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Nick's Homebrew Bar and Entertainment Area

166K views 1K replies 90 participants last post by  NotShorty 
#1 ·

LINKS TO PROGRESS:

 

HOME THEATER PROGRESS
 

 

HOMEBREW BAR AND GAME ROOM PROGRESS
 

THEATER LAYOUT:

 



 

 

CURRENT THEATER STATUS:

 



 

 



 

 

 

 



 

 



 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CURRENT HOMEBREW BAR AND GAMEROOM STATUS:

 



 

 



 

 
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#77 ·
Honestly I didn't read enough of that guy's stuff to know what shape screen he was basing it on. I'd guess at 16:9 but would have to check. All I did was read across from your 12-ft viewing distance to the "can see full effect of 1080p" line and drop down. And I didn't even use a ruler... I am mostly trying to point you toward some tools in most of the comments in which I provide links.


I haven't ever played with anamorphic lenses or thought about going wider than 16:9 so I've no opinions on that. In my case I decided that matching the screen to the projector shape made the most sense. I also have a hefty amount of 4:3 material that I still want to watch, which is worse quality so it makes sense to make it smaller. However I don't know if I'd want it as small as it would have to be in a 2.35! I also have no intent to ever use a masking system. If you are, that obviously affects things significantly.


I personally am not willing to deal with the acoustical hassles of an AT screen, plus I don't have that much depth to play with in my current room, and I like the visible-speaker aesthetic anyhow. But if it's your plan to do that, obviously that changes how you do things.


I'm in the process of studying up on acoustics in a major way, so that's in the forefront of my mind lately.
 
#78 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by aackthpt /forum/post/19904478


Honestly I didn't read enough of that guy's stuff to know what shape screen he was basing it on. I'd guess at 16:9 but would have to check. All I did was read across from your 12-ft viewing distance to the "can see full effect of 1080p" line and drop down. And I didn't even use a ruler... I am mostly trying to point you toward some tools in most of the comments in which I provide links.


I haven't ever played with anamorphic lenses or thought about going wider than 16:9 so I've no opinions on that. In my case I decided that matching the screen to the projector shape made the most sense. I also have a hefty amount of 4:3 material that I still want to watch, which is worse quality so it makes sense to make it smaller. However I don't know if I'd want it as small as it would have to be in a 2.35! I also have no intent to ever use a masking system. If you are, that obviously affects things significantly.


I personally am not willing to deal with the acoustical hassles of an AT screen, plus I don't have that much depth to play with in my current room, and I like the visible-speaker aesthetic anyhow. But if it's your plan to do that, obviously that changes how you do things.


I'm in the process of studying up on acoustics in a major way, so that's in the forefront of my mind lately.

Sorry, I thought you were specifically suggesting a 16:9 screen. I appreciate the link to the tool. I still have some thinking to do around my screen choice. Masking is one of the things I still need to do lots of research on. I really want to see how easy the systems work. I also want to look into DIY masking systems.


What are some of your concerns with AT screens? I know that people are divided on their use. I woiuld be curious to hear your opinion.


I have been trying to read through some of the acoustical treatment thread, but it is a lot of information to digest. I found that if I read a few pages at a time and then take a break to work on my design I can apply some of what I read. In the end, I am starting to fully appreciate the importance of acoustical treatment, but I doubt I will have enough knowledge to take full advantage of my space. I am planning to hire someone to help with some of this design work.
 
#79 ·
I can't say I've studied all of the issues with the "AT" screens so I definitely don't know all the issues. I do know that they aren't actually acoustically transparent - their level of transparency varies significantly with frequency so you are supposed to EQ the channels for the speakers that are behind to adjust for it (hopefully this gets better with each successive generation of screen but I bet you can't entirely get away from it). I've also recently read of people who had some comb filtering effects who had to put absorption on the front baffles of their speakers (beside the drivers) to stop it. I wonder if such effects can't happen between the screen and the wall.


As for the video side, I have also heard that perforated screens can cause visual moiré effect. I'm not familiar enough to know whether that is a modern or ancient concern, or understand factors that make it better or worse. Plus, the perforated screens do cause some loss of brightness of the projected image.


I came to HT more from the audio world, so I have the audio person's setup - speakers out into the room. I also have a KISS attitude for most things, in which I figure that rather than adjusting things to fix them later I'm better off if I can avoid breaking them in the first place.
 
