I will just tell all of them and maybe that will help with the PMs as well. I will list easiest place to get it as well.

Screenshots video: most asked

Winter: Lux Aeterna. Its on the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack. Its on there in 4 different versions, maybe 5. The group is the Kronos Quartet. If you like modern cello, violin work this is a must own.

More Sandman Shearweave 4000,complete light control :

"Malaguena Salerosa" by Chingon ( Robert Rodriguez's band )
Kill Bill 2 Soundtrack

Theater:

"Be Mine" David Gray A New Day at Midnight

X360 and stuff ; Yes some one asked what this was.

Theme song for " The Good the Bad and the Ugly" Ennio Morricone There are multiple places for this but theres a new remixed extend cut album that was released when they remixed the movie several years ago. Possibly one of the greatest soundtracks EVER, IMHO. For those who have not heard the music or seen the Movie, I would try. Songs from this album/film have been used in Kill Bill volumes 1 & 2. The Trio, Ecstasy of Gold, and my favorite, the Sundown were actually written and produced before Sergio Leone filmed the scenes. Hugo Montenegro And His Orchestra strangely enough had the credit for the song while it sat in the top 10 on the charts for almost a year if I recall correctly. This is one film where the soundtrack might be better than the actual film, if not it certainly plays a huge part. For those who have not seen it. I highly suggest it. Spaghetti Western . I dont even like westerns

Nice work on the theater Mark. One of these days I would like to make it down to have a look.

I can only imagine Fiji will be fun. the thought of a home depot with nothing but rocks in the hammer section and some native asking which was best for building a hut. is kinda funny :D

Anytime you are wanting to take the drive, let me know. I'll give you directions. Right now Im sort of waiting on the testing of SandmanXs shade materials to see If I can get an audio transparent screen with some gain to see If I want to tackle building a frame and somehow stretching the material and having something as nice as the Stewart.

As to the Figians, it is pretty funny until the dread sets in to dealing with it. I am going to have to take someone over that knows the ropes in all aspects of building. Finding one not married, that already doesnt have a good job, and doesnt want a fortune is going to be tough. I have a friend that has a 19 -1/2 year old son that helped us build his home so he has been involved with everything and hes a good welder as a bonus ( His dad makes specialty wrought iron entry gates)
I dont know if his hormones would allow him to deal with it for 3 month bursts.

Hey Mark,

I meet all of your requirements except one. I'm single, don't have a good job, don't want a fortune. I just don't know all of the ropes about building ;-)

YldeSyde, can you bring your own rock?

Mark, I'm sure I've read this before, but are you using a Runco projector? With the 2.35 lens?

He has a Mercury HD (http://www.projectorcentral.com/Digital_Projection-MERCURY_HD.htm) with an anamorphic Isco III lens.

Mark,
Any updates ? :)

Art

I think he's busy preparing for an extended vacation... (Okay, okay, I know you're working, Mark..) :)

Hey guys, sorry it seems like I was blowing everyone off here but thats not the case. Tim hit er on the head about being busy preparing for a "vacation". I have been helping the son and his friends make a movie for a class project and unfortunately I talked them into doing a major production that seems to have me teaching editing and shooting for all day today and some of tomorrow. No updates and Krawdad if your coming down this weekend I better get you some directions or a map. I am so sorry I forgot to get back with those.

Art ,
No updates, more of a mess, I have been playing around with some AT screen material and have crap everywhere.

He has a Mercury HD (http://www.projectorcentral.com/Digital_Projection-MERCURY_HD.htm) with an anamorphic Isco III lens.

Thanks. Looks like it provides a great image.

So Mark...any updates? :p

I languish to see what's next in your HT. It looks fabulous already!

Cheers

bbboza,
Sorry, nothing. I'll be in your neck of the woods next month working in Fiji, maybe when i get back next August

Mark,

On the other thread, you mentioned Denon was the only 10 channel receiver that had the testicles to power a room your size.

Why do you need 10 channels in a single receiver? 7.x surround isn't enough for your system?

Mark,

On the other thread, you mentioned Denon was the only 10 channel receiver that had the testicles to power a room your size.

Why do you need 10 channels in a single receiver? 7.x surround isn't enough for your system?

I seem to recall him mentioning a second set of speakers for parties perhaps in the room as well? I think his room is just so damn big that extra might be good.

- D

Mark,

On the other thread, you mentioned Denon was the only 10 channel receiver that had the testicles to power a room your size.

Why do you need 10 channels in a single receiver? 7.x surround isn't enough for your system?Clark synthesis tactiles, but originally I was going to have 5 rows of seating which would have needed surrounds a & b + rears. Its really worked well using the left over channels for the tactiles because all my tweaking is from the same source. ;)

What, you are not using a seperate amp for the tactile transducers? Um, OK. I can understand that, but I wouldn't call that a "need" for a 10 channel receiver. That is like making something that would be more convenient in practice into a high bar litmus test for the position of receiver.

There may have been other options that didn't include 10 channels of amplification that could have even been simpler to do without a 200 page owners manual. One big issue with receivers is that when you upgrade them, you have to cycle your amps as well - something that isn't needed in seperates and that saves money from being sacrificed to the upgrade alter.

Let me repeat myself since you may have missed it, when the receiver was ordered there was still 5 rows of seating thus...surround A and surround B plus rears equals 9 . Probably a month after the receiver showed up it was decided comfort was more appealing than jamming people in. The solution was easy, since Clark Synthesis are full range transducers and thrive on power (180 watts per channel to be effective) and I have exactly 3 , how nice did that work out ? Not only that but they are hooked to seperate zones so they are independantly controlled to the persons liking with a push of the button next to their seat. I couldnt have planned it any better plus I can equalize out the high frequencys using the Denon.

Why do I need to Upgrade and I like 200 page owners manuals, gives you more pages to skip over when looking for the good stuff.

And I wanted it simple, I outgrew my seperates phase as receivers came into their own. I have a whole closet full of seperates I feel the same as you do but opposite. How many DD/DTS decoders does a guy have to buy every other year?

Mark, it isn't about how many DD/DTS processors one needs to buy, but how many amps. You can easily keep an amp for 20+ years - lots of old tube gear is still being used. I don't know anybody who would consider a 7 year old processor anything but obsolete. Oh well, to each their own.

I know, with the superiorty of the new Digital amps, I am glad I dont have to worry about making a huge mistake last year and going to traditional seperates. And yes I feel my ears tell me the Digital Amps are superior, just my opinion. I quit trying to be an audiophile awhile ago and listening to the "internet "in" crowd"

We can arrange a demo at both theaters with ease if you want to see the difference between 10K and a couple hundred thousand. Heck I dont even have treatments yet and am willing to do some "comparisons" . Im not a knowit all, but I know enough.

And for you guys revisiting this thread it may seem as though I am a little testy these days which I have never been, but I have built a strange love/hate relationship with a certain person which appears will drag on till we are both old farts

Digital Amps is the first real major technological breakthrough I have seen in amps in a long time. Who knows, maybe our amps will become obsolete every 2-3 years now.

Know your catching on to why I went the route I did. If it changes It will be when I like what I see, or hear in this case. I still have not caved to the temtation of HD DVD with all thats making that a difficult decesion for awhile it appears. I have became a fan of less is more.

I think it is wise to hold of on HD-DVD and BluRay. Neither format's first generation players are going to hold up well against later generation players if past history has any bearing it. You would just as likely have an expensive doorstop as a marginal player 2 years down the road.

As much as I want, early adopter I am not, not this time anyway. If hollywood starts producing some worthy movies again, I might be swayed

And for you guys revisiting this thread it may seem as though I am a little testy these days which I have never been, but I have built a strange love/hate relationship with a certain person which appears will drag on till we are both old farts

Man, do I know what you are talking about there! I have this one friend who talking to seems to be a chore, because he always wants to know all the details why I did something the way I did and then challenges that information to the max. In his case, there is a problem when you start trying to do the same thing to him, he starts getting all huffy and upset... :D :cool:

Just read through your thread and just want to add my "WOW" to your theater. Hope to see you get back to your HT soon.

Come on Mark, get off your ass and get your curved SmX screen up :D. I thought you would have got yours done before I finished mine.

Where are you at?

Ruben

I think he is busy measuring his seating platform and chairs for an upgrade... ;)

Actually Ruben the mother in law and her friends were down for a couple weeks and I was playing tour guide

we went here for one stop

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/cl1.jpg

Can anyone guess where? Here I will give you a hint

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/cl.jpg

and I have been busy putting in a lake and additional irrigation pond dealing with all that is involved with that .

Ruben, I lost your phone# PM it, I have your old one from 6 months ago and yes Mike I am waiting on a phone call and I will get back with you as soon as it does. If you have someone else that wants the DBox and youre under a time limit, sell er but I was supposed to have it dealt with yesterday and I never got my call. Research

Crater Lake, Oregon? :D

Crater Lake, Oregon? :D

You got it.

You guys are too good, or my hint was a little too easy. I got 150 pics that day and have yet to see them all but I got a couple good ones. usually its calm and looks like a mirror but it was windy that day so we didnt get the mirror but got the 6500 kelvin ISFed blueness

I don't know about that. I think I am seeing a little blue push. You sure you are not getting around 7500 kelvin?

Honestly, that is some great color with the trees as well.

This thread will explode as soon as more pics hit the scene....

This thread will explode as soon as more pics hit the scene....

These kind of pictures explaining why the theater is not getting worked on?

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/cl2.jpg


OK smartie pants guesser gurus, heres a couple more, try and be specific. I am also playing with a Panasonic Toughbook today and beleive it or not I am doing this from 150' away from the theater , outside and through 2 walls. This wireless stuff is cool and the Toughbook must have a hellashish wireless system

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/clsl.jpg

remember, specific

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/cldev.jpg

Those pictures are absolutely pristine!

Mark, I will be touring Crater lake on August 19 on a 4 day motorcycle trip covering about 1400 miles. Should be lots of fun! I have never been there, so I am glad you sent those pics, looks cool!

My guess would be the sea lion caves in Florence, Oregon

Comon, you jacked those pictures out of the Hallmark card gallery :D.

WOW.

My guess would be the sea lion caves in Florence, OregonOn the money, bravo

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/clseal.jpg

out the other side

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/clseal2.jpg

Interior walls, these were hard pics to snap since they dont allow flashes and I forgot a tripod

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/clseals.jpg

Sea lions getting a shower

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/clseals3.jpg

I know the other one is tricky, off the beaten tourist trap path and usually only a couple hippies playing guitars while the other million tourists are elsewhere, I guess a hint is in order

Japanese sub watching post

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/cld.jpg

Comon, you jacked those pictures out of the Hallmark card gallery :D.

WOW.Lost your ph # compadre

Mark, I will be touring Crater lake on August 19 on a 4 day motorcycle trip covering about 1400 miles. Should be lots of fun! I have never been there, so I am glad you sent those pics, looks cool! Hopefully the snows still there and the wind is calm, try and get there crack of dawn and be prepared for a treat, well many treats and be sure to go back to the Pinnacle, alot of folks miss these

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/clpin.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/clpin2.jpg


Also try your hardest to make it up the McKenzie Pass by Bend right out of Sisters, On a bike you wont be dissapointed, at the end of the pass you head north up the McKenzie and theres Clear Lake and right across the street is the fuel ( actual color of Shahalia Falls, I chit you not)

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/clshahalia.jpg

and the rapids coming off these feeding the McKenzie and the clear lakes that you see fish feeding on the bottom

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/clsha.jpg



I wont show pictures of the other suprises along the way and ruin it but its a must see drive, also try and do the summit ride at Mt Bachelor in Bend as your passing through. I usually play tour guide alot in this state and thats why summers arent good for finishing theaters, plus Coho and Halibut season just finished and Chinooks are closing in.

Two words: IN-SANE!!!WOW!

Mark, I don't know what we will be able to see and we won't be there in the morning, since we are leaving Crescent City, CA in the morning and will be staying our second night in Altamont.

Here is our projected route for the day:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v354/keysman/theride2006/day2.gif

You guys are too good, or my hint was a little too easy. I got 150 pics that day and have yet to see them all but I got a couple good ones. usually its calm and looks like a mirror but it was windy that day so we didnt get the mirror but got the 6500 kelvin ISFed bluenessThe last time I was there was in 1988 and the park and its roads were closed due to too much snow. It was a place I really wanted to visit. Everything else I saw in Oregon was absolutely beautiful. :)

OK time to drag this out from page 360 since I communicate with a fair amount of people here by phone and some of you cant figure out why the theaters on hold so long, well I always had a feeling a D-Box was in the picture but couldnt justify 22k for one. Mike Poindexter got me a really great deal on an XL Oddessey system basically 2/3 off clearance type of deal and when it gets here and its raining I will get back to work, I also have a 15' curved SMX screen to buil so I will get all the aluminum the same day!

For friends here that dont understand how busy it is when the sun shines for 9 months heres a little background and theres actually a "new" theater involved so.........

Heres the ranch

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/colorsatellite2.jpg

I started by killing seven acres of grass since it was perinial Rye and was crap at best, My neighbor ( who is northwest in the satellite pic) grows turf for the Superbowls and anything where a special grass is needed so we bought 76 50 pound bags of his super grass and that was a hella chore.

We are putting in yet another pond for irragation and to make the guest house alittle "warmer" and at the same time a Lake so all the equiptment/spillways gets used at the same time.

Also fixing up the guest house finally so when we have the Home Theater meet we cab store some folks since the nearest town is 7 miles away and I am sure someone will have a drink or two, if youre an outdoorsy type we could hold hundreds

Heres the view from the guest house deck, the pond edge will be at the brown burn piles caused by clearing scrub oaks, the lake will be off to the left and fine for water skiing.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/pano.jpg

The guest house will have a theater on the Deck ( the deck will be enclosed through the storm months and fully open in the sunny weather)

There will be a 10' SMX 2.35:1 roller screen at the end, I have already started testing the audio and you can see the equiptment between the speaker, we figured it will seat 25 with ease and already have the seating purchased. Theres 2 Fire pits ( one is a glass bead propane fire pit not done yet) 2 chimnea fireplaces so its pretty cozy even without enclosing.

I also want to get the 60' x 8' greenhouse finished by the rains that will be on the back of the guest house and we are thinning an estimated 4000 Douglas Firs that are about 5 years too late

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/guesttub1.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/guesttub.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/guesthouse.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/waterfeatu.jpg

The mountains that dont show up well in the pics are the Oregon Coast range mountains from where a couple earlier pics were shot from, at night you will be treated to a Pacific Coast sunset/ Pacific Coast storms right before a movie. pictures dont give this view any justice at all . From this picture you will see about 1/5 of the pond and hopefully most of the lake.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/view.jpg

Anyway, hope this helps explain the lack of theater work and helps those I yak with here, some of the stuff I was using as an excuse. Atleast I have theater II's audio about wrapped up. No IB sub this time unfortunatley but I now have a spot for the 3 tactiles the D-Box is replacing and the "outdoor" ( sometimes) theater is 14' x 60'

I really like that left hand speaker stand in one picture. Is that one of those new dual toroidal dynamic-response rubber with steel reinforcement jobbies?? :D

I really like that left hand speaker stand in one picture. Is that one of those new dual toroidal dynamic-response rubber with steel reinforcement jobbies?? :DYes! I cant remember if they are Kawasaki or Honda models but I think the cost a fortune.

