Cinema Magnifique - a work in progress - Page 6

Forget the IguanaWorks and IRtoy transceivers. Neither would control BOTH the Lutron Maestro IR room lighting AND the InFocus projector from a single location. Last week I ordered the USB-UIRT transceiver and it arrived today. The great thing is, it integrates directly with EventGhost, so the WinLIRC program isn't necessary. It also easily controls both devices from one location.

The NCD Pulsar USB light controller also arrived today. It didn't take very long to wire it and start testing the VBscript program. Everything works very well with EventGhost to control all of the stage lighting: overhead wings, overhead center, and stage rope lighting. Each zone/channel/circuit on the controller handles up to 200 watts, so it's a very-reasonably-priced device for smaller rooms. I've got the 4-channel USB model, but the 6-channel model could allow controlling multiple zones of three 60-watt can lights (180 watts) each.

This weekend, I gave in and wired a very long IR emitter in front of the Lutron Maestro room lighting switch this weekend. I used a #276-143 High Output IR emitter from Radio Shack with 18-2 solid-core thermostat wire tucked behind the chair rail. Event Ghost's USB-UIRT plug-in allows specifying which emitters to use, so I configured this external emitter for the Lutron Maestro commands. I also worked out the final issue with my VBscript program for the new Pulsar lighting controller. When I added scenes to the script, the controller would process the first command, but not the second and third commands for a scene. After adding a 250 millisecond delay following every command, all commands for all scenes are now processed reliably. With the controller programmed and working, I mounted it high on the wall behind the right speakers, trimmed away the excess wiring, and covered all the wires in black split-loom tubing. It's amazing how much better wiring looks when it's hidden inside that tubing. The red status leds on the controller got covered with black electrical tape, too.

Today I ordered the Panamax M10-HT-PRO to manage power for the Hafler power amplifiers. It has a 12-VDC trigger circuit to switch three outlets, which works out well. Apparently it's quite the tall/long beast, so it should be an interesting task mounting it to the wire shelving. If it's not too long, I can mount it horizontally to the shelf between the amplifiers, or if it's wider than the shelving, it will go vertically along one of the back posts. Tonight I installed 14-2 speaker wire for the Aura bass shakers installed beneath the seating. (The wife still doesn't know about those yet.) I wired the two of them in series to get an 8-ohm load. This wire got tucked behind the baseboard so it comes out behind the drapes and then goes beneath the rugs under the seating. The last thing tonight was to install another wire shelf atop the existing stack. Only two amplifiers fit on each shelf, and there will be a total of three stereo amps in use, one for the front L+R, one for the back L+R, and one for the Center+Aura shakers.

It should be fun trying to clean/neaten up all the wires behind those wire shelves. I admire people who succeed at making things look so neat back there, but I've never been one of them.

This weekend I worked out a few long-standing and nagging computer issues. First, XBMC wasn't using DXVA DirectX Video Acceleration to display video. When I originally installed XBMC, I told Windows to run it in compatibility mode for XP SP3. It seems that throws off XBMC's video detection logic, so I cleared that setting and DXVA now works very well. Second, I upgraded the original Pentium 960 processor ($65) chip with a Core i3-2105 ($135) processor. It provides quite a bit more CPU power for about twice the cost of the Pentium 960 chip. Third, I wrote a short VB.net program to initialize the COM1: serial port for the NCD Pulsar lighting controller. It seemed every time Windows rebooted, the VBscript scenes program that drives the controller wouldn't work. Now it's working 100% of the time, regardless of hard or soft reboots. Fourth (and most importantly!) I wired another external IR emitter to the USB-UIRT for the Outlaw 990 pre-amp. The 990's IR remote is a "one-shot" type of device, and the USB-UIRT couldn't learn it correctly. I wrote to Outlaw Audio's support people last week, asking for the hex IR codes, but they still haven't responded. Fortunately, I have a Harmony remote that's capable of emulating the Outlaw 990 remote. When I loaded the Harmony and used it, it worked easily and the USB-UIRT immediately picked up the code. After a few small tweaks in the EventGhost definitions, the XBMC remote now raises and lowers the volume perfectly.

I should mention the spouse's reaction to watching some scenes from the Bass Demo disc, after wiring and dialing in the Aura bass shakers. At first she thought the entire room was shaking, and I was worried she wouldn't like it. Well, it turns out she was thrilled to see, hear, and FEEL the movie. Ya gotta love it when the WAF goes up like that.

Updating the old "to-do" list, so I won't forget what's left to be done:

• build and cover the speaker walls (done!)
• re-hang the screen and projector (done!)
• connect all the audio gear in the closet (done!)
• coil/neaten/tie wrap wires behind the audio gear
• stuff acoustic cotton insulation in the overhead areas (started)
• cover the bottom of the overhead in fire resistant black velvet (order 5 yards from Rose Art)
• hang curtains on the screen wall
• install trim molding everywhere (this is a biggie)
• carpet the stage (might do this myself)

Last week I ordered the black velvet from RoseArt, and an air-stapler from Home Depot. Both of those arrived this week, and I'll be putting up the velvet this weekend. Wish me luck?
Edited by VorlonFog - 9/30/12 at 5:52am

Updating the "to-do" list

• build and cover the speaker walls (done!)
• re-hang the screen and projector (done!)
• connect all the audio gear in the closet (done!)
• coil/neaten/tie wrap wires behind the audio gear (done)
• stuff acoustic cotton insulation in the overhead areas (done)
• cover the bottom of the overhead in fire resistant black velvet (order 5 yards from Rose Art) (done)
• fight with the stage lights so they stay friction fit within the cans (arrrgh!!)
• hang curtains on the screen wall
• install trim molding everywhere (this is a biggie)
• carpet the stage (might do this myself)

So, the three center stage lights won't stay friction fit in their cans after hanging the black velvet. The fabric's not that thick, so I'm not certain why it's causing an issue.
Edited by VorlonFog - 9/30/12 at 5:54am