ejhuzy's Finally Done Thread! Pictures too! [Text View]

ejhuzy

01-06-09, 07:12 PM

Well, it was 2+ years (started in November '06) in the making, but I'm finally getting to starting my construction thread. The problem is the construction is done (well mostly, we're never done). So I guess this is my construction is done thread.

First, let me just say I *never* could have done this without the help of everyone on AVS. Forget the fact I could barely use a hammer when I started on this trek, but the inspiration alone was enough to get me going. I know everyone does this and I'm sure I'm forgetting some people, but I need to thank some people by name.

Thanks to swithey, chinadog, mbgonzomd, bpape, jikkjack, sandman, ronnie_jackson, eq_shadimar, garykagan, w00lly, strange_brew, and arron_hinni. Also, some non-AVS people like Charlie, John K, Jeff, Johnny D and Frank. All you guys answered many questions for me over the two years. Thank you. I really appreciate the help and so does my family.

Ok, enough gushing (can you tell I'm excited about my HT?). On to the important stuff. Quick summary here with some details and pictures to follow.

- Drywalled room dimensions: 16' 6" W x 18' L x 8' 6" H
- Finished dimensions: 16' 2" W x 15' 6" L (30" behind the screen wall)
- Projector: Panasonic PT-AX100U
- Screen: SMX 2.35 AT 110" viewable
- A/V Receiver: Pioneer Elite VSX-01
- Speakers: Ascend Acoustics 340SE L/C/R and HTM-200 SE for side and back surrounds
- Sub: Hsu VTF-2 MK3
- Blu-Ray: Pioneer BDP-51FD
- Gaming: XBox 360 with HD-DVD drive
- TV: DirecTV HR21
- Power Protection: Belkin PureAV PF31

Front
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0850.jpg

Back
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0846.jpg

Side
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0847.jpg

ejhuzy

01-06-09, 07:30 PM

I've always loved going to the movies. When I was a kid it was a real treat to be taken to the movie theater. Later in life I remember visiting Walt Disney World in Florida. It was around 1977 and I remember some exhibit that was a home theater. I was just 10 at the time, but I couldn't help but think how cool it would be to have a theater in my home.

Then one day I stumbled on AVSForum. At the time I was thinking about finishing my basement and was searching the web for ideas. I'm pretty sure I stumbled into the basement forum here. The first thread I went into had a home theater and that was it! I was hooked. I spent about a year living on AVS and one of the first threads I started to follow was Ruben's. Then I stumbled onto Bud's, Ronnie's and Steve's. These guys really set the tone for what my basement and HT have become today. Thanks again guys.

While I'm thinking of it, I really have to hand it to guys that document their builds as they go. I really wanted to be one of those guys, but I just never got it going. All my free time (not much really, I work for a large blue company company and coach my children in numerous sports) was spent working in the basement. By the time I was done, I just couldn't get the thread started.

ejhuzy

01-06-09, 07:48 PM

First and foremost, I wanted this to be a DIY project. Saving money was one reason, but I just felt I could do it myself. My family and friends all thought I was nuts because I've never been known as the "handy" type. But after reading some of the construction threads here on AVS, I really wanted to give it a go. And did! :D

Some other key elements I wanted in the theater:

- Fixed screen in a dedicated room. At first I started with a real open floorplan for the basement. I figured it would be better for entertaining, but the basement space just wouldn't agree. Mostly HVAC lines and support poles. I know I could have moved them, but I couldn't get the significant other on board with that idea. In the end, I'm very happy to have gone the dedicated room route. It allows for much more use in the basement as other members fo the family can do their own thing in the other rooms.

- 2.35 anemorphic screen. After venturing into that forum, I just know that I needed to rid myself of the dreaded black bars.

- Hidden speakers and acoustically transparent (AT) screen. I liked the clean look of hiding the speakers and really liked the idea that the sound would come from behind the screen, not somewhere around it.

- Stage. It just seemed cooled. In my picture above it's hard to see, but it's there. The sand was a PITA though.

- A black/red/oak motif. I wanted something that was classy and reminded me of the old home town theaters. I'm not sure that's what I've done, but I really like how it's come out.

- Two rows of seating. This one is still in the works. Given my room dimensions and desire for a AT screen, this has been tough. As of this post, I'm still not sure if I'll do a back bar or a riser with seats.

- Light tray for downward lighting and in-movie lighting. Here I stole from Ronnie and Sandman. I have can lights in the tray with a blue led rope light in the tray. Works great and I love the ambient blue lighting during movies.

- Acoustically treated room. Both for good sound and keeping sound in. Thanks for Bryan Pape for his designs and providing me all the materials for doing this. The room sounds fantastic. While it's not totally sound proof, it's dang close. I did the stagger studded walls and green glue drywall sandwich.

ejhuzy

01-06-09, 08:10 PM

Ok, so something is wrong with my pictures. They showed up in the thread when I wrote it. My pictures on on kodakgallery.com, will that site work?

ejhuzy

01-06-09, 08:36 PM

Ok, pictures should be working now. I moved from Kodak Gallery (don't ask), to photobucket.

ejhuzy

01-06-09, 08:57 PM

So, what did all this look like when I started? Well, pretty empty. I cleaned out the whole basement. Pushed everything into the back area that wasn't getting finished and got it ready to be framed out.

Ok, time for a confession. So this was a DIY project right? Well, I didn't do everything. It took me two years as it was, I needed some help ;)

I had a contractor (thanks Johnny) frame out the entire basement. Then I had a electrician do *most* of the rough electrical. The contractor handled getting a plumber for the full bathroom and wet bar. The contractor also got someone to do the drywall. The drywall guys never heard of Green Glue, never mind actually doing it. I only DD/GG the HT room. All the walls and the ceiling. The ceiling was also done with furring strips over the joists to give me a little more sound isolation.

I ended up doing all the low voltage wiring and rough electrical in HT.

Some early pictures:

Theater Room To Be
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0559.jpg

Closet for equipment right behind the HT room.
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0565.jpg

kciaccio

01-06-09, 09:04 PM

RTROSE

01-06-09, 09:05 PM

Very nice. Great work, you should be very happy and proud of you theater.

Regards,

RTROSE

ejhuzy

01-06-09, 09:17 PM

Envious! Very well done. Hope I get to do something like that one day, but The Houston area does not lend itself well to basements!

Thanks for sharing. These are my favorite pics to view on this site.

Very nice. Great work, you should be very happy and proud of you theater.

Guys thanks for the kind words. It was a labor of love. I put myself on a movie watching ban during that time. It really helped drive me towards completion. Since the screen/PJ went up I've watched around 30 movies (around 3 months).

ejhuzy

01-06-09, 09:26 PM

chinadog

01-06-09, 09:48 PM

Nice job Ed and congrats!

Bud

ejhuzy

01-06-09, 09:52 PM

Nice job Ed and congrats!

Thanks Bud. I really do appreciate the help you gave and thanks for the Ascend tip!

WingZero94

01-06-09, 09:53 PM

Is that a window behind your bar? Everything looks good - can't wait to see more build pics.

ejhuzy

01-06-09, 09:56 PM

Is that a window behind your bar? Everything looks good - can't wait to see more build pics.

Yeap, there's a window up top and a large window to the left.

ejhuzy

01-06-09, 09:58 PM

Looking at the pictures of the bar I just remembered something. When the HT was finished I moved the DirecTV receiver from the bar to the HT. I then got a new black receiver for the bar. Looks way better now. I forgot how annoying that silver receiver was.

warrenP

01-07-09, 01:24 AM

Very nice! Any more pics of inside the theater you can share? :)

SCHNEEDOO

01-07-09, 12:31 PM

What type of ceiling do you have in the bar? Is it a drop ceiling? I like it.

Your theater is very well done. You should be proud to show off your hard work.

ejhuzy

01-07-09, 01:19 PM

What type of ceiling do you have in the bar? Is it a drop ceiling? I like it.

Your theater is very well done. You should be proud to show off your hard work.

Thanks Schneedoo.

It is a drop ceiling and it's one of the stock variety that Home Depot carries. We like it a lot and get lots of compliments on it.

Batavia huh? I have good friend that hales from there. Lives in Poughkeepsie, NY now though.

Screen Shot

01-07-09, 03:05 PM

Great work. Looks awesome!

Could you post a pic of the sitting area with the couch and Samsung DLP?

ejhuzy

01-08-09, 10:47 AM

Could you post a pic of the sitting area with the couch and Samsung DLP?

Screen Shot, here's the rest of the bar area. Pictures aren't that great, but you should get the idea. Taking these pictures reminded me we really need to move on to the decorating phase. Pictures especially.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Bar%20Area/DSCN0852.jpg

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Bar%20Area/DSCN0853.jpg

This picture shows the spot on the wall where I hope to hand a ticket window ala chinadog. I think it's a perfect spot for one. That door is the entrance to the HT.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Bar%20Area/DSCN0855.jpg

Screen Shot

01-08-09, 02:04 PM

Love the room - it has provided me with some ideas to update my basement theater / game room.

I actually showed my carpenter a pic of your bar to quote me a price.:)

nargesem

01-08-09, 02:06 PM

Very nice room! Great work!

W00lly

01-08-09, 02:20 PM

Ed

Love your color choices :) looks awesome

What was the stain color?

Ed
could you also post a few more close up pics of your soffets. I am about to finish off mine and I think the way you did yours mite be the way to go. I really like the look of the wood and black together

ejhuzy

01-08-09, 02:44 PM

Love the room - it has provided me with some ideas to update my basement theater / game room.

I actually showed my carpenter a pic of your bar to quote me a price.:)

Screen Shot,

Glad I could help. I may actually have a few pictures of the bar during its construction. Also, if you or the carpenter have any questions on "what's that part made up of", just let me know.

ejhuzy

01-08-09, 02:50 PM

Love your color choices :) looks awesome

Thanks W00lly. I remember your room being similar in fabric choices. I was very close to a different fabric (albeit still red/gold) that was like yours.

What was the stain color?

The color is Dark Mahogany and it's ZAR stain. One difference is that I also used ZAR's Dark Mahogany poly. By applying two coats of that, it really gave me the color I wanted. Which is a dark brownish red.

could you also post a few more close up pics of your soffets. I am about to finish off mine and I think the way you did yours mite be the way to go. I really like the look of the wood and black together

I'm pretty sure I have some in construction pictures of this. I basically used the Sandman approach. It worked really well. Let me dig up the pictures tonight and I'll try and detail the approach for you.

Screen Shot

01-08-09, 03:01 PM

Screen Shot,

Glad I could help. I may actually have a few pictures of the bar during its construction. Also, if you or the carpenter have any questions on "what's that part made up of", just let me know.

I would love to see any bar construction photos you have. Thanks.

phisch

01-08-09, 04:03 PM

Nice job, very elegant looking. The trim work turned out nice.

ejhuzy

01-08-09, 05:22 PM

I would love to see any bar construction photos you have. Thanks.

Screen Shot,

I thought I had more, but this is all I got :(

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Bar%20Area/DSCN0619.jpg

Let me see if I can give some info to help you. I remember when my wife and I were staining all the wood (we did the pieces before they were assembled), she just couldn't imagine how all this "flat" wood would make a nice bar. :)

The bar itself is a 2x4 wall secured to the concrete floor. I had the installer cover it with 1/2" MDF. This gave the inside under the top a nice smooth finish. The outside of the bar is then covered with 1/4" oak plywood. Same is true for the entire back wall you see in that picture.

Once the bar was covered in the plywood, the boxes are built by applying 1x6 oak stock horizontally on the top and bottom. Then 1x4 oak stock is applied vertically between the 1x6's. This gives you your "boxes". Then I used 1 1/4" "shelf edge" trim from home depot to frame out the boxes.

I use fluted wood and plinth blocks to give it some dimension. These are on the ends and in the middle. For the middle, I used two 1x4's with some space between them to give me the width to apply the fluted piece over. (I can give you close up pictures if that helps).

To save money and keep the wood finish color the same, I used unfinished cabinets from Lowes for the back wall. You can see some to the bottom left in the picture. I used a double door there and then another to hold the sink on the right side of the bar.

Most of the oak for the bar came from HD. The fluted pieces were custom made (although I now know where to get them on-line). The "valances" on the back wall were made out of regular stock. Jigsawed then routered to give a fancy edge.

Hope this helps. Keep the questions coming!