Actually all the equiptment and speakers are going to be in a couch type setup, the smx wont be for AT on this theater but wind when the enclosures are removed for outdoor summer use.

I was doing some testing to see how the sound was going to be as well as testing some new digital receivers. Amazing is a good way to describe it. I am going to try Clark Synthesis Tactiles for the surrounds under the decking and 1 in the middle for LFE ( Mixed with an old shiva sealed sub) right now the sound is very clean.

I may have to go with surrounds if the clarks dont do the trick but they are full range and sound very good, as soon as Mike ships the D-Box I will find out.

Fijis on hold untill winter so I really got to get moving again soon

Oh and I should give half the credit to the outdoor theater to my son who helped me ........ well built alot of it, performed most of the cuts and did all the deck screwing, The daughter and her friend did all the painting and staining. They love to hang out there when friends spend the night. Heck we go down there almost every evening to enjoy the sunsets, hence the theater.

may i just throw another 'wow' on the fire?

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/P2010760.jpg

Did you sell this house and the amazing theatre you had developed in it? Did you finish that theatre? Or is this just the country house??

Thats the main house where it says theater here on the satellite picture, I have been working on the guest house on the other side if the 'hilltop" That and all the other things is why that theater isnt done.

Probably confusing I did that post for some people I keep in contact with, not well thought out I suppose.

Its supposed to start raining here and there and when the D-Box shows up, I will return to the theater and try and finish this time and thats a pretty crappy winter picture, I should update

Theater still looks like it did last year about this time
Enough Hi Jacking of my own thread, waiting on D-Box to proceed
Hey, thanks for sharing all the pictures of your beautiful home and lawn and trees and roses and . . . Maybe I should show this to my wife so she understands what I mean when I say "I'd like to retire in the Pacific Northwest"? :)

Mark, looks like you guys would have enough work just keeping up with the garden and such for the main house that you wouldn't get to the rest of the theater or the guest house...

nice place, can't wait to see what your theater(s) look like when finished.

Hmmmmm

To get busy, or not get busy, ..............that is the question.

4 days of rain in a row and it stops the minute these show up

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/dbox3.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/dbox2.jpg

And to think how envious I was before I saw your acreage. I definetely would like to come down and visit sometime. I'll bring the quads.

Mark, is that a real dog in that pic? :)

And to think how envious I was before I saw your acreage. I definetely would like to come down and visit sometime. I'll bring the quads.After the DBox is hooked up there will hopefully be a reason to visit before the finish. What kind of Quads?

Mark, is that a real dog in that pic? :)We havent determined exactly what it is yet. The daughter repeatedly asked all last year that for her seventeenth birthday she wanted a small black dog. We ended up getting her that thing, the wife says its a Lhasapoo, the poo part I can believe. It was supposed to be a lazy breed of dog that just lays around, did we ever get ripped off. I have to admit out of all the dogs I have ever had, this is by far the most entertaining, just watching it sit or lay down is hilarious

Did you get that damn D-Box hooked up yet? Super cute dog.

Ruben

Did you get that damn D-Box hooked up yet? Super cute dog.

RubenIm sending the wife after a piece of plywood, I am going to throw a 4' x 8' platform together this afternoon and stick a couch on it to simulate sort of what I will have at the 12' wide mark with 3 seats. I figured take it for a testrun before chopping up a completely good riser. Then I figured staying up watching a bunch of demos, If I like, then I will go for final chop job of risers. I may test it this way for a week, who knows.

I talked to Yannik at D-Box for about an hour this morning and got some other ideas brewing for single seat mega d-boxing, I need to get some pricing on that system to make one radical amusement ride with 2" lifts on each corner.

Then again this may be good enough. I am loading all the codes now and DLing the last years codes as I type.

Im not like other guys that had a D-Box laying around for 2 weeks, I will know within 24 hours of touching it, I would have known last night but got home too late ;) either way I should know in a couple hours how she feels. I am going to start out with SuperSpeedway and see if my wife has any use for it.

I am going to start out with SuperSpeedway and see if my wife has any use for it.

:D :D

Well guys this is going to be short, spent the last 6 hours test driving the D-Box and we have more to go. Initial thoughts would be something to the effect of " YOU GOTTA BE SH1TTING ME"

All 6 people that have tried it have laughed and laughed and smiled like crazy. gonna shoot some video when I get a chance so you guys can see how amazing this thing is. Gotta go play some more.
WOW

Well guys this is going to be short, spent the last 6 hours test driving the D-Box and we have more to go. Initial thoughts would be something to the effect of " YOU GOTTA BE SH1TTING ME"

All 6 people that have tried it have laughed and laughed and smiled like crazy. gonna shoot some video when I get a chance so you guys can see how amazing this thing is. Gotta go play some more.
WOW
That's outstanding. Let us know if any females keep coming back for more demos -- we'll all know why :D

Yes, video of the ride would be great. I may have to look up a demo site here in the Dallas so I can feel this 1st hand. You have officially peaked my curiosity.

Its really strange to explain feelings about the system, but Ill try. We certainly gave it a workout last night and since we had kids around we did Finding Nemo as the full feature but we watched scenes from The Transporter, War of the Worlds, Cast Away, Super Speedway, Matrix Reloaded and a couple others. My first thought is to crank it up and get your moneys worth and its an impressive ride for sure but the overall impression was that on full throttle it may "take away from the movie" instead of involving you more. I am talking about new movies you have not seen, it certainly makes movies you have seen interesting again by adding the 3rd element of excitement. Tactile Transducers will never come close and almost seem like a toy when compared to this and I thought tactiles were very impressive........not anymore, if anything they now seem like a waste of money. I spent $1200 on Clark Synthesis tactiles without the amp ( had it) and they are nowhere near 1/6th the value. This is just talking about the tactile effects the simulator provides without the motion, the D-box gives full time tactile effect and adds motion at the same time, an effect hard to describe.

If you experience Motion sickness like my daughter, this would probably be a bad idea to consider, that or purchase stock in Dramimine, she adjusted after getting queezy the first 15 minutes but stuck with it for the enjoyment value and she said it got better. The main problem she had was the flying scenes and ocean scenes. I did notice everyone that tried it grasped the handrails tightly their first 10-20 minutes, everyone smiled the entire time they were on it. For some reason pets ( dogs) are magnetically drawn to it, Our Husky never gets on this couch but we had to drag him off repeatedly through the night, when not working he lost interest. We had as many as 4 people on the couch and the dog would try and climb on laps to be on this thing

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/dbox5.jpg

The setup is very simple a child could do it, I built a hokie ( but sturdy) platform in 30 minutes and basically was up and running 20 minutes later. As I said, I tested this elsewhere because we dont have theater seating yet and I wasnt going to cut a riser up or drag a 300lb couch up a flight of 20 steps until I knew I liked it, it was much easier to bring an HTPC to the room we tested it in.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/dbox4.jpg

The jury is out on intesity settings ( wife, daughter) but I ( my son, and friends) like the highest setting, I am sure a 14' wide screen will help considerably. Its hard to explain the sensation this creates and several times I applauded the programmers for their amazing work and other times I felt I could have done better. If I am not mistaken it looks like they add codes to titles at later dates ( go back and fix or improve) I swear I saw Lord of the Rings load on disk and later load several more times off the internet.

[QUOTE=Mark P]
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/dbox4.jpg/QUOTE]

In this picture above, is the actuator fully extended up?

Ruben

I just have to say that this is/was and amazing project. Gorgous work!!

Here is picture of my D-Box Platform. The welds still needed to be grinded down.

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Step-Lights-Web/platform.jpg

And after months and months of looking for the right chairs we decided on these

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/P9100388.jpg

They are made of the finest vinyl we could find, notice the two in the back even have cup holders.

Wow, those must have set you back some - hope it didn't make a major dent in your budget. :D

Great looking stuff Mark, thanks for sharing your progress with us. Even though my HT will be much more modest, I'm sure I'll learn from your experience, and find things that can apply to my project - actually already did, the router arm compass sounds like a much better way to go at the stage curve then fiddling with a jigsaw that doesn't want to follow the line, and lots of sanding. Besides, I just like routers more than jigsaws ;-)

Oh I subscribed too - do I get a football alarm clock or something?

[QUOTE=Mark P]
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/dbox4.jpg/QUOTE]

In this picture above, is the actuator fully extended up?

RubenIm guessing no, its 7/8" fully extended, the carriage bolts stick out 1-1/4" so I am guessing in ready mode the actuator pushes the piston to 1/2 way point which is what it was in when I snapped this

Oh I subscribed too - do I get a football alarm clock or something?
The Official SI Football Phone Commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWtx9JwNzmY) :)

Here is picture of my D-Box Platform. The welds still needed to be grinded down.

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Step-Lights-Web/platform.jpg

It will be interesting to find out if non extruded aluminum will hold up to the stress vs. weight ratio of a riser. Since my riser will be 12' wide I think I am going with http://www.tslots.com/ Or atleast a double extruded aluminum. Square tubing by itself is pretty flimsy from my experience. Let me know how it works, place a couple cinder blocks under the middle and you and a friend stand on either side and see if it holds up, if so, Im all over the cheaper solution.

Wow, those must have set you back some - hope it didn't make a major dent in your budget. :D

Great looking stuff Mark, thanks for sharing your progress with us. Even though my HT will be much more modest, I'm sure I'll learn from your experience, and find things that can apply to my project - actually already did, the router arm compass sounds like a much better way to go at the stage curve then fiddling with a jigsaw that doesn't want to follow the line, and lots of sanding. Besides, I just like routers more than jigsaws ;-)

Oh I subscribed too - do I get a football alarm clock or something?Only the finest vinyl available, the white color kills the contrast a little but I figure I can spray paint them with flat black paint

Jigsaws see very little work with me, most of the time I can nail a smaller curve with a sawzall as good as I can with a jigsaw. I love routers.

Nice assortment of ladders Mark.

Ruben

Nice assortment of ladders Mark.

Ruben
I love ladders too

Know your catching on to why I went the route I did. If it changes It will be when I like what I see, or hear in this case. I still have not caved to the temtation of HD DVD with all thats making that a difficult decesion for awhile it appears. I have became a fan of less is more.

I just wish I could afford as much "less" as you ;-)

Mark, I had never heard of TSlots before since it seems the industry standard companies are either 80/20 (http://www.8020.net/) or Rose+Krieger (http://www.rose-krieger.com/). I have used both and both are good, looks like TSlots is basically the same thing, but I do know that 80/20 does have an ebay store (link on their web page) where they sell various lenghts or bundles of their extrusions for much less if you can cut it on your own.

One of my freinds calls up and says " Can I come over and ride a movie tonight?" Its kind of funny but it stuck so now its "Wanna go ride a Movie"

The major thing I am noticing now is that current titles are MUCH better than older titles, their programmers have really caught on since about Kill Bill ( the GoGo fight is amazing), the movements are much more snappy and defined. Maybe faster computers with larger hard drives for better codes has made a difference too, but I am guessing practice makes perfect.

Who ever did Kill Bill, Mr & Mrs Smith and Batman Begins deserves a raise.

I would like to mention that AVS forums is full of wonderful people, one being Jmorris644 who I spent about an hour ( maybe more) talking about automation using the new Cinemar ( anybody else use this and whats your feelings?)

After the ridiculous prices I got from AMX and Crestron, a guy like Joe can really put the automation adventure into a more comfortable perspective.

Anyone up on what Microsofts new automation is going to be like as compared to a Cinemar?

Mark,

You might look into Control4 (http://www.control4.com) as an alternative to Cinemar and AMX / Crestron. It's significantly cheaper than Crestron's traditional gear but has a lot of functionality considering. I use it in my home and am going to put it in place when I build my theater later this year or early next.

Tom

It seems Control4 doesnt use the HTPC? Looks like you have to buy different controllers and Media servers for its system, is this correct?

I would like to mention that AVS forums is full of wonderful people, one being Jmorris644 who I spent about an hour ( maybe more) talking about automation using the new Cinemar ( anybody else use this and whats your feelings?)

After the ridiculous prices I got from AMX and Crestron, a guy like Joe can really put the automation adventure into a more comfortable perspective.

Anyone up on what Microsofts new automation is going to be like as compared to a Cinemar?

Hey Mark,

Joe was helping me out with Cinemar too. He was a great help, the guy is incredible. Cinemar is very nice. I can't believe I can finally hit one button and everything happens seamlessly. With my harmony 880, half the things would work and the other half didn't. Plus you have to point the remote at the eye for 30 seconds or so for everything to sometimes work.

So far Cinemar has been working everytime. The program is great if you don't mind doing a little programming. I use a Samsung Q1 as my touchscreen remote and my HTPC with a USB-UIRT to send all the commands to the IR eyes.

Ruben

Depends what you're looking for. Right now they have no video solution, however some people integrate an HTPC into it and control the HTPC via a serial or IR connection. You start with a Home Theater Controller or Media COntroller (MC), depending on your receiver possibly a component video switch (I use a Neothings switch) for video switching, and then the HTPC. There's a driver creation utility within the programming software (Composer - technically limited to dealers, but do some research) that would allow you to create 1-way IR and serial drivers to execute commands on the HTPC.

Basically, you could select the HTPC as the source and the Control4 controller will execute the proper commands on your receiver, projector, HTPC, etc, to get the HTPC on-screen, then use the control4 remote (or another remote) to manipulate the HTPC program as you would otherwise.

I'm probably not doing it justice as I'm trying to get the post up quickly, but let me give you a couple examples of how my system works.

1. In the morning my daughter hits her "good morning" button the 6-button keypad in the living room. It turns on the LCD TV, sets the receiver to the appropriate input, sets the video switch to the right input as well, switches my DirecTV HD Tivo to Nickelodeon and off she goes. It also automaticlaly turns it off at 9:30 AM when she's supposed to stop watching TV.

2. My good-night button turns off the downstairs lights, turns of the TV, sets the lights to dim upstairs, turns on the TV upstairs and pauses the TiVo so we don't miss whatever we're watching.

If you want more info, PM me...

Tom

Depends what you're looking for. Right now they have no video solution, however some people integrate an HTPC into it and control the HTPC via a serial or IR connection. You start with a Home Theater Controller or Media COntroller (MC), depending on your receiver possibly a component video switch (I use a Neothings switch) for video switching, and then the HTPC. There's a driver creation utility within the programming software (Composer - technically limited to dealers, but do some research) that would allow you to create 1-way IR and serial drivers to execute commands on the HTPC.

Basically, you could select the HTPC as the source and the Control4 controller will execute the proper commands on your receiver, projector, HTPC, etc, to get the HTPC on-screen, then use the control4 remote (or another remote) to manipulate the HTPC program as you would otherwise.

I'm probably not doing it justice as I'm trying to get the post up quickly, but let me give you a couple examples of how my system works.

