probably go with something quite as drastic as Wolfpack red in the next room. I figured this was my one shot to do a Wolfpack color scheme the way I wanted it, so I went for it!:cool:

Next house will be a little more less specialized, although it will still have a Wolfpack flare to it. But your pics have convinced me I can still make the room look neat and be multi-functional at the same time.

Like your idea of running the VGA cable for CPU hookup. May include that and run a cable from the AV receiver to our snack bar/ countertop area so we can set a laptop on the bar and project the image onto the screen.

We just got the Wii for Christmas, so we have not moved it to the basement yet. Gotta invest in a component cable before I bother hooking it up to the HDTV. Does your generic brand component cable work OK? Does that convert it up to 480p? My wife is going to love the bowling pics though!

Thanks again for sharing.

I would think any component cable would be fine. In my system, I run my component into the onkyo 606 and the receiver upconverts it to 1080.

The only issue I have is underscaling, which I guess is pretty common on Wiis. It bothers me, but no one else seems to care...

You can see what I'm talking about in these pics.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/IMG_0138.jpg

I know... my cables are a rats nest... I just moved my receiver as it was getting too hot on the bottom shelf, not enough air space around it... And I was afraid someone would kick it when bowling.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/IMG_0139.jpg

nice space, the theater seats should be thrown in that price.

I wasn't figuring buying "theater" seats when I budgeted. As I already had the couch shown, and planned on using that (still do when we have a crowd).

That is why it isn't in the original posts pricing, or thread title.

The theater seats really make a huge difference though. And they are comfy, not as good as my lazyboy recliners upstairs, but much better than a couch. And the cup holders/remote holders are a must.

So one of my kids was sick this weekend. And we needed movies to watch... But, I live out there, and didn't feel like making a trek to the movie store.

My wife signed up with netflix. And we tried out the download movies feature.


WOW! It looked great, even at 130 inches. We watched an old movie, (Dr. Doolittle from the 60's) and it played film widescreen aspect ratio. The sound was great, and fast forwarding was even easy. The software took only a minute to download (onto my vista dell laptop) and I was using my wireless high speed, then a vga cable to my projector, and then audio out of my laptop into my receiver.

And the best part is, unlimited downloads, so you can watch movies all afternoon.

This is a great service, and I was blown away by how easy it was. Yet, another reason to go with a projector instead of a tv...

My wife was out of town this past weekend. So I finally watched "when we were soldiers". With Mel Gibson, But, something was wrong...

The sub didn't seem to be working... I checked and the light was off. It was plugged in... Everything seemed fine...


I pulled it out of the cabinet, and saw the fuse, and fuse cover laying underneath!

Evidently the bass hits vibrated it loose and it popped out. I wonder how long I've been without bass...


That movie is very intense and I turned it up bigtime. My whole house was shaking with each explosion. It was cool.

Wow, this looks great. Great job.

Well done!

People really dont get how nice a PQ the HC1500 puts out.

PS on netflix watch our for SpongeBob! If your kids are that age they may co-op your projector :)

Let me start by first congratulating you on a great job..

I recently bought a yet to be constructed house, and planning to have a similar home theater as yours.

I would really appreciate if you could answer the following questions.

1. Distance between overhead projector and screen
2. Do you have any wiring plan etc which I can use as a reference?
3. On a scale of 1 to 10 ..How does the audio quality on the speakers compare with the Bose lifestyle in Best Buy or any other store? 1 meaning far inferior to Bose and 10 meaning superior than Bose
4. Any other suggestions which you could give newbies like me

Thanks,
T

That's one of the nicest spaces I've seen for ages! Great work. AND it's HUGE!

Let me start by first congratulating you on a great job..

I recently bought a yet to be constructed house, and planning to have a similar home theater as yours.

I would really appreciate if you could answer the following questions.

1. Distance between overhead projector and screen

Each projector has different specs for the throw distance. My projector HC1500 will project a 130" image at 16.5 feet. Which is the location I put my mount.

2. Do you have any wiring plan etc which I can use as a reference?

Ahh, wiring... That is like asking an artist to explain how he paints... No, seriously, I do have a wiring diagram, but it wouldn't make any sense if I scanned it and put it on here. I have the floorplan, and I mark where each line goes, and I give each cable its own number or letter, to keep them straight. Then I mark the ends of each cable with the same number or letter.

Here is what you need to replicate what I have now (and I did have to do some additional wiring AFTER the drywall was in... Not fun...)

