The Timelapse Theatre - Planning n' Build Log - Page 37

I have toyed with the idea of some custom sized "spoonflower treatments"
Looking forward to seeing this one come together !

In the meantime - Have a great Thanksgiving!

^This will look sweet in there. Keep up the good fight mate!

How did you find that image on wikimedia? I've been trying to find a painting or print on there and I can't seem to get the search function to cooperate.

This build/video thread is awesome. Such a joy. Thank you for taking the time out to put this together to share with all of us.

I love the time lapses ... but am amazed that they seem to show so much productive work !

A time lapse of my efforts would be hilarious ... most of it would be searching for tools, redoing stuff, scratching my head and generally making little progress !!

Cheers,

This would be CLASSIC!

Thanks for letting us here in the Forum know! I think we all love your videos and would need the equipment to even have a chance to replicate. Heck, I've even gone back a few times and watched them again. Hmmmm...maybe you can get on the Netflix streaming rotation Speaking of your videos, I just started your last video when my phone rang, so I paused your video and this is where it stopped:



I don't know why you were giving me stink eye, but I made sure to NOT pause your video again!!! LOL!


I would love to enter that contest, but it takes you to another page to associate the RaffleCopter application with your Facebook account, fyi. (GRRRR) What ever happened to the good 'ol days when you didn't have to allow unknown companies access to all of your personal data for the chance to win a gift card? *SIGH*
Edited by TMcG - 12/18/12 at 3:31pm

This is great, we even get the stuff from the "cutting room floor"

DUDE! This is the EXACT NAS I was looking at buying, but I am waiting just a bit longer because the update to this NAS is going to be available in just a few months according to my friend who is the IT Director for Verizon Wireless' Mid-Atlantic region. Here's a snippet of an e-mail sent to him by the Synology product manager regarding their impending product line update:

"...faster CPUs, and more RAM, plus they’re getting USB 3.0 which would be critical if you’d want to say, dump 2TB of data to an external USB hard-drive. You’re talking a factor of 10x between USB 2.0 and 3.0. …"

He goes on and on about other new features and existing benefits, but he is really big on Synology for the same reasons you listed above.

Thankfully my own NAS needs are not immediate, considering I have zilch, nada, zero, nothing in terms of equipment for any room, let alone my whole-house system. You made an excellent choice, my friend!

But to be honest, I'd love to hear a bit more about the process you went through to set up XMBC on your Mac Mini and the different features you have installed / are available. I know this system functions through your iPad and smartphone, but have you tried to have Crestron or some other third party control system control the Mac Mini? Is there a TCP/IP control protocol? Can the Mac Mini share meta-data with an enabled touch panel device? I am hoping to lean on your experience a bit in this area as I plan out the front-end of my streaming media server if you don't mind....

EDIT: Typo!
Edited by TMcG - 12/19/12 at 3:36am

Thanks for the explanation and apologies if I made you feel bad...certainly wasn't my intent.

I didn't know if it was possible for XBMC to accept direct control language or not. I haven't even touched the front end of my streaming system research very deeply so I am still awash in the informational muck for the time-being. I have leanings toward the more commercials routes of Dune HD Max, Popcorn Hour and the like. But you just can't beat the computational power provided by a dedicated mac mini. The other consideration is that I would like to have my streaming system tie into a greater whole-home automation system with distributed HDMI. So it appears I will have to purchase the same number of players as I want individual streams. I can see that being two initially, hopefully not more. I think this is the area Dune shines with their miniature versions. I hate the thought of buying multiples of expensive mac-minis but it may just come down to it. I dumped my AMX system in favor of Crestron and am now dumping that in favor of Savant, so everything will already be Apple-based....this is the other consideration for me going the same route as you.