W00lly

01-08-09, 07:49 PM

Ed

If you can just snap a few new pics of the finished soffets for me that would really help me out. :)

ejhuzy

01-08-09, 08:09 PM

If you can just snap a few new pics of the finished soffets for me that would really help me out. :)

W00lly, I have all those pictures plus a few tips. I'll either post them at half time of the game tonight or tomorrow some time.

ejhuzy

01-08-09, 08:22 PM

When I first informed (read asked) the wife if we could finish our basement, her immediate response was "Why? It's sooo cold down there in the winter we'll never use it".

Well, it's winter and it's cold out and we use our basement all the time. She even says it's warmer down there than upstairs. If you knew my wife you'd realize how big a statement that is.

Before the basement was finished all that was down there were two supplies off the main house HVAC supply. There were no returns and the supplies were at each end of the main trunk.

When I started planning the basement I figured heating wouldn't be too much of a problem because I'd add another source. What I ended up adding was a gas powered unvented space heater. It's made by Rinnai and this puppy can really heat some space. It's only 17" H x 22" W x 5" D. I have it on an outside wall fairly central to our biggest room (where the bar and sitting area are). Here's a picture of the heater:

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Bar%20Area/DSCN0859.jpg

The unit has a thermostat that I set at 60 F. That seems to keep it barely on and the basement is toasty. Remember though, there's two supplies from the main house furnace. Those supplies are controlled by a thermostat upstairs though.

In the bathroom I installed a 36" baseboard electric heater to keep that room warm. It's a ways away from the main heater and does the trick.

Cooling the basement and more importantly the HT were my bigger concerns. So before the basement got framed I had a friend in the HVAC business come over to discuss my options. He sized my current furnace and said it was big enough to handle the downstairs too. That was taking into account that the basement was always cool in the summer anyway. All we did was add a new supply and a new return in the HT room. There was already a supply in main bar area and in the unfinished storage room. Last summer the basement was cool and I ran a dehumidifier to help out too. It's hard to tell if the HT is going to be cool enough because I didn't have the projector going in there yet (I was still working on the HT). If it does get too warm, I have some ideas for pulling out the projector's heat.

W00lly

01-08-09, 10:46 PM

Ed

Awesome I look forward to seeing them

ejhuzy

01-09-09, 05:29 PM

The light tray in my room is very similar to Ruben's, except mine is square all the way around. The front doesn't have any fabric underneath because the screen wall takes up all that space. The other three sides have fabric covering the bass traps that bpape prescribed.

The light tray is made of 3/4" MDF that is veneered. That left me a 3/4"+ height to fill. I didn't use frames for my fabric like Ronnie did, I went more of the permanent route like Ruben. What I thought was going to be the hardest part was the 45 degree corners. They turned out to be rather easy.

Step 1 was to install a 1x2 furring strip around the outside of my room. This is the strip I would staple to and is closest to the wall. It's installed to the bottom of the soffit 2x4's. Staples would be exposed, but later covered by my crown moulding.

Here's a picture of the corner looking up at the bottom of the soffit.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0792.jpg

In the picture you can see the pine furring strips I used. They meet in the corner. IMPORTANT: remember when installing these to not bump them against the walls. Leave around 1/8" between the furring strip and the wall. This will greatly help with the installing of the fabric later.

Also important in the picture is the black strip of plastic on the 45 degree angle from the furring strips. This is 1/2" piece of FabricMate. It's actually 5/8" though which wasn't enough to meet my 3/4" clearance. So, I mounted it on a 1/8" piece of hardboard from HD.

Step 2 is to install your fabric onto another furring strip. Here you use the hidden seem trick. Staple the fabric to the back of the strip. Nail the strip up and pull the fabric across. That's where the gap you left between the wall and first furring strip comes in handy. You can push the fabric into that gap to hold it up while you get busy stapling.

In this picture I'm showing how I joined together two 1x2's to get the length I needed for the light tray side furring strip. The bracket just helps keep the pieces together until they are nailed to the ceiling.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0793.jpg

This picture shows the fabric hanging from the hidden seem furring strip.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0794.jpg

Next is to push the fabric across and stuff it into the gap just to hold it in place before stapling.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0795.jpg

When I did my room I did the two sides first and the back wall last. Ultimately I don't think it matters. Once I got staples into the wall side, I stuffed the fabric into the FabricMate strip. Worked real well and the 45 looks cool.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0796.jpg

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0801.jpg

I hope that helped W00ly. Let me know if you have more questions.

ejhuzy

01-14-09, 08:12 PM

Thought I document some of the process of how I built my front wall. Going into this I didn't give it much thought. I figured this would be one of the easier tasks and over all it was. The hardest part wall building the screen false wall to house the AT screen. How high should the bottom of the screen be, how much wiggle room for the screen frame, how deep should the shadow box be? These were some of the questions I struggled with.

Ultimately, I went with a 7" deep shadow box covered in black Fidelio velvet to match my screen frame.

I left about 1/2" all around my frame, at least I thought I did. Turned out to be more like 1/4", which is really tight. But it works.

The bottom of the false wall sits about 27" above the finished floor. With a 3" border on the screen frame itself, that puts the bottom of the screen at 30" off the floor. That left me about 8" from the top of the screen wall to the soffit. Had I known that when I ordered my screen, I would have went bigger to cut that 8" down to about 4". Oh well, that's screen wall #2. :)

Picture of the stage with corner bass traps in:
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0659.jpg

I ended up covering the bass traps with black speaker cloth for two reasons. One was for a neater and black look. The other reason was to help keep the dust down from the cotton. That blue cotton is really dusty.

Picture of covered bass trap:
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0660.jpg

Once the bass traps were up, I moved on to the 2" heavy cotton that bpape prescribed for the entire screen wall. Pretty easy to put up. Just spray with glue and attach. Now cutting the cotton was way harder. Hmm, I wonder if that's why Bryan has since switched to 703 on the walls? Nice thing about the cotton is it's basically black, so no reflections.

Back wall covered in 2" cotton:
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0663.jpg

Next up was the false wall to hold the screen frame and to hide the speakers. I modeled mine after Swithey's, but mine was slightly different. Once it was done I painted it black.

Picture of false wall all done:
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0683.jpg

Botton of false wall:
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0684.jpg

Top of false wall:
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0685.jpg

I finished off the screen wall with four frames covered in black speaker cloth. I really like how that front wall turned out. Once the lights go down, all you see is the screen. Very cool.

SatelliteGuy

01-15-09, 12:39 PM

Thank you for sharing pictures of your screen wall construction. Your theater is looking awsome!

agmitch

01-21-09, 10:58 PM

Ed, Great theater!

Can you comment a little on the cotton. I am considering cotton bass traps as well. You said that it is difficult to cut? Or is it only the 2 inch rolled stuff that is hard. What did you use to cut it? Does it stack nicely for the traps? Compress? Can I ask what you paid for the insulation and the 2" heavy cotton? Is the 2" cheaper than Lincoustic or OC703?

thanks

bill

ejhuzy

01-22-09, 12:00 AM

Can you comment a little on the cotton. I am considering cotton bass traps as well. You said that it is difficult to cut? Or is it only the 2 inch rolled stuff that is hard. What did you use to cut it? Does it stack nicely for the traps? Compress? Can I ask what you paid for the insulation and the 2" heavy cotton? Is the 2" cheaper than Lincoustic or OC703?

Bill, thanks for the comments.

The cotton I used for the corner traps was 5.5" blue cotton (http://sensiblesoundsolutions.com/product_info.php?products_id=49&osCsid=74a093ccde51491fb385cdf47237d0ee). It stacked ok, but once I got to about 5' high it kept wanting to tip over. It does compress easily.

It is definitely a PITA to cut. I bought a special tool to cut it with, but it was just ok. The tool actually worked really well for 703 and standard insulation. The best tool for cutting that cotton is a table saw. Sandman said the same thing in his thread.

I got all my sound material from bpape, his web site is Sensible Sound Solutions (http://sensiblesoundsolutions.com).. All the prices are on the site. Hmm, I do remember running out of the cotton and bought some from SoundAway.com (http://www.soundaway.com) too. Their prices weren't as good as Bryan's, but the shipping was cheaper. That's the site where I bought the Insul-Knife (http://www.soundaway.com/insulknife_accusharp_p/21004.htm) tool as well.

I don't see the black 2" cotton on his web site anymore, I do see it in 4" though. That would seem to be really hard to cut, definitely need to use the table saw.

I found the 703 way easier to cut and apply, but its fiberglass and I hated working with it. The cotton was nicer than fiberglass, but harder to cut. However, if you have a table saw, you might not mind it.

Let me know if this helps or if you need more info.

sk8conz

01-22-09, 03:05 AM

Nice job.

Do you have any pictures of the stage construction ?

Thanks

agmitch

01-22-09, 09:32 AM

Thanks for the cotton experience! It is a great help.

I know that anyone that puts that much into a project can't stop; so I have to ask, "What's next?" :D

bill

ejhuzy

01-22-09, 10:35 AM

Thanks for the cotton experience! It is a great help.

I know that anyone that puts that much into a project can't stop; so I have to ask, "What's next?" :D

No problem Bill, I'm glad to help. What's next? Lots.

First and foremost is installing my new front element for my Prismasonic anamorphic lens. The FE is supposed to remove the very slight focus change when going from stretched to pass through. We'll see and I plan on updating the thread with my results.

After that, is long to do list (in no special order):

1) Clean up rack wiring (who doesn't have this one :D )
2) Fill nail holes in trim. Yuck.
3) Build a marquee.
4) Build a ticket booth window like Bud's.
5) Build shelves and a work bench in storage area of basement.

And on and on. :eek:

ejhuzy

01-22-09, 10:42 AM

Nice job.
Do you have any pictures of the stage construction ?

Thanks sk8conz. I looked and I don't have any pictures of the stage construction. Probably because I copied the stage from Sandman. It's exactly the same and he documented it well. Look at his thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=840473) for details.

I just tried to go to the forums at the SMX web site and couldn't find the forums. Did Ruben turn them off?

ejhuzy

01-30-09, 10:53 AM

My equipment is in a closet outside of my theater. The closet is the space under the stairs down to the basement and is directly behind the HT. The space has worked really well for an equipment room.

I tried looking around to buy a AV rack, but they're so darn expensive. I couldn't find one that met both my needs and price. I mean, the rack is going into a closet that nobody is going to see but me. I wanted something with 5 or more adjustable shelves and it needed to be open so the equipment could breath. I came close to buying something from Target, but it was $150 and just didn't seem sturdy (I was mostly concerned about my AVR, those things are heavy).

So I went the DIY route. Total cost was around $75. It took about 4 hours to build, not counting staining. I had planned on just painting it, but decided on staining. Another plus to building this was it gave me another reason to use my new Kreg Pocket Hole Jig (http://www.kregtool.com/products/pht/index.php). This is one of those must have tools for doing the theater. It made making frames stupid easy.

Overall I'm happy with the rack. I wish I had made it a couple inches smaller in width. Right now it's not that easy to get behind it. The rack is on the furniture sliders, so it slides real easy on the carpet.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/DSCN0851.jpg

EDIT: Dang. That picture of the rack just documents how unorganized that equipment rack is. I don't see it changing too soon either :-)

W00lly

01-30-09, 11:30 AM

Ed

I just picked up a kreg pocket jig kit and must say how impressed I am with how strong the joints are once screwed together love it :)

ejhuzy

01-30-09, 02:24 PM

Scott,

I love the Kreg too. It allowed me (a pretty rotten carpenter) to build frames super easily. Well worth the money.

When I was looking for a Kreg link in my post, I noticed I couldn't find the "standard" pocket hole set. I wonder if Kreg discontinued it?

ejhuzy

02-08-09, 11:40 AM

Yesterday was a bit of a milestone for me. I finally finished the trim. The trim was 99% done, but I was missing a 42" piece of crown (ran out because I didn't buy enough).

After some more freaking staining and polying, the last piece of trim is up. Now I just need to go back and fill all the holes. :-(

Oh yeah, got my Prismasonic front element (FE) attached to my lens too. Big help, pictures of that to come soon.

ejhuzy

04-01-09, 10:00 PM

Well, I thought I take a try at getting a better picture of the screen wall. The picture in the first post really only shows the screen. This one tries to show the screen, stage, and carpet transition.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Home%20Theater/BrighterFront.jpg

BTW, I cleaned out my room that has the main electrical panel and new sub-panel. What a mess from all those months of construction. Now I can actually get in the room and add a spare freezer/refrigerator.