First off, I ran rgb wires from my receiver wall (under the screen) to the projector. After I had the drywall done, I realized how much better a HDMI cable looks... So I ran one of those (a 50 footer), I don't even use my rgb wires, in fact, I ended up using two of them for my extra speaker wires I needed when I switched from 5.1 to 7.1. A good switching (many sources) receiver and an HDMI cable are all you really need running from your receiver to your projector.

From receiver to projector

1. HDMI cable, 50 foot in my case, off ebay for $50.

Options include;
2. (I didn't want this, but you may) a remote wire (two strand) to control your screen when projector is turned on.
3. Cat 5 wire, for future upgrades.
4. Standard coaxle cable, in case you ever need it...

From receiver to each speaker location, (go ahead and wire for 7.1...)

Get good thick wire. You can put ends on it yourself with a soldering iron and connectors from radio shack or online. (online better quality)

Keep your speaker wire apart from your video wires and power wire, video is shielded, but you might as well keep it apart just incase...

1. Run each wire to each speaker, making sure to label each end of the wire clearly for ease of hookup.

2. Run a extra seat of 2 channel speaker wires for extra room listening that can be accessed in the future. I ran mine into my storage area. So I can put wires outside, or in a different area later.



Power. Run power to your receiver area, and a different circuit to your projector. Also run power next to your theater seating area for phone, or laptop.

Run a video/stereo audio cable from your receiver area to your seating area. (so you can hook up a laptop later with sound into your theater surround sound).

Run a VGA cable from your projector box, down the wall to your theater seating area, so you can plug in your laptop later. (netflicks online is great with this feature). (cables off ebay are the most cost effective I've found).

Don't forget your phone wiring. I ran one next to my theater seats, and another line behind my receiver as most satelite systems need a phone line.

Run 3 or 4 coaxle cables to your receiver with access in another place in your basement.

I use 2 for my directTV hookup (most 2 receiver setups need 2 cables), third is for my over the air antenna, which I use to get channels on my dvd recorder over the air, and also for use on my receiver to pick up am/fm radio. I have a wineguard 2000 antenna on my roof which is a great way to get great picture quality from very far away without rotating an antenna. Fourth is to run video from a different area of your house if needed in the future...

Here is a pic of my ratsnest, excuse me, my wiring behind my receiver. Speaker is on the left. middle is video wiring, on the right is the phone, and far right is power. A few wires are missing as I ran them after the picture was taken... hdmi, rca to theater seats, ect.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/P1010010-1.jpg

put a big OPEN box in the ceiling for your projector stuff, and mount a board to support your projector mount. Label all your wires...

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/P1010012.jpg

Theater seat area. things missing from pic, rca wires to receiver, and vga cable, they both come out next to the power which is on the right, phone on the left. The extra coax wire is from my receiver to a extra tv in my arcade...

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j29/GlennMehltretter/P1010007-4.jpg








3. On a scale of 1 to 10 ..How does the audio quality on the speakers compare with the Bose lifestyle in Best Buy or any other store? 1 meaning far inferior to Bose and 10 meaning superior than Bose

No offense to Bose owners. But, I think my speakers sound just as good as Bose. The biggest thing you need to remember in speaker selection is getting a matched set. If you pick one type of speakers up front, and a different type in the back, they will react differently, and cause sound reproduction issues. Placement is critical, as well as the speakers having a large enough harmonic range. I love my "super cheap" inwall speakers, and they sound amazing. The inwalls even have decent bass response, but I would not want to skip the sub. The sub makes the system. I have not had anyone say anything bad about my sound reproduction. I have a full bose sound system in my luxury car, and my home theater has a much better sound system... I have turned it way up (when my wife was away) and literally shook my house. Even then the sound quality didn't diminish, still very clear bright sound.

I would very much recommend my entire system, receiver, speakers, projector. The only component I don't like is my dvd/vhs recorder. It is tempermantal, and takes way too long to turn on, and to eject disks. But, playback is fine, and the HD tv tuner is really nice.

On Monday, My satelite lost the local channels (right when 24 season final episode was about to start... PANIC!). So I went down to the theater, and programmed my DVDRAM to record the episode off of my antenna picking it up off the local over the air signal from cincinnati.

Then after I put the kids to bed at 9:00, my wife and I went down and watched the final while it was still recording. And commercial skip is much better on my dvdram than on my dvr. As you don't have to watch each commercial, it just skipped ahead 1:00 with each button push... We watched the 2 hours in 1:30:00 hours as it had 30 minutes of commericals...


4. Any other suggestions which you could give newbies like me

My wife was nervous about me doing this project, as she thought a large screen tv would be much easier. After we price checked large TV's, and I figured out what I could do my room for... We were both pretty excited. Now we are past excited. Every time we go down to our basement we still say how amazing it is... The bigger you can go the better. You won't regret it!