1. In the morning my daughter hits her "good morning" button the 6-button keypad in the living room. It turns on the LCD TV, sets the receiver to the appropriate input, sets the video switch to the right input as well, switches my DirecTV HD Tivo to Nickelodeon and off she goes. It also automaticlaly turns it off at 9:30 AM when she's supposed to stop watching TV.

2. My good-night button turns off the downstairs lights, turns of the TV, sets the lights to dim upstairs, turns on the TV upstairs and pauses the TiVo so we don't miss whatever we're watching.

If you want more info, PM me...

Tom
I guess my question would be this. All my movies, music, photos, movies I produce myself are loaded on server (and HTPC and servers), I will have 14-30 zones of lighting and multiple dry contact items like blackouts, curtains, chandelier motors. The D-box is also HTPC and from what I understand Cinemar can produce macro strings of programs loaded on an HTPC ( actually Rubens touch screen is a computer so this could incorporate anything without even involving IR or RF)

Would Control4 handle this and whats a guess on price?

Here is the 10" Viewsonic Air Panel I have as well...

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Air-Panel/IMG_5489.jpg

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Air-Panel/IMG_5491.jpg

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Air-Panel/IMG_5494.jpg

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Air-Panel/IMG_5496.jpg

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Air-Panel/IMG_5499.jpg

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Air-Panel/IMG_5503.jpg

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Air-Panel/IMG_5506.jpg

Ruben

Gotcha,

Anyone else know of other touch panels they like?

Ruben's setup is definitely cool and probably more flexible (because the remote is a PC itself). I'd be interested in how much programming it takes to put something like that together.

Mark, to your point, I wouldn't get rid of the HTPC. I personally think that it's indispensable, especially for video storage. What Control4 would bring is lighting and automation control in your case, possibly music management as well.

How many loads in the 14-30 zones? There's not really a hard limit for C4 in terms of number of zones, although I'm sure there's a limit per controller in terms of the number of loads one could control effectively. I think the list on each switch or dimmer is around $100 and you need a minimum of 1 controller to manage that. THe smaller controller is around $600, the Media Controller is about $1500.

If you wanted to use C4 for a music server, you'd use the same controller (or possibly an additional one to distribute the lighting given the number of zones). If you have the music on servers on a network already you'd just point the controller to those locations. I have my music loaded on a NAS device, works great.

Dry contact items can definitely be integrated as well and tied into programming so that things happen based on events in the system. You can also integrate climate control too.

Photos and videos would be the weak points, there's no native solution, so you'd have to continue to use the HTPC for that stuff as well as for the D-Box, but that's not to say you couldn't expose the UI for the HTPC as needed.

Hard to say on cost other than the products listed without taking a closer look at what exactly you'd want to do. The biggest unknown would probably be programming / installation, but from what I've found Control4 systems come in at significantly less than Crestron / AMX (at least the higher-end versions of these two).

The way I look at it is that something like Cinemar is highly flexible and probably cheaper, but may involve a lot of programming (not having used it). Crestron and AMX are the high-end systems that carry a high-end price. Control4 seems to fit somewhere in between. Just my opinion though.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you want to chat in more detail...

Tom

I've got that 10" viewsonic - in my former theater it served as control for a holo3d II based video processor as well as an FFDshow htpc dvd player. Never really got into the total theater control aspects but really enjoyed its ease of use - we still use it around the new house for internet access and the like. Range is great as it connects through a wireless LAN.

I'd have to say I like the 10" AirPanel over the 7" Samsung Q1. I love the size of it and the battery life of the Airpanel. The Q1 battery dies way too fast and there is no rechargeable dock for it. The small buttons in cinemar are really way too small on the Q1, hower on the 10" Air Panel they are perfect. The Q1 gets a little hot if you have it laying on you and you here low fan noise coming from it.

I love the Airpanel, however, it is slower than the Q1 and you would need a dedicated PC to run it because it looks like you can't use the HTPC and the Airpanel at the same time. I use my HTPC to run TheaterTek and when you are logged on to the AirPanel, it logs off the HTPC. The Samsung Q1 doesnt have that problem because it is its own PC.

Here are a few screen shots of the 10" Air Panel running Cinemar...

The home Page Tells you Current Outside Temp, Last Caller ID missed, Calander and whatever else you want to add to it..

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Air-Panel/IMG_5510.jpg

Here is the local Temp page. Shows 10 day weather, wind and humidity.

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Air-Panel/IMG_5509b.jpg

This page is perfect for you Mark, It is for watering your grass :D You can set up 600 buttons on it and turn sprinklers on and off all day.

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Air-Panel/IMG_5511.jpg

These are the sercurity camera pages. You can see what's sitting in my driveway ;)

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Air-Panel/IMG_5513.jpg

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Air-Panel/IMG_5514.jpg

Temp Control

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Air-Panel/IMG_5515.jpg

Whole house Audio

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/Air-Panel/IMG_5516.jpg

Ruben

Hey Mark,

I found the 10.4" touch screen that I was telling you about that Control4 uses. This is the same thing but a little modified. Scroll down the page and look at the dock and compare it to Control4'd Dock I think it has that soft black case you were dreaming about earlier. In fact, it's rugged & water resistant so you can spill your beer all over it :D
This is exactly what I been looking for. They cost $1000 new.

Tatung
http://www.tatung.co.uk/images/brochure/Tatung%20TX-2000%20WTC.pdf

Control4
http://www.control4.com/cp/31-7C30E392/index.htm

I may pick up that Tatung one as well to add to my ever so growing collection. This is the one I was looking for before I bought my Q1. I would just so happen to find it now, figures.

Ruben

Have you found the Tatung, Im not having much luck, infact when I search that model # off the PDF I get some other goofy looking thing. Did you get this tablet client stuff to work with Theatertek yet? Do you have links to all the automation stuff you bought? Is this the USB uirt? http://www.usbuirt.com/ looks kinda cheesy. Do you run the Xantech stuff Joe was talking about? http://www.xantech.com/ go to products page.

I use a guy now that does all this stuff and his bid was 18K to do the theater and re-do the house from its 10 year old crap but this is one area I would like to get proficient at and my guy says he's not familiar with controlling HTPCs that run Theatertek, he wants to use his server based systems

Ruben,
do you have a PSP? can you put it next to the Q1 if you do and snap a shot? I hear what your saying about about 7" and 10" but the Viewsonic looks so 1999 and by the time I get this figured out its going to be 2010.

The 7" may be the ticket with a proper button/menu layout and it does have a 7 hour battery option

I certainly like the Control4 tablet the best for clean look but would it work with MCE/XP and Cinemar? Joe, where you at?

Ruben I found this

Well,
Not to deflate this tooo much, but there are viable alternatives like the OQO and Tatung products out there.

Exhibit 1) Tatung TX-2000
http://www.tatung.co.uk/tabpad/tabletintro.asp.
I have one of these. It is a nice product, has a 10.4 inch screen, removable batteries, Base etc. 700Mhz, Transmeta X86 Procssor running Windows XP. Built in Wi-Fi/512MB memory/10.4 Touch Screen. USB Port for Keyboard and a nifty Kickstand on the back.

I have run Control system software on it for my Home Theater. And I sometimes go down to Starbucks and Cruise the Net with it. I have a Verizon PC5740 Wireless Broadband Card as well. ($Free, with two year sign up,$75/Month).

It has a PCMCIA slot on it, which supports Memory or HD Drives....

Cost < $1000. Oh yeah, this is the exact same product that Control4 sells for $2999.000 with thier software on it. Sheesh.. But I digress. And yes, you can suspend it and start i again. But, does it have Instant on Media? no. Bluetooth, no, (USB Key would solve this).


To sort out what you really have here is another PC form factor,with:
A) Instant On Bios support, well we knew that was coming with Vista/Intel.
B) Smaller more pocketable Screen. Well a tour of WalMart's AV Department will find numerous 7" screen based products that run on battery and can go coast to coast on your everyday commuter flight, for < $150.
C) No stated Storage, but I am gonna guess 20GB? Nice.
Instant tie in to Windows Media Center. Nice.


The nice Garden of Windows solutions is expanding....And this product will undoubtably find some new buyers. Is this right for everyone?

Well, IMHO a Phone with Music playback. Is more practical for Music. I can jog to the Gym with and take a phone call. Soon, even a Video phone call....

The killer question is did microsoft create an unbloated version of Office for this thing. With that, it would be Cranking Cool...... for business.

BadBoy Computer User.....

from here http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/08/samsungs-umpc-origami-device-spotted/

too bad this thing isnt twice as big and black , some guy plays Halo on it http://www.oqo.com/hardware/basics/

I love the Airpanel, however, it is slower than the Q1 and you would need a dedicated PC to run it because it looks like you can't use the HTPC and the Airpanel at the same time. I use my HTPC to run TheaterTek and when you are logged on to the AirPanel, it logs off the HTPC. The Samsung Q1 doesnt have that problem because it is its own PC.Ruben

I have sofrtware that will allow you to have as many as 10 air panels running from the same PC and someone can be logged onto the pc at the same time too. If I remember correctly it is about $300.

Joe

Hey Mark,

I found the 10.4" touch screen that I was telling you about that Control4 uses. This is the same thing but a little modified. Scroll down the page and look at the dock and compare it to Control4'd Dock I think it has that soft black case you were dreaming about earlier. In fact, it's rugged & water resistant so you can spill your beer all over it :D
This is exactly what I been looking for. They cost $1000 new.

Tatung
http://www.tatung.co.uk/images/brochure/Tatung%20TX-2000%20WTC.pdf

Control4
http://www.control4.com/cp/31-7C30E392/index.htm

I may pick up that Tatung one as well to add to my ever so growing collection. This is the one I was looking for before I bought my Q1. I would just so happen to find it now, figures.

Ruben

The Tatung looks perfect. Let me know if you find it anywhere and for how much!! IT will eliminate any slow issues with the air panel.

Joe

Cheesy? LOL. It is a DIY. What do you expect? :) Yes, it is the correct usbuirt.

Joe

Have you found the Tatung, Im not having much luck, infact when I search that model # off the PDF I get some other goofy looking thing. Did you get this tablet client stuff to work with Theatertek yet? Do you have links to all the automation stuff you bought? Is this the USB uirt? http://www.usbuirt.com/ looks kinda cheesy. Do you run the Xantech stuff Joe was talking about? http://www.xantech.com/ go to products page.

I use a guy now that does all this stuff and his bid was 18K to do the theater and re-do the house from its 10 year old crap but this is one area I would like to get proficient at and my guy says he's not familiar with controlling HTPCs that run Theatertek, he wants to use his server based systems

I will have to do some research on Control4 but I believe that it is all proprietary. Now, I am sure it can communicate to a htPC but I would guess the communicabilities would be promative. Nothing like the ecapabilities of a system that are actually built on the htPC itself.

Specifically, Cinemar has a plugin built for TheaterTek.

Joe
Ruben,
do you have a PSP? can you put it next to the Q1 if you do and snap a shot? I hear what your saying about about 7" and 10" but the Viewsonic looks so 1999 and by the time I get this figured out its going to be 2010.

The 7" may be the ticket with a proper button/menu layout and it does have a 7 hour battery option

I certainly like the Control4 tablet the best for clean look but would it work with MCE/XP and Cinemar? Joe, where you at?

Ruben I found this



from here http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/08/samsungs-umpc-origami-device-spotted/

too bad this thing isnt twice as big and black , some guy plays Halo on it http://www.oqo.com/hardware/basics/

If you get anything with a hard drive it will get warm like Ruben says about the Q1. The Tatung looks good too.

Anyone find these available anywhere?

Joe

If you get anything with a hard drive it will get warm like Ruben says about the Q1. The Tatung looks good too.

Anyone find these available anywhere?

Joe I cant find one yet, but they make Control4s 3K touchpanel. Ebay is out of the Viewsonics and I really like the sound of the OQOs specs, just too small

***edit*** I am having better luck with "GooRoo RugBoard" searches, thats the TX-2000s retail name it appears

I cant find one yet, but they make Control4s 3K touchpanel. Ebay is out of the Viewsonics and I really like the sound of the OQOs specs, just too small

Like I mentioned just previously, I woukld avoid a hard drive for these purposes. The battery life will be shorter and it will get warm.

For controlling the house I don't believe you need a ahrd drive. At least for cinemar and the way I am using it.

Joe

don't know what the new Pronto can do (i.e. HTPC related)
http://www.remotecentral.com/cedia06/show01.htm
http://www.remotecentral.com/cedia06/show01-1.jpg

big wi-fi base

http://www.remotecentral.com/cedia06/show01-8.jpg

The built-in wireless system can also be used with Escient music servers and Lutron lighting systems

Im not a Pronto fan, This Tantung thing looks to be a winner but they manufacture this thing for GooRoo ( Germany) and Control4 and others so it looks like you will have to go the back door route. Also looks like GooRoo is another distributor so the price just jumped again.

There are alot of folks talking about owning them, but no mention of where they got them

Also GooRoo has Tantungs 8.5" monitor ( 1-1/2" bigger than Q1)

Cheesy? LOL. It is a DIY. What do you expect? :) Yes, it is the correct usbuirt.

JoeRuben was describing it as something that would do the dishes, sweep the floor and make the bed cool, I wasnt quite expecting MCE Ir lookalike but if it works it works and I am all over it. Joe, do you use Theatertek? And does it work on your PJ using the Viewsonic?

I know Ruben just went to sleep probably trying to get it working

Ruben was describing it as something that would do the dishes, sweep the floor and make the bed cool, I wasnt quite expecting MCE Ir lookalike but if it works it works and I am all over it. Joe, do you use Theatertek? And does it work on your PJ using the Viewsonic?

I know Ruben just went to sleep probably trying to get it working

Yes, I use Theatertek and it works great. I bet Ruben didn't download and install the Theatertek plugin.

But... as soon as my HD81 arrives I don't think I will be using Theatertek anymore.

Mark - btw, some guy on the hd81 who claims to always see rainbows says he can't see them with the hd81.

Joe

Yes, these things are hard to find, but I found one. I got one coming this week. I think its the perfect thing I been looking for. I asked the guy if he can get more and he said he will let me know this week.

Also, I found out Cinemar doesn't control Thermastats directly. I just wasted $250 buying 2 HAI thermostats to find out Cinemar doesn't support them. I thought they did because they sell a GUI package for the HAI and Zwave Thermostats. I def need thermostat control in my theater.

Any Suggestions?

Ruben

Yes, these things are hard to find, but I found one. I got one coming this week. I think its the perfect thing I been looking for. I asked the guy if he can get more and he said he will let me know this week.

Also, I found out Cinemar doesn't control Thermastats directly. I just wasted $250 buying 2 HAI thermostats to find out Cinemar doesn't support them. I thought they did because they sell a GUI package for the HAI and Zwave Thermostats. I def need thermostat control in my theater.

Any Suggestions?

Ruben

There is no way that Cinemar cannot control them if they in some way can be controlled either via IR or ethernet or serial. What were the model numbers of the thermostats that you bought?

Joe

based on the title of this thread I am sure that this post is way off topic but Mark PMed me and asked if I would begin commenting here about the automation work that I have been doing.

Ok,

I thought that I would lay down some of my thoughts and experiences in working with the automation stuff.