CDLehner

04-01-09, 11:34 PM

Really looks good Ed! When you going to be ready for some screen shots?

CD

ejhuzy

04-02-09, 09:15 AM

Really looks good Ed! When you going to be ready for some screen shots?

CD, Given my inability to take a good picture, I'd say never. :o :(

I should try it actually. I'll have to jury-rig a tripod because I don't have one. Even though my projector is 720p, it accepts 1080/24p from blu-ray and looks quite nice. Although I can't stop wondering what a 1080p projector would look like. :)

CDLehner

04-02-09, 12:56 PM

CD, Given my inability to take a good picture, I'd say never. :o :(

I should try it actually. I'll have to jury-rig a tripod because I don't have one. Even though my projector is 720p, it accepts 1080/24p from blu-ray and looks quite nice. Although I can't stop wondering what a 1080p projector would look like. :)

You and me both brother! My PJ is also 720p, but accepts 1080/24 (Sony VPL-AW15). When I started my room a little over a year ago, one of the first things I decided was to hold off on upgrading the PJ; I said 720p is good enough for now...what I really need to do is spend money on the room. And I was right, of course, but that was then...a year ago, 720p didn't seem like such a step down. 1080p was just in its second generation, prices were still kinda high, and the jury was still out on just how much better-looking they were. Then the AE3000 came out. :D

Seriously, considering that I am...like so many others...doing poor man's CIH, the 3000 just seems like such an attractive unit for ~$2500. Of course I'd have to give the new Sony VPL-HW10 a shot as well. Point is, as the room gets closer to be a reality, the more I really want to be wowed by the picture. However, what I'm hoping is that it's been so long since I've seen it, that I'll fall in love with my modest 720p image all over again...and it'll keep me satisfied until he AE4000.

CD

ejhuzy

04-02-09, 02:14 PM

CD,

Bud (chinadog) just got a new AE3000. He went from a AE900 to that. I'm in a similar position in that I'd be jumping from the AX100 to the AE3000. To keep me from buying that I'm studying up on Network Media Tanks (as you know).

Right now I'm looking for the simplest and most expandable way to get involved with a NMT. My main use would be ripping blu-rays and streaming them. I don't really care about the other stuff. I may rip some SD DVDs. I don't have a blu-ray drive in my computer, so I'd need that. My PC doesn't have enough HDD space, so I'd need a HDD too. House is networked (by me) so I don't need wireless. I have two old PCs that I wish I could use for something, maybe a storage server? Instead of buying a NAS? :confused:

At least I've narrowed the NMT purchase down to PCH-110 or the HDX-1000.

CDLehner

04-02-09, 02:55 PM

ejhuzy

07-22-09, 02:40 PM

CDLehner

07-22-09, 03:31 PM

Just a bump to declare that I watched my 100th movie in the HT last night. I didn't pick a special movie to watch, just happened that Pitch Black was what I had from Netflix.

Here's looking forward to the next 100!

Now the next step is to have 100 available via remote control! Give up on your streaming project?

CD

ejhuzy

07-22-09, 03:57 PM

Now the next step is to have 100 available via remote control! Give up on your streaming project?

CD

CD, definitely have NOT given up on the project. I've been following your thread, Shawn's, and Manny's. You guys are busy. I've been doing some projects in the basement (built shelves and a work bench is next) while I wait to see how the C-200 shakes out.

You know, I was firmly in the unRAID camp, until I saw Shawn, Manny and yours set up with WHS. That Acer box Manny bought is nice and it seems fairly expandable. Do you know if it only handles 1TB drives? The web pages say it, but I'd think the 1.5TB drives would work too.

That and I'm planning out my network. Most of my house is already wired with Cat5e, but my router is not 1Gb. Other than copies, do I need it for playback?

warrenP

07-22-09, 04:19 PM

Just a bump to declare that I watched my 100th movie in the HT last night. I didn't pick a special movie to watch, just happened that Pitch Black was what I had from Netflix. ...

A milestone that needs to be celebrated with... a movie marathon! :)

broconne

07-22-09, 04:26 PM

Ed -
It looks like in the basement (non-HT) you have carpet and tile. How did you decide where the tile would be and where the carpet would be?

Does the tile make the floor too cold in the winter?

ejhuzy

08-08-09, 12:33 PM

Ed -
It looks like in the basement (non-HT) you have carpet and tile. How did you decide where the tile would be and where the carpet would be?

Does the tile make the floor too cold in the winter?

Broconne,

Sorry for the delayed response, I never saw your post.

Originally, I just wanted tile by the back door. I figured it would be easier to clean with the kids coming in and out of the basement all the time. Then, we decided to put the tile behind the bar. Then the heater we bought (see earlier post) must be installed on something other than carpet. So we decided to connect the bar tile and the door tile. I'm very happy with how that came out. It looks nice and serves the purpose of an area to take shoes off before going on the carpet.

BTW, I was originally worried about how the carpet and tile would tie together. So much so that I thought about putting a oak border between the tile and carpet. I was talked out of that idea by the carpet installer and in the end he did a great job of butting them together.

As for the winter, yes the tile can get cold. However, when the heater is on it's blowing directly on the tile and keeps it warm. That said, I wish I had installed tile heaters. It's a wire that you install on the floor before you put the tile down. It never occurred to me until I saw the product a week after putting the tile in. It's not expensive either.

11mike

08-08-09, 11:47 PM

Nice work-love the bar!

fotto

08-09-09, 08:56 AM

VERY nice theater and bar Ed. Could you let me know where you sourced the bar edging/elbow rest, or did you have it custom milled?

ejhuzy

08-09-09, 10:34 AM

Nice work-love the bar!

Thanks Mike. :D

VERY nice theater and bar Ed. Could you let me know where you sourced the bar edging/elbow rest, or did you have it custom milled?

Fotto, the bar edge was bought on-line. I got it at Baird Brothers Fine Hardwoods (http://www.bairdbrothers.com/index.html). I also bought all my oak trim for the HT there too. I was getting prices of around $20 a foot locally and Baird is just under $11. Even with the shipping, they were cheaper. And if you can keep your pieces at 8' or under it's way cheaper. I had a 11' piece and that had to be shipped special carrier which drove the price way up.

Here's the direct link to the Bar Top Rail (http://www.bairdbrothers.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=BB&Product_Code=B005-OAK&Category_Code=020Moulding-050BarRail-02Oak).

I highly recommend these guys.

EDIT: I just saw you're in Ohio. Baird Brothers is in Canfield, OH. If you pick it up yourself you'll really save some $.

fotto

08-09-09, 10:57 AM

ejhuzy

08-09-09, 11:01 AM

Thought I'd let you guys know what I've been doing all summer (besides watching movies :cool: ). I've tried to get some items on my to do list done, but summer is tough. Lots of stuff with the kids and vacations and all.

A little over a month ago I cleaned out our back storage area in our basement. We had a garage sale and sold everything we could. Once the area was cleaned out, I built shelves to help organize the area. I don't have a before picture, but here's a shot of the "IndyGreg Shelves" that I build (thanks Greg!)

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Workshop/StorageShelves.jpg

Once the shelves were done, it was time to build an area where I could work and keep all my tools that I bought during the HT build out. Here's a shot of my workbench during the HT build. It was cheap and served me well.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Workshop/OldWorkbench.jpg

But it was time for something better, plus I needed somewhere to store my tools. This was fun to build :)

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Workshop/NewWorkbench2.jpg

ejhuzy

08-09-09, 11:05 AM

Thanks Ed...Baird Bros is about 40 minutes from me, so very convenient. Matter of fact, I bought my maple stair hand rail/spindles from them when we built our house. Had an 18' hand rail strapped to the top of my Jimmy for the ride home:eek: I didn't recall them having the bar rail, although I wasn't looking for it then :o

I see they have Cherry available as well. Hoping I have enough Cherry wood left over from the trees I'm going to have milled to have my bar built.

Nice to have another puzzle piece in place.

Floyd,

Small world isn't it? You've actually been to the place I ordered from. I actually thought about driving out to Baird's once, but I didn't have time (over 5 hrs from me) so I just had them ship to me. I spent a lot of time on their web-site, if they were 40 minutes from me I think they would have gotten sick of seeing me. :)

Good luck with your build.

indygreg

08-09-09, 11:21 PM

nice shelves! weird looking at the pic. between the shelves and the stage i feel like i have been there. :) very flattering actually.

i really like your bar area. is that granite? the black counters with the red stain are a great look. i did a lot of red in my old house (then we moved and left it all behind). here are the office cabinets i built there and a bar i built in the basement. you can see why i like your red fluted columns so much (but i will never flute columns again - too much work) i really debated doing the red again in this house but i decided i never got tired of it so we did the theater red in this house. it is just a classic look for me.

greg

http://battas.zftp.com/images/office1.jpg
http://battas.zftp.com/images/office2.JPG

http://battas.zftp.com/images/bar.jpg

ejhuzy

08-10-09, 11:21 AM

Greg,

Nice stuff! I have a room that holds the house family PC. I'm sure she'd love it to look like that!

Yep, that's black granite on top of my bar. I went back and forth between granite and a wood top. We went with granite because I thought it would last longer.

Thanks again for the shelf design.

ejhuzy

09-14-09, 08:42 PM

Now that I've finally got the back room shelves and work bench done, I've moved on to building my ticket window. Let's be clear, this is my ticket window because I'm building it. But's it's Bud's (chinadog) design that I'm stealing. THANKS Bud for documenting your window so well.

I struggled with whether I should build the window out of pine or oak. Oak would match the nearby bar, but is considerably heavier and more costly. Pine would match the trim and doors in the basement. I decided on pine, but when I made out my material list I noticed that I had almost all the wood necessary to build the window in red oak. The wood was left over from building the bar, so I went with oak. My only concern with using oak at this point is how heavy this beast is. I'll cross that road when I go to hang it. :eek:

Here's how the window started out.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Ticket%20Window/RawMaterials.jpg

ejhuzy

09-14-09, 08:52 PM

My first issue was dealing with the piece of plexi-glass that I bought from Bud. The piece I bought was a little bigger than what Bud used and the bottom hole was bigger than I liked (no complaints though Bud). From reading Bud's thread there was concern over how to cut the plexi (which isn't really plexi, it's thicker and sturdier). I don't have a table saw, which I think would have worked great.

I needed to cut off about 10" from bottom and then cut a new ticket hole. I used a miter saw to cut off the bottom and that worked like a charm. No issue at all cutting the plexi.

Then I used a jigsaw to cut out the new ticket hole at the bottom.

Last was trimming about 1.5" off each side to make the window narrower. For this I used a Ryobi hand circular saw that is battery powered. I was little worried about this, but it too cut the glass nicely.

To be honest, the hardest problem was finding something to trace to make the ticket hole at the bottom. For that I used a dish that the wife had. Turned out to be perfect.

Here's how it looks after all my surgery.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Ticket%20Window/Plexi.jpg

It's not perfectly square, but given how's it's going to be installed it should be fine (guess I'll find out shortly).

oman321

09-14-09, 10:12 PM

Looks good ej, looking foward to seeing your final product.

chinadog

09-16-09, 09:46 PM

Looks good ej, looking foward to seeing your final product.

Me too! :D

I owe you a measurement, too. Will get that to you shortly, probably in the AM.

Bud

ejhuzy

09-17-09, 10:46 PM

Work is proceeding nicely on the ticket window. Here's some shots of the bottom shelf portion.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Ticket%20Window/BottomShelf.jpg

Underside to show construction.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Ticket%20Window/UnderBottomShelf.jpg

The pine shell will be covered with some chair rail trim I have left over from the HT room.

chinadog

09-18-09, 06:56 AM

Looks familiar!

Bud

ejhuzy

09-18-09, 12:07 PM

Got all my stuff ordered.

Got my 4" speaker thingie (http://www.go2marine.com/product.do?no=27126F) from Go2Marine (www.go2marine.com).

http://www.go2marine.com/go2_structure/2/7/1/2/27126F-p.jpg

Got my 3" x 1/4" TICKETS (http://www.woodlandmanufacturing.com/wooden-letters.asp) letters from Woodland Manufacturing (https://www.woodlandmanufacturing.com/). I used the Times New Roman Bold font.

By the time they get here, I should be done with putting poly on. Did I mention I hate putting poly on?

whiskey alpha

09-18-09, 12:51 PM

Nice work. I bookmarked the letters website for the next build. There are so many options! Good find

ejhuzy

09-21-09, 03:02 PM

Funny day. My speaker thingie was supposed to arrive today. So I get a box and what is it? My TICKETS letters from Woodland. Quite a surprise really, since Woodland estimated 10-15 business days for delivery. They came in 5.