Any questions just ask, there are tons of guys on here that can help you with the process, and you will be popping popcorn and carrying down drinks before you know it!


Thanks,
T


Good Luck!

Oh, and another use for your rca video/stereo wires from your receiver to your seating area. Makes for a great place to hook up your old video game systems, with corded controllers. I can easily hook up my old nintendo 64, or playstation 2 and still sit in my theater seats and the cords reach fine. That coupled with a set of headphones, and you have a pretty cool gaming system.


Or just hook up your laptop and use mame... That works well too!

Did you know that n64 actually resizes to fit 16:9... I didn't either until I hooked it up. Mario kart is pretty cool on the huge screen! Course maybe its my onkyo 606 that is doing the conversion... I'm not sure...

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:


unbelievably great job

I'm loving my 606 also

i am also trying to decide if i should go with a projector or a new flat screen
i like the idea that the pj is mounted to the ceiling out of the way of the "accidental" bumping or touching

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:


unbelievably great job

I'm loving my 606 also

i am also trying to decide if i should go with a projector or a new flat screen
i like the idea that the pj is mounted to the ceiling out of the way of the "accidental" bumping or touching

Thanks!


Ahh, you noticed my "hide the projector over the seats to avoid whooping it with your wii remote..." placement. Yeah, that was on purpose, we often get pretty animated when playing, and also one of the reasons I had my wife design the house to have the maximum ceiling height in the "theater" area of the basement. I also think I need to patent my use of "wrapping the power cord around the ceiling mount, to look cool"... too.

we often get pretty animated when playing, and also one of the reasons I had my wife design the house to have the maximum ceiling height in the "theater" area of the basement.
Dude ... when you start planning your house around your gaming that's some serious gaming!! :eek:

Maybe I should give this gaming thing another look ...

Do you reckon the games have improved much since Asteroids and Pac Man? :o

Thanks a lot for your detailed explanation.
My house is still in digging stage.. will keep you posted

Oh, and another use for your rca video/stereo wires from your receiver to your seating area. Makes for a great place to hook up your old video game systems, with corded controllers. I can easily hook up my old nintendo 64, or playstation 2 and still sit in my theater seats and the cords reach fine. That coupled with a set of headphones, and you have a pretty cool gaming system.


Or just hook up your laptop and use mame... That works well too!

Did you know that n64 actually resizes to fit 16:9... I didn't either until I hooked it up. Mario kart is pretty cool on the huge screen! Course maybe its my onkyo 606 that is doing the conversion... I'm not sure...

Awesome theater room and game room, mine still needs a lot of work..

Very nice set up Free. I see you also enjoy marine aquariums, another costly hobby lol. Is that a 75 gallon or 90? I am in the planing stages for my basement and hope to have a 180 gallon in wall on one wall of my theater/game room. Cheers

Free -

When you have a minute between Memorializing this Holiday weekend please check out what that duct product was you mentioned in my thread. I'm still curious to learn more about that.

Well, and also what an old flathead with tri-power is, but I'll settle for what the aluminum foil coated duct product is. :cool:

Free -

When you have a minute between Memorializing this Holiday weekend please check out what that duct product was you mentioned in my thread. I'm still curious to learn more about that.

Well, and also what an old flathead with tri-power is, but I'll settle for what the aluminum foil coated duct product is. :cool:

Thermopan

http://www.thermopan.com/products_thermopan.htm

See your thread for my free offer...

Very nice set up Free. I see you also enjoy marine aquariums, another costly hobby lol. Is that a 75 gallon or 90? I am in the planing stages for my basement and hope to have a 180 gallon in wall on one wall of my theater/game room. Cheers



Mine is only a 46 gallon... But, with my sump filter it has about 50 gallons total. I've been doing salt water since 95, and really enjoy it.

dr.fosters and smith is the best place I've found for my live aquaria needs.

I did my system over a long time to save costs.

Dude ... when you start planning your house around your gaming that's some serious gaming!! :eek:

Maybe I should give this gaming thing another look ...

Do you reckon the games have improved much since Asteroids and Pac Man? :o

You really should go ahead and put in a wii at least. Great party games, and the controller is very easy to use, even for people that have never used it, unlike most of the other game systems, where you need to know a wierd combination of button presses just to get the guy on screen to move...

We have family bowling tournaments and play tennis a lot. (another reason for the large space... four player tennis can get scary!)

Thermopan

http://www.thermopan.com/products_thermopan.htm

See your thread for my free offer...

Thanks, man. I'll look into it and get back to you! Appreciate it!