First a few caveats:

1. I have spent about 9 months reviewing and testing different product combinations. I wanted a reliable and flexible solution that not only was priced reasonably but that fit my needs for capabilities and growth potential.

2. I am extremely computer literate so I probably lean more toward computer based solutions as they are not difficult for me.

3. After I had chosen Cinemar and Xantech for my combined solutions Mario hired my son as his flash developer. Although there are no current version of products with my son's work in them (all future stuff) I just want to make sure everyone understands that. Also, this did not make the financial part of Cinemar advantageous as I have paid full retail for all of the Cinemar software that I have.

4. I am just a DIY guy. I am no professional installer and I don't carry, sell, or recommend anything that I have not personally experienced.

5. These are all my personal opinions and nothing more. Please use them as you might see fit.

Ok, so here goes.

I have tried and/or used the following products: Cinemar, Xantech, Homeseer, USB-UIRT, CharmedQuark, Girder, X-10, Grafik-Eye, Windows Media Center, XP, CE, Pronto, Harmony, other non-name brand remotes, TheaterTek and more.

Devices that I am controlling X-10 lights, Grafik-Eye, Denon Receiver, 2 digital cable boxes, PVR, satellite box, DVD changer, DVD player, A/V house distribution system, multiple RF modulators, custom htPC which includes MP3 music and copied DVD movies, projector, multiple TVs.

My goals were to have whole house solution with a totally customizable graphical user interface that could interface with all of the devices above as well as the capability to control the same devices with a non-graphical handheld remote control.

With the exception of the X-10 lighting all of the devices above could be controlled via IR. Some have a serial control port but I focused mainly in IR. The only device that I am using serial control for is the Sony DVD changer.

With the requirement of both a customizable graphic interface as well as a handheld remote interface I narrowed the tools that I used down to Cinemar, Xantech, usb-uirt, and JP1 capable handheld remotes. I have successfully integrated all of these technologies into a suite that controls all of the devices in my house. I can talk about each of these in turn and why I chose them.

Cinemar - This is the main guts of which everything works. The combination of Cinemar and the usb-uirt device handles about 70% of the workload. The usb-uirt plugin from Cinemar provides the capability to learn and store the IR signals for each device that I wish to control as well as each button on the remotes for each device I wish to control. One afternoon I sat down and learned into the cinemar usbuirt plugin all of the remote control codes from all of the remotes that I have. Once having done this I now have the capability to "play" these codes on the htPC and the usbuirt device will transmit the appropriate ir signals. With cinemar's customizable screens it is then rather easy to associate an ir signal or series of ir signals to a button on the screen. Click the button and the ir signals are sent. It is literally that easy.

I know that the pronto and other remotes can do a similar activity but as I advance in the complexity of controlling the environment, with cinemar, I can begin to use state variables to keep track of whether devices are on or off, I can issue commands to the htPC windows environment and run programs, I can perform any activity on the Internet, and a host of other possibilities.

Xantech - I mainly use xantech for IR routing through the house and to the devices. It is fairly straight forward and works very well. The trickiest problem that I had with the IR was controlling the 2 cable boxes from different locations. Both cable boxes took the same ir signals so if my wife was watching the LIFE channel in the kitchen and I went to the theater and wanted to watch football it would also change the channel she was watching. Xantech makes a routable ir controller. So I simply tell this controller which port to routh the next coming ir signals and I can control which cable box sees which ir signals at what time. I thought this was just plain slick.

JP1 remotes - as I mentioned above I tried prontos, harmonys, and a myriad of other learning and programmable remotes. By accident I ran across JP1 remotes. These are remotes that are manufactured by a single Chinese company and have programmable eprom. A group of people have developed software that through a connection can completely program these remotes. I am in my early testing with the JP1 remotes but I have been able to take the codes that I learned into the usbuirt and copy and paste them into the JP1 remote just like I told a cinemar button what ir signal to send I am telling the JP1 remote buttons which signals to send. The process is ending up being fairly similar for both the gui based remotes and the tactile remotes. This is what I was hoping for.

Well, that is kind of where things are for me and what I have found to work. I hope that I have not intruded too much on this thread.

Joe

Joe, this is a great introduction. I eventually want to do something like this in a new house, but have nowhere to even begin looking. This is all great information.

I would suggest a new thread dedicated to this stuff where you could post your insights, knowledge, and pitfalls you have encountered. I think many of us could benefit from this.

Actually Joe thats probably the best post in this entire thread, maybe even Dedicated Theaters section.

The DIYers like you, myself, Ruben, Makeit57, Swithey, Bud and the rest want to get our hands as dirty as possible, some of us would build our own projectors if we had the right contacts.

I think this automation stuff might be the most important aspect of a theater ( I will show you why if I ever quit getting frustrated over automation) and I really dont want Crestron to pop a fuse on Friday afternoon and find out monday that they will be out next Thursday to spend 30 seconds reprograming a button. I know everyone says Crestron and AMX is infalible but I say if thats true then I Vote Crestron should run for President. I WANT to know everything about my system down to the breaker panel (inside the breaker panel to be exact)

The route you chose seems perfect for me + the added benifit of someone to walk me through the initial part that should take 15 minutes to figure out, I just hope this isnt another Meedio, that stuff was an expensive nightmare that just plain P!SSED me off.

The Cinemar 30 day trial is perfect, hopefully I can figure it out, the worst thing possible would be to call you all the time bugging you or PMing you every day becoming a nusance so I may just wait another year to see what Microsoft comes up with.

I know originally folks like Alan Gouger told me touch panels were annoying during movies and you cant memorize the buttons ( great points) so I got the MX 950 and have it working pretty good ( it wont turn on a Mercury HD which sort of makes it another useless item) but its used everywhere else.

I really want to finish everything some year but want automation working first but seriously 30K+? Then again 8K for a D-Box ( and thats a bargain)? and 15K for a PJ? etc, etc. About the only thing I have that seems reasonable was my SmX screen and that was VERY affordable.

It seems your route is affordable and if its working for you, thats better than all the other automation horror stories I have checked into and probably a route I can try without wasting a ton of money like I did last winter with Meedio and girder and all that hair pulling stuff.

Again, great post because automation of 60 zones of lighting and 50 or 60 other things is what made dislike theater building the most

Actually back to touch screens , I like this/these http://www.tabletkiosk.com/config/pc/viewCat_P.asp?idCategory=35 much more than that Q1 fingerprinter, I think I read somewhere the Q1 attracts more finger prints than Paris Hiltons A$$ and Ruben agreed. these dont appear to have that problem. Nice and small but that may be troublesome for us fat fingered folks

A little of my wife/daughters finger nail polish over their little product placement emblems and I can live with them, that Q1 and their huge SAMSUNG in bold white letters is a huge turnoff as well. These also have docking stations which is very nice

Joe, this is a great introduction. I eventually want to do something like this in a new house, but have nowhere to even begin looking. This is all great information.

I would suggest a new thread dedicated to this stuff where you could post your insights, knowledge, and pitfalls you have encountered. I think many of us could benefit from this.I would agree, there needs to be an automation sticky here in dedicated for DIYers and Joe would be a great one to start. There is automation forums in AVS but last time I visited I almost got a headache and alot of it isnt DIY non coding type people friendly http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=36. I have built all my own computers and done amazing things with them but coding and automation just frustrates me whether its the boringness or the having to try everything one little button at a time. I had zero troubles getting the MX 950 working but it seems Windows, HTPCs, and Lutrons just spell I N S T A N T headache and I am an electrician ( of sorts)

another cool 7" er ( nice dock ) even matches the colors of the theater minus the stickers that would be ripped off before the plastic was completely unwrapped

http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/18/daewoo-lucoms-releases-solo-m1-umpc/
http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/daewoo_lucoms_solo_m1_umpc.php

Why cant you get these in a 10" version?

Actually back to touch screens , I like this/these http://www.tabletkiosk.com/config/pc/viewCat_P.asp?idCategory=35 much more than that Q1 fingerprinter, I think I read somewhere the Q1 attracts more finger prints than Paris Hiltons A$$ and Ruben agreed. these dont appear to have that problem. Nice and small but that may be troublesome for us fat fingered folks

A little of my wife/daughters finger nail polish over their little product placement emblems and I can live with them, that Q1 and their huge SAMSUNG in bold white letters is a huge turnoff as well. These also have docking stations which is very nice

For me I want to stay away from devices with hard drives. I just don't think they make good home automation controllers. I have 3 toshibas and Ruben has a Q1 and all of them have fans, get too warm, and the battery doesn't last long enough. I really liked that Tatung. An embedded device that uses memory cards instead of hard drives.

Joe

Hey Mark,

I found something that is about the same size as the Q1 so you can grab and see. Go grab 2 DVD Cases. The Q1 is the same exact height as a DVD case turned sideways and is 1.5" longer than a DVD case. The thickness of the Q1 is a 1/4" less than 2 DVD cases.

http://www.smxscreen.com/images/IMG_5545.jpg

Here are some videos on the Q1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwdscO2sUC4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYnlS1cEc9Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BarNmuEG6Hs&mode=related&search

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCiNR1SSiwI&mode=related&search=

If you are going to go with a 7" touchscreen, I would go with that Solo. The Q1 gets way to many fingerprints on it and picks up any little scratch on it's black shiny plastic case.

Ruben

Here is a link to the product that I use to connect multiple clients to my htPC.

http://www.thinsoftinc.com/product_thin_client_winconnect_server_xp.aspx

This allows me to have multiple PDAs, TouchPanels, Other PCs on my network having separate and unique sessions running on a single XP PC.

edit: There is also a 5 person version for $99

Joe

You're the man Joe

Finally remembered to shoot some video of some good friends on the D-box, the video quality is pretty bad but it was shot in bad lighting and the camera was sort of hidden, This friend is a good one for reaction because it takes quite a bit too impress him since hes a pilot, owns speed boats/cars and all around adventurer type.

I dont doubt Mike Poindextors tale of some womens "infactuation" with the D-Box and Super Speedway, I have noticed women "adjusting" themselves during that demo where the men dont. Again sorry about the quality but it was more a hidden camera last second quicky I wasnt even prepared to shoot, but it will give an idea of the movement of the D-Box. the audio is horrid too because a shotgun mic was used and the camera was in a cabinet

http://www.mediamax.com/gobigred/Hosted/dbox1.wmv

Mark, I found that video rather amusing...

I'm still waiting to hear from D-Box if people with PAL encoded region 4 discs (Australia) are able to use this (I've sent some dvds already which they are currently trialing). IF they give the go ahead, I'll most likely get one from Mike Poindexter, but am still rather hesistant as I havent experienced it first hand. What would you say to someone in my position?

Mark,

Sorry I didn't get back to you on Sat. I should be around all night tonite. Don't forget that I am central time though. I go to bed at 10. :)

Joe

Mark, you may want to warn people about the size of the file! I saw that it was 251 mb and decided not to download it at work! :)

Mark, I found that video rather amusing...

I'm still waiting to hear from D-Box if people with PAL encoded region 4 discs (Australia) are able to use this (I've sent some dvds already which they are currently trialing). IF they give the go ahead, I'll most likely get one from Mike Poindexter, but am still rather hesistant as I havent experienced it first hand. What would you say to someone in my position? Its a tough call and I would hate to be the one who tells you " Yeah, yeah, yeah GO get one!" and have you not feel its worth the price but EVERY guy that sits in it says " I gotta get me one of these" until they find out its that or a new car. More than one female has commented that they felt it was too agressive, they like it for awhile, but feel its distracting and the guys want it set on aggressive to get their moneys worth. Personally, I feel its a must have if your spending equal amounts on Projectors (some perf screens are as much as I paid for this). I also got a used one for about 1/3 the price from Mike, otherwise, it never would have happened.

I have told D-Box, they get the price down, and these things would fly off the shelf. But I understand Niche market and having to recoup developement costs.

Peter Jackson has one of these, not sure if its in New Zealand or not, I wonder if he uses region1 discs, is there a way you can do an HTPC with region 1's?

Mark, you may want to warn people about the size of the file! I saw that it was 251 mb and decided not to download it at work! :) Oops , thanks for reminding me, I forgot to do Mpeg and .WMV is rather large. I will encode it smaller since the quality is so crappy anyway.

By the way, watch the center of the couch cushion without a person on it to see stuff you cant see by the peoples movements. Its much more of a ride than the video shows

I tried two different D-Box demo's at CEDIA. One was at the Dbox booth and one was in the Runco demo theater.

I found it to be a fun technology, but not something that I would want in my own home theater. It made me feel like I was at an amusement park, and it might be neat for a movie like Cars or Top Gun, but it would not be something that I would want to use on a day to day basis.

Oops , thanks for reminding me, I forgot to do Mpeg and .WMV is rather large. I will encode it smaller since the quality is so crappy anyway.

By the way, watch the center of the couch cushion without a person on it to see stuff you cant see by the peoples movements. Its much more of a ride than the video shows

Mark,

The file is down anyway. unless you are in the middle of changing it. :)

Joe

Yeah Joe, Im changing it, we already chowed through 25 gig of hosting space so I am cutting back, I will repost the new link in awhile.

Yes, these things are hard to find, but I found one. I got one coming this week. I think its the perfect thing I been looking for. I asked the guy if he can get more and he said he will let me know this week.

Ruben

Did you get it yet?

Joe

I tried two different D-Box demo's at CEDIA. One was at the Dbox booth and one was in the Runco demo theater.

I found it to be a fun technology, but not something that I would want in my own home theater. It made me feel like I was at an amusement park, and it might be neat for a movie like Cars or Top Gun, but it would not be something that I would want to use on a day to day basis.They only write codes for " Fun movies"

Demos are kind of decieving because youre getting hurled around for an entire length of time, when watching actual movies, it gradually brings you in and out of scenes. It can be like an amusement ride or simulator but it also can be toned down to be subtle. It certainly makes mediocre movies watchable and good movies great. My problem is I sit there and decipher what the programmer was thinking and used to spend time paying attention to the simulator and not the movie. That has passed and people not into technology like us geeks here just kick back and enjoy.

I know an hour later people are still smiling and laughing and I think it the motion causing this

Back up and alot smaller 50 MB http://www.mediamax.com/gobigred/Hosted/dbox1.wmv

Finally remembered to shoot some video of some good friends on the D-box, the video quality is pretty bad but it was shot in bad lighting and the camera was sort of hidden, This friend is a good one for reaction because it takes quite a bit too impress him since hes a pilot, owns speed boats/cars and all around adventurer type.

I dont doubt Mike Poindextors tale of some womens "infactuation" with the D-Box and Super Speedway, I have noticed women "adjusting" themselves during that demo where the men dont. Again sorry about the quality but it was more a hidden camera last second quicky I wasnt even prepared to shoot, but it will give an idea of the movement of the D-Box. the audio is horrid too because a shotgun mic was used and the camera was in a cabinet
http://www.mediamax.com/gobigred/Hosted/dbox1.wmv
Pretty cool Mark. I know I would be one of those people that analyse every movement during the movie vs. paying attention to actual flick (at least in the beginning). My wife gets motion sickness quite easily so it may not fly at my house.

