Calvin's Games & HT construction thread - Page 37

jakkb,

Proficient (speakercraft) is a great speaker IMO and I got them for a very attractive price point from john @ ( EDIT* Guess they blank these out now I'll PM you the web site) I'm not sure if he still carries the line but you can find his number on the website and give him a call - he was always more then fair with me and I saved a bundle by buying all I could from him.

I almost went with the control4 stuff but then I decided to buy my wife a lexus rx400h and get myself a full load new titan LE while the vehicles "specials" were going gang busters these days. Anyway I'm still planning on doing it once I save up some more (paid $ for the vehicles to get the best prices so my piggy bank is more then empty these day I just hear some wind whistling through it once in awhile). I looked at 360 control systems (think that was the name) and one other local guy (have to find the card again...not sure if I mentioned them in the thread yet...) and both seemed like they would be great even with the back and forth on the programming.
It is still on my wish list but my wife is still spending a fortune in the back yard as well so it might be another year before I entertain the notion again or even 2 if I break down and upgrade my PJ...so many toys so little $

We can discuss prices offline (PM) I think I still have my quotes kicking around but I do know that some new gear (wall plates I think ) have come out as well which is another reason I ended up waiting as at the time of my quote they were in the works but not yet out.

Keep in touch and thanks for the post.

Cheers
Calvin

I only use the main floor HT about once a month - 10 or 12 times a year but despite that I'm still glad I have it when it is needed (some older relatives that can't do stairs, PC presentations for group get togethers and things of that nature...)
If I did it all again I would still put it in but I might go a bit bigger maybe a 52" or 60" panel instead of the 46 I ended up using (still can upgrade but at this point it's not a concern for me the 46" is still fine but if it was buying for the first time again I'd go larger)
Cheers
Calvin

Jakkb, If you can swing it by all means do it. You never know when you'll find it handy (my one uncle had his knee surgery last year and everytime he came over the main level was the only HT we used as he wasn't going up or down stairs).

I have some shots to post up later this week of the calibrated image of TW2010 so those that are interested can do a comparison of the calibrated, uncalibrated and the Sim2 images of the same screen in a large file format (3 or 5 mb I think) photo.
I'm also going to post up a couple shots of the back yard for those interested in how the landscaping finally turned out. It's nearly complete we just have a few more trees by the shed to plant in the fall and it's done! Still complete enough I can post some pics while we still have some flowers and leaves on the trees

Cheers
Calvin

Had Jason (Jakkb) stop by for a quick visit and to pick up my old Angstrom in-wall sub on Wednesday. Was good to meet up and I'm looking forward to seeing his end result. Always a pleasure to meet my fellow AVS members in person and jakkb is the closest one to me yet so I hope for an invite once he's all wrapped up with his build

Cheers
Calvin

ps I haven't forgotten about the pics - I took them I just have to upload them and post them now

My uncle has asked me to take a look at his basement (which is currently finished sadly) and see what I can do about getting him a HT set up. I think I feel another build thread coming soon...I should have some more details and photos soon as get set to see if I can surpass my room in this new build...should be interesting preliminary budget is around 100k which will have to include all the contractors, renos as well as the new toys so I should have lots to talk about soon

Cheers
Calvin

ldscalgaryguy,

Unfortunately my second HT is now on hold but I do have some big plans once they decide to move ahead with it (Hopefully soon but it appears they are doing a kitchen remodel and redoing the roof on their 40 year old house first so I'm not sure how long I'll be waiting now... I was just getting excited to start going on it as well...)

Todd,

Thanks for the post and the kind words

Cheers
Calvin

More of a money "wash basin" really I've drained the pool

Thanks for the post and the sentiment Kicks

Cheers
Calvin

Greg,

Congratz on the new PJ. I would love to see the RS20 (it's the 750 model in Canada no?) in action. If your able to come to Edmonton and give me a demo in my room I would be very grateful. (I have found a couple of dealers to purchase from but none of them would allow a demo sadly). I'm still working with the 333 for now waiting to see what is coming out at CEDIA and coming down the pipe right now...(I am on my last bulb soon though and then I'll start getting serious )

Let me know when could work for you?