#80 ·
I decided to do some long overdue clean up work tonight. When I moved into the house, there was a tangled mess of wires in the corner of one wall next to the electric panel (bottom right gray box in the bar area). These wires consisted of the phone lines for the house, coax for the cable modem, coax from the satellite dish and a several cat5e cables the original owner ran.


Most of the cat5e and coax runs are several feet (or more) too long. I view this as a good thing so that I can reroute them when cleaning up and then leave a service loop for future modifications. Over time these became a tangled mess as I moved cables around and added new ones.


I purchased a Ramset today so that I don't have to keep borrowing one from my friend. They are very cheap, so I figured it was well worth it. I also picked up a 24x48 sheet of 3/4 plywood from the Home Depot damage cart for $2.00 that had some red spray paint on one side. I used the Ramset to mount this to the concrete wall next to the electric panel. I then took some scrap PVC pipe and made some tubes to route some of the wires.




I'm not finished yet, but I have a good start. The tan box at the top left is an old empty alarm enclosure that was laying around. I put my telephone distribution panel and VOIP equipment in there. I also got the modem mounted. Tomorrow hopefully I can get the satellite switch and network switch installed and the wiring cleaned up. Then all I will have left for this corner is to come up with some sort of power strip to plug everything in. The small shelf to the left has a small UPS to keep the telephony equipment and modem up during a power outage. They don't draw much power, so I can usually run them for about 45 minutes on battery power.


I am still trying to make a final decision on where my equipment closet will go so that I can move the wiring for the whole house audio along with a few network and coax cables. Lastly, I will need to move my home automation panel along with the sub panel that is currently in the corner of what will be the theater.
 
#81 ·
I didn't make much progress over the past few days. I have spent most of my time preparing for this weekend's Superbowl party. I did get more of the wiring cleaned up, but before I can finish, I decided to upgrade my 16 port switch to a 24 port Gigabit switch. Does anyone have any suggestions? I want something that can be mounted on the board I installed. I am also leaning towards mounting my automation panel on this board. There is plenty of room and it will keep all of the wiring in one location.


Once this weekend is over, I want to get back into "build mode". My friend who helped me with the initial framing called last night and said things are quiet right now and he would be willing to stop out again to help finish up the framing. I think it would be crazy not to take him up on his offer
. I have decided to stick with my plan to have a separate theater room. The only other decision I need to make before framing is the location of the theater door. I think that all other pending decisions can be made after framing (prior to drywall and wiring).
 
#82 ·
Must be a heck of a network if you need a 24-port switch. It looks hard-ish to find a switch in that size range with wallmount slots, but did find:


NETGEAR ProSafe JGS524 on eBay ($120)

Cisco Linksys SR2024C on eBay ($150)


If you really demand this wall mount thing and aren't willing to DIY a solution to attach to rackmount ears or something (that's probably what I would do, attach wood blocks to screw the rackmount ears onto) then you are going to pay a premium given that you can get 24-port gigabit switches in the 68-75 dollar range:


D-Link managed switch DES-3226 (older model I guess) on Amazon ($64 + ship)

Cisco SR224G on buy.com ($75/free ship)


I'm not sure about the forum rules of posting links to this stuff, so I'm just giving hints for the moment. It's all fairly easy to find... all I did was use Google shopping.
 
#83 ·
Yes, I have cat5e runs to every room in the house (except the bathrooms
). In many of the rooms, there are two outlets. I put them behind the TVs, at every desk and in a couple of sitting areas. I currently have all of the ports used. I wanted to allow for future expansion.


I like your idea of using a rack mount unit with wood blocks to mount it, but they tend to get pretty wide. The units you listed are not actually gigabit switches. Only two of the ports can be used for gigabit. The other ports are standard 10/100 ports. With the amount of data required for sound, video, gaming, cameras, etc. I want to make sure all ports are gigabit.


I'm searching on ebay to see what is out there. I found a great rack mount gigabit switch (that will be in my equipment rack) for cheap. It looked brand new when I got it.
 
#84 ·
Sorry about that... they said gigabit and I guess I should have had a careful look at the specs. I didn't realize they were only gigabit-uplink, which I clearly knew was not what was requested. I was surprised to find gigabit switches with that many ports for that low a cost... that explains it.


That's some serious home networking! For the moment I just have wifi flying all over, but I do have client bridges so I can have some faster network segments and deal with wired-only devices.
 
#87 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by BllDo /forum/post/19937680


I've been using a D-Link DGS-1024D switch for a while now. I've been really happy with it. It runs pretty cool and uses a little bit less power than most.