Speaker thingie is delayed until tomorrow. Gives me tonight to paint the letters and do some touch up staining/poly.

Window is 90% together. To do list:

1) Attach the bottom shelf to the top.
2) Install the plexi and fluted trim.
3) Paint letters.
4) Install speaker thing and letters.

One little problem has occurred to me. The wall where this is going to hang is a stagger studded wall. So the studs are 24" on center. It's quite possible that I could not hit a stud where this is supposed to go. That's a problem given how heavy this thing is. I had planned on using some sort of french cleat.

Any creative ideas out there?

ejhuzy

09-21-09, 11:02 PM

Well, I promised Bud if he showed me pictures of his french cleat design I'd post pictures of my progress. (That sounds dirtier than it should)

First, I'm finally done staining and poly'ing everything. Did I mention I had putting on poly? One of the best ideas I heard on AVS was from Craig's build. He used that wipe on poly and that stuff is great.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Ticket%20Window/Nottogetheryet.jpg

Next, got started painting tonight. Boy does spray paint cause a stir. I ended up taking it outside. Anyone able to figure out what it's going to spell?

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Ticket%20Window/GoldLetters.jpg

Next obstacle is figuring out how to rip a 2x4 at 30 degrees without a table saw. :confused:

oman321

09-22-09, 07:35 AM

Looks great EJ. Very nice work!

Do you have circular saw? Any way of mounting it upside down between a couple oh horses. Please do be careful though.

chinadog

09-22-09, 07:46 AM

Looks good!

Got a neighbor with a table saw maybe?

Bud

ejhuzy

09-22-09, 10:14 AM

Looks good!

Got a neighbor with a table saw maybe?

Yeah, I'm going to probably go that route. My brother in-law has a table saw. I was thinking I might be able to do it with my mitre saw if I cut the board twice (once from each end).

ejhuzy

09-23-09, 10:13 PM

Made some progress today. The guy that framed my basement is a good friend and he ripped a 2x4 for me. I got the window side cleat installed. Went over my plan for hanging the wall side cleat. That's where the progress stopped.

I'm still painting the letters. I can't quite seem to get them right. First I was still seeing the wood grain. Now, I keep getting small air bubbles in the paint. I'm wondering if I need a new can of paint? Maybe I'm putting the paint on too heavy?

So I moved on to try and attach the speaker thingie to my plexi. I had a half used tube of clear and tried to use that. It was too hard and I didn't feel like a late night trip to HD. So, I'll pick that up tomorrow.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the speaker thingie attached and the plexi/trim installed.

ejhuzy

09-27-09, 11:01 PM

Made quite a bit of progress since my last post.

First was the french cleat. Once my buddy ripped the 2x4 for the cleat, I had to attached the window piece. Here's a shot from the back of how it looks:

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Ticket%20Window/FrenchCleat.jpg

The cleat is the funny colored piece of wood under the sandwiched 3 layers of 1" stock. The back of the cleat is flush with the back of the window. This way it hopefully sits flush with the wall.

Haven't attached the other piece to the wall yet, but that'll happen soon!

ejhuzy

09-27-09, 11:09 PM

Went to the store and picked up some clear silicon for the speaker thingie.

I've never been a good caulker (keep the snickering down). One trick I've picked up along the way is to mask the area first with painter's tape. Then, put on lots of cault. Then, using a finger wet with a soapy solution, push the caulk into place. Once the edge looks good, remove the mask.

Well, for the speaker thingie, I couldn't figure out how to make a round mask. Then I realized the plexi is already covered with a paper mask. All I had to to was cut a circle out around the hole for the caulk to apply to. Here's what it looked like:

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Ticket%20Window/Pre-caulk.jpg

After that I put on a load of caulk, stuck the speaker thingie into place and cleaned the edge. Once it looked good, I removed the brown masking.

Came out nice and clean! (see next post)

ejhuzy

09-27-09, 11:14 PM

So the web site I bought the letters from also sold me this nice template to help with applying the letters straight and uniformly apart from each other. The template looks good, but it didn't have a straight edge below or above it.

So first job was to make the template square and to fit on my header. I used my handy roller fabric cutter and a straight edge to make a nice bottom edge. Then, I centered it on the header and taped it down. Looked like this:

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Ticket%20Window/LettersTemplate.jpg

You can see that the template has strategically placed cutouts for each letter. I added a one or two myself to make it even easier. The idea is to mark the sub-straight in the cutouts and then place the letters over those markings. It worked pretty well. Easier than without it I'm sure.

See next post for photo!

ejhuzy

09-27-09, 11:19 PM

After the letters were added, it was time to put the plexi in and add the covering trim. I thought long and hard about glueing the plexi into the grove, but I didn't do it. After putting the trim in place just friction fitted, I almost didn't nail it into place. It fit to nicely that I was thinking I didn't need to nail it and then I'd be able to easily remove the plexi if I even had to.

Well, I nailed the trim in place, but didn't glue it. I was worried the wood would shrink over time and the thing would fall apart.

Here's a shot of the window with the plexi and trim in place. All that is missing now is the curtain. That's this week's project.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Ticket%20Window/Finished-NoCurtain.jpg

Bud, how'd I do?

oman321

09-28-09, 08:04 AM

2 tickets please!

Looks great man, awesome job. Brings thoughts back into my mind of doing one for my equipment closet door, which I wrote off a while back.

chinadog

09-28-09, 08:41 AM

Looks great! It looks really close to the original too. Great job.

Bud

ejhuzy

09-28-09, 09:58 AM

Looks great! It looks really close to the original too. Great job.

Bud

Thanks Bud, that's quite a compliment. It's really close to yours. The major differences being the trim I used and being built out of red oak. Like I wrote earlier, I tried to use all the wood I had laying around. For example, the trim below the shelf is chair rail I had left over from the HT. You get the idea.

ejhuzy

09-28-09, 09:59 AM

2 tickets please!

Looks great man, awesome job. Brings thoughts back into my mind of doing one for my equipment closet door, which I wrote off a while back.

Thanks Orlando. Once you finish your panels (I think that's what you were working on last), you should definitely build one. Once I finish the curtain I plan on posting a complete parts list and to do.

oman321

09-28-09, 10:18 AM

Sounds good, thanks.

fotto

09-28-09, 10:33 AM

That looks awesome Ed.
I need to think about where I can put one in my build.

ejhuzy

09-30-09, 02:16 PM

Quick update. I dropped off the red velvet and trim for making the curtain at the local sewing place. Should be done in a few days. Can't wait! Probably hang the wall side cleat this week.

cuzed2

09-30-09, 04:40 PM

ejhuzy

09-30-09, 05:29 PM

Ed,

This is the first time I have seen your entire thread, especially the before photos.
Turned out great - VERY NICE space you've created - Congratulations !!

As for those before photos - looks like you started with a similar basement layout as mine. By chance; do you have any layout drawings, showing how you divided up and partitioned the space?

Thanks. I spend all my free time down there. I struggled when designing the basement between a dedicated HT room or a big open space. For me, I'm really happy I went dedicated. It just allows more things to be going on at the same time downstairs.

Here's a good view of the layout of the entire basement from Sketchup. The room breakdown is accurate, but some of the HT room stuff isn't (ie - only 1 row right now). The two empty rooms aren't in real life. The small one by the bathroom is where my electrical panel is and the big one to the left is where my shelves and work bench are.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Basement/BasementLayout.jpg

fotto

09-30-09, 08:27 PM

Hey Ed,
Is that you on the couch or in the bathroom? :eek:

ejhuzy

09-30-09, 10:27 PM

Hey Ed,
Is that you on the couch or in the bathroom? :eek:

The couch was wishful thinking. The bathroom was a joke for my kids. Which way back when I did this they thought it was really funny. Now, they couldn't be bothered to look. Although they are the first ones to want to use the basement!

cuzed2

10-01-09, 09:57 AM

ejhuzy

10-01-09, 10:09 AM

Ed,

Thanks for sharing the layout. Indeed I had the same shape (and some of the restrictions, including stairs coming down the middle). Also had the same bump out under the front door. I wish my elevation would have given me those nice walkout doors that you have in your bar area

As for the bump out, that was a challenge for me. I see you went and used the left 1/2 for a closet in the HT room >> Perhaps this is for media storage, or...?

The closet in the HT is full of empty boxes right now. The plan was to use it for media storage though. Right now all my blu-rays are on the floor in the equipment closet under the steps.

I struggled with what to do with that entire bump out area. At one point I was going to leave it as a crawl space, but my framer talked me out of that. So far so good with how it came out, other than I haven't decorated the spot in the hallway.

cuzed2

10-01-09, 10:29 AM

ejhuzy

10-01-09, 11:16 AM

I think you made a good choice with the bump out.

I also split mine into halves:

1/2 is inside the HT area - a closet,

the other 1/2 is a pantry area for my wife's 2nd fridge and overflow kitchen stuff storage (not my first choice, but convenient for the wife, and one needs to have a minimum of WAF)

Wow. I just looked at your pictures again and our basements are extremely similar. My bathroom had to go where it is because that's where the sewer connect was. The walk our doors and big window wasn't a good spot for the HT, so that became the bar/tv room. It worked out well, but there weren't too many choices for me.

cuzed2

10-01-09, 02:36 PM

Ed,

Yep - I understand those constraints.

I really didn't want to bust half the basement floor open just for bathroom placement.

My theater location was further limited because of ceiling height and the overhead HVAC placement of ducts. Theater ended up going in the only sizable area that would allow a reasonable ceiling height. And even then; I had to re-route a lot of electrical conduit in order to achieve a 7' 6" theater ceiling.

ejhuzy

10-08-09, 03:40 PM

Quick update. I called the seamstress today and she claims the curtain will be done tomorrow. Glad I called, because I doubt it was on her mind at all.

I'm getting antsy, I want to hang this puppy up!

ejhuzy

10-11-09, 10:49 PM

Well, picked up the curtain on Friday. Came out good. The seamstress really did only what I told her to do. I guess I should have been even more explicit about making the curtain square (as in parallel sides).

No big deal, we are DIY guys right? Got the curtain installed (with lots of "help" from my wife). Hung up the wall side cleat and tada! It's done. Pictures tomorrow, but right now it looks great. The curtain really is the cat's butt.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the wall anchors I used for the wall side cleat. I was able to hit one studd with a screw, but needed anchors for the other two. I've used these in the past and they are strong:

http://www.parts-express.com/images/item_standard/080-320_s.jpg

Really work well. I got mine at HD, but you can see them on-line here (http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=080-320)at parts-express.com.

ejhuzy

10-12-09, 08:32 PM

chinadog

10-12-09, 09:11 PM

Man! Looks great. Here is mine for comparison.

http://images115.fotki.com/v682/photos/6/649633/3813965/100_1740-vi.jpg

Bud

KNKKNK

10-13-09, 07:09 AM

cuzed2

10-13-09, 11:24 AM

Ed,

Turned out great!

ejhuzy

10-13-09, 02:05 PM

Beautiful job on the ticket widow Ed!.. and the theater!!... and the Bar!!!...

I very much like your choice/combination of fabrics/wood finish, and the Timeless look and feel you've managed to capture in your bar and theater.

Our rooms are the same size (16x18)

Driven by the same choice of the AT screen, and keeping with a more accoustically friendly seating position, based on our room length. I find myself making the same concessions as you regarding the second row.

If memory serves me you were considering a possible Bar/Stool behind the front row. Since you have been enjoying your theater and getting a feel for the space, have you had an opprotunity to evaluate how a bar/stools might workout in our room length.

Brad

Brad, thanks for the props. :) I love how my room came out. The only thing I should have done differently is listen to Ruben when I called him for my screen. I should have gone 120" wide. I had the room.

I agree with your comments and observations. When I first started this project I picked out several features that I really wanted in my HT. AT screen was first as I wanted the sound to really seem to be coming from the right place. Second, I was hooked on CIH. From there I just made everything else work. As Bud said in his thread, a theater in the home is about trade offs.