You really should go ahead and put in a wii at least. Great party games, and the controller is very easy to use, even for people that have never used it, unlike most of the other game systems, where you need to know a wierd combination of button presses just to get the guy on screen to move...

We have family bowling tournaments and play tennis a lot. (another reason for the large space... four player tennis can get scary!)

Yeah, the wii is on my radar screen once I finish the HT, if by some miracle all of my kids are not grown and out of the house by the time I finish!! :o

I hope you all have a hookup for your pc to your theater...


gymkhana two is out on youtube in HD...

http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv50/FreeEnterprise/IMG_0838.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ7R_buZPSo

is it me or does the image on the screen look stretched????

Free,
Thanks for your great advice.

I would like to bother you with few more questions

1. Your link to screen vendor is not working. Can you please provide me with correct link?

2. Is your projector mount attached to drywall or it it attached to joist?

Have a great day,
Thanks,
T

I got my screen from "shoppingdeals" (ebay user name)

He made mine custom to the exact size I wanted, I waited to order it until I had my projector mounted and then I measured the maximum size and ordered it that way...

I put a board between my ceiling rafters to mount the projector mount too. But, it has drywall covering it. You can mount to drywall with the proper hardware, I just wanted mine to be very stable.

thanks for the prompt reply as always...

My house is in pre-drywall stage now.. getting ready to run the wires...

planning a 7.1 channel HT... already bought in-wall speakers

14 guage speaker wire from monoprice ...
and 50 ft hdmi cable from mono price too...


Did you use ties or some kind of clips to install the speaker wires in the frame?

Thanks,
T

did

Naa, I ran them loose behind the wall studs (through the studs in some areas to keep them from hitting stuff).

I put in boxes at each speaker location that I took back out when I cut the holes for the speakers, as I didn't have my speakers when I wired it all up.

Just make sure it is secure, the last thing you want is for your wire to fall down the wall, after the drywall is installed... DOH! I put a screw in and tied my wire to that.

Well... My five remotes are starting to get on my nerves.

I use my onkyo remote to control my direct tv for channel changing, ect.

But, I still have to use the mitsi projector remote to turn on the projector, and then my vhs/dvd remote to watch media.

And it is a pain. I'm looking at the harmony 700 remote, but $150 seems a bit steep as I am sure I will end up dropping it at some point...

Anyone have any ideas on inexpensive remote controls that will run this system?

I have seen the Harmony One for sale at 99 bucks. That is the one I use and it works very well.

I have seen the Harmony One for sale at 99 bucks. That is the one I use and it works very well.

What? When and where?

Yeah, I would love one of those for that price. The cheapest I have found is the 890 refurbed on Amazon for $119...

You really should go ahead and put in a wii at least. Great party games, and the controller is very easy to use, even for people that have never used it, unlike most of the other game systems, where you need to know a wierd combination of button presses just to get the guy on screen to move...

We have family bowling tournaments and play tennis a lot. (another reason for the large space... four player tennis can get scary!)

We love our Wii! Question. We do not have our Wii hooked up downstairs in the media room now that it is ceiling mounted. Before it was mounted, we just plugged it right into the projector. Now that we have the projector mounted on the ceiling, I honestly have no idea how to get the Wii hooked up through it. Our receiver is an older Denon, and I know we need to upgrade (will be doing that in Feb). Not sure how to trouble shoot, as I am not the most tech savy when it comes to audio/video equipment. I really want to play it on the 92" screen!

yea i highly recommend a harmony remote. they are completely worth every penny. you don't really need to spend the money for a one or 900. but you can get a 670 for like $77. honestly the harmony has the same software for all the remotes but they change them for anesthetic reasons and easier buttons and newer technology. i've got a harmony for almost every room... worth every penny. if you want a used one i can prolly sell you one of mine... just PM me...


BTW: ive been lookin for a while but i this is my first post!!!

We love our Wii! Question. We do not have our Wii hooked up downstairs in the media room now that it is ceiling mounted. Before it was mounted, we just plugged it right into the projector. Now that we have the projector mounted on the ceiling, I honestly have no idea how to get the Wii hooked up through it. Our receiver is an older Denon, and I know we need to upgrade (will be doing that in Feb). Not sure how to trouble shoot, as I am not the most tech savy when it comes to audio/video equipment. I really want to play it on the 92" screen!

How do you get video to your projector now?

If you are just using the video out of your vcr/dvd player then run your wii into the extra input (if it has one) and pick that input on your vcr/dvd and presto.

If you don't have any inputs then you need a receiver that has video capablities. You can see the one I use on page one, it has 4 HDMI inputs and I run my wii into the component input and my receiver upconverts the signal to 1080, which looks a lot better than the standard wii signal, but it underscales a bit...