So-- when do you move it to the actual theater to test with the IB Sub cranked and your 14' screen? Talk about a total immersive experience :eek: http://www.htguide.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_thumb.gif

Pretty cool Mark. I know I would be one of those people that analyse every movement during the movie vs. paying attention to actual flick (at least in the beginning). My wife gets motion sickness quite easily so it may not fly at my house.

So-- when do you move it to the actual theater to test with the IB Sub cranked and your 14' screen? Talk about a total immersive experience :eek: http://www.htguide.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_thumb.gif

Yeah, my wife's already nixed it as well, as she gets motion sickness at the drop of a hat. She actually got motion sickness one time kayaking from a beach on Little Cayman to this tiny little island in a bay. Smooth smooth water... complete control over the kayak, basically like floating on a raft with a paddle, and she still got a little sick.

I showed her a video of the D-Box and she said, "No way I want that!"

Pretty cool Mark. I know I would be one of those people that analyse every movement during the movie vs. paying attention to actual flick (at least in the beginning). My wife gets motion sickness quite easily so it may not fly at my house.

So-- when do you move it to the actual theater to test with the IB Sub cranked and your 14' screen? Talk about a total immersive experience :eek: http://www.htguide.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_thumb.gifYou get over the critiquing after a coule days and just enjoy the ride. Its really hard in these videos to see the Tactile effects, you can watch the center cushion and see it vibrating at times, its as impressive as the motion.

It will go up there soon, no seats is the main problem

Yeah, my wife's already nixed it as well, as she gets motion sickness at the drop of a hat. She actually got motion sickness one time kayaking from a beach on Little Cayman to this tiny little island in a bay. Smooth smooth water... complete control over the kayak, basically like floating on a raft with a paddle, and she still got a little sick.

I showed her a video of the D-Box and she said, "No way I want that!"It would make her sick and fairly fast, my friend in the video said he felt a little bit during the Super Speedway, I think some of that comes from focusing on a smaller 50" DLP

This is kind of a side note, but you should consider getting Relief band for your wife, this is the electric one that looks like a watch and was originally for chemotherapy patients it is now sold for motion sickness, pregnancy, stomch flu any nausea situation.

And it works fabulously well, just takes getting used to the electrical pulse which doe not hurt at all.

This is kind of a side note, but you should consider getting Relief band for your wife, this is the electric one that looks like a watch and was originally for chemotherapy patients it is now sold for motion sickness, pregnancy, stomch flu any nausea situation.

And it works fabulously well, just takes getting used to the electrical pulse which doe not hurt at all.

I can't remember, didn't the Mythbusters debunk those wrist bands? Maybe I am wrong.

I can't remember, didn't the Mythbusters debunk those wrist bands? Maybe I am wrong.

These are not pressure bands and I can assure you they do work extemely well, I have used them on countless cruises as well as when being heavily medicated. As I say they were developed to combat nausea from Chemo. Though now Zofran is given for that most of the time.

They use an electrical impulse that blocks the nausea signal to the brain.

I wonder if they block the nausea of working on automation?

Grrrrrr, now I know why Crestron and AMX stick a gun in your back with their bids

I wonder if they block the nausea of working on automation?

Grrrrrr, now I know why Crestron and AMX stick a gun in your back with their bids

I just called you. Phone not working or were you gabbing with Ruben? :)

Joe

I just called you. Phone not working or were you gabbing with Ruben? :)

Joe
probably this Vonage stuff (phone# transfer), I will call you in a couple minutes

probably this Vonage stuff (phone# transfer), I will call you in a couple minutes

aT HOME

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6377275.html

Started messin around with automation and heres my initial Floorplan of the first floor thats on a touchscreen, when you touch the room it lights the room on the touch screen and then will go to that room. I made this from snapping a picture of the original blueprints and then threw this together in Corel Photopaint. then you must send it to Flash and then to Cinemar, you use the entire floorplan as a background and then have to mask out each room as a button. This looks alot better on a monitor because the Rooms ( buttons) are embossed with a glass look to them

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/screenshot.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/upstairs.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/mainfloorcopy.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/mainfloormessaroundcopy.jpg



What will happen then ( after you touch the room) is there will be a picture of the room without lights on and you will touch the part of the room you want lit and it will show the room with those lights on after doing so, 4 Different lights on, 4 different overlays on the original picture.

This wont work for the theater, it will have probably 4 pictures.

Wow, You are really a quick study!!!! Nice job!!! They look great. I bet Ruben is jealous ;)

Joe

Without Ruben I never would have done this, hes way ahead of me. Mario from Cinemar also helped quite a bit.

You have to be quick to see if you can get it working in the free trial

Little better Idea of how this works, the bottom screenshot has 3 rooms drug off to the sides, also notice how I am clicking on the Deck lights button an its lighting the Deck

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/buttonsmoved.jpg


http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/screenshot.jpg

some others I have been playing with

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/Rubens2.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/rubens.jpg

Hey Mark,

The floorplan's looking much better from the originals you sent me. Keep up the great work!

Hey Mark,

The floorplan's looking much better from the originals you sent me. Keep up the great work!You do weekend support? The Marios 24 hour hotline for morons? I could use a 15 minute crash course in changing your on/ off and dimmers and switch panels to my own buttons I am making. It seems yours are embedded in the background I cant erase.

Sorry Mark. Spent the weekend getting the house and property ready for old mother winter. Looks like we may already be getting snow this week.

We're you able to work through the kinks over the weekend on your own?

Ummmm, no not really.

Spent saturday watching college football and Sunday installing 80 Insteon dimmers. tonight I got all the insteons into Insteons software and now I need a Cinemar/Insteon plugin but I dont think you have a free trial

This is amazing. Now, I just need to win the lottery.

Oh my freaking god... I'm just speechless from seeing all of these pictures.

What do you do, Mark, for a living?

Oh my freaking god... I'm just speechless from seeing all of these pictures.

What do you do, Mark, for a living?It depends what time of day or what day of the week on what I do but I work for a wealthy guy and Im his problem solver, If he wants to build a house on a lake in Idaho he informs me and I get it done.

If he wants a personal resort built on his islands in Fiji, I get it done. It goes from complex to simple judging on where the second hand is on the clock.

must be nice to have a GC on call whenever you'd like. Based on your location, I'm guessing its one of the Microsoft elite... ;)

Not Microsoft or Nike nor Intel but along the same lines except retired, he has nothing to do but play and think up fun ways for me to spend his money. Most of the time in the beginning was spent seeing where we met on conceptual designs of his projects and after awhile he knew we had the same tastes and liked my zany ideas so he basically cuts me loose, he says " I want to do/try this" and I expand it and find out whats possible in all aspects and sometimes get his approval but the really cool part is I pretty much make his mind up on what he wants and go for it. The element of surprise keeps him pretty happy

Damn... why don't I ever find those kinda jobs... :(

/me starts scouring Monster.com for rich Billionaires looking to spend their $$ on 'pet projects'. hmmm... search terms... 'visualization contractor, pet project director, project consultation guru...' did I leave any terms out?? :D

Too funny. Mark, I assume you realize that is a pretty cool job you have there!?

I also assume he has been to your place and has seen your home theater and such? Does he happen to want something along those lines? :)

This is his place, but mine as long as I work for him. Call it a "perk" with all improvements financed by a "personal" banker

He has places all over but I chose this one and relocated and basically run them all from here, he usually stops in a couple times a year for a couple days here and there. While it sounds great, it can be quite hectic at times when you lose irrigation on a ranch in some other state and I have to have it up and running via the phone talking to the ranch manager before everything dies, then 15 minutes later the Vegas Ranch loses all its landscape lighting and hes having a party that night. Im lucky he has a group of limo drivers and ranch managers that can usually pick up stuff and fix stuff without me going on site. Hes very nervous about who walks around in his homes and on his properties. Sometimes when I am only getting 5 hours of sleep a night for weeks on end it doesnt always feel "cool" but it also has great benefits that keep things exciting and challenging. My son is being "trained" to carry the U.S.A load but hes still fairly young/in school and has a long way to go but can handle the majority along with his mom while I am spending the next 5 years in Fiji on 3 months, off three months. This is where he enjoys himself most and plans to spend the most time from here on out

Heres a little deal I made while doing some automation stuff http://www.screencast.com/users/GoBigRed/media/44847222-337d-4812-b588-09eefc388207

I am ( or was ) making some little tutorials for myself so if I forget things later I can just pull up a turorial to get me up and running again.

Actually, I told Joe I would post something for him so this one I sort of had Joe in mind and not so much a tutorial as an example. Joe or anyone that wants how to make any of these scenes just let me know and I will whip something up.

Sorry about the quality but I tried keeping it a smll file, it was originall like 1 gig

This is fantastic!!!! Nice job Mark. I watched the whole thing!!!

Joe

I salute you! Had to be as fun as watching paint dry. Whatever you do dont show your son, it would be sort of degrading having a Flash pro watch me stumble about aimlessly.

Have you ( or anyone) tried out Charmedquark sp?

Way too cool :D

That is awesome. I was telling Mario at Cinemar he should do tutorials like this instead of just PDFs. I think that is way easier than writing a book for every plug in and program. It helps me understand things better when I see it done instead of reading it, I know that much.

Ruben

They work pretty good for forgetful people like me like the other day when I asked you how to have the pasted image in Photoshop stay small and the second you said hit new it all came back. You forget 1 itty bitty detail in any of this stuff and your pretty much stuck. These are so easy to make they seem a must, It captures anything and everything you do and when you leave the quality to 100% you cant tell your not watching the real thing. I just wish I lived next door to Joe but then he would never finish his theater and have to move because of a bothersome neighbor.

Have you tried Charmedquark yet? I am checking to see if they have a 30 day trial. Have you delved deeper into HomeseerPro yet? I still cant find all those cool futuristic frontends you were talking about, they have a huge forum and it appears they reply to your questions instead of charging you hundreds and hundreds for non working plugins that come with no documentations.

The real reason people dont make things like this is because they have to store it on a server and you saw this via the softwares free trial which gives me 25 gig for $6 a month, well I just checked and Ive used 55% of that on this little 13 mb file. That would get costly if a couple hundred people a day were trying to figure things out.

Wanted to go bigger but its almost to big
ig now for the curtains as you can see in the latest pic now that the front is finished minus the curtains. Trust me when I tell you 14' 2.35:1 is pretty big at front row seating at 16'

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/P9260564.jpg

MArk, I have to chime in- I don't know how I found this thread, but I'm glad I did. While I've seen some very cool set-ups over the years, in person and on forums like this, I think yours is my favorite.

Sure there are guys with "better" gear, or "perfect acoustics," but your theater just exudes a "come in and USE me" vibe better than any of the rest. You can have family, friends, sit around, stand around, play, eat, whatever. I guess this sounds strange for a set-up that is so big, but, it feels intimate and cozy at the same time.

Great job, thanks for sharing with all of us. I look forward to stories and pictures of your continuing adventures!

Fred

Thanks Fred, thats kind of the direction is headed, we like to have people over and have fun. At first we were going to stack 15 people in the risers and quickly went to kickback mode with 9 LARGE chairs ( almost small loveseats at 4' wide). As Ive said movies are just a very small part of what we are going to do in here and when its done it will really "cozy" up and hopefully not look like a theater when its not supposed to be a theater. Im just stuck on automation yet again and unless Charmed Quark fits my needs it looks like the pros will have to come to the rescue, and once all automation works flawlessly I will spend a couple days maybe a week or two buttoning things up.

Mark,

Thanks for putting up that video on the D-Box was interesting to watch. I'm not sold on them yet but I sure would like to sit through a movie or two and test one out. Just have to find someone close to where I live that has one or a seller that has them set up in a demo room.
Your HT is coming along pretty good - it's an amazing room already I'm eagerly looking forward to some new photos as you continue along.
The automation stuff sounds very interesting I passed up most of the automation stuff or 'smart' home electronics as I couldn't justify it to my wife (she basically thinks we can both get off our lazy duff's and hit a light switch which I couldn't really argue against but the automation sure looks slick and I would love to have it).
Looking forward to seeing more.
Cheers
Calvin

Mark,

Thanks for putting up that video on the D-Box was interesting to watch. I'm not sold on them yet but I sure would like to sit through a movie or two and test one out. Just have to find someone close to where I live that has one or a seller that has them set up in a demo room.
Your HT is coming along pretty good - it's an amazing room already I'm eagerly looking forward to some new photos as you continue along.
The automation stuff sounds very interesting I passed up most of the automation stuff or 'smart' home electronics as I couldn't justify it to my wife (she basically thinks we can both get off our lazy duff's and hit a light switch which I couldn't really argue against but the automation sure looks slick and I would love to have it).
Looking forward to seeing more.
Cheers
Calvin
Yeah the D-Box is great fun! Call them , they are up north too and very friendly folks, I think the guys name is Yannik. Also Mike Poindexter on this forum has a pretty good feel for everything I can put a vote in for contacting him as well.

Yeah the automation really puts a damper on things and is the reason the theater is still where it is, I want full funtion before carpet, fabric and treaments go in. Im not having much luck and think I will wait for Charmed Quark ver. 2 and delve into that alittle and see what thats all about, If I cant figure that out it will be strike 3 and AMX or this local kid can have at er.

152 Insteons all on at once http://www.mediamax.com/gobigred/Hosted/Insteon.wmv

Sorry I didnt post the one of them all ramping up to 50% dim which is very cool in real life but was very dim in the .WMV, had I had the time to set all the lights to 100% then it would have worked but this takes like 20 minutes, maybe I will set it up tomorrow. Theaters lights are very dim, barley a glow even in this one.

Cool Mark.

Is that you holding a tablet running out the door or is that a burglar? :)

Me, trying to get to the camera before the dogs knock it over. Not sure why I didnt just carry the tablet over to the camera in the first place

I'm jumping in the middle of a conversation here, but I been following Mark's development since I first spoke to him on the phone and he told me I should join the forum... well here I am.

Mark how many hours have you spent on your automation? It's simply awesome:) can't wait to see it completed. If anyone of you has questions regarding D-BOX (because that's pretty much all I know) be my guest ...

I'm jumping in the middle of a conversation here, but I been following Mark's development since I first spoke to him on the phone and he told me I should join the forum... well here I am.

Mark how many hours have you spent on your automation? It's simply awesome:) can't wait to see it completed. If anyone of you has questions regarding D-BOX (because that's pretty much all I know) be my guest ...

Welcome!

But please don't ask Mark that question. You will just get him all riled up. :D

LOL Joe, aint that the truth!

Yannik, I am guessing I have about 500,000 hours into automation and I can now turn on 2 lights as long as they are close and I can reach the switch.

Seriously though, I dont want to know how many because if I knew it would probably be very depressing. I came into automation completely knowing NOTHING and thanks to Joe Morris (technical issues), Mario & Dave from Cinemar ( huge help here) , and now a guy called IVB that uses CQC I am getting a little better. This guy named Ruben ( SandmanX) should get a mention as well but we kind of are each others trouble shooters and helpers where we can be as smart or dumb as we want and not feel threatened, I also blame him for any trouble I have because he takes being a scapegoat well and tells me to take a flying leap off a tall bridge. We usually have this little " tip of the day" thing where one or the other can help the other get over/under/past something and have never ending impressions of products and design, think " Im a Mac, and Im a PC".

