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"Xzener's Dedicated Theater" Construction Thread - Page 10

post #271 of 326
9/6/11 at 5:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Foosinho View Post

RAID is not backup. Ask me how I know.

I do have an actual backup process in place now for files and self-generated media. Not for recordings, music, or ripped DVDs (backup cost is not worth it, for me). But I still have holes in my plan - my backup is a separate hard drive in my main server. So I'm still vulnerable to something that destroys that computer. I have a 1TB removable drive that is ostensibly backed up to monthly - but I'm not diligent about that. That would provide some measure of protection against fire... provided I was home to grab the drive on my way out the door. I really should be rsyncing data to a remote site - the big expense there would be setting up a separate computer at a friend or relative's house, or buying a cloud storage account somewhere. Since backups are incremental (and I'm not backing up media), it would make sense to do the initial backup on a LAN, and then hook up the computer remotely and do the incrementals over the WAN.

You have to balance the benefit vs the cost/effort. I've pretty much decided copying to a second disk nightly (with critical files - pictures that my wife would be distraught over losing, etc - backed up to a removable disk that can leave the house in case of emergency) is sufficient for me.

Sorry for gumming up the thread with a tangential post.


Edit: Oh, you can download a Linux LiveCD, boot into it, and run fsck on your failed (?) drive. This should attempt to repair any filesystem errors. There are MS equivalents - CHKDISK and SCANDISK - but I have no idea if they are even included in recent distributions of Windows, or if it's all via GUI tools in the system maintenance area of Windows now.

I have a raid6 on a 3ware card. If two of my hard drives die at the same time, which is pretty un-likely, all my data is still intact. I guess it's more protecting my data than back ups...But this is sufficient for media. And also, of course if the house burns down or whatever, I am screwed.

For our family business, we have backups upon backups like you described, multiple servers both on and off site. Maybe that is the more accurate definition of backups. Oh and it's all Linux. Very small percentages of businesses in America that use Linux.

(sorry to get off topic here)
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post #272 of 326
9/8/11 at 9:27am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the info guys.

My acoustic panel posters will be delivered today. In preparation for their arrival, I built the frames. Finally put my Kregjig to good use, I've had it since Christmas and my wife was wondering if I was ever going to use it. Here is one of the finished frames hanging in the theater room...



As you can see in this picture, the Kregjig did an awesome job aligning the corners and hiding the screws. Although, I will be wrapping the poster around the frame... The screw holes will help glue in the OC703 inside the frame.

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post #273 of 326
9/8/11 at 9:59am
Nice! I am not familiar with acoustic panel posters. Is it just the same material for sound dampening and graphics such as movie posters instead of a plain color? I googled and found this cool thread:

http://www.hometheatershack.com/foru...els-cheap.html
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post #274 of 326
9/8/11 at 10:16am
Thread Starter 
Yes. That is the same post found here in the AVSForum. some of the guys have posted their results, and they look stunning. Can't wait to put them together. My theater is in dire need for decor.
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post #275 of 326
9/8/11 at 7:33pm
Thread Starter 
My custom movie posters came in from Spoonflower.com. They look AMAZING!!! I showed my son the Star Wars Episode V poster... Instead of having it in the theater room, had just had to have it in his room. So, I went ahead and attached it to a frame for him. My acoustic panels wont be here until next week, so the others will have to wait.

I hung it in the theater room and took a picture, what do you guys think??

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post #276 of 326
9/9/11 at 7:52am
Looks great. I'm eventually going to get a couple posters too. I've seen where member paint the frame black so it doesn't show through the fabric, or maybe it's just the camera flash that makes it show up in your pic.
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post #277 of 326
9/9/11 at 8:32am
Thread Starter 
No... The flash is the reason for that.
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post #278 of 326
9/13/11 at 1:41pm
Thread Starter 
In anticipation for my OC703 panels being delivered today, I decided to get the frames hung. The frames near the front cover the first reflection points. The rears, I had the idea of covering the left and right surrounds. I'm thinking about covering the Graphic Eye too.





I used my sons Star Wars poster, hung it in front of the GE, and tested the IR receiving capability. It works if you point the remote directly at it... But not so much when pointing it at the screen. I could run an emitter.