Anyway, back to your question about a bar in the back of the room. I stopped my plan back when the room was finishing up because I was afraid the chairs would be too close to the screen. Really, it was mostly my wife that was afraid. So, we waited to see. My seats are at about 11' right now and my screen is 110" wide. But for 16x9 viewing it's only about 7' wide. I actually feel like I could move the seats a foot closer and get a riser with non-recliner seats on it. As I write this though I'm still torn which way to go, bar vs riser. After about a year of viewing, I think the riser would get more use. Mostly from the kids. Although the bar would be great at super bowl time. But that's just once a year.

I'm sure that didn't help :) :o

KNKKNK

10-15-09, 12:42 PM

Ed. Thanks for your perspective

Since I went with the 120" CIH, I think the 2nd row riser is out of the question for me. However with that said, 95+% of the time, I really only need 4 seats (family) anyway. What I am trying to avoid is compromising the 95% experience, by compensating for the 5%. (if that makes sense), and If I could fit a bar/stools it would go nicely towards the other 5%.

Sometimes it seems like those "Tradeoffs" just lead to more tradeoffs:o

Again, great design/execution on your project.

Brad

ejhuzy

10-15-09, 02:18 PM

cuzed2

10-16-09, 09:30 AM

Ed,

Couldn't have said it better myself. I am at 18.5' deep in my room and have been asking myself this same question (make some compromises to allow for a back row riser, or..?).

I have decided that my priority will be for the best possible front row arrangement - meaning my back row will likely be a bar and stools. Also thinking of making a heavy solid bar, but also placing it on casters in order to have maximum flexibility for use of the room

ejhuzy

10-19-09, 10:57 PM

RTROSE

10-20-09, 12:21 AM

That ticket window looks fantastic, very well done. Nice work.

Regards,

RTROSE

dc_pilgrim

10-20-09, 09:18 AM

I had my heart all set on building my own unRAID box, but got this in my email the other day. Anybody have any experience with these?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001WGX15W/ref=s9_simz_gw_s1_p147_t1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=14Y5947XGXPHFK39ARER&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31-TEmz9yKL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

I have been looking at the HP version (http://www.amazon.com/EX490-Mediasmart-Home-Server-Black/dp/B002N8A0A2%3FSubscriptionId%3D0SS63947Z47JATV0JD82%26tag%3Dl iorswebsite-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26crea tiveASIN%3DB002N8A0A2) of those (better Mac compatibility), but haven't gotten around to pulling the trigger. I have largely seen favorable comments but I am not an expert. I believe if you put your own system together you can top them, but with some hassle.

kjlewie

10-20-09, 09:29 AM

Great job on your build. The woodwork looks awesome.

oman321

10-20-09, 09:32 AM

ejhuzy

10-20-09, 02:43 PM

I brought that unit up when folks around here were getting started with the PCH and remote storage. What's nice about the acer is that it has a slot in the back for you to add a low profile dual sata card which comes with the TR8M unit for you to continue to expand your NAS.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111051

Thanks O. So the idea is the Acer has the OS on and use the TR8M connected storage? Seems too simple. :rolleyes: The acer and the TR8M amount to around $700. I know that doesn't include the HDDs, but still that's not bad for 12 HDD bays. I was figuring around $500 to build a unRAID box. The only thing I'd be missing is the lower redundancy cost of the unRAID (I like it's single parity drive).

Food for thought.

ejhuzy

10-20-09, 02:47 PM

Great job on your build. The woodwork looks awesome.

Thanks kjlewie. I just checked out your thread. Very nice. After seeing your pictures of the speakers behind the screen I may have to figure out how to do that. All my GE zones are used.

ejhuzy

10-20-09, 02:59 PM

That ticket window looks fantastic, very well done. Nice work.

Thanks Rosie, I was starting to wonder if I'd ever get any love for that project. ;) :o

ejhuzy

10-20-09, 03:05 PM

I have been looking at the HP version (http://www.amazon.com/EX490-Mediasmart-Home-Server-Black/dp/B002N8A0A2%3FSubscriptionId%3D0SS63947Z47JATV0JD82%26tag%3Dl iorswebsite-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26crea tiveASIN%3DB002N8A0A2) of those (better Mac compatibility), but haven't gotten around to pulling the trigger. I have largely seen favorable comments but I am not an expert. I believe if you put your own system together you can top them, but with some hassle.

Yeah, I've seen those too. It's all coming back to me now. Originally I didn't like these was because I didn't want to be limited to four bays. But with the esata port on the back and Orlando's kick in my pants I see I can expand them pretty easily.

One question for you guys. Do the HP/Acer use one of the hot swap bay HDDs for the OS? Or is there another drive that the OS resides on? I would think you wouldn't want to store data (movies in my case) on the OS drive.

oman321

10-20-09, 03:43 PM

Thanks Rosie, I was starting to wonder if I'd ever get any love for that project. ;) :o

Much Love for your ticket booth project!!! You did a great job:D Just forgot to tell you.:o

I do believe the OS does or will reside on the already installed drive of the acer but I cant be certain of that.

The problem with the HP when it comes to the TR8M is that for every 4 drives you need an eSata connection. The HP only offers 1 and no slot for the card. I read that someone modified an HP to fit one in but who knows how difficult that would be.

The acer comes with an eSata connection and again allows for the dual eSata card. So theoretically you can have up 16 drives with the 3 eSata connections, more with USB.

ejhuzy

10-20-09, 07:41 PM

Much Love for your ticket booth project!!! You did a great job:D Just forgot to tell you.:o

Thanks. Now I feel better. :D

I do believe the OS does or will reside on the already installed drive of the acer but I cant be certain of that.

The problem with the HP when it comes to the TR8M is that for every 4 drives you need an eSata connection. The HP only offers 1 and no slot for the card. I read that someone modified an HP to fit one in but who knows how difficult that would be.

The acer comes with an eSata connection and again allows for the dual eSata card. So theoretically you can have up 16 drives with the 3 eSata connections, more with USB.

Good points O. I now remember you or someone else talking about the HP limitation in Shawn's thread. The acer sure has potential with all the expandability.

CDLehner

10-20-09, 08:30 PM

CDLehner

10-20-09, 08:32 PM

oman321

10-21-09, 08:05 AM

Hey...that sounds like something I might have said ;)

CD

I'm sure you remember...Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery;)

Terry H.

11-03-09, 03:48 PM

Well, like I said in the previous post, I'm done with the ticket window. Thanks again to Bud for all his help answering questions and posting pictures and progress. Thanks Bud!

Here's a few shots of the completed window hung up.

Close up:
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Ticket%20Window/HungUp.jpg

And one with a little context:
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Ticket%20Window/FinishedInContext.jpg

I'm going to try and document a parts list and cost estimate in the next couple days.

EDIT: Disregard those stupid pillows. I should have moved them before taking the pictures.

Ed: Great job!!! The basement looks fantastic. A couple of questions on your (Bud's?) ticket window. Can you provide the dimensions for the ticket window? Also, it looks like you used 1" x 3" for the basic frame? What was the size of the other wood you used for the construction of the ticket window?

Thanks!!!!

Terry

ejhuzy

11-03-09, 03:53 PM

Terry,

Yes, I used 1" x 3" red oak to build the column "U"s. I have all that info and will post it tonight for you (I wanted to do ths anyway, so thanks for the bump).

Terry H.

11-03-09, 04:04 PM

Thanks Ed. I was trying to figure out what to put on the wall as you descend the stairs into the basement. Our basement stairs have a 90 degree turn half way down, and, after seeing your (and Bud's) ticket window, I think the ticket window would look great there.

I am a frequent SOBI ("Stealer Of Bud's Ideas"), so this keeps me true to form. I have to say, building six lighted poster boxes was a bit much, although they do look great and Bud's design was perfect.

Thanks again,

Terry

ejhuzy

11-03-09, 07:08 PM

Due to several request, I'm posting a full parts list for the ChinaDog Ticket Window. Between my pictures and Bud's you should be able to put it together.

Wood dimensions (species)
Top shelf (oak) – 1” x 8” x 31” with routed edge
Tickets header front (oak) – 1” x 8” x 28 ½”
Tickets header returns (oak) – 1” x 8” x 4”
Tickets header trim (oak) – ¾” x 1 ¼” x 30” x 2
Tickets header trim returns (oak) - ¾” x 1 ¼” x 4 ¾” x 4
Bottom shelf (oak) – 1” x 10” x 29” with routed edge,
27.5” in the back where the columns come down.
Fluted column fronts (oak) – 5/8” x 3 ¼” x 23 1/8”
Plinth blocks (oak) – 7/8” x 3 ½” x 6”
Sides of columns (oak) – 1” x 3” x 35” x 4
Fronts of columns (oak) – 1” x 4” x 36 ½” x 2
Tops of columns (pine) – 1” x 3” x 27” x 2
Base frame front (pine) – 1” x 4” x 24”
Base frame sides (pine) – 1” x 4” x 3 ½” x 2
Base frame top (pine) – 1” x 4” x 22 ½”
Trim for base (oak) - chair rail purchased here (http://www.bairdbrothers.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=BB&Product_Code=B403-OAK&Category_Code=020Moulding-040Chair-02Oak).

Notes:
- Wood dimensions are listed in the common vernacular. Meaning,
that when I list 1x3, the actual wood dimensions are .75" x 2.5".
- Some lengths are with miter cuts (like trims).
- All wood purchased at local HD except the trim around bottom base.

Other Parts
Plexiglass - 21" x 30" x 1/8”
Gold Letters - 1/4" x 3" Times Roman Font (see earlier post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17203199#post17203199)).
Speaker Thingie - 4" diameter (see earlier post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17203199#post17203199)).

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Terry H.

11-04-09, 09:45 AM

Thanks!!! Now I know what I will be doing this weekend.

Terry

Terry H.

11-06-09, 01:37 PM

So, what the heck took me so long? Well, I had to finish the rest of the basement before moving to the HT. That was the deal with the boss, so that's what I did. The rest of the basement is basically one big room made up of a bar and sitting area. The sitting area is a couch with a 50" Samsung DLP for my son to play XBox360 on.

The bar is red oak with a granite top. I can't take credit for the construction of it, but I can for the design and finish. My wife and I did all the staining and polying. I used Sketchup to design the bar and give the constractor a vivid description of what I wanted. I'm real happy with how it came out.

One thing missing is a brass rail. I was supposed to buy that about 18 months ago, but got side tracked with something else. Hmm... :rolleyes:

Main shot.
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Bar%20Area/DSCN0689.jpg

Bottom close up.
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Bar%20Area/DSCN0690.jpg

Fridge and sink in the back.
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Bar%20Area/DSCN0692.jpg

Back wall.
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Bar%20Area/DSCN0693.jpg

Shot from hallway approaching the main room.
http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/ejhuzy/Bar%20Area/DSCN0694.jpg

Hi Ed,

One more question/request; this time it's related to your bar construction. I read your post on how the bar was constructed, but noticed that you also have an additional piece of trim on the bottom. Is that just base molding?

As for the request, can you take a picture of the corner of the bar from the front and one from the rear (i.e., standing in the bar looking out)? I have a bar that needs to be faced, but it has a 45 degree angle as well as two 90 degree angles. I'm trying to figure out how best to trim those corners and I think a picture of your bar might help.

Thanks again!!!

Terry

PS

The ticket window is under construction. I had to find some maple boards to match the other wood in the basement. . .

ejhuzy

11-06-09, 02:32 PM

One more question/request; this time it's related to your bar construction. I read your post on how the bar was constructed, but noticed that you also have an additional piece of trim on the bottom. Is that just base molding?

Yes, that's base board trim along the bottom of the bar. It's a slightly decorative trim that's 4" high. It's a trim I got from HD, but they don't stock it in oak anymore. At least not around here. I do see it there in stainable "white wood", whatever that is. When I take the pictures for you, I'll take a close up shot of that too.

As for the request, can you take a picture of the corner of the bar from the front and one from the rear (i.e., standing in the bar looking out)? I have a bar that needs to be faced, but it has a 45 degree angle as well as two 90 degree angles. I'm trying to figure out how best to trim those corners and I think a picture of your bar might help.

As for the pictures, I'm not sure I understand what you want. Do you want a close up of the outside 90 degree corner of the bar? And the inside of that same corner but from behind the bar under the bar top?

The ticket window is under construction. I had to find some maple boards to match the other wood in the basement. . .