My main problem is I try stuff I dont understand for hours on end before I break down and call someone so realistically where I stand now could have been done in a couple days, maybe a week. I spent several days alone installing Insteon ( the easy part) and linking stuff and now I know how to use a product where in 1 hour all my Insteon would have been done properly from one laptop with no "quirks". Right now I am using Cinemar and most everything seems to be pretty easy since Mario has spent some serious hours on the phone with me, I can probably pay him back with some pretty good tutorials I am making while doing the projects. He doesnt need a server , he could just look at them and if he likes them just place the file up and let people DL them. I am making these so that when I have a problem down the road I dig up a tutorial to refresh my lapsing memory. As I figure stuff out I have to remake the tutorials so progress is fast. Had I had the collection I have now, I never would have had to call anyone.

Right now Im sitting fairly decent in automation on the easy stuff and sort of waiting on some advice on a small problem I have concerning controlling 3-5 things in a remote location 150' from the house where I have Insteon and wireless control, its just figuring out which route is the most reliable, Mario from Cinemar is looking at it and I am joining a Webex tutorial on CQC tomorrow where some of their guys explain stuff in real time so I can see what their product offers.

I even had a Crestron guy give me a little tip that saved me some headache yesterday, I guess they arent as evil as I thought

Mark, that is just too funny... the great thing about forums is that it's full of ressources... but I know the feeling to complete something on your own. At least with your tutorials you will be able to dig your info quickly. Can't wait to see more :)....

jesus tapdancing christ.

Mark,

Outstanding thread… I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your well documented journey and I’m now subscribed.

I’m running a similar automation setup… just on a much smaller scale. :)

I have:
The MainLobby3 suite for two touch panels (10” AirPanel and 15” 3M)
HomeSeer 2 for additional automation needs
Insteon throughout the home
USB-UIRT for IR
HAI thermostat for HVAC control

Most of my equipment is controlled through RS232, since it supports 2-way communication (status). The hardware that only supports IR is controlled using the USB-UIRT. It may look cheap but it gets the job done.

Did you ever decide on a touch screen solution?

Hey AccessHA,

Maybe your a guy I need to talk with about Insteon experimentation. Not sure if anyones tried this but I sort of thought of something the other day sitting in a 6 hour conference call with some Charmed Quarkers and we talked about crazy things I never knew were possible and was demonstrated an array of some pretty advanced stuff.

It seems Insteon has trouble with groups or scenes in a instant ALL ON dimmed state, my theory ( maybe tested today) involves going into the attic behind the equipment room and hanging something like a 6 gang box, this could be the start of my scene controller for large scenes and it goes like this. Link all switches ( that I want on in an ALL ON scene) to one Insteon switch, now for this switch to be automated I think it has to be a LOAD switch from what I have seen so far. No problem, it turns on an LED in the attic, maybe an outlet something worthless. In my little skull, this should relieve the PLC the hardship of turning on 150 switches and waiting for that nightmare of a macro to turn on all those lights one at a time in a series which dont get me wrong is very cool, just seems to shorten the life of the PLC that cant be sent commands while its in the one minute process of turning on lights. Are you confused yet?

If this works and they all ramp up to a dimmed state instantaneously this solves the Insteon glitch atleast in my case, smaller scenes the macro strings work fine but I can see the theater needing several scene switches up in that gang as well but for the most part the theater would be fine using macros for the cool factor other than the PLC being held up for 30 seconds or so.

What are you using Homeseer for that Mainlobby cant handle? Have you tried CQC? Im really on the fence right now and not sure what to use as a final automation software. I havent done anthing in CQC because I have felt horrible with this bird flu or whatever the kids brought home and automation and feeling like crap dont mix. I did sit back and watch some guys take over my computer on a conference call and go to town making a weather page as a demo on how to get started. So far I like Mainlobby and its ease of setup and support but after what I witnessed Sunday I am thinking CQC has some pretty strong support as well from actual integrators that can help you right on your desktop while I record it using Camtasia. Right now I am sort of waiting on Cinemars answer to some issues I have between buildings with no wires and running pool, irrigation, and fence lights before proceeding. As far as the lights and USB-UIRT stuff goes it appears Mainlobby can handle all this. Theres a couple pluses in both camps and the new CQC 2.0 has added some powerful dropdown menus that made it tough on the newbie before and it is intimidating to be sure. I wish there was a pro in both camps that could steer me with which one to proceed with.

Theres the factor that I am automation dumb as they come and I guarentee Im going to be a nusance when it comes to rs232 pool controllers and irrigation along with high amped multi-load sub panels being turned on by an insteon switch using relays and we havent touched auto blackouts and chandelier/microphone motors. When it comes to all these things, I could keep Mario on the phone for another 2 weeks straight or...... let some other people that thrive on this stuff show me on conference calls. Too me this is the nuts and bolt to the Theater, all the stage building and DIY curved screens and material hanging, D-Boxes and all that is an afterthought and easy to me, this automation stuff needs to be finalized and is the most confusing aspect hands down, and most expensive if a pro gets involved.

Im kind of watching Joe Morris rip through his stuff and hes a Cinemar user thats having luck. I waiting to see if he accomplishes everything he wants and I think hes doing some advanced automation as well

As far as touchscreens go I am probably holding off for the 10" Tablet Kiosk thats being designed for the HT users, from what they told me it looks like March ( they said Feb so I added a month)

Some of the CQC guys are talking about the ViewSonic Airpanel ( the new ones only automatoin integrators can get)

The Tablet Kiosk Saharas look appealing but hot, loud, and battery draining. The docks look horrible, the new 10" ers are supposed to be like their 7" UMPCs dock.

I have the i7209 Tablet Kiosk right now and it may be the one I use for the theater because its small and sleek and all black so I might James Bond the thing into the seating and set it up to hibernate during movies, it does take about 10 seconds to recover though so maybe standby. It is designed well for having it disappear out of sight while on its dock between seating, my plan is to have it flat as an armrest and if you push on a certain corner it will release, pop up slowly on a 45 degree angle in the sweet spot seating

What new airpanels?

Joe

As far as touchscreens go I am probably holding off for the 10" Tablet Kiosk thats being designed for the HT users, from what they told me it looks like March ( they said Feb so I added a month)

Some of the CQC guys are talking about the ViewSonic Airpanel ( the new ones only automatoin integrators can get)

The Tablet Kiosk Saharas look appealing but hot, loud, and battery draining. The docks look horrible, the new 10" ers are supposed to be like their 7" UMPCs dock.

I have the i7209 Tablet Kiosk right now and it may be the one I use for the theater because its small and sleek and all black so I might James Bond the thing into the seating and set it up to hibernate during movies, it does take about 10 seconds to recover though so maybe standby. It is designed well for having it disappear out of sight while on its dock between seating, my plan is to have it flat as an armrest and if you push on a certain corner it will release, pop up slowly on a 45 degree angle in the sweet spot seating

http://www.viewsonic.com/products/mobilewireless/wirelessmonitors/v212/index.htm

Mark,

OK, my brain is about to explode. Maybe you can help me break this down to something a little more manageable. :eek:

It seems Insteon has trouble with groups or scenes in a instant ALL ON dimmed state, my theory ( maybe tested today) involves going into the attic behind the equipment room and hanging something like a 6 gang box, this could be the start of my scene controller for large scenes and it goes like this.Is the plan to have six Insteon dimmers installed in this box?

Link all switches ( that I want on in an ALL ON scene) to one Insteon switch, now for this switch to be automated I think it has to be a LOAD switch from what I have seen so far.Yes, that’s correct. It sounds to me like you want to use an Insteon V2 dimmer as the ontroller for a bunch of switches instead of the PLC. Does that sound right? Then just trigger the single V2 to ramp the large scene?


What are you using Homeseer for that Mainlobby cant handle?Originally, I used it to support Insteon when ML didn’t. It also controlled my HAI thermostat, voice mail using HSPhone, and a variety of miscellaneous scripts. Additionally, it has a huge user community when you need something really quirky scripted or developed.

Have you tried CQC?Yes, I have a couple times in the past. It’s a nice package and has a very loyal following. For my needs, ML was a better fit. I also let friends and family assist in the decision making process. WAF is big in my house and it’s always great to see how friends react to a new interface or technology. When we throw parties, the kitchen touch screen it always the center of attraction (besides the booze of course). :D

I havent done anthing in CQC because I have felt horrible with this bird flu or whatever the kids brought home and automation and feeling like crap dont mix.My family just got over something similar… it put us out of commission for days.

I did sit back and watch some guys take over my computer on a conference call and go to town making a weather page as a demo on how to get started. So far I like Mainlobby and its ease of setup and support but after what I witnessed Sunday I am thinking CQC has some pretty strong support as well from actual integrators that can help you right on your desktop while I record it using Camtasia.I’m a huge Camtasia fan, I’ve used in for training videos many times in the past. It sounds like you are a hands-on type of guy like me. When I can see things visually everything becomes crystal clear.

Right now I am sort of waiting on Cinemars answer to some issues I have between buildings with no wires and running pool, irrigation, and fence lights before proceeding.Could you expand on this?

Too me this is the nuts and bolt to the Theater, all the stage building and DIY curved screens and material hanging, D-Boxes and all that is an afterthought and easy to me, this automation stuff needs to be finalized and is the most confusing aspect hands down, and most expensive if a pro gets involved.Agreed… that’s why it’s so great to have all these DIY communities online and companies like Cinemar and Charmed Quark.

Do you have the link to your ML videos that you made with Camtasia? I looked back through the thread and couldn’t find them. I’d be interested in seeing what you’ve accomplished so far.

Hi Mark,

After our last conversation regarding Insteon we wanted to attempt to expand the capability for your needs. We've been working with Insteon to drastically improve features of our driver and I think you're gonna love them. ;)

One of those new features will be the ability to add lights to a group and specify an onLevel and Ramp Rate when the group is turned on. Lights can belong to multiple groups and have different onLevels/Ramp rates within each group.

So you could have a light in group 1 that turns on at 50%, and it also may belong to group 2 and turn on at 30%. All this is instant without any delays. Meaning all lights are being triggered simultaneously.

We'll also be adding the ability to delete groups and remove lights from groups.

The adding of lights is now done automatically - so no need to use HouseLinc or go to the Switch and then the PLC to finalize the linking. This is pretty huge as well.

There are some other goodies, but these are the key features.

All these are pretty major and should save you a lot of grief. :) Stay tuned. We'll be testing the updates this week and hopefully have a free update soon.

Thanks for the info Mario! Those are some significant enhancements. I look forward to the update.

First heres something for the guys wanting the tutorial things, let me know if this file un-zips and works. It is long and it is B O R I N G so 99.9% of you dont need to even look at this. Its just about using Photoshop and Flash to put .JPG into Mainlobby as buttons that have lights coming on and off is all and its very long, like 50 minutes.

http://www.mediamax.com/gobigred/Hosted/Buttons.zip

Let me know if it works, its so big and bloated and not as smooth as the last ones I made because it was "filming" at 5 Frames per sec which really bogs down my laptop and makes a huge file around a GIG before compression. If I werent so miserable sick and couching it playing Gears of War and CoD3, I would have made another shorter, better one

Mark,

OK, my brain is about to explode. Maybe you can help me break this down to something a little more manageable. :eek:

Is the plan to have six Insteon dimmers installed in this box?

It sounds to me like you want to use an Insteon V2 dimmer as the ontroller for a bunch of switches instead of the PLC. Does that sound right? Then just trigger the single V2 to ramp the large scene?

I’m a huge Camtasia fan, I’ve used in for training videos many times in the past. It sounds like you are a hands-on type of guy like me. When I can see things visually everything becomes crystal clear.

Could you expand on this?

Agreed… that’s why it’s so great to have all these DIY communities online and companies like Cinemar and Charmed Quark.

Do you have the link to your ML videos that you made with Camtasia? I looked back through the thread and couldn’t find them. I’d be interested in seeing what you’ve accomplished so far. Yes it was about large scenes all tied to 1 switch which I havent tried yet, maybe today. Large scenes ( 100+ lights) clog the PLC for too long and as of today no bodys software can turn on 100 lights instantly whiled dimmed to 60% and a 5 second ramp. The six switches came from the thought of I will probably have about 6 larger than 20 light scenes. Also it has to be a load switch so I could hook up the dimmers to anything with very little watts, even just an outlet. Then build my scene in Houselinc by dragging basically the whole left side onto that switch as responders and such. The PLC should only have to send the signal to that switch to turn on 100 lights instantly.

The part you wanted me to expand on is this.

Theres a shed that stores a Jandy aqualink pool controller and keypad, 100 zones of Rainbirds in 2 control boxes, and some pretty substaintial fence lighting. I have very strong wireless and Insteon signal in this building so my question is whats the best approach to this, Its either put another PC out there to control whats there now, and what will be there when the building transforms into a full sized rec area that happens to have an equiptment room in the cellar. I am wondering if I need a second Elk out there that can wirelessly talk to the other Elk in the house. I dont know if I need the Jandy rs232 serial adaptor or the PC control with premade program for PC. Do I even need a PC? Yadayada. CQC has layed out most of the answers but Ive been to sick to deal with trying their Insteon drivers ( if those dont work, I guess that answers the question of which system is best for me because I think they gave up or stopped working on the plugin/driver)

So I am waiting on Marios opinion on the pool controller deal in that shed and see what route he suggests

Hi Mark,

After our last conversation regarding Insteon we wanted to attempt to expand the capability for your needs. We've been working with Insteon to drastically improve features of our driver and I think you're gonna love them. ;)

One of those new features will be the ability to add lights to a group and specify an onLevel and Ramp Rate when the group is turned on. Lights can belong to multiple groups and have different onLevels/Ramp rates within each group.

So you could have a light in group 1 that turns on at 50%, and it also may belong to group 2 and turn on at 30%. All this is instant without any delays. Meaning all lights are being triggered simultaneously.

We'll also be adding the ability to delete groups and remove lights from groups.

The adding of lights is now done automatically - so no need to use HouseLinc or go to the Switch and then the PLC to finalize the linking. This is pretty huge as well.

There are some other goodies, but these are the key features.

All these are pretty major and should save you a lot of grief. :) Stay tuned. We'll be testing the updates this week and hopefully have a free update soon.
Very nice, check the forums and what area, Insteon?

Mark,
Holy cow, the bones of your theater are incredible. :eek: Makes my little old 30x18x11 theater space look small! Hurry up and finish the thing so we can critique your decorating taste.

Winkelmann

Very nice, check the forums and what area, Insteon?I think it's still in the works. Waiting patiently myself but it should show up in the Insteon or News & Announcements forum when it's ready to go.

Mark,
Holy cow, the bones of your theater are incredible. :eek: Makes my little old 30x18x11 theater space look small! Hurry up and finish the thing so we can critique your decorating taste.