Oh, and I broke my record...

We went to see Avatar over the holiday... (in 3d at least). It was pretty cool, but now I have been to the "real" theater once since I put in mine.


We had a Harry Potter marathon over the holiday and watched in order all of the films. It was very fun, and the new one is very good. (The thunder sounded so real!)

Very nice place. And you got a veray nice place for the cash put.

How big is you basement? Seems huge from the pic.

Loves it!

Free,

Can't let this thread fall too far into oblivion while you're busy playing and such instead of posting, so here's a question for you:

It sounds like you're happy with your screen for the money it cost, and it sure looks good. Have you had any issues with younger kids poking it or getting it dirty with their grubby little hands?

Naa, no issues at all. But, I put that cabinet in front of it to keep the kids off the screen. So far, no one (cept a batty old uncle) have put their grubby hands on it.

It works great, and the picture is amazing. I even flew a r/c helicopter into it a few times, when I was learning to fly a few months back. It is a tough screen!

We had a super bowl party and I was playing pinball when the who started playing pinball wizard at halftime... I thought it was funny, till my daughter beat me...




youg. My basement is pretty big, I finished around 2,000 square feet.

Well...

You know how everything is going all hunky dory and all of a sudden you realize your Jethro Bodine ciphering was a bit off...

Last week, my wife said. (don't tell hanesian)

"I smell mold"...



NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!




So I carefully removed the boards around the door and peeked around...

everything was dry...

But the grout around my tile in front of the closed door was wet...

I had already partially removed the door back in January to get caulk under the door... But, I couldn't get the door all the way out to caulk the inside.

And it was definitely moldy. I bleached it, and was getting ready to bust it out, when my wife said I should "Call Daddy, he would know what to do".

She is so cute.

So I went over to his house and borrowed his hand held tile saw and cut in front of the door.

When I first installed the tile, I realized that the door wasn't caulked and using my ciphering ability, I figured that if I just filled it full of grout, it would seal it up when it dried. (it works in showers I figured...)...


Yeah, uh. No...

It didn't work. Water under your tile is bad. It will mold.

Plus, when my house was built, they cut across the concrete with the saw for expansion joints, and they put one right under the door... Which wasn't sealed in any way. And it actually runs downhill back INSIDE the house...

I'm pretty sure the Clampetts did my concrete work too...

http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv50/FreeEnterprise/tile.jpg

So, I caulked it really well, and cleaned out the cut hole, and caulked that as well...

It seems to be fine because it poured all weekend and no more water came inside.

I poured some bleach on the grout and let it sink underneath the hole in the grout that I made to get it underneath, and that seems to have worked. I also used some spray that is suppost to keep mold from coming back.

but, do you guys have any other tips?...

I almost feel like just busting up the tile to be sure... As it is a small area and wouldn't be that hard to replace.

As it is now, I can just put a piece of wood over the area that I cut out easily.

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr79/hanesian/Funny-1.gif

Sorry ... I still tend to react like that anytime I hear the "M" word. :o



You know what I'm going to say, as I'm the guy who just about rebuilt half his bloody house to eradicate mold: I wouldn't take any shortcuts with known mold, especially when it seems to be localized with a known (and fixable) cause. I'd do what I needed to do to remove the tile & perhaps the door frame until I could clearly see exactly how far the mold extends.

Until you do that you are really just guessing - and hoping - that it was all limited to the small area you now see. Otherwise the mold is likely to become active and grow as and when conditions are right - which could be frequent unless you are sure you've got that whole area properly sealed off. Then you may need to replace some of the tile or subfloor or other material if the mold is established. Contrary to popular opinion, bleach alone is not a cure for mold ... although it can mask it and temporarily reduce the odor. But it doesn't eliminate it.

Sucks, I know, but at least you seem to be only dealing with a very localized area so maybe it won't be too bad. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Count your blessings ... you're not me! :cool:

Well, I tore up the tile months back, and since I just made a huge mess in my basement installing a shower... I figured I might as well put in the tile since I was in the worker mode.

I put in grout last night so I am almost done!

I can't believe how much dust one of these saws creates!

http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv50/FreeEnterprise/IMG00725-20101106-1219.jpg

After about 4 hours of cut, wait till you can breath in room again, cut, wait, cut, wait, ect.

http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv50/FreeEnterprise/IMG00731-20101106-1831.jpg

Then I installed the shower base, and walls, and cut the hole for the plumbing. (nice circle cutting tool for my dremel, helped a ton)

http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv50/FreeEnterprise/IMG00735-20101108-2034.jpg

Here is the tile almost done.

http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv50/FreeEnterprise/IMG00745-20101113-1530.jpg

And installed

http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv50/FreeEnterprise/IMG00746-20101113-1537.jpg

Made some minor changes so I figured it was time for an update...