Great and good luck with that, it should look nice in maple.

korkster

11-18-09, 11:10 PM

cuzed2

11-19-09, 10:23 AM

Ed,

REALLY like how your build turned out. Every time I happen onto your bar photos; I mean to ask where did he get those bar stools (details..)?

ejhuzy

11-19-09, 02:17 PM

Hi Ed,

Thanks for your input today over on WOOly's thread regarding my fabric questions. Your screen wall is very similar to mine except that I will only shadowbox my screen one 2x4 width, so about 3 1/2 inches. What fabric did you use for the screen wall? Scott said he went with the Fidelio velvet which I may use in the shadowbox around the screen, but my screen will sit about the same height as yours so I really need something A/T. I was figuring I'd just go with GOM 701 in black, but not sure I like the "burlap" look of it.

I used the fidelio velvet for my shadow box and that came out great. Very black. The rest of my black fabric in my room is all speaker fabric. I love the way it looks and it's easy to work with (it has a decent amount of stretch to it). I went this way for a few reasons:

1) Easy to get. My local Joanne's stocks it.
2) Cheaper than GOM, but still AT.
3) I liked the look better. When I got GOM samples, I didn't like the coarseness (burlap) look of it. Plus the black wasn't as dark as the speaker fabric.
4) And, heck Craig used it so why shouldn't I? :D

BTW, the fidielo and speaker fabric go well together.

Great job by the way!! I'll be doing something similar with my soffits, but mine will be somewhat unique in that my soffits actually hide some plumbing valves, etc. so I have to maintain access somehow. I will be using 3/4 inch particle board removable "panels" that will be wrapped in black fabric as well, and be attached to the soffit bottom between two "rails" of 1x3 oak. I'm trying to document some of this with photos but like you, I won't be starting a build thread until things are close to being done. I have barely any free time to work in the basement, let alone document it as I go. Plus, I'm a lousy photographer. I am so appreciative of those that do though. I've learned a lot.

Exactly why I didn't do full build thread. I just couldn't spare the time. God bless the guys that do, as I really learned a lot from them. Plus as you can see I'm no expect with the camera either.

ejhuzy

11-19-09, 02:18 PM

Ed,

REALLY like how your build turned out. Every time I happen onto your bar photos; I mean to ask where did he get those bar stools (details..)?

Craig,

Thanks. The bar stools came from Sam's club. I just happened upon them and grabbed three. I think I paid $130 each, which at the time I thought was great. I still think it's good considering some of the prices I was seeing locally.

cuzed2

11-19-09, 02:45 PM

Thanks
Looks like they swivel.

I'm a Sam's club member - I'll have to watch for them (may or may not ever come back).
If they do I'll buy some at that price

ejhuzy

11-19-09, 03:18 PM

Thanks
Looks like they swivel.

I'm a Sam's club member - I'll have to watch for them (may or may not ever come back).
If they do I'll buy some at that price

They do swivel. I've seen bar stools at my Sam's Club from time to time. They come and go, just like most stuff they carry.

korkster

11-19-09, 03:25 PM

Exactly why I didn't do full build thread. I just couldn't spare the time. God bless the guys that do, as I really learned a lot from them. Plus as you can see I'm no expect with the camera either.

Well it sure looks good to me. I think I'm going to look into the Joanne's Fabrics speaker cloth as well. Thanks Ed.

ejhuzy

01-12-10, 03:19 PM

ejhuzy

01-12-10, 03:30 PM

Given that CES was last week, we've had a lot of noise about new players. Here's my short list of players that I'm contemplating.

PCH A-200. This is the front runner right now for my HT player. I'm a little worried about bit steaming HD audio from m2ts files, but that supposedly will be fixed by an uncoming firmware. Well see. Downside is I don't think this player will be able to stream BD ISO files.

PCH C-200. Now that the A-200 has been anounced, I doubt I'll get a C-200. I don't need a blu-ray drive, so the deciding factor might be the ability to stream BD ISO files.

HDX-BD1. Very interesting and releasing next week. Can't wait to see the reviews and how it handles HD audio and BD ISOs. Strong candidate for the HT room.

Dune Base 3.0. A very good machine that seems to handle all formats well. It bit streams HD audio from BD ISO files AND m2ts files. However, I'm not crazy about the GUI on these machines. When combined with MyMovies meta data is decent, but I like the YAMJ offerings on the NMTs better.

PCH Popbox. Front runner for my family room TV. The family room has network issues and I'd like to try wireless. Although I don't think many people have good luck streaming HD wirelessly. This has netflix, which is great. I like the price for this TV.

D-Link Boxee. A strong contender for both HT and family room. I like the interface and really like the remote. Still not clear how it will handle HD audio, although they are claiming passthrough capabilities on their web site. I like the interface too and it has built in wireless. More expensive than the PopBox though.

I'm probably going to wait and see how the A-200 and HDX-BD1 do when they are released. That means I'll be starting my project by learning the ropes on ripping my disks.

In2Photos

01-12-10, 03:30 PM

It's time I got off my fat arse and started my next project. That is to get my DVD/Blu-ray collection onto a server and start streaming movies to different TVs in my house. I've been reading about streamers for months, but haven't found one that meets all of my needs. Actually, the PCH A-110 probably does, but I just couldn't convince myself to buy one when I knew new models were right around the corner.

My project consists of a few areas.

1) Obviously I need a media player. There's lots of them out there, but I have some requirements. I need two players. One for my HT room and one for my family room. The HT room player needs to handle bitstreaming HD audio and I'd love if it could stream Netflix too. The family room player only needs to be able stream my movies and downmix the HD audio for my TVs speakers (no AVR at this TV and I seriously doubt there ever will be).

2) I need a PC to rip my DVD/blu-rays with. I have a few older PCs that are unused, so I'm thinking about buying a blu-ray drive and piecing together a machine to do this. My only question here is if I should be looking for a combo drive. Meaning one that can read blu-ray AND HD DVD. I have 3 HD DVDs and I'm beginning to lean towards getting rid of them and opting for a blu-ray only drive.

3) I need a network storage solution. Feels like I've been reading about this forever (and I have). I've gone back and forth between Windows Home Server and unRaid. I could go the route of buying a HP Media Smart machine or I could build my own unRaid machine. I really like the unRaid model and I've always wanted to try and build a PC. Right now unRaid has a new 12 bay server on sale for $699. I think I'd be hard pressed to build a machine with all it's features for less (considering that includes the unRaid license).

Boy do I know the feeling!!! I've been trying to figure out what to do as well. Of course I am trying to do as much as possible spending as little as possible!

1) Have you looked at Sage TV? They have a new model that would seem to fit the bill. You will need to run PlayOn on a PC though to get Netflix streaming. If your server is powerful enough you could run it on that.

2) You will need to be careful with older hardware and a new BD drive. My Athlon machine wouldn't cut it for my LiteOn drive so I had to stick it in my Photo PC (an i7) and rip from there. My BD rips take about as long as the movie to rip on a 4x drive using DVDFab.

3) This is my biggest dilemma as well. I need a server bad. I am tired of files being on four different machines. At first I was leaning toward UnRaid, but then I heard about FlexRAID. Now I am as confused as ever.

ejhuzy

01-12-10, 03:36 PM

Boy do I know the feeling!!! I've been trying to figure out what to do as well. Of course I am trying to do as much as possible spending as little as possible!

1) Have you looked at Sage TV? They have a new model that would seem to fit the bill. You will need to run PlayOn on a PC though to get Netflix streaming. If your server is powerful enough you could run it on that.

I haven't looked at Sage TV (see my list of candidates above). I'd prefer Netflix built in, but honestly netflix is not a deal breaker for me. At least not in the HT room. The HT player needs to handle HD audio well. That's it's main requirement.

2) You will need to be careful with older hardware and a new BD drive. My Athlon machine wouldn't cut it for my LiteOn drive so I had to stick it in my Photo PC (an i7) and rip from there. My BD rips take about as long as the movie to rip on a 4x drive using DVDFab.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm going to start slow and see. I'm not sure I can even get any of my older PCs to boot. :eek: If not, then I may have to put the bd drive in my main PC. Although that's probably not a great idea either given the hard drive space available there. :confused:

3) This is my biggest dilemma as well. I need a server bad. I am tired of files being on four different machines. At first I was leaning toward UnRaid, but then I heard about FlexRAID. Now I am as confused as ever.

Is FlexRAID the one that add parity to a WHS set up? That's the only way I'd do WHS as duplication isn't all that interesting to me. I consider my physical media my main back up.

In2Photos

01-12-10, 03:50 PM

I haven't looked at Sage TV (see my list of candidates above). I'd prefer Netflix built in, but honestly netflix is not a deal breaker for me. At least not in the HT room. The HT player needs to handle HD audio well. That's it's main requirement.

I saw those. I need to read up on the Popbox! That might be what I need.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm going to start slow and see. I'm not sure I can even get any of my older PCs to boot. :eek: If not, then I may have to put the bd drive in my main PC. Although that's probably not a great idea either given the hard drive space available there. :confused:

If you use a server you don't need much local storage, just a machine that can rip it. Of course if you do any transcoding then you need a powerful machine to handle that.

Is FlexRAID the one that add parity to a WHS set up? That's the only way I'd do WHS as duplication isn't all that interesting to me. I consider my physical media my main back up.
From what I understand FlexRAID can be added to any OS. The only down side to it is that it is not for dynamic files (ie ones that change frequently). So it is fine for things like movies, pictures (ones that you don't edit), etc, but you wouldn't use it for something like a database.

ejhuzy

01-13-10, 05:19 PM

So I did some inventory of my old PCs. One is real old with Win98 installed. So he's out. The next one is a newer Dell, but the HD is foo-bared and it won't boot. To make matters worse the HD is a IDE, so I can't even steal the HD from my third choice. And, the CD/DVD drives in this PC are all IDE. So much for this one.

The third PC has a SATA HD (albeit only 80GB), but something is wrong with this PC. I'm not sure if the mobo is bad, the HD or what. I plan to work on that some tonight.

All of this is to find a PC to install a blu-ray drive in. My main PC in the house doesn't have a big enough HD for ripping. Hmm, maybe if I move all the pictures/songs/crap off of it.

What are my options? Buy new/used PC somewhere? I hate buying a new PC for this. How does everybody feel about buying cheap PCs (like an Acer Revo) as the main house PC? All our main PC is used for is web browsing and storing pictures. And theoretically I'll be moving the pictures to my NAS.

:( :confused:

RTROSE

01-13-10, 10:01 PM

I just did a PC cleansing of my home. My situation was/is like yours. I had three computers. 2 desktops and one laptop. The laptop is the only one that was in any type of reliable/workable condition and I just moved every picture, song, file from the two desktops to the laptop. I considered keeping the best desktop to rebuild it into a HTPC but I determined I will either purchase or build a dedicated HTPC when the time comes. i don't envy you, as it sounds like your options are somewhat limited.

Good luck!

Regards,

RTROSE

ejhuzy

01-13-10, 10:06 PM

In2Photos

01-13-10, 11:19 PM

ejhuzy

01-14-10, 10:46 AM

Here you go. Quad core for $270. All you need is an OS.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5642399&sku=B69-0167&SRCCODE=WEM2156BY&cm_mmc=Email-_-Main-_-WEM2156-_-components

Mike,

Thanks for the link. I was browsing TigerDirect yesterday for kits. It's probably the best direction for me now. What's the best way to get Microsoft OS cheap?

BTW, I just read your thead. Nice room for a HT, but what has me really interested is your shed. I'd really like to build one in my backyard. I'll be following along...

In2Photos

01-14-10, 11:03 AM

Mike,

Thanks for the link. I was browsing TigerDirect yesterday for kits. It's probably the best direction for me now. What's the best way to get Microsoft OS cheap?

BTW, I just read your thead. Nice room for a HT, but what has me really interested is your shed. I'd really like to build one in my backyard. I'll be following along...

No problem on the link Ed.

For an OS you can usually buy an OEM copy from Tiger Direct as well. I think they are just over $100 for Windows 7. The only caveat is that it can only be installed on one machine. If later on you decide to ditch that machine and pick up another one you won't be able to install the OS again. Not a big deal if the machine will be around for a while. Other option is to pick up retail copy. These can be installed on any computer (only one at a time can use it though) throughout its lifetime. Much more expensive though.

Here is a link to Win7 Home Premium 32 bit for $110: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5213931&CatId=306

Now, you could also pick up the "upgrade version". While you are not "upgrading" this machine there is a little trick to get it installed. Simply do the install twice. The first time the software will not allow you to input the key. But a second install will take it just fine. It is only $10 more and you can install it on another machine (again, only one at a time can use it though).