WinkelmannActually its pretty close to your size with the way the final outcome will be, raising the ceiling makes the room appear very large. I had to do this to get the screen size I was after plus it was so cost effective and helped the sound tremendously. Its hard to remember exact figures on raising the ceiling but materials were less than $500 and my sheetrocker friend cost like $1500 or $1800 M/L along with some other fixes he performed along with this. The decorating is the easy part and the way its going may never get done. I want all the automation done and the theater running perfectly before I finish and that seems to be a challege I wasnt expecting. I figured 2007 just around the corner this stuff was pretty tightend up since I have been in automated homes a half a decade ago that did more than I am wanting to do. I dont think I want to do anything extreme at all but maybe because I have seen much, much more accomplished than I will ever do, it may be a 'Crestron/AMX' thing. The AMX guy warned me about using computers and DIY approach but I figured he was trying to make a sell, turns out every single thing he told me would happen, is happening almost exactly the way he said it would. I find this automation stuff addictive and fun but at the same time its burning me out yet again with a tiny glitch here and a slight glitch there which make the final result look like it was DIY.

The funny thing is I have an old MX850 running the entire theater flawlessly with macros, the newer MX950 cant turn on the PJ but thats easy, just throw an Insteon on its power and set it to auto start with power. I love the look of the MX950 and it may be the item I end up staying with and just keep a touchscreen for lighting effects when a Insteon plugin is finalized. I am going to attend another CQC conference meeting Sunday to see if I even want to go that route and play around with it some more so I hope the guy that is writing their plugin shows up but I dont feel like dedicating endless hours on something to find a hidden glitch weeks down the road that makes the entire automation program useless from a professional looking/working point of view.

I think it's still in the works. Waiting patiently myself but it should show up in the Insteon or News & Announcements forum when it's ready to go.I was told by another member here it was already done, maybe he didnt understand correctly. It would be nice though, it might be the thing that gets me motivated to continue down that road. I am at the point where I just completely stopped and waited a couple weeks now because if I am going to invest another 8-16 hours and if everything isnt working flawlessly, I cant see waiting on a hope and a prayer or selling everything and buying the few select items associated with working properly. I like all the equiptment Im using and if it can work with a Universal remote MX850 it should be easy to get up and running with anything.

The funny thing is the most impressive thing I have as of now is a Xbox360, I bought the HD-DVD add on and WOW.This along with the HD downloads starting on the 22nd the 360 might endup being the most powerful item in the theater and its a toy. I wonder if Microsoft is working on making the 360 an automation controller as well.

Mark,
I am going to use Crestron for my controls. I'm not sure whether I'll use IR or not; I'd rather hard wire straight into the devices and be done with it. Lets face it, my seat will never move and I don't plan on looking for the remote. :rolleyes:
I'm looking forward to that day in 2007 when I click on this thread and an eye full of your wonderful finished theater graces my computer screen.
I've been inspired by so many theaters on the AVS forum, I wish I'd happened upon it sooner.

Cheers

The funny thing is the most impressive thing I have as of now is a Xbox360, I bought the HD-DVD add on and WOW.This along with the HD downloads starting on the 22nd the 360 might endup being the most powerful item in the theater and its a toy. I wonder if Microsoft is working on making the 360 an automation controller as well.Good to hear... it's on my Christmas wish list. :) I picked up the HD DVD drive early, at $160 I couldn't pass it up.

Some playing around with scenes for automation ( winter scenes,ho,ho,ho), sorry its not theater realated but I guess I can let loose on a picture I was going to save for a couple more weeks, call it a teaser trailer.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/Poolstuff.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/ht2.jpg

Getting harder to take pictures now

Mark,

Nice work as usual. You may need a Home and Back button on there so you don't get trapped on that page. I know you'd like to spend all day in the pool though. :)

Mark,

Nice work as usual. You may need a Home and Back button on there so you don't get trapped on that page. I know you'd like to spend all day in the pool though. :)You touch the house and your back to " Home", Actually you touch the theater and you're in the theater, when rainbirds get done, touch lawn and go to rainbirds, Im trying to make stuff flow with as little buttons as I can. Working on getting rid of a couple on the pool scenes now but I need to figure out animation and making steam appear to be rising

Whadya know, you are back up on the first page again!!

I think the spa stuff looks really cool and it WORKS!!!!!

Joe

Actually Mario I was trying to figure out how to get your DVDLobby T2 explosion out of there so when I turn the spa on a little nuclear explosion comes out of the spa as well as pool. The wife didnt think it was very funny but I have to incorperate that thing somewhere. Explosion = steam rising and Im in like Flint

Also can I edit your main page with weather, phone and calander, Ive tried with little luck

Whadya know, you are back up on the first page again!!

I think the spa stuff looks really cool and it WORKS!!!!!

JoeI wont be here long, might get interesting soon though

All I see is the chicks in bathing suits out there. Much more interesting than home theater. Really a beautiful home,lot ,theater................. :D

Art

The wife didnt think it was very funny but I have to incorperate that thing somewhere. Explosion = steam rising and Im in like FlintROFL... I love that animation as well.

Also can I edit your main page with weather, phone and calander, Ive tried with little luck
Sure you can. Just make sure you edit the 0019_home.mls and not the 0019_home_nav.mls. What are you attempting to change?

BTW Mark... my wife gave me an early Christmas present, the Xbox 360 Premium. Microsoft, for once, hit the nail on the head. It's stellar and now rates as my #1 piece of hardware in the theater as well.

All I see is the chicks in bathing suits out there. Much more interesting than home theater. Really a beautiful home,lot ,theater................. :D

ArtI can say with confidence that theres been entertainment coming from both spanning from comedy to drama.

ROFL... I love that animation as well.


Sure you can. Just make sure you edit the 0019_home.mls and not the 0019_home_nav.mls. What are you attempting to change?

BTW Mark... my wife gave me an early Christmas present, the Xbox 360 Premium. Microsoft, for once, hit the nail on the head. It's stellar and now rates as my #1 piece of hardware in the theater as well.LOL AccessHA,
The night I found it, everytime she walked by I hit er with the ole KaBlooey, must have got a record on eyerolls. I need to get that out of there.

" Hey dear, could you go turn on the Hot Tub???.........pause.........KaBlooooooeyy......... Honey, yyy, y,...........wha, huh, I didnt do anything?"

Did you get "Gears of War" yet? the online is very, very fun. And yes the crappy little dvd add on is the best DVD player I have ever owned. The DLed movies are a disappointment so far, took 18 hours to grab the Unforgiven.

Sure you can. Just make sure you edit the 0019_home.mls and not the 0019_home_nav.mls. What are you attempting to change?

Sorry, the explosion got me all excited, I want to put current temp and cloud,sun icons in other spots as well as change the size of the calender and caller ID. maybe re-arrange the whole thing.

Sorry, the explosion got me all excited, I want to put current temp and cloud,sun icons in other spots as well as change the size of the calender and caller ID. maybe re-arrange the whole thing.It has that affect. :D

Yeah, it's pretty simple to do. I've customized mine in a similar fashion. I've increased the size of the CallerID image and enlarged the CallerID info as well. Even on a 15" screen the original was too small for my eyes to see.

Once you open the 0019_home.mls, just hit F9 and click the Design button. Then drag and drop everything into their new position. To change their size, just click Edit and modify the CallerID image and Calendar properties.

Did you get "Gears of War" yet? the online is very, very fun. And yes the crappy little dvd add on is the best DVD player I have ever owned. The DLed movies are a disappointment so far, took 18 hours to grab the Unforgiven.Yeah... Gears was the first title I picked up and it's amazing. Still messing around with campaign mode but look forward to getting online.

I agree on the slow downloads... still better than waiting overnight for Netflix. :) I’m sure MS will get the kinks worked out, maybe move to a torrent type solution.

Mark P,
Spent a couple of hours reading your thread (actually my entire workday ;) ). This place is getting fairly addivtive, I started on SandmanX thread and after countless hours to complete, moved to your thread. Though you have been hearing it all the time, I have to say this: mind blowing HT build!

After reading thru your and Ruben's efforts at automation, the two of you have motivated me to automate my dinky rental apartment w/ roomates :D Now I just need to figure out if its going to be feasible :eek: and how its going to affect my planned purchases of an Anthem MCA50 and 20.

Mark,

Have you or Ruben found what you determine to be the best remote yet? I saw that Ruben sold his Q1.

Joe

I guess it depends, one without a hard drive I havent found. This area is a real crapper as far as Im concerned. I search and called around for days and days and ended up with the Tablet Kiosk Sahara for whole house and their i7209 UMPC for the theater. None of the stuff I have would probably make you happy because its heavy, The Sahara is pretty sweet, quiet, fast (with a gig of ram) and I found out they actually build the Nobus and other brands and are the only thing I found that I like. In January they are introducing their new models which supposedly have nice docks as well as a 10" model but Im really liking this Sahara. It measures 11.5"x 8.5 x 1" and is all screen with a 3/4" border and it really looks sleek on its presentation screen even plugged in. I really liked the fact mine came without any emblems on it

In the theater I am just going to build the 7" in a popup thing at the captains chair. It will lay flat and when you push down it will raise up, I have yet to play with it much but its loud and blows some heat when running Mainlobby, it needed a gig of ram as well I think.

With the Graphics Im attempting , I need fast and want instant screens so I went hard drive. My MX950 works pretty good and looks nice as well and would be able to handle most everything as well. Tablet Kiosk is sending me an email when these new products come out, they sound very appealing.

What you're looking for though, I never found it. No help here

Mark P,
Spent a couple of hours reading your thread (actually my entire workday ;) ). This place is getting fairly addivtive, I started on SandmanX thread and after countless hours to complete, moved to your thread. Though you have been hearing it all the time, I have to say this: mind blowing HT build!

After reading thru your and Ruben's efforts at automation, the two of you have motivated me to automate my dinky rental apartment w/ roomates :D Now I just need to figure out if its going to be feasible :eek: and how its going to affect my planned purchases of an Anthem MCA50 and 20.Automation is consuming my life and Im putting an end to it soon but so far I have about 90% done. seems Cinemars new Insteon plugin is working and doing what I needed it to do. I got CQC this weekend just to have around and play with when I get a chance because I want to control some things from a cell phone and I am not sure if Cinemar does this or not. I think I plan on using both and migrating between which ever handles something the best, from what I understand this is do-able. CQC doubled in price today so I figured I better snatch it up, I have seen some impressive demos of what it can do, whether I can do it or not is another question. Cinemar is working pretty good for most things now, If I wasnt such a stickler about my scenes I would be done but I keep improving and changing them

I guess it depends, one without a hard drive I havent found. This area is a real crapper as far as Im concerned. I search and called around for days and days and ended up with the Tablet Kiosk Sahara for whole house and their i7209 UMPC for the theater. None of the stuff I have would probably make you happy because its heavy, The Sahara is pretty sweet, quiet, fast (with a gig of ram) and I found out they actually build the Nobus and other brands and are the only thing I found that I like. In January they are introducing their new models which supposedly have nice docks as well as a 10" model but Im really liking this Sahara. It measures 11.5"x 8.5 x 1" and is all screen with a 3/4" border and it really looks sleek on its presentation screen even plugged in. I really liked the fact mine came without any emblems on it

In the theater I am just going to build the 7" in a popup thing at the captains chair. It will lay flat and when you push down it will raise up, I have yet to play with it much but its loud and blows some heat when running Mainlobby, it needed a gig of ram as well I think.

With the Graphics Im attempting , I need fast and want instant screens so I went hard drive. My MX950 works pretty good and looks nice as well and would be able to handle most everything as well. Tablet Kiosk is sending me an email when these new products come out, they sound very appealing.

What you're looking for though, I never found it. No help here

Those are really nice. I bet they look good on the table too. A little pricey for me though. :(

Joe

Those are really nice. I bet they look good on the table too. A little pricey for me though. :(

JoeYeah they are pricey considering I probably spent 20 hours just trying to find something that wasnt pricey. I spent an entire day trying to chase down the Nobus and finally found they were made by Tablet Kiosk, talk about a waste. Good luck, I finally said to heck with searching for the Holy Grail, its not out there.

You know, with the terminal emulation software I told you about a PocketPC would ahve the full capabilities and speed of a PC.

You only have a 3.4x4" screen but they come with nice docking stations and hard buttons that can be programmed.

Just a thought. I am going to give it a try.

Joe

link? If its running PPC software it wont work with ML

link? If its running PPC software it wont work with ML

Didn't you find the email with the link in it? I don't have it here at work.

Also, it WILL work if the pda is running PPC. So there. ;)

I have tested it and it works. I just need to see if I can create a scene of the correct size that makes sense. Hopefully tonight.

Joe

Hi guys,

Mark, your theatre is awesome blah, blah blah, :D I am sure you have heard enough of that.

How is the whole house automation coming along? While reading through this I do not remember any mentioning whole house audio. Did any of you guys incorporate this into your designs and how did you do it?

Also, while reading in other threads Mark mentioned that the possible interfaces were inadequate for his expectations and I was kinda feeling the same. I was thinking of perhaps trying some of the software suites that you guys have been talking about for home automation (CQC, Cinemar), incorporating it with my audio system (most likely Digilinx), and designing my own interface. Digilinx has a very nice interface but it does not play very well with other systems.

Anyways, we're are all waiting for Mark to finish his theatre and invite us over for a demo, when will that happen? Who knows.

Another tidbit i read earlier on in this thread was about Windows Media Center Edition on a HTPC. Windows Vista is being released Jan. 30th 2007 and the Home Premium and Ultimate editions will have the new Media Center built in. I am very excited to play with the final release but even more excited to see what developers will be working on in the new year for this platform.

I didn't want to hi-jack this thread but since your project seems to be ongoing you may want to keep an eye out for Home control sulutions using the Vista Media Center as your interface (transparencies, animations, glassy look and feel)

Hi guys,

Mark, your theatre is awesome blah, blah blah, :D I am sure you have heard enough of that.

How is the whole house automation coming along? While reading through this I do not remember any mentioning whole house audio. Did any of you guys incorporate this into your designs and how did you do it?

Also, while reading in other threads Mark mentioned that the possible interfaces were inadequate for his expectations and I was kinda feeling the same. I was thinking of perhaps trying some of the software suites that you guys have been talking about for home automation (CQC, Cinemar), incorporating it with my audio system (most likely Digilinx), and designing my own interface. Digilinx has a very nice interface but it does not play very well with other systems.

Anyways, we're are all waiting for Mark to finish his theatre and invite us over for a demo, when will that happen? Who knows.

Another tidbit i read earlier on in this thread was about Windows Media Center Edition on a HTPC. Windows Vista is being released Jan. 30th 2007 and the Home Premium and Ultimate editions will have the new Media Center built in. I am very excited to play with the final release but even more excited to see what developers will be working on in the new year for this platform.

I didn't want to hi-jack this thread but since your project seems to be ongoing you may want to keep an eye out for Home control sulutions using the Vista Media Center as your interface (transparencies, animations, glassy look and feel)Whole house minus security is done but Im just not a security kind of guy even though I need some practice for the upcoming event which kicked in yesterday you may have read about in the other automation thread over yonder. I put up security cameras as to know if someone Im expecting is at the back door, or basically find the wife and/or kids/friends. This was an important phase to learn for reasons other than security in my upcoming projects. Two of them are pretty cold for half the year and people will be able to see if Valet has arrived, in the northern case this is Dog Sled. My "boss" is out dog sledding across and around some areas now picking his teams, he was like a little kid at the meetings yesterday almost impatient to wrap up as to get started. I need to playing with GPS tracking as well to go on the sleds themselves so If wives or guests stay back at the suites, they will know where the sleds are in conjunction with the town or just plain emergency situations. We arent having any of this stuff like whats going on up on our news worthy Hill here in Oregon. I didnt want to get into any of this stuff over there in the other thread since it appears to offend a couple of the members over there. I think a CQC guy is doing this very same thing with GPS tracking , his name is Squintz if I recall properly. People that want to discuss interfaces over here are welcome to though, you cant hijack this thread, I did that long ago.