For Christmas Santa brought me a credit card bill, and a new playstation 3 with Gran Turismo 5 with a logitec wireless steering wheel with shock.

Truly Amazing, I now realize I should have gotten a blueray player sooner... The picture is amazing, and the 7.1 surround is even better.

My GT5 user name is "FASTRMASTR" if you want to add me to your list of online players.

http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv50/FreeEnterprise/IMG00889-20101228-2244.jpg

Playing on a 130 inch screen often tricks you into thinking you are really driving the car... Only bad thing is I keep trying to jump curbs on my way to work. (course I used to dodge banana peels, but that is a different story)

I moved my seats up closer to the screen to make room for my racing track which I get out at Christmas time, and it still has enough room for wii tennis, so I think we will end up leaving it in this position.

http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv50/FreeEnterprise/IMG00867-20101218-1416.jpg

and I picked up a few new cars for Christmas, as radio shack is blowing them out again... (Sadly they didn't make Xmods this year...)

http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv50/FreeEnterprise/IMG00890-20101229-0638.jpg

yes, I can run all 9 at the same time... And it is a blast.

FE, great room!! First thread I've read on here where someone outright ripped on another's build! I mean maybe Chris would like to donate $50k in equipment to you to "improve" your room, eh?

I am SO jealous of all the room you have down there!!! My room is also family-oriented and I LOVE the racetrack idea, too!! We break out the slot-car track sometimes but not often enough. That track adds another dimension to things and looks like a blast!!

I have the Onkyo 607 and I am just getting around to putting my A/V system together and can't wait until I get it done!

Room looks GREAT!!!

Glad to see things are still looking good, Free! Enjoy the new gaming set up. I'd challenge you on line, but I just figured out the Wii for the kids last Christmas, so I don't want to push my luck too far!

Old Fart Hanes

Currently in the process of doing similar and had no idea your thread existed til today. I'm on an extremely tight budget I think it's even easier to do it for 2k or less(because of lowered technology cost) now a days then when you started. I'll have about $1760ish in mine with same size screen but a 1080p projector/cheaper 5.1 receiver, though I have a chance to pick up a low low hr Mitsu HC1500 for a lil less money and you have me thinking about just getting that because it would lower startup costs. Your HC1500 really puts out a beautiful picture. Much better than I would've imagined.

On the screens, for people who don't feel like searching ebay that guy actually has a site www.jamestownhometheaterscreen.com I was actually going to get a focupix screen originally but I found his site a few months ago and he offers more bang for the buck and gray in larger sizes.

Very nice. I like how you have the theater in it's own lil area.

Thanks guys. I am still in shock that I have a theater in my basement... And I have had it now for over 2 1/2 years!

My wife and I were watching Prince of Persia, on new years eve (great movie btw) on blue ray, and I was pinching myself again. It is so much better than the theater, no kids talking, crying, beefing, or kicking my seat, and talking on their phones, and I always get the best seat, and can put my feet up in my recliner...

And free food and drinks!

I don't know why anyone would want a regular tv after seeing one of these systems in real life. It is insane how cool my system is for the money I spent.

Hey Free,

Just went through your entire thread and throughly enjoyed it. That's what makes AVS work, different levels of home theater builds that make the owners happy.

I too marveled at the responses of different people on budgets for their build. You proved cost can be controlled for a great home theater experience.

Like you, every time I watch a movie in my theater, I have to pinch myself.

Well done,

Pete

Free great setup and a job well done and it is clear that you have inspired many myself included.:cool: I am also currently considering a 130 inch Jamestown screen with an Epson 8350 and just wonder if the picture still seems great after the bulb has dimmed on a screen that large. This is hopefully my last concern:rolleyes: before I purchase my screen.

Thanks for all you've done and posted it's people like you and many others here that make this forum so great!!!

Thank You
Scott

Good question.

When purchasing a projector system, I always wondered what the "dimming" over time aspect would be...

My system has been in quite a while now, and this past weekend we had another family Wii party. And a few weeks ago I looked at the hour notice and saw that I am over 2,000 hours with it set on "HIGH" brightness. (around 2,200 hours so far).

I went ahead and ordered a new one, just in case the morning of the party mine decided to die...

Last week it arrived, and now I am trying to decide if I should go ahead and replace a bulb that still works... since the company has a 30 day warranty on the bulb I bought...


I think I will go ahead and replace it and put my old bulb in the box in case the new one goes out, I will have a "old" but still working spare.