That version is here: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4846646&CatId=306

As for the shed I have been itching to build a new one since we bought our house almost two years ago. So I am excited. Heading to Home Depot at lunch today to order the remainder of my supplies!

usrsld

01-14-10, 11:04 AM

ejhuzy - Great looking theater! Love the Art Deco look.

Quick question... I'm looking at an electric Elite screen with a similar viewing distance (11' at my head) to use with a Panny AE4000. I'm trying to decide between the 103" (95 w x 40 h) or the 115" (106 w x 45 h).

What are your screen dimensions and what are your thoughts on screen size selection now that you've had your theater for a while. Wish you'd gone bigger or totally happy?

ejhuzy

01-14-10, 02:50 PM

ejhuzy - Great looking theater! Love the Art Deco look.

Thanks. I was going for that Art Deco look. It's not exact, but I love it.

Quick question... I'm looking at an electric Elite screen with a similar viewing distance (11' at my head) to use with a Panny AE4000. I'm trying to decide between the 103" (95 w x 40 h) or the 115" (106 w x 45 h).

What are your screen dimensions and what are your thoughts on screen size selection now that you've had your theater for a while. Wish you'd gone bigger or totally happy?

My screen is 110" wide x 47" high (not including the frame). I sit a little closer than 11'. I absolutely love 2.4/2.35 content. I do wish I had gone with a little bigger screen. I could have done a 120" as I had the height and width to do it.

At the time though I was worried it would have been too big. First projector and all, what did I know. I was worried I'd be moving my eyes too much to see the whole screen. To be fair, the wife thinks I'm nuts for wanting a bigger screen.

The reason I wish I had gone bigger is for 1.78/1.85 content. The beauty of a 2.35 screen is you only need a little more height to go wider.

I highly recommend you go with at least your 106 x 45 screen. If you can fit it, I'd move all the way to 120 x 51.

ejhuzy

01-14-10, 02:53 PM

No problem on the link Ed.

For an OS you can usually buy an OEM copy from Tiger Direct as well. I think they are just over $100 for Windows 7. The only caveat is that it can only be installed on one machine. If later on you decide to ditch that machine and pick up another one you won't be able to install the OS again. Not a big deal if the machine will be around for a while. Other option is to pick up retail copy. These can be installed on any computer (only one at a time can use it though) throughout its lifetime. Much more expensive though.

Here is a link to Win7 Home Premium 32 bit for $110: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5213931&CatId=306

Now, you could also pick up the "upgrade version". While you are not "upgrading" this machine there is a little trick to get it installed. Simply do the install twice. The first time the software will not allow you to input the key. But a second install will take it just fine. It is only $10 more and you can install it on another machine (again, only one at a time can use it though).

That version is here: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4846646&CatId=306

Thanks for the OS pointers. I just found the XP disk for one of the dead computers. I think I'm going to try and find a IDE drive and see if I can get that one working again. If not, I'll go the kit route.

As for the shed I have been itching to build a new one since we bought our house almost two years ago. So I am excited. Heading to Home Depot at lunch today to order the remainder of my supplies!

That's rich! You're out there building a shed and I have a foot of snow on the ground outside. Why the heck do I live in the Northeast? :(

In2Photos

01-14-10, 03:34 PM

Thanks for the OS pointers. I just found the XP disk for one of the dead computers. I think I'm going to try and find a IDE drive and see if I can get that one working again. If not, I'll go the kit route.

Check Newegg and even Amazon.

That's rich! You're out there building a shed and I have a foot of snow on the ground outside. Why the heck do I live in the Northeast? :(
Well, it has been cold (compared to normal temps) here. We have had something like 2 straight weeks of freezing temps. That's odd here. But no snow.

usrsld

01-14-10, 03:47 PM

I highly recommend you go with at least your 106 x 45 screen. If you can fit it, I'd move all the way to 120 x 51.

Ed,

Thanks for the reply and recommendation. The 106 wide is the largest electric scope screen I can fit on my wall, and I believe that's the way I'm going at this point. Keep enjoying your great theater!

Best, Steve

usrsld

01-22-10, 08:20 AM

My screen is 110" wide x 47" high (not including the frame). I sit a little closer than 11'. I absolutely love 2.4/2.35 content. I do wish I had gone with a little bigger screen. I could have done a 120" as I had the height and width to do it.

One more question... What's your throw distance? Mine's gonna be 12', so a 106 x 45 scope screen is gonna max out the Panasonic AE4000 throw range if I understand the projector calculator. Does this seem correct?

ejhuzy

01-22-10, 10:40 AM

One more question... What's your throw distance? Mine's gonna be 12', so a 106 x 45 scope screen is gonna max out the Panasonic AE4000 throw range if I understand the projector calculator. Does this seem correct?

First, my throw distance is 14', but I always display a 16x9 image with my AX100. I use a combination of an anamorphic lens and the projectors V-FIT mode to stretch the image into a 2.37 screen.

I'm guessing you're going to be using the 4000's zoom memory for switching betweeen 1.78 and 2.35ish content. According to Projector Central's calculator, you're well with in the range for 1.78 content on your 2.35 screen (remember, in this situation the projector is not zoomed to use the entire width of your screen). For 2.35 content, you are very close to maxing out the projector at 12'. The calculator says you need 12' 2".

So, any chance of you being able to test this out before buying the screen? You could put blue painter's tape on the wall to simulate your screen.

I guess it's going to come down to what exactly is the throw distance? You're that close.

usrsld

01-22-10, 12:45 PM

So, any chance of you being able to test this out before buying the screen? You could put blue painter's tape on the wall to simulate your screen.

Yep... looks like I'm gonna have to get the PJ first and test for screen size. Thanks again for your help.

Steve

schmidtwi

01-22-10, 05:36 PM

Very nice looking HT! I think you did capture the old style theather look very well.

What patterned fabric did you use on your upper walls?

ejhuzy

01-22-10, 06:09 PM

Very nice looking HT! I think you did capture the old style theather look very well.

What patterned fabric did you use on your upper walls?

Thank you. This is the fabric (http://www.onlinefabricstore.net/upholstery-fabric/damask-upholstery-fabric/waverly-french-quarter-red-gold-fabric-.htm?ref=base) I used. It's made by Waverly. This link shows it, but they are out of stock. When I bought the fabric, I got it from JoAnn's. But I can't find it on their web site now either.

I love the fabric. It's not acoustically transparent though. Bpape did my acoustical layout and it didn't matter that the fabric wasn't AT. That's because it was only on the top half of the walls.

ejhuzy

02-17-10, 05:24 PM

ejhuzy

02-20-10, 11:39 AM

Guys, I've got a problem and need some help. It seems that I have a dreaded ground loop in my HT. The sub is sometimes emitting a low hum. Only happens when LFE kicks in. IOW, the hum isn't always there. Only when LFE is needed by the soundtrack.

Does this sound like a sub problem or a ground loop?

ejhuzy

03-07-10, 05:42 PM

Well, I finally found what I considered a deal for a new PC. I was looking for one that I could use as my ripping machine (all my old PCs had IDE optical drives and really small hard drives).

I thought long and hard about building a PC from kits on newegg or tigerdirect. But I ultimately bought a refurb Win7 machine from TigerDirect. I'm a little worried about the refurb, but all the reviews on Tiger were very good about buying refurb equipment. I actually think this was a open box.

Anyway, I got this stuff for $685 - $64 Bing cash back = $621. I wanted to spend less, but I'm hoping this lasts me a couple years.

Asus Essentio (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5620932)
eMachines 22" LCD (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5664719)
HP Blu-Ray Drive (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5611949)

Of course as soon as this was delivered, I got a great deal offer from Tiger on a kit for $400. If this system works, I'll be happy that I didn't have to built it.

I'll be hooking it up tonight in the dungeon of a room I set up to use this PC in. If all goes well I may be ripping my collection in no time...

All this stuff arrived a couple weeks ago (I've since gotten side tracked with my ground loop issue). Today though I decided to install the BD drive in the PC. The PC had been running great. Today though it decided not to turn on. It would not power up at all, nothing. Zip, zilch, nada! I can see inside the case a green LED is on on the mobo. I doubt that's good news. :mad:

Well, I called TigerDirect and because it's still within 30 days, they'll take it back and pay for the shipping. Sounds good to me. So, I'm backing that sucker up and sending it back tomorrow.

I've decided that since Shawn and CD built computers, why can't I? :D I bought everything I need and it should be here in a few days. We'll see how this goes!!! :rolleyes:

RTROSE

03-07-10, 06:48 PM

ejhuzy

03-08-10, 04:30 PM

Sorry to hear about your ground loop problem. The one thing I could suggest just to rule out other things is to run a sub cable from your receiver directly to the sub if you can just to see if it is in the system you ran. Also disconnect everything else to see if it is something else connected to your system causing the problem. I'm not an expert on the ground loop thing but maybe doing this you might be able to isolate the problem. If you have a spare receiver you might want to try that as well to make sure it is not a receiver issue. Have you added anything new to the system or changed anything? Worth a look.

First, I've got nothing new in the system and haven't changed anything. At least before the problem. Since the problem showed up I've totally organized my rack because I couldn't figure anything out.

I thought about the sub cable too, but the hum is coming from the equipment in th rack. The cable is just sending the hum to the sub to play.

I've done quite a bit of internet reading and reading on the Jensen site. I have a couple things to try and if nothing else works I'm going to buy a Jensen SUB-1RR that's supposed to suppress the hum.

As for Tigerdirect, I have only good things to say about them. I bought a BR player from them that was defective and they paid for shipping both ways and the return and replacement was hassle free. I will definitely order from them again. I say throw caution to the wind and build your HTPC.

I've bought lots from TigerDirect. Good prices, fast shipping and Bing cashback. I was initially very happy with the refurb PC I bought. For whatever reason it wouldn't turn on yesterday. Called TD and zero questions later gave me a RA and shipping label.

ejhuzy

03-08-10, 04:41 PM

So here are the parts I bought to build my own PC (to be used for ripping the BDs I own):

Thermaltake Mid Tower Case (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Sku=T925-3018)
Gigabyte Mobo (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Sku=G452-1015)
AMD Athlon II X2 245 (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Sku=A79-0245)
Corsair 4GB PC6400 DDR2 RAM (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Sku=C13-6084)
WD Caviar Green 1TB HDD (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Sku=TSD-1000EARS%20SY)
HP BD240I Blu Ray Drive (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Sku=L12-1368)
Ultra LS500 500W power supply (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Sku=ULT-LS500)
MS Windows 7 Home Edition (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Sku=M17-7302)

All said in done came in at $600 after Bing cashback. I couldn't come close to that with Dell and match the options (GB lan, BD drive, etc).

Hopefully everything is compatible and works out well. First build so I'm sure I'll screw up something. Stay tuned for the build that I hope starts tomorrow!

oman321

03-08-10, 04:45 PM

ejhuzy

03-08-10, 05:05 PM

If you have cable make sure that any/all your splitters are grounded. I had an issue in my previous home and couldn't find the problem until I grounded a splitter, was actually the last thing I figured I could try but it should've been where I started. I suppose it could be the same for satellite equipment.

Oman,

I have DirecTV and it was not grounded at all. I just this weekend ran the 4 RG6 cables from my dish through a ground plate. I then grounded the plate and it didn't fix the problem.

However, you just gave me a thought. The 4 RG6 then enter a multi-switch (big satellite compatible splitter) and that isn't grounded. Maybe I'll try that tonight.

oman321

03-08-10, 09:57 PM

Glad it gave you an idea. I was trying to recall the name of added hardware for satellite but couldn't think of it. Multi-switch, is what I was trying to recall. I have pretty much always had cable but have helped friends with satellite installs and such.

Good luck I hope it works out for you.

ejhuzy

03-11-10, 04:08 PM

Oman,

I have DirecTV and it was not grounded at all. I just this weekend ran the 4 RG6 cables from my dish through a ground plate. I then grounded the plate and it didn't fix the problem.

However, you just gave me a thought. The 4 RG6 then enter a multi-switch (big satellite compatible splitter) and that isn't grounded. Maybe I'll try that tonight.

Tried grounding my multi-switch, but there wasn't really a ground screw on the switch. I improvised a little, but it didn't help. Ugh.

ejhuzy

03-11-10, 04:10 PM

In2Photos

03-11-10, 08:56 PM

All the parts have arrived for my PC build. I'm hoping to start building tonight. A question did come to mind. Once everything is put together (correctly), I should be able to just turn the PC on and the mobo should just boot to BIOS, right?