What do you guys think of that??

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post #279 of 326
9/13/11 at 2:21pm
Thread Starter 
HAHA!! Go figure. FEDEX FAIL!! Signature required... Thats not my signature!?!? Did the driver even look to verify the names?? CRAP!!!
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post #280 of 326
9/13/11 at 6:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by xzener View Post

HAHA!! Go figure. FEDEX FAIL!! Signature required... Thats not my signature!?!? Did the driver even look to verify the names?? CRAP!!!

They actually check signatures? I personally hate fedex, I use ups as much as I can. But that sucks, can't wait to see how those things look once they are finished.

Anyways, neat idea with covering the rears. As long as it doesn't affect sound quality of course.
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post #281 of 326
9/13/11 at 11:20pm
Thread Starter 
Well, taking off the original grills should help. IMO, there would be less sound travel through those metal grills than the fabric. Mtbdudex took some samples from Spoonflower and measured the AT properties of the cloth. He came to the conclusion that Spoonflowers cotton cloth works very well. With all the amazing acoustic panels and LFE traps he's designed and built... I trust his judgement.

These posters will make great speaker covers, as well as acoustic panels.

I just freaking hope Fedex makes good out of their stupid mistake. The dispatcher couldn't get a hold of the driver... I hope whoever accidentally received my OC703, doesn't just throw it away.
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post #282 of 326
9/14/11 at 9:50pm
Thread Starter 
Fedex redeemed themselves... To bad he just left the package on my door step and took off. I had a couple questions to ask.

Well, I started a couple posters. This one is almost finished, just need to staple the backing on.



Here is my first attempt at the left surround. I'm wondering if I should cut an angled bevel around the speaker cutout in the panel.

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post #283 of 326
9/18/11 at 6:49pm
Thread Starter 
I'm almost done with my movie poster acoustic panels. Waiting on some material I bought to finish the one covering the Grafic Eye.



I'm going to attempt to use a 1/4 inch acrylic rod to pass IR signals through the poster. Cutting the rod and polishing the ends should act like a fiber optic extender for the IR receiver on the GE... in theory. I will also attempt to extend the GE buttons using the acrylic rod, scuffing the end so the green lights for each zone will illuminate the end of the rod on the face of the poster. I will intricately cut holes in the poster where the acrylic rods will show. It sounds complicated and far fetched, but its worth a try.
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post #284 of 326
9/22/11 at 5:37am
what kind of mount are you using for those poster/panel ? thanks
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post #285 of 326
9/22/11 at 1:37pm
Thread Starter 
A simple, heavy weight, picture hanger nailed to the poster and used a nail in the wall.
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post #286 of 326
9/22/11 at 9:06pm
Thread Starter 
I received the acrylic rods today. Cut one down to the width of the frame, polished the ends with a headlight restore kit (just fixed the lenses on my Jetta) and fed it through a hole in the OC703. IT WORKS!! But not as good as I had hoped. Maybe a thicker rod, say 1/2 inch it would work better... But I'd rather just run an emitter at this point. I may still extend the buttons using the rods, I don't know. But running an emitter to the GE as well as the projector is in the cards.
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post #287 of 326
9/23/11 at 5:39am
thanks I like simple

Quote:
Originally Posted by xzener View Post

A simple, heavy weight, picture hanger nailed to the poster and used a nail in the wall.
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post #288 of 326
9/23/11 at 7:45am
I did a job one time where we removed the casing from an IR emitter and embedded it inside the Grafik Eye. It worked great and you couldn't see from the outside that it was installed. I know that you're covering up your GE but still...
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post #289 of 326
9/23/11 at 7:24pm
Thread Starter 
Tdong, they are holding up nicely. Plus, with the material wrapped around the back, helps keep them level and in place.

Jdanforth, thanks for the tip. I've thought of doing that. If I were to take down the poster, it would be consealed. I may go that route.
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post #290 of 326
9/26/11 at 2:20pm
Thread Starter 
I've decided to run emitters to all my components that seem to give me a problem at times with my remote. It's annoying starting an activity with the Harmony remote, and having my PJ or Xbox not turn on. So, killing two birds with one stone is what I set out to do today...