Cheers
Calvin

Greg,

Sorry for the delay was out of town for a week while my wife was doing the Penticton Iron man then in a course for a few days in Calgary. I'm back to home base again for the next few weeks so when ever works for you I'll make work for me as best I can. Anytime Friday after 3:00 PM or anytime at all on Saturday / Sunday will work?

Let me know and I'll PM you the details / directions on how best to make it to the house. I really appreciate this

Thanks
Calvin

Greg and I are just working out the details on his visit and his gracious demo of the RS20 in my HT. More info and I'm sure a few pics to follow when it happens (either next weekend or the weekend after)

Cheers
Calvin

Javry,

No that was my old one (the 05 in Silver ) I upgraded to a more fully loaded 09 in black just a few months back. I'll have to get a picture up one day soon I have a couple pictures of them both in the driveway I should post. I love the black but it seems I'm always at the car wash compared to the silver :S

How you been keeping my friend, staying busy?

Cheers
Calvin

I haven't heard back from scopeguy yet sadly so something must have come up but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get to demo a JVC RS in my HT before I go with my check book in hand down to the store to look at the new RS25 / RS35 which are my current front runners to replace the Infocus 333 I have now. (I'd really like a Sim 1080 or HT model but it's not doable this year sadly due to my frugal ways - and the fact I've spent all my pesos on the vehicles and back yard stuff below for the foreseeable future )

Anyway since I'm up and on the website I may as well post some of the photos I promised long ago

Here is the new (and the old silver) truck recently picked up.


Couple interior shots:







This is the wife's new toy I bought the week after the truck - not as many pictures as I have of my truck It's the electric hybrid 400rxh model - quite an impressive SUV which she loves.





Once I have my final accessories put on the truck I'll post one more pic - I've added some chrome and a color matched bed cover etc..it looks pretty sharp IMO.



Backyard and deck - couple more recent shots.

The new BBQ, cast iron, granite and slate patio set and there is a gas line fired patio heater as well between those two that is not pictured here that is in a brown powder coat for the fall and earlier spring evenings.





Hopefully I'll have some new PJ HT pics soon.

Cheers
Calvin

Had a busy weekend. I think I broke my record for most people in the HT at one time! My wife had her "Ironman" group over for their year end gathering and we ended up hosting to around 30 folks and at one point when they were watching a group video one of the members made we had 25 people in the HT

Very cool I felt like Art must feel a lot of the time when he hosts his massive gatherings

Anyway a couple pics I took during the event.










I'm looking even more forward to next Friday as I hoping I get to see Greg and the JVC in action in 4 days time (if everything works out). I was pretty tempted to call Jason at AVS today and find out what the RS25's and RS35's are selling for but I think I'm going to wait and see how the RS-20 handles in my room before I get to carried away (but I'm certainly getting excited about that is for sure)

More this weekend if all goes well.

Cheers
Calvin

Excellent news Greg! I can hardly wait

Drive safe (I hope the weather stays nice this weekend - today is supposed to get ugly)

Looking forward to meeting you and seeing the JVC in action

Cheers
Calvin

I sure hope it missses us and you have a safe drive. I asked jakkb if he wanted to swing by as well as he is only a few minutes away from the house working on his build and thought he might want to meet you (as your a pretty regular contributor on his build thread I've seen) and see the PJ in action as well
See you in a couple days.
Cheers
Calvin

Today's the big day! I should have some intersting thoughts and photos from Greg visit with the JVC this weekend

Cheers

It was great having you Greg. Thanks so much for coming over and bringing the JVC RS20 for me to demo in my room I very much appreciate it. I'm looking forward to seeing how you make out with your measurements with the light meter on it and hopefully visiting your room as well when I'm going through Red Deer next time I'm heading south.

I'll let Jason know you dropped those parts off for him and I plan on posting up some pictures with in the next couple of days once I get the thanksgiving stuff out of the way (hopefully Monday I'll get them up)

All the best
Calvin

Here are a few pictures. I unfortunately have to run in 15 min for yet another thanksgiving turkey feast so I'll have to finish up later.