Thanks, I found one on ebay a short while ago for $75 buy it now, but while I was looking up the specs, someone bought it
. It looks like I can get a new one for about $140. I will keep searching to see if I can find one on ebay, but if I don't find one soon, I will probably pull the trigger on a new one.
 
#88 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by aackthpt /forum/post/19938032


As far as I can tell, the first two I mentioned ARE gigabit on all the ports, but the second two are only 10/100 on all the ports.

Sorry aackthpt, you are absolutely correct. I was in a hurry earlier and just quickly looked up the other two models. The first two are the type of switch I am looking for.


Another option (if the price was right) would be to build a small metal shelf and stack 2 or 3 smaller switches. The 24 port switches are pretty wide. Stacking may be a better option.
 
#89 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by NGiovas /forum/post/19938525


Thanks, I found one on ebay a short while ago for $75 buy it now, but while I was looking up the specs, someone bought it
. It looks like I can get a new one for about $140. I will keep searching to see if I can find one on ebay, but if I don't find one soon, I will probably pull the trigger on a new one.

Well, after looking at the seller of the switch, I noticed that he had sold 5 of them, so I sent him a note asking if he has any more. He did, so I picked one up. Once it comes in I will be able to clean up the remainder of the wiring.


While I am cleaning up the wiring, I was wondering how many ethernet connections I may need in the theater. Is there any reason to run one to where the projector will be? I haven't even looked at projectors yet, so I don't know if there is a need. I will have a switch in my equipment rack, so I was thinking that I would run a single ethernet cable into the theater and then if I need more, I can run them from the switch.
 
#90 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by NGiovas /forum/post/19945978


While I am cleaning up the wiring, I was wondering how many ethernet connections I may need in the theater. Is there any reason to run one to where the projector will be? I haven't even looked at projectors yet, so I don't know if there is a need. I will have a switch in my equipment rack, so I was thinking that I would run a single ethernet cable into the theater and then if I need more, I can run them from the switch.

I ran a Cat5 to the projector and one to the screen, from the equipment closet. Cat5 cable is good for other uses, such as wired IR repeaters, screen motor control, remote signalling, T-stat, etc.
 
#91 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Geordon /forum/post/19948602


I ran a Cat5 to the projector and one to the screen, from the equipment closet. Cat5 cable is good for other uses, such as wired IR repeaters, screen motor control, remote signalling, T-stat, etc.

Thanks Geordon. I hadn't thought about using a cat5 run for an IR repeater. It sounds like there are several things that I could use cat5 for. There are so many different wires that are used in a theater, so I have started a list so that I don't forget anything. I can just imagine what it would be like to get everything all sealed up and remember that you forgot to run a wire.
 
#92 ·
My Super Bowl party is over, so it is time to get back to work on the theater. My neighbor (who has been finishing his basement for over a year) was warning me that taking short breaks from the project never works. They always end up being much longer than intended. He hasn't worked on his basement in a couple of months.


I received my gigabit switch yesterday. It seems to work fine, but I was surprised at how much noise the internal fan makes. It doesn't sound like a bearing noise - just the noise of a very small fan moving a lot of air. I am going to try to look into this to see if this is normal for this model. I also purchased some F connectors and RJ45 connectors so that I can finish cleaning up my wiring.


I am trying to finish up the final details for the last of the framing. One question I have is about isolating the wall under the metal beam. I am trying to figure out the best way to attach the wall that will run under the beam, yet keep it isolated using clips. Below are some pictures of both sides of the beam. The ceiling height is lower on one side than the other. I was thinking of attaching some 1x1 pieces to the joists on either side, forming a "U" around the beam. and then attaching the clips to those. Does anyone have any pictures of what they did for a similar situation? I am open to suggestions.




 
#93 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by BllDo /forum/post/19937680


I've been using a D-Link DGS-1024D switch for a while now. I've been really happy with it. It runs pretty cool and uses a little bit less power than most.

BllDo, Does the fan on your switch run all the time? Does it make much noise? Mine seems really loud. I'm not sure if it is normal or not. Also, the fan is always running on mine. I wasn't sure if that is normal. I have a rack mount switch that has an internal fan, but it isn't nearly as loud and doesn't run all the time.
 
#94 ·
I'll have to double check mine when I get home today, but I don't think mine has fan. I certainly don't remember loud or offensive noise from it. Wonder if you got an older model?


Regardless, fans are cheap and may be able to just replace it.
 
#95 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by BllDo
I'll have to double check mine when I get home today, but I don't think mine has fan. I certainly don't remember loud or offensive noise from it. Wonder if you got an older model?