I installed "feed through" wall plates below the screen, and behind the screen near the Kinect. So now the wire for the Kinect is hidden, also allowing access to run the CAT5e wire I will be running for the emitters...



Here is the after shot of the hidden Kinect wire setup...

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post #291 of 326
9/27/11 at 11:52am
Did you ever make a decision on 5.1 vs 7.1?
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post #292 of 326
9/27/11 at 2:29pm
Thread Starter 
ATM, my room has been finished as a 5.1 setup.
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post #293 of 326
9/27/11 at 4:29pm
How do you like those in-wall speakers? I noticed they look like the monoprice ones I have seen in some other build and they look perfectly priced.
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post #294 of 326
9/27/11 at 7:54pm
Thread Starter 
Yes. They are the Monoprice ones (8" woofer 3 way). They sound very nice in my small theater. I'd like to one day add backer boxes to them, but for now they are fine. The mounting brackets work, but are designed to be used once. I took out my center channel to run CAT5e to my GE and PJ, and it seems as though getting the speaker back in securely is going to be a little difficult. I'd use them again... But think there are better speakers out there. For the money, you can't find a better speaker.
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post #295 of 326
9/28/11 at 7:14pm
HI Xzener,

You've spent alot of time on the room's aesthetics, what about the toys, can you share some pictures with us? I'd like to know what receiver or amps you will be using to run those beautiful speakers and which subwoofer, and bass shakers if any...

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post #296 of 326
9/28/11 at 7:59pm
Thread Starter 
Well, I have a rather modest setup.

My receiver is an Onkyo TX-SR608. It has plenty of power (100watt per channel) for the 8" woofer 3 way speakers from Monoprice which run 100watt nominal. The receiver is capable of 7.2 so if I ever decide to run more speakers, I can. But the output of these suits my room nicely. Plus, it supports DTS-HD and TrueHD not to mention HDMI 1.4 (3D ready whenever I am). I'm running an older subwoofer, its a Kenwood KS-303HT. I believe its an 80watt. Has very sharp, deep bass output, I can actually feel it, so no bass shakers needed. But tends to be left behind with movies like Inception, some of the LFE in that movie is WAY more than this thing can handle. But for my normal listening volume... its perfect. This is a lower-budget theater build, not nearly as extravagant as some builds found here in the forums. Just a nice place to hang out, watch a movie, play a game or just sit back and gaze at the stars.
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post #297 of 326
10/7/11 at 11:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by xzener View Post

My custom movie posters came in from Spoonflower.com. They look AMAZING!!! I showed my son the Star Wars Episode V poster... Instead of having it in the theater room, had just had to have it in his room. So, I went ahead and attached it to a frame for him. My acoustic panels wont be here until next week, so the others will have to wait.

I hung it in the theater room and took a picture, what do you guys think??


That looks really good! What size is this? Did you use the 3320x5000 download for this? Some of the posters I want are just 2000x3000 and I question if they will look good at 24x36 size?

Edit - now I see it, the image you used is the 1000x1500 res one?
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post #298 of 326
2/2/12 at 8:31pm
Thread Starter 
Here is my new HTPC build...



Installing the components was a breeze. From unboxing to Windows 7 Professional complete install, it only took me 3 hours. Here is an aerial view of the motherboard



As you can see, using the Intel i3 2105, there is so much space in my case for expansion.



As promised, here is a picture of the power supply Assassin. I really like the clean look, no unused bundles of wires cluttering up the inside of the case.



I still can't get over the fact that no PCI cards are required anymore... I feel like I forgot to install something.



Here is the front of the case. I've always liked Silverstone cases, very solid with plenty of HDD space.



Last but not least, here is the final resting place inside my credenza in the theater room. Its hard to believe I only installed Media Browser and Total Media Theater. Full HD audio and video, this was too easy.

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post #299 of 326
2/8/12 at 6:35am
Xzener great looking HT room! also big congrats on the House as well!!!
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post #300 of 326
2/15/12 at 7:46pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks MoNkLorD!
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