Correct, sort of. Usually it will come up and tell you that it could not find a boot drive. So you still may have to hit delete to enter BIOS.

ejhuzy

03-11-10, 10:06 PM

Correct, sort of. Usually it will come up and tell you that it could not find a boot drive. So you still may have to hit delete to enter BIOS.

Thanks Mike. I was just wondering what was going to happen. We'll see soon enough as I'll probably start my build on Saturday (tomorrow is the wife's bday).

RTROSE

03-12-10, 01:41 AM

For those of us who have never put a computer together please document the process with lots of photos. Sorry to hear the ground loop problem still persists. Good luck.

Regards,

RTROSE

In2Photos

03-12-10, 01:36 PM

ejhuzy

03-12-10, 01:44 PM

For those of us who have never put a computer together please document the process with lots of photos. Sorry to hear the ground loop problem still persists. Good luck.

Regards,

RTROSE

Rosie, I'll do my best. Hope to get to it this weekend. Not sure though with wife's bday tonight, my Mom's too, kid's activities and a family gathering on Sunday.

Can't wait to get back to work on Monday so I have some time to myself. ;)

ejhuzy

03-13-10, 01:17 PM

RTROSE

03-13-10, 09:12 PM

Well I hope the Jensen product works for you. I would appreciate photos of the HTPC as I am considering this as an option for me. A few years ago I would not have even thought about it. The more people I read about doing it and the couple of computers that friends/co-workers have put together gives me some encouragement to do it on my own. I hope your outdid yourself for your wife's B-day as this may make it easier for you to get some time to work on your projects. ;)

Regards,

RTROSE

ejhuzy

03-14-10, 04:41 PM

ejhuzy

03-15-10, 03:25 PM

In2Photos

03-15-10, 03:50 PM

Ok, so I've built my PC (pictures to follow) and have a question. My PSU has a fan on it. I installed the PSU so that the fan was towards the inside of my case. Now, the case has vents right below the PSU, so I was thinking maybe the fan should be drawing air from outside?

I did some research and apparently there's lots of opinions on this. Many people say to point the fan inside the case to assist in pulling air out of the case. Others like pointing the fan outside the case to draw theoretically cooler air over the PSU.

Any opinions here? Right now I have the fan pointing inside my case.

With a bottom mounted PSU you would typically have the fan set to draw cooler air in from outside the case rather than pull air from inside the case. But this depends more on what you have your case installed on. If it is on carpet you don't want to be sucking carpet fibers up through the PSU. So you need either a filter or turn the PSU the opposite direction.

This being said I doubt you will have any problems anyway. The fan will likely barely be spinning since the draw on the PSU will be minimal based on the parts you purchased. And unless you plan to overclock none of your components will yield much in the way of heat either.

ejhuzy

03-15-10, 05:38 PM

With a bottom mounted PSU you would typically have the fan set to draw cooler air in from outside the case rather than pull air from inside the case. But this depends more on what you have your case installed on. If it is on carpet you don't want to be sucking carpet fibers up through the PSU. So you need either a filter or turn the PSU the opposite direction.

This being said I doubt you will have any problems anyway. The fan will likely barely be spinning since the draw on the PSU will be minimal based on the parts you purchased. And unless you plan to overclock none of your components will yield much in the way of heat either.

Thanks Mike for the input. Right now the PC is sitting on a milk crate off the floor. So, I could flip the PSU and pull "clear" air in. However, for now I'm going to leave it as is.

ejhuzy

03-19-10, 08:11 PM

I finally broke down and bought a Jensen SUB-1RR (http://www.jensen-transformers.com/sub1rr.html) from avcable.com to try and fix my sub hum issue. I know I should really fix the ground loop itself, but I've tried and haven't had any success. If I plug this SUB-1RR in and it works, I'm happy.

Should have it early next week.

So the Jensen SUB-1RR came today. It's much heavier than I thought it would be. I hooked it up and no more hum when I touch the sub cable to metal!

That's the good news. The bad news is the noise I'm hearing is still present from the sub. :( :( :eek:

So, I decided to call Hsu about it. I called there customer service and the woman took my info and said someone would call me back. Sure enough about 10 minutes later a guy called from tech support. Very knowledgable and very helpful.

I went over what's happening and he right away ruled out the ground loop. I let him hear the noise over the phone (surpised the worked). He thinks it's either the amp or the driver (what else is there? ;) ).

Anyway, he gave me some homework to verify whether it's the amp or the driver. Hopefully I can get to it this weekend.

Not sure if I'm keeping the Jensen, we'll see about that. Not that I think the Jensen wasn't working, it just didn't fix this problem.

ejhuzy

03-23-10, 04:03 PM

I finally got off the sidelines and into the game. Today I purchased a Popcorn Hour A-200. It still has the major flaw of not bit streaming HD audio from standalone files, but I don't have any rips yet anyway! It does HD audio from BD ISO and folders, so I'll do that for now.

This media player is for the home theater. If this works out, I'll add a PopBox or Boxee for the family room TV that doesn't need HD audio.

The final decision came down between the A-200 and a Dune 3.0 Base. While the Dune plays HD audio from standalones right now, I just wasn't happy with My Movies. YAMJ/skins support on the PCH was deal maker for me.

Hopefully my order makes the 4/2 shipment batch.

ejhuzy

03-25-10, 08:35 PM

So I know I haven't posted my pictures, build thoughts etc about my PC, but I've been busy. Man work gets in the way of everything. :D

Anyway, last night I had a strange problem. I turned on my new PC and it booted up ok. I clicked on Firefox and waited forever for it to not come up. Tried some other things and the system was hung. :(

Rebooted and tried again. First thought was a virus so I started up Avast! and tried to start a scan. Very slow response and when the scan "started" it never got by the first file.

Then I noticed that the hard drive light was ON. Not blinking on, steady on. Booted into safe mode and everything was fine, but the HD light was still on. Looked at the event logs and saw that Windows was complaining about a time out with the hard drive!

So, on a different computer I downloaded Western Digitals HD diagnostics and created a boot CD. From there I did a "Quick Test" and the HD passed. Next was a full test which took around 3 hours. But at the end it said that it "Fixed some problems". Nowhere can I find what it fixed.

So, booted up into Windows 7 and so far so good. All is normal. Should I be worried? Should I try and RMA the hard drive (it is brand new)?

In2Photos

03-26-10, 10:26 AM

Vric

03-26-10, 10:52 AM

ejhuzy

03-26-10, 12:20 PM

Ed,

Sounds to me like there is nothing wrong with the HD, Firefox just hosed something up. Do you by chance run AVG? Do you have the link scanner enabled? I have had issues in the past with the link scanner and Firefox, random crashes and such.

I don't have AVG. I have Avast! on this PC.

Open the Task manager and see if something is eating resources (look for process tab)

Then try spyware software like malwarebytes, adaware and spybot. (I use all 3 on customer's computer)

I did open the task manager (it took forever to come up). I didn't see anything eating up resource.

Last night I ran a virus scan and nothing showed up.

I really think something was wrong with HD. Windows notified me that "Windows lost contact with the HD" and suggested I run a test on it. I did that and it's fine now. Actually the PC is fine since I ran the WD diags and "it fixed errors".

Well, I'll just keep an eye on it for now. Thanks for the tips guys.

mystic_sniper28

03-26-10, 05:06 PM

what ram have you go in the system

Vric

03-26-10, 05:10 PM

I don't have AVG. I have Avast! on this PC.

I did open the task manager (it took forever to come up). I didn't see anything eating up resource.

Last night I ran a virus scan and nothing showed up.

Spyware aren't Virus.. You need to scan for spyware to find them, not viruses. MalwareBytes, Adaware and Spybot are all free and will do the work.

if the Disk diag software said the drive was fine and if everything work fine in safe mode, then 95% it's spyware (other 5% would be windows that f*ckup himself)

I'm sure your drive is fine.

ejhuzy

03-26-10, 05:22 PM

what ram have you go in the system

Corsair 4GB PC6400 DDR2 RAM (800 Mgz I think). I have a link to it on a previous page.

Why?

ejhuzy

03-26-10, 05:23 PM

Spyware aren't Virus.. You need to scan for spyware to find them, not viruses. MalwareBytes, Adaware and Spybot are all free and will do the work.

if the Disk diag software said the drive was fine and if everything work fine in safe mode, then 95% it's spyware (other 5% would be windows that f*ckup himself)

I'm sure your drive is fine.

Vric, thanks for the input. I'll download one of those programs and check for spyware.

BTW, the WD HD diag did not say the disk is OK. It said it "Fixed Errors".

Vric

03-26-10, 05:34 PM

Error that can be fixed by this tool are usually minor and the same as the error scan disk from windows would fix. Doesn't mean much.

Unless the tool told you sectors were defective and it was "fixed", it's not a drive trouble. (and even if it fix those problem by banning them, the tool will still invite you to RMA the drive) Else all other problem are unfixable.

I still bet it's a spyware problem. I fix dozens of them every weeks.

ejhuzy

03-27-10, 12:50 PM

Spyware aren't Virus.. You need to scan for spyware to find them, not viruses. MalwareBytes, Adaware and Spybot are all free and will do the work.

if the Disk diag software said the drive was fine and if everything work fine in safe mode, then 95% it's spyware (other 5% would be windows that f*ckup himself)

I'm sure your drive is fine.

Vric, just downloaded MalwareBytes and ran the scan. Sure enough, I had one malware. Clicked to remove and rebooted. We'll see how the PC behaves from here.

Thanks for the help.

Vric

03-27-10, 10:15 PM

Only One? Guess I'm used to see the 60-300 from my customer's computer :p

Be sure to try adaware and spybot too. One software can't to everything sadly, but luckily they are all free and trusted

ejhuzy

03-27-10, 10:45 PM

Only One? Guess I'm used to see the 60-300 from my customer's computer :p

Be sure to try adaware and spybot too. One software can't to everything sadly, but luckily they are all free and trusted

Only one, but remember this is a brand new PC I just built. There's not even a lot of extra nonsense on the PC (like what you get when you buy from Dell or HP).

That said, I installed Malwarebyte on my family PC too. That one turned up 37 malwares!

mystic_sniper28

03-28-10, 03:57 AM

what is the max ram that mobo can handle..

I always find when going windows next gen OS I tend go more bare min, 4gb is fine for vista, 6gb is better, so for win7 i would tend to go 6-8gb of ram..

also note not sure how unbloated win 7 is though if it's anything like vista it's going to be a resource hog, person i tend to stay clear of 5400 rpm hard drives as much as possible..

for OS 7200 rpm is better though if money permits 10k rpm would be a optimal solution..

ejhuzy

03-28-10, 03:40 PM

mystic_sniper28

03-28-10, 10:39 PM

i expect your issue to be windows itself, given all the security tools vista has I would expect the same tools to be present in win 7 in 1 form or another

Vric

03-29-10, 07:43 AM

Win7 is a powerhouse, but it uses resources better than Vista. While both OS will get all the ram you will throw at them, Win7 run perfect with 4gb and you will not need more unless you do heavy task (photo/video edition) Vista in an other hand need 4gb just to run optimal. (if you call that optimal)

As for the Hard Drive, SSD are faster, but won't make day and night change. 10k HD don't offer much faster speed than newer 1tb+ drives.

ejhuzy

03-30-10, 11:26 AM

So, I've been having a problem with my sub. I thought it was a ground loop problem, but it appears that the driver is bad.

See this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=18403726#post18403726) for the debug process Hsu put me through.

ejhuzy

04-14-10, 01:47 AM

Well, after a few weeks with no problems on my PC, I had hard drive issues again. Same symptoms where the PC was incredibly slow. Ran the WD diags and it found errors but fixed them. Now the PC is running fine again.

I'm a little worried about the HD.

Vric

04-14-10, 09:37 AM

Recurring error could be a bad HD or problem with the controller (motherboard)
Sadly it's hard to diagnose without another hard drive.

ejhuzy

04-14-10, 01:43 PM

Recurring error could be a bad HD or problem with the controller (motherboard)
Sadly it's hard to diagnose without another hard drive.

I really hope it's not the mobo, but either going bad sucks. Not the end of the world either though. I guess we'll see if the problem happens again. I figured it was the HD because the diagnostic program keeps "fixing" something (program's words, not mine). Then reboot and the PC is fine again.

On a brighter note, my new driver came from Hsu today. I really missed the LFE this thing produces. However, I will say that the Ascends did an admirable job compensating for a week.