My interfaces are coming along except the point discussed about not being modern like the interfaces in the PS3, Windows Media Center, X360, TIVOs and well, everything except automation screens. It was a little suprising to me that a group were actually satisfied with the present stage of interface design. Ruben ( SandmanX) and I have had several discussions about this outside the forums and I have had these discussions with dozens of others regarding this. I think Cinemar may understand to a point incorporating Flash and the owner being in the business of flash. There are no doubts I need both programs to achieve complete success so Im on a slippery slope of whos operatng what but the reality is at times I think CQC is going to be running Cinemar (cellphone call operates things back at the room is about it, maybe the GPS tracking as well)

My whole house audio is done and controllable via USB-uirt and wireless transmitters of the IR blast, it works very well but does not allow of the use of ripped tunes from the server and never will at this location, 200 cd changers and preset FM is the choice I have but works well. I have total control of other Media device spread about and all are operated via touchscreen. Thankfully the places Im using this stuff in the future can be hard wired, the choice of wireless touchscreens is null and void, another thing strange to me in the automation world.

I doubt anyone wants to hear why I attempted/ing all this but lets just say all this has been experimentation for other avenues Im approaching starting full bore yesterday. Unfortunately I didnt finish the Theater but even it was pratice for whats being implemented into 3 other projects. Its not far off but we just dont have much time to kick back and watch movies much. I am also waiting to see how my counterpart the Interior Design Architect deals with the 1850s building since there is a theater in there that sort of reflects the period Im after anyway. Some of my ideas are being implemented into these projects. Again I built everything as to play in a sandbox and learn more than having a Theater so finishing has been slow since I learned most things I needed in the first couple weeks last year

Im coming along pretty good though, Im going to inform the son its his baby now and see how far he gets with Flash and such. He understands all the programing and such since unlike me, he got an early start in technology/ PCs and has been exposed more in his first 16 years of life than I have since the inception of the PC in the 80s.

I dont think either of these products are tested in Vista and hopefully the work, if not, I guess they better hurry up and get up to speed, I always had a feeling Microsoft was going to attack this area considering the type of people they are employing. A couple friends of mine were snatched up by them and they cant disclose what it is they do so thats sort of exciting, maybe we will see some of it in Vista. I think we are getting ready to take the next step in making everything we all own obsolete yet again very, very soon.

I do extensive research into what appeals to people Architectually so all replies to this thread have been valuable beyond comprehension, I thank each and everyone of you for responding including the PMs received from valuable members of this forum. When certain people show such interest I will see what I can do to get some of you a couple days stay at any location youre near including here when its done.

Here you go Ruben,
hope this helps

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/Picture125.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/Picture126.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/Picture127.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/Picture130.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/Picture133.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/Picture134.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/Picture135.jpg

You know Mark,

If you are going to attempt to be a hand model you should probably clean under the fingernails first!! :)

Joe

which cameras are you using for the outdoor shots? IP based?

You know Mark,

If you are going to attempt to be a hand model you should probably clean under the fingernails first!! :)

JoeOr not pour concrete right before hand modeling. Didnt quite finish the night before due to early New Years eve festivities and wanted to get it done before my Games kicked off at 8:30 and I remembered I promised Ruben Id get this done and had I put it off one minute longer I would have completely forgot. I have a terrible habit of hand trowling when in a hurry.

I will have you know Im in the running for best manicured Horse Rancher on this hill.

which cameras are you using for the outdoor shots? IP based?The outdoor Panasonics, cant remember what the model #s are but its something something 371. I like them alot, they have audio and zoom which both have come in handy several times. The picture is pretty phenominal even at night. I assigned static IPs to them and can see them local network or web based.

You can see the thick fog we had this morning, outside you could barely see 50' it was so thick

yea was bout to say, what u have a smoke machine outside, or could of been steam comming off the pool.. but wow fog that thick must be awsome to play marko polo in.. HAH.. i tried to call you couple times was working in the room today..

You can see the thick fog we had this morning, outside you could barely see 50' it was so thick

I remember being at my friends house in Ripon, CA years ago for the weekend. We knew the fog would be bad, but when I woke up and was asked to see if the paperboy delivered the newspaper that day, I was shocked when I went out and literally could not see the ground as I was walking. Strange stuff.

yea was bout to say, what u have a smoke machine outside, or could of been steam comming off the pool.. but wow fog that thick must be awsome to play marko polo in.. HAH.. i tried to call you couple times was working in the room today..Yeah, my cell phone was off due to being a College Football fanatic and everyone always wants to call and hitting pause all the time really ruins games. ( mostly all my friends that are Beaver, Duck, USC and wolverweenie fans talking smack since Im a rabid Husker fan since around 69)

So the Cell Phone goes bye-bye anytime theres a game on, What ya need? Be sure to ask in your thread, theres a million more around here that know more than me and they are probably back after the Holiday weekend.

I remember being at my friends house in Ripon, CA years ago for the weekend. We knew the fog would be bad, but when I woke up and was asked to see if the paperboy delivered the newspaper that day, I was shocked when I went out and literally could not see the ground as I was walking. Strange stuff.We are usually just above the fog line here but the last 3 days its been a nightmare, they forecasted sun so I line up a bunch of sun projects Ive put off for 2 months now and it popped out for 1 day and caught me with my pants down. Mostly a bunch of small concrete pads around auto waterers for horses and 2,000 of 3 rail fence and asphalt road. This weather is starting to chap my hide. The fog is so thick it might as well be rain

Thanks Mark for the great comparison pictures.

I think I'm going to pick up a 12" one instead. Does yours have a built in stand or is that an optional dock?

This is a picture Cinemar or Tabletkiosk should use on their website. Just color correct it a bit and it's like a studio picture.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/Picture133.jpg

Ruben

Ruben,
Its a presentation stand, no dock. The dock is pretty terrible looking so I passed and this particular one will just mainly stay in its little space full time. Supposedly Tablet Kiosk is releasing a new 12" with a nice dock, the rep told meto look for the press release this month, I hope so.

Nice find on the flash drive today, hopefully these can be swapped out.

Just color correct it a bit and it's like a studio picture.


Ruben

Whew, thanks. I was beginning to think that my bloodshot eyes from all of the drinking I did over the holidays was affecting my vision. :p

Either that or Mark had his rose colored glasses over the camera lens!!! :eek:

Joe

Nice find on the flash drive today, hopefully these can be swapped out.

Take a look at this! It is fairly expensive compared to many others available but you will get the idea.

Adapter (http://cgi.eXbay.com/2-5-Hard-drive-format-compact-flash-to-IDE-adapter-267_W0QQitemZ290066722442QQcmdZViewItem)

edit: I guess you cannot say the words eXbay.com (sans X) on this forum. So change the URL approprietly

I also just checked my work laptop and with absolutely TONS of crap on it like full office, 7 years of documents, and a full manufacturing program I am only using 16GB of the hard disk.

I think this option is definately worth a check out.

Joe

I can't believe I hadn't seen this before! I guess I probably scanned over it because it was another thread with a title containing the words 'Stages' and 'Risers', and because I've been busy with my own projects and family. Well, I'm glad I found it even though your nearing the end. The project design and construction is excellent and a thread that has been very pleasurable to read through. Thanks for letting us be a part of it!

Hello ruben..

I'm am sure you are used to the many comments made on behalf of your meticulous attention to detail. You have certainly earned the respect of the many DIY people on this site... Salute

Can you please let me know where you picked up your blue valence lighting... I have a similar valence and wish to achieve the same results I have seen in your photos. I have some blue rope lighting but the effect is not there and they are just too dim...

Ken

...Im a rabid Husker fan since around 69)

GO BIG RED! Born and raised in York, NE! I'm Ohio State alumni though, so I get to root for the 2 best teams in the nation every Saturday! Thank god UNL and OSU don't play each other, or my head might just explode.

On topic though, I am very impressed with your build and attention to detail. Keep the updates coming!

Hello ruben..

I'm am sure you are used to the many comments made on behalf of your meticulous attention to detail. You have certainly earned the respect of the many DIY people on this site... Salute

Can you please let me know where you picked up your blue valence lighting... I have a similar valence and wish to achieve the same results I have seen in your photos. I have some blue rope lighting but the effect is not there and they are just too dim...

Ken

Ken,

It has to be LED blue rope lighting. I agree with you. The non-LED just does NOT work.

I used the same setup in my theater as Ruben. I guess you can say that I kinda copied him ;)

(This also should have been in Ruben's thread but I am sure Mark won't mind a small detour. He's probably out of town anyway :)

Joe

Thanks Joe...

My apologies mark... easy mistake to make... I am always in either yours or ruben's thread... awesome...

Ken

This is a picture Cinemar or Tabletkiosk should use on their website. Just color correct it a bit and it's like a studio picture.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/GoBigRed/Picture133.jpg

Ruben

Here ya go, color corrected. :P

http://www.chirpiegirl.com/ht/color_correct.jpg

I like the first one better!

Hey Chirpie, where you been? Haven't seen your name on the forum in a while.

I like the first one better!

Hey Chirpie, where you been? Haven't seen your name on the forum in a while.

Yeah, it was a quick and dirty correction. You can tell by the way the blacks look slightly dark purple. ^_^;

I've been around. I spend most of my time watching the Bluray and HD-DVD forums whine at eachother. Technical talk is fun, but the banter over there is an all new kind of entertainment. :-)

Mark/Ruben - I'm trying to decide between a full blown tabletPC versus an option like the viewsonic airpanels for my home theater touchpanel.

Mark - are you still happy with the tablet. I was worried about the short battery life, heat/noise etc. Also it seemed overkill for running a few touchscreen pages.

Ruben - It looked like you were pretty happy with the Airpanel. Are you running mainlobby directly on the airpanel or connecting to a terminal server (e.g. RDP). How is the performance?

thanks for any insights

Nishan

I have been following this thread for a few weeks now and was curious as to how the theater is coming. Any new pics?

Wow. Just saw this thread.

Is there an update?

Mark/Ruben - I'm trying to decide between a full blown tabletPC versus an option like the viewsonic airpanels for my home theater touchpanel.

Mark - are you still happy with the tablet. I was worried about the short battery life, heat/noise etc. Also it seemed overkill for running a few touchscreen pages.

Ruben - It looked like you were pretty happy with the Airpanel. Are you running mainlobby directly on the airpanel or connecting to a terminal server (e.g. RDP). How is the performance?

thanks for any insights

Nishan
Sorry for late response, been kinda busy and Vista dumps AVS emails in Junk Mail so I guess it is faster and more productive!

Any insights? Hmmm...........My insights may be slightly flawed as I have been informed by pretty much everyone that has anything to do with automation but heres my honest assessment.

The GUI (Gooey) of all products including the mega money stuff that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars seems sterile and 1993ish too me. No matter how elegant or glassy or eye poppingly well done it is, nothing I have seen anywhere (I think I have seen everything but Gates home and Im trying on that) appeals to me. The graphics can be as professional and well thought out as possible and it still feels like you're using an ATM machine from the 80's.

After using Vista for well over a month and seeing great GUI in Gaming consoles and even simplistic devices as cell phones and Tivos, Home automation screens are far behind the times no matter how much fade in/out is going on. Cinemars Mainlobby seems to be on the right track with its Flash based system but it may cost you a sizable amount to have a GUI I wouldn't want hidden in a cupboard. Im not a static button type of guy and its 2008 soon and everything I have witnessed would have been spectacular a decade ago. I hope Im not being too harsh but in reality I find irony that the type of things going on behind the scenes providing such modern and exciting opportunities are controlled by glorified Etch-a-Sketches with dull and depressing looking screens in a well lit room.

Every Etch-A Sket......eerrrr... I mean Tablet and touchscreen I have had my hands on ( about a dozen) are overpriced steaming piles. This aspect of automation is a complete and utter waste of time and there are no products I could possibly recommend with confidence, I had the latest Crestron screen in my hands last week ( not even sure its available to public yet) and I was really quite suprised at how proudly it was presented to me and my reaction of belly laughing to the point of almost crying it hurt so bad. I know what went wrong and how it went wrong but I am afraid its going to be awhile before any automation devices are front and center in any room I am involved with. I purchased a 42" 1080P LCD for a project I just finished for much less than the Sahara I have and the thing impressed me so much I bought a 52"er for myself for around the same price as the POS Sahara which is light years above anything else I have witnessed.

Alan Gouger gave me a great piece of advice several years ago and told me to stick with a remote control, my MX 950 and 850 are actually more appealing to leave out in the open than the touchscreens which basically turn on and off a hot tub and turn on party mode lighting which is really good stuff. In the theater it works really well too but needs to be hidden due to what I consider cheesy, My next mission is to see if the MX 950 can start a macro for lighting scenes and such, I know it runs all the equiptment by itself.

Harden and Thew,
unfortunately I have been really busy creating other disasters to pay the bills and the theater performs so well as it is, it may take me years to get enough interest to complete it. Im going to see 300 tonight, maybe that will be neat enough to push me towards wanting to finish a theater, once again, like last year, automation burned me out to the point of not even caring. Its pretty nice as is, If I would install the DBox, that would be a huge motivating factor since that may be the most exciting aspect of watching movies these days.

Harden and Thew,
unfortunately I have been really busy creating other disasters to pay the bills and the theater performs so well as it is, it may take me years to get enough interest to complete it. Im going to see 300 tonight, maybe that will be neat enough to push me towards wanting to finish a theater, once again, like last year, automation burned me out to the point of not even caring. Its pretty nice as is, If I would install the DBox, that would be a huge motivating factor since that may be the most exciting aspect of watching movies these days.

Mark, any pics of the finished theater?

a 15 inch regular screen and a gyration mouse is a good combo for my application. I never did like the touch screen route.

Harden and Thew,
unfortunately I have been really busy creating other disasters to pay the bills and the theater performs so well as it is, it may take me years to get enough interest to complete it. Im going to see 300 tonight, maybe that will be neat enough to push me towards wanting to finish a theater, once again, like last year, automation burned me out to the point of not even caring. Its pretty nice as is, If I would install the DBox, that would be a huge motivating factor since that may be the most exciting aspect of watching movies these days.


Whats up mark, long time.. yea i see you burned out of the building.. right at the time i started m project.. and now im seeing why you got burned out, this automation stuff isnt easy.. give me a shout when you get a chance i got a couple questions if you got some extra time

...but in reality I find irony that the type of things going on behind the scenes providing such modern and exciting opportunities are controlled by glorified Etch-a-Sketches with dull and depressing looking screens in a well lit room.

I couldn't have said it better myself.