By the way...a bit of a shameless plug, but I believe you were giving me some well-deserved guff about not starting my theater build. Well, my friend, my own build thread is now up and running. :D

I know one thing....before I make any streaming device purchasing decision I intend to solicit your opinion first as you have the first-hand experience and understand all the pros and cons between divergent setups. I have a hardwired gigabit network in my home with a small business level 48 port Gigabit switch with a very robust "backplane" for ultra high-speed data interchange. With any luck, I won't have any bottlenecks from multiple simultaneous streams when I reach that point.

I agree with you that the Crestron system is truly world-class....but extremely expensive. I am a man with limited means, so I have to find a viable alternative. I looked at units from Atlona and CE Labs which seemed to have very good alternatives. Gefen has very nice products, but was way overpriced and not a good value for the money. And then I found a company called SnapAV which has an 8x8 HDMI matrix product that seems to tick all of my boxes, including price. Here is a link: http://www.snapav.com/p-1074-b-300-hdmatrix-8x8.aspx The nice thing I found with this Matrix is that it does HDMI 1.4a over a single shielded Cat6 wire, has both cat6 and normal HDMI outputs active at the same time, allows for full third party control, is 1U in height and is one heck of a bargain, comparatively speaking. From the reviews I have read, this piece is very reliable and has fairly quick handshaking. To save myself $11,000 over a similarly spec'd Crestron system I think it's worth a shot. If I put a display in every location I wanted, I would have 13 potential TV locations. Ideally I would like to have 11 functioning locations and realistically I could live within the 8x8. However, with both sets of outputs active, that allows me to double up rooms on a common output signal which would rarely be used at the same time - such as the Garage and the guest room, the office and the theater....that kind of thing. In this way I could have 100% of the rooms "attached" to the matrix switch. Let me know your thoughts.

I wanted to trim down on the "heft" and cost of a full-blown Crestron system and the thousands of dollars in programming it takes for the GUI and control code to work seamlessly. It's not uncommon for a Crestron system to take a full week to set up, which I am sure you know. Savant is an Apple approved partner and can truly run native Apple code for control and interfaces. Buying an old iPad2 for a couple hundred bucks is much better than spending a couple thousand on the equivalent Crestron. I really like one of Savant's remote controls, the Savant SSR-1000 which is essentially an iPod Touch glued to some hard buttons, almost like a Logitech Harmony remote on steroids. I also liked the fact that the Savant controller will allow four simultaneous iTunes streams as a native feature. That alone is tempting enough to start ripping everything I own to iTunes, but like I said, I have a long way to go to figure things out.

Savant does have its limitations, but after nearly 14 years of unlimited control options with AMX and Crestron I think I am going to wave the white flag, kiss the King's ring and live within the box of the Savant Control system. Control4 has similar limitations, but I find their system intolerable with reliability issues despite recent gains.

Thanks for subscribing to my thread. I sincerely look forward to your opinions and input.

Maybe build something out like you were thinking, but make it movie/tv themed

You will always remember your first time

I'm guessing there is a follow up to this in the works?

A Google search of recessed shelves brought up several medicine cabinets that had some detailing that might work. The majority of the "box" is recessed into the wall but the exposed edges that stick out of the wall get some simple trim. You could do something similar, just without a door.







Maybe bringing the shelves out past the casing (like the bottom shelf in this pic) would give you the extra depth you need.



You could also add some trim under the shelves if you bring them out past the casing. Might be a nice place to hide some strip lights to light up the shelf below.



I like the simplicity of this one. You would either need thicker casing if you want to keep the shelves flush or you would need to bring the shelf out in front of the casing like in the recessed shower shelf.


If I remember correctly, your room has a more contemporary feel, so I'd look at something with simple, clean lines rather than fancy crown, etc.

Happy New Year Bro!

I'm coming through that way a couple times in the next couple months for snowboard trips I'll be sure to hit you up on my way by,

Will some crown molding work to trim the shelf to the drywall? If not something like that with the 45degree angles on both ends could butt to the outside of your shelf frame and taper to the drywall?