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Originally Posted by TMcG 
Remember if you zoom without a lens, you are losing 25-33% of your light output by putting the black bars outside the top and bottom of your screen frame. You will also only have about 830 lines of resolution, fyi. Certainly something to get you by for now, but optimally I am sure you are planning to pick up an anamorphic lens for the long term. I like the JVC projector you picked (actually equivalent to the DLA-RS45 from my understanding), but also take a look at the Epson 6010. I know, I know - I didn't normally associate Epson with high-end quality either, but this projector literally has everything, including an extra bulb, extra warranty and a mount for about $200 more street price over the JVC RS45. But the biggest difference is that it has greater Dynamic Contrast ratio at 200,000:1, is THX certified and can produce up to 2400 lumens of output. This is very important for maintaining proper brightness over time. You could actually start your projector in eco mode and move to normal mode once the bulb life starts to fade. Bulbs last 4-5 thousand hours, fyi.

Remember if you zoom without a lens, you are losing 25-33% of your light output by putting the black bars outside the top and bottom of your screen frame. You will also only have about 830 lines of resolution, fyi. Certainly something to get you by for now, but optimally I am sure you are planning to pick up an anamorphic lens for the long term. I like the JVC projector you picked (actually equivalent to the DLA-RS45 from my understanding), but also take a look at the Epson 6010. I know, I know - I didn't normally associate Epson with high-end quality either, but this projector literally has everything, including an extra bulb, extra warranty and a mount for about $200 more street price over the JVC RS45. But the biggest difference is that it has greater Dynamic Contrast ratio at 200,000:1, is THX certified and can produce up to 2400 lumens of output. This is very important for maintaining proper brightness over time. You could actually start your projector in eco mode and move to normal mode once the bulb life starts to fade. Bulbs last 4-5 thousand hours, fyi.
Thanks for the Epson suggestion. I had a look at it on the Projector Central website and it looks really good. It will also work with the 15' throw distance. I don't think I will be looking at a projector for about a year yet but it is most certainly one of the top contenders now.
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Sconces on each of the doors? Ambitious!!!
Sconces on each of the doors? Ambitious!!!
Thats the plan if I can figure out a way to get power to the middle of the door in a way that is code compliant. I have a couple of ideas I am still working through.
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If you need extra zones, you can actually link any number of Grafik Eyes together to function as one system. So don't let the 6 zones limit you to your ideal lighting design.
If you need extra zones, you can actually link any number of Grafik Eyes together to function as one system. So don't let the 6 zones limit you to your ideal lighting design.
I was hoping not to have to buy a second grafik eye so I think I will play around with the zones and have something (star ceiling or stair lights ) on its own switch.
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The Harmony "blaster" sits by the equipment rack. Only the Grafik Eye would require a long IR emitter "splice" over Cat-5 to directly control the lights. You could have an accessory control as soon as you enter the room - I have in fact done this many times. Just will cost you a bit more in all of the additional Romex wiring plus the low voltage Lutron wiring and control. As an aside, go with the "SG" series of accessory controls (SeeTouch) as you can actually have custom backlit buttons made that can say "Movie" or "Pre-show" or "Clean up", etc. Much nicer than an unlit NTGRX-4S IMHO.
The Harmony "blaster" sits by the equipment rack. Only the Grafik Eye would require a long IR emitter "splice" over Cat-5 to directly control the lights. You could have an accessory control as soon as you enter the room - I have in fact done this many times. Just will cost you a bit more in all of the additional Romex wiring plus the low voltage Lutron wiring and control. As an aside, go with the "SG" series of accessory controls (SeeTouch) as you can actually have custom backlit buttons made that can say "Movie" or "Pre-show" or "Clean up", etc. Much nicer than an unlit NTGRX-4S IMHO.
The more I think about it the more I want to go this route. To add the accessory remote all I need at the box is a run of romex and a run of the Lutyon-yellow I have?
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Originally Posted by stockmonkey2000 
On my Grafik eye I have a zone for the screen lights and a zone for the perimeter soffit lights. I don't have a bar so I did not need a separate zone for that. I also put the star ceiling illuminator on a zone. I got the LED illuminator from Fosi and it has to be wired with a separate cord for the lamp so the motor is not dimmed. Then I have sconces and 2 rope lights. I will control my step lighting with a separate dimmer as I will likely have those on when guests are over or off if its just me. To me the step lighting was less important to be able to fully control than the star ceiling and rope lighting since the ceiling was more of a "feature" One comment though on the LED star ceiling is that unless you bring it up slowly it sort of pops on all of a sudden. When it turns off it does so gradually. If you do want to have separate control for the star ceiling that would be fine too.

On my Grafik eye I have a zone for the screen lights and a zone for the perimeter soffit lights. I don't have a bar so I did not need a separate zone for that. I also put the star ceiling illuminator on a zone. I got the LED illuminator from Fosi and it has to be wired with a separate cord for the lamp so the motor is not dimmed. Then I have sconces and 2 rope lights. I will control my step lighting with a separate dimmer as I will likely have those on when guests are over or off if its just me. To me the step lighting was less important to be able to fully control than the star ceiling and rope lighting since the ceiling was more of a "feature" One comment though on the LED star ceiling is that unless you bring it up slowly it sort of pops on all of a sudden. When it turns off it does so gradually. If you do want to have separate control for the star ceiling that would be fine too.
I don't think I will have the star ceiling dimmable so now it's a toss up between putting the star ceiling or step lights on a seperate switch.
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On the xbox Kinect - I just ordered this yesterday from Monoprice. I don't currently have Kinect or the PS3 move but if I do someday I wanted it to be pre-wired. Hopefully this will do the trick.
Product 6149 - 32ft 10M USB 2.0 A Male to A Female Active Extension / Repeater Cable (Kinect & PS3 Move Compatible Extension)
On the xbox Kinect - I just ordered this yesterday from Monoprice. I don't currently have Kinect or the PS3 move but if I do someday I wanted it to be pre-wired. Hopefully this will do the trick.
Product 6149 - 32ft 10M USB 2.0 A Male to A Female Active Extension / Repeater Cable (Kinect & PS3 Move Compatible Extension)
I think I will order this on my Monoprice order. I think it's better to put it in now and be safe.




