Regardless, fans are cheap and may be able to just replace it.
It looks like the newer version of this model (same model number) doesn't have a fan. The older version does. They have the exact same features and specs with the exception that they eliminated the fan. I need to figure out if I can get a quieter fan for it. If not, I may have to spend the money to get the newer one. It is going in a closet that is not in the theater, so it may not be an issue.
 
#96 ·
Probably a replacement would take care of it... pop it open, find fan specs, few minutes on electronics suppliers sites...


I had a loud fan in a big UPS a while back, so I replaced it with a fan of the same voltage (clearly not the same overall specs) that was LOUD and almost never turned off. Eventually I decided I had to do something about it so I pulled out the original fan, looked up the specs, and found a fan with very similar specs - I think on Newark. I put that fan in, the UPS charged for one minute (with the fan much quieter even when running), and the fan shut off. Now the fan is hardly ever on anyway! Major win, it's the UPS for my theatre closet and having that thing quiet is a huge deal.


You could, of course, also open it up, hold the fan stationary and blow the whole thing out with compressed air. My brother and I have a penchant for doing that to our computers periodically, especially when they were in a dustier environment. And heck, when it came time to clean my refrigerator coils last time, I used the brush a bit but quickly dragged the air line in - which worked marvelously.
 
#97 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by aackthpt /forum/post/19984355


Probably a replacement would take care of it... pop it open, find fan specs, few minutes on electronics suppliers sites...


I had a loud fan in a big UPS a while back, so I replaced it with a fan of the same voltage (clearly not the same overall specs) that was LOUD and almost never turned off. Eventually I decided I had to do something about it so I pulled out the original fan, looked up the specs, and found a fan with very similar specs - I think on Newark. I put that fan in, the UPS charged for one minute (with the fan much quieter even when running), and the fan shut off. Now the fan is hardly ever on anyway! Major win, it's the UPS for my theatre closet and having that thing quiet is a huge deal.


You could, of course, also open it up, hold the fan stationary and blow the whole thing out with compressed air. My brother and I have a penchant for doing that to our computers periodically, especially when they were in a dustier environment. And heck, when it came time to clean my refrigerator coils last time, I used the brush a bit but quickly dragged the air line in - which worked marvelously.

Thanks for the tip on the fan aackthpt. I hadn't really thought about finding a replacement, but that would probably do the trick. Unfortunately, it may not matter at this point. When I was testing out the switch tonight I discovered that they sent me the wrong model. I hadn't noticed it at first, but after taking a closer look, I realized that they didn't send what was pictured in the auction. I sent them a note, but I haven't heard back yet. Their auction says they have a 30 day return policy. I have a feeling I will end up eating the shipping cost in both directions. Hopefully they will take care of it since it was their error.


I view it as a small delay in finishing the wiring. I have the older switch still in place, so I will focus on something else until I can work this out. I think I will go downstairs and tear out the framing from the old wiring closet I originally had in my plan. That will be a good way to blow off some steam
 
#98 ·
Well, as promised, I started tearing out the original wiring "closet" (it was never really finished). I installed the closet a few years ago as a way to contain wires for my whole house audio and home automation. In addition, I mounted some outlets and a sub panel in there. I couldn't completely remove it because I still have to remove the electrical "stuff" and the automation panel. Even though the closet wasn't very wide, it makes the room feel much wider without it there. I should be able to pull all of the electrical this weekend. I also hope to get the automation panel moved as well.



 
#99 ·
Well, it looks like everything will work out fine with the switch. The seller offered me a full refund including shipping and will send me a prepaid return label. They used the wrong photo when posting the ad, so they don't have the switch I wanted any longer.


I'm going to look around a bit more, but if I don't find anything I will probably just order one from Newegg.
 
#101 ·
Made some more progress this weekend. I decided not to post the boring pictures of an empty wall
. I finished removing the framing from the old closet. This included removing the subpanel and automation panel along with some outlets and a light. I also completely removed all of the wiring from the subpanel.


I also spent some time cleaning up more wiring near my main electric panel (where my phone, network and coax all terminate). All that remains as far as cleanup is cleaning up the cat5 cables. I am going to wait until I get a new switch before I complete this. I mounted the automation panel in its new location, but I still need to shorten all of the cables that feed the panel. I hope to get this finished over the next couple of evenings.


Once I wrap up these last few items, I am going to put together my materials list to complete my framing. I should be ready to complete the framing in the next couple of weeks.
 
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