I have not noticed any decrease in brightness. Not that it doesn't exist, but I can't tell it is less bright than it was... It could be... But, I haven't noticed.

I will let you know when I replace the bulb if there was a difference in brightness.

This many years later it still looks great. I have a projector TV upstairs (62 inch Hitachi) and I have replaced the bulb in it, and never noticed a decrease in brightness before it went out, or after it was replaced.

Thanks for the response Free it seems you are still really enjoying your system and I think I'm going to go with the 130 inch you can always go smaller but not bigger. I'll be interested to hear your take when you replace the bulb.

Thanks

I am still planning on replacing that bulb... But, it is paintball time of year for me, so I have been busy shooting my friends having a "blast".

I made a video last weekend instead of replacing that bulb.

Editing video footage on a 130 inch screen is super cool btw.

Here is my latest video if you are interested in what I do in the winter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IURhQ3GBrk

Hey Free - I am going to be digging in to make my place outfitted with a PJ and drop down screen. My one concern about ambient light is my reef tank. I see you have one too :). Mine is on the back of the room but I am curious what your expereince has been with this since it looks like your is similar. I am leaning toward the 8700UB PJ and with it's brightness I am hoping the ambiant light will be a non-issue.

here's the current situation. (scrren will drop down infront of the TV (left of image with dark wall). Going to build out the wall and drop the ceiling to "build in" the reef tank. It's a 50gal now going to be a 75.
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk319/IPTalaska/AVS/before-wide.jpg

I love what you've done with the basement! I was originally planing on having a dedicated theater room in my basement but after seeing what you've done I'm rethinking my options... are there any disadvantages to an open room setup like yours vs. a dedicated 12x15 room? (from a sound quality point of view that is)
Thanks and good job

First off, I changed my bulb over the weekend. And yes, I could tell that the new one is brighter. (but I hadn't noticed it dimming... the old one still looked fine, and I will save it for when my new one goes out.)...

But, over time there is a decrease in brightness. I had 2,200 hours on high on mine when I replaced it.

I only know about the HC1500. It is a VERY bright projector. When I was deciding on it, I looked at the "better" mitsi projector which had "more" brightness than the 1500... Except it didn't. It only cost twice as much, for less actual light...

Brightness "ratings" are a scam in the projector business. (did I just let the cat out of the bag?...). Seriously, I don't know how they come up with the lumens, as I have looked at a bunch, and ones that they say were twice what my HC1500 output looked noticeably darker than mine... So your best bet is to actually look at one for yourself if you can find one... Don't trust what they "say" the lumens are... I don't know about epsons, as I haven't even thought about projectors since I got mine. I'm totally happy with it. Especially since I put in a blue ray player. The picture quality is incredible.

IPT, Yeah, my fishtank (compact florescent bulbs 2-96 watt) is pretty bright. It usually kicks off about halfway through Friday night movies, as I have it on a timer. It does add light to the room (even though it is all the way in the back of my room). But, I don't like it super dark when I watch a movie... I like a little ambient light, and the fishtank does that well. It doesn't bother me at all.

It makes no difference on the brightness of my movie screen having the fishtank on. I can even run almost all the lights in my basement with no problem. The only issue is this time of year, when there is snow on the ground and the light coming into the basement from the sliding doors... That can wash out the image in the morning light. But, blinds fix that.



Goear. Speaker placement is key in any home theater. I like the way mine is open, as it accomidates way more people than a closed theater would, and I use the theater when doing other things in the basement (like the craft room, where you can see and hear it fine from all the way across the room) Or while playing pool... Or even in my woodworking shop across the way next to the bathroom. I can see the screen from my workbench, and I wear my headphones if the wife is upstairs and I don't want to bother her with the sound of my speakers.

I have one of my back speakers mounted on the side wall (where it drops down) on the open side, so it has proper placement, and from the theater seats... The sound is amazing.

I have never been disappointed to have it open instead of closed off. It is much more usable when you have plenty of room to do other tasks.

I even have a side business doing hand bindery projects for my families printing company.

And I get to use my theater when doing that!

http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv50/FreeEnterprise/bindery3.jpg

As you can see I have all the lights on and it is no problem, (and that is with the old bulb...)

Quickhands; yeah go big! I have never once thought I should have gone smaller... The 130 inch is perfect for a basement. It is 10 feet wide, and really make you feel like you are AT the theater.

Nothing better than picking up a pizza and spending some family time in the basement watching a movie. Press the button for the fireplace, and pass the candy!

So have you had the urge to upgrade your HC1500 yet? I love mine but I feel a tug to move it to the HC4000 for a 1080p .