First off here are the basics.

Infocus 333 - 3 chip DLP 1824 hours on the bulb (about 300 past when the bulb usually blows up so lets just say it's living on borrowed time or perhaps the bulbs are finally getting 2000 hours - most blow between 1500 and 1600 in my experience and this is the 7 or 8th bulb since I bought the PJ new.
The Infocus was recently ISF certified / calibrated as mentioned a few posts above.

The JVC RS20 from Greg - Bulb virtually brand new - 67 ~ 70 hours on the bulb Greg really hasn't spent much time with it as they are still building his HT. The JVC was / is not calibrated - but honestly it is exceptional out of the box IMO still needs to be said.

I was originally going to do some measurements but time got away from us and due to the fact Greg still had a bit of drive and it was late I just lent him my light meter so he can take some measurement (lumens/ ansi etc..) and let me know what he finds. After which I'll redo my Infocus when I swap out the bulb so I'm using a bulb with less then 100 hours as well (so it's more apples to apples).

Ok on to the pictures.

Hours on the 333 - The hours on the JVC didn't turn out strangely but I'm sure it was 67 at the start and maybe 70 after all the back and forth testing.



All scenes were run through as follows.

Video only as this really has nothing to do with audio.

Zektor Mas 7.1 switcher which was processing / passing signals from

PS3 - games and blue ray tested
LG Super BLu - DVD / Blu Ray and HD- DVD tested
Xbox Elite - HDMI 1080P - games tested on Infocus 333
Xbox Pro - Component 1080P - games tested on the JVC RS20

All signals with the exception of the Xbox pro on COD 4 were through the same equipment using HDMI (and the M1-DA in the case of the Infocus)

Camera Used was a 10.1 MP Canon SLR on a tripod set to night / no flash.

*the camera took much faster pictures of the 333 then the JVC due to light output was our impression after doing the back and forths - especially in the night scenes.

First set - looking to compare difficult dark scenes and I picked this one from Death Race. Shown on Blu-Ray on the LG Super Blue. (note all JVC pictures are at 1080p/24 (for movies) or 1080p/60 (for games) and the Infocus 333 is 720p/24 (for movies) and 1280 x 1024/60 (for games) unless otherwise noted)


1st pic is the JVC RS-20 showing the impressive blacks and contrast that it's known for:



Same scene on the 333 - to show how the 333 - 3 chip is holding up been 3 or so years older.



FROM BBC's Universe Blu-ray set as shown on the PS3. Again looking at dark shots with some variety of light to test.





Then next we have the 333 showing Saturn shot # 2



First up on the JVC showing the same Saturn shot # 1




Now we have the JVC showing Saturn shot # 2



Well that is all I have for time for now - I'll try and get back to show some of the games / stills etc... that we took as well and of course once Greg does some measurements and I swap a bulb we can put some hard numbers to these pictures as well.

more to come

Cheers
Calvin

I got sidetracked again on posting the rest of the pictures.... I know, I know I have some excuses though
I was winterizing the house / garden etc most of the weekend again and getting ready to protect our trees and shrubs from the inevitable rabbit invasion we'll see once the snow flies to stay.

I did however have Jason (aka Jakkb here at AVS) swing bye to pick up the pieces Greg left for him and a quick visit which was nice. It appears he is going to take a hard look at the new Panasonic 4000 which I must admit I'm curious to see in person after reading much about the new "budget" super PJ. Impressive stats on paper for sure will be interesting to see it in action if Jason goes that way.

Lots on the go these days getting new winter car starters put into both the Titan and the Lexus, visiting a new chiropractor that does the KST method which is a first for me and somewhat interesting I must admit. I’m also planning on getting the final accessories and winter tires put on the truck this weekend (almost 10,000 km on the old girl already )
I still am planning to get some of those pictures up soon though and I'm hoping that Greg or his installers can work the loaned meter and get us some numbers to go with the pictures and then I'll do mine again once I change out the bulb to see how they compare on the "white sheet" vs the pictures.

Cheers
Calvin