Nope... I'm totally happy with the 720 resolution, especially now that I finally got a blue ray player to watch movies.

Besides, most stuff is recorded in 720 anyway, as 1080 cameras/switchers cost a fortune, and most studio equipment was purchased in the 720 format. They "upconvert" it to 1080. Which my receiver does to the signal (albeit not as good as high end broadcast upconverters) as well.

So, no I haven't even considered changing out my HC1500. I love the picture quality, and the brightness is perfect in my area.

I did move my mount back about 6 inches when I changed my bulb and I adjusted it, so it so it needed less keystoning adjustments. Which let me get it to fit my screen better, even when playing on the wii. No more black bars anywhere on the image edges. I don't know why I waited so long to do that...

I remember looking at the HC3000 when I purchased the 1500, as it was "much better" according to the sales rep. I wasn't impressed, as the image that the 1500 put out easily beat the 3000 in my opinion, it was much brighter, and had better color saturation, and blacks.

And now that I am happy, I just can't see spending more money on the latest and greatest, as the improvements likely wouldn't be worth the price tag to upgrade. I'd rather buy something I don't have, then upgrade an existing piece of tech.

But, that is me... If getting the new one will make you happy, and you have the cash to do it... go for it. At the end of the day, we all make choices about what we spend our money on. Something that is not important to me, might really matter to someone else, no one can say someone is "right" or "wrong" with their choices (cept Chris obviously... the dealer that posted earlier in this thread. lol.)

Oh it's just now with my addtion to my Blu Ray to my HTPC the screen (PJ) is the only thing not 1080p. I just love my HC1500 but I watch lots of moves and game on it. I dont play Wii on it so that is not a factor. Just trying to decide to decide on a bulb or a new Pj and finally done with my room set up.

Thanks!

So I have a question and figured the experts here would have a solution...

I sold my playstation 3. (back when they lost their network for a few months...) I just didn't play it enough, once I beat the fun parts of Grand Tourismo I sold it.

So I am thinking about getting a blue ray player. But, I'm a tightwad, so I don't want to spend a bunch of money. I see Sony BR for around $79 but they don't have wifi, and I figured I need wifi so I can watch internet video (like youtube).

What do you guys recommend? Can I get a low cost blue ray player that looks good and has wifi and internet ready access to hulu, youtube, and netflix?



Oh, and I got out my racetrack this week "for my kids"... Lol Had to order more AAA batteries already as we used every one in the house!

The Panny I have looked at is nice in that it has wifi built in, and seems to access all the major streaming providers netflix, amazon, hulu plus, vudu, youtube. That would be worth the extra $60 over that sony.

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DMP-BDT210-Integrated-Wi-Fi-Blu-ray-Player/dp/B004G8HXXO

I don't own it, I am sure there is a thread here on AVS somewhere, but just mentally kicking the tires it seemed to do it all.

So I have a question and figured the experts here would have a solution...

I sold my playstation 3. (back when they lost their network for a few months...) I just didn't play it enough, once I beat the fun parts of Grand Tourismo I sold it.

So I am thinking about getting a blue ray player. But, I'm a tightwad, so I don't want to spend a bunch of money. I see Sony BR for around $79 but they don't have wifi, and I figured I need wifi so I can watch internet video (like youtube).

What do you guys recommend? Can I get a low cost blue ray player that looks good and has wifi and internet ready access to hulu, youtube, and netflix?



Oh, and I got out my racetrack this week "for my kids"... Lol Had to order more AAA batteries already as we used every one in the house!

On the blu ray if you haven't got one already you might check out LG's. I saw the LG 610 at walmart for $88.99 today and it does have netcast which is youtube/netflix/pandora I think. Not sure if that's a wifi or a wired connection.

And some LG's like the 550(which is a wired networking player which I've heard wired connection is better/more fail safe for streaming if you can do a wired connection) are available manufacturer refurb'd(which is basically new) for like $60.00 on amazon and other online sites.

It shouldn't be hard to get a decent blu ray player with networking for under $100.00.

Glad to see you're still enjoying it with what you equipment have and haven't upgraded. It's a refreshing thing to see. Also glad to see your HC1500 is still alive and kicking.

Well, I decided to wait, as I wanted to spend less than a hundred on a blue ray player, and I wanted wifi, and none of the ones I saw had that feature yet in that price range...

So I got a new action cam for my paintball videos instead!

Contour Roam mounted on my helmet and a Sony SR series on my gun with zoom so you can SEE the paint flying and hitting other players.

yeah! Pretty sure I am the only paintballer doing two cams one with a zoom!

V4BSBAIAo3w

Tons more videos on my youtube channel many in HD. youtube.com/trailsofdoom