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My Home Theater Entrance....

2697 Views 26 Replies 21 Participants Last post by BLloyd, Jan 17, 2006

orbitzboy

Discussion Starter · Dec 16, 2005

By popular demand,

finally, here's a screenshot of my plasma theater entrance:

http://vintagecomputers.com/theater_files/image005.jpg

I upgraded my family room Plasma to a 65" Panasonic, and decided to use the "old" 42" Philips ED Plasma as digital signage for my theater entrance.

It run by a client PC with a mixture of Pre-Movie Manager & Mainlobby to keep the crowd outside up to speed on what's playing inside, and intermission / pre-movie trivia.

I recessed the plasma into the wall to amplify the Philips ambilight effect. I also route sound through the plasma as a second zone to the theater for pre-movie movie soundtracks as well as voice-over's announcing how long before the movie begins, etc...

Very well received at our last party.

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1 - 20 of 27 Posts

T.Wells

· #2 · Dec 16, 2005

SWEET!

Dcostanza

· #3 · Dec 16, 2005

orbitzboy

I have always thought digital signage would be pretty slick in an HT environment, yours is the first I've seen posted here.

Very nice...

Don

shahram72

· #4 · Dec 16, 2005

WOW! Now that's nice!

b curry

· #5 · Dec 16, 2005

Very nicely done!

I was also thinking about something like this as 15" - 20" LCD's are selling for less than poster size light boxes. That 42" plasma is just perfect!

MaximAvs

· #6 · Dec 16, 2005

NICE!! I wish I could afford 1 plasma....let alone 2!!

Sean

scorch123

· #7 · Dec 16, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by orbitzboy
It run by a client PC with a mixture of Pre-Movie Manager & Mainlobby to keep the crowd outside up to speed on what's playing inside, and intermission / pre-movie trivia.

orbitzboy,

Thanks for posting this. With Mainlobby, how do you get the movie poster art high-rez, and also the meta data for your movie trivia?

That really looks cool; I'm not sure why commercials theaters don't switch to an approach like this - it's eye-catching.

- Steve O.

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Toxarch

· #8 · Dec 16, 2005

You turned the old 42" Plasma into a sign? Cool idea but I'd have rather used the plasma as a TV in another part of the house. If you upgrade again, can I have the plasma you don't want?

htomei22

· #9 · Dec 16, 2005

That is BEAUTIFUL!!! Makes my theater entrance look pretty pathetic.

htomei

CptnRandy

· #10 · Dec 16, 2005

Sweet.

We need more pics, though. Kinda hard to make out from that one.

Randy

chinadog

· #11 · Dec 16, 2005

Very, very, cool. Puts those 400 buck "Now showing" signs to shame, huh? Hmmm, I can't even afford a 400 buck "Now Showing" sign. Now I need to figure out what I can sell to do this!

Bud

Jester 2

· #12 · Dec 17, 2005

Fantastic idea!!!! Now just to figure out how to get the wife to get a second job so I can have one or two

Jester 2

BLloyd

· #13 · Dec 17, 2005

Yes....more pics please....

Robert Clark

· #14 · Dec 17, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by b curry
Very nicely done!

I was also thinking about something like this as 15" - 20" LCD's are selling for less than poster size light boxes. That 42" plasma is just perfect!

That's what I did with a 17" LCD and meedio.

Mine looks pathetic next to that one!

orbitzboy

Discussion Starter · #15 · Dec 19, 2005

I'll post more pictures tonight. That is a bad picture, my apologies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scorch123
orbitzboy,

Thanks for posting this. With Mainlobby, how do you get the movie poster art high-rez, and also the meta data for your movie trivia?

That really looks cool; I'm not sure why commercials theaters don't switch to an approach like this - it's eye-catching.

- Steve O.

I use DVD Profiler to catalog my movies and aquire cover art. Since this is an ED, not an HD plasma, the cover art is almost always a higher resolution than the native screen res.

Believe it or not, I tried to sell this puppy on Ebay before mounting it. It now retails for about $1500, and I couldn't get above $800 with a higher reserve.

At that price, it was officially less than the two light boxes & cover art inside my theater, and a heck of a lot cooler.

Alex

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Hardwood

· #16 · Dec 19, 2005

Pegs out the cool meter.

pcdoctor

· #17 · Dec 19, 2005

[email protected]#$

If the outside of your theater looks like that, what does the inside look like?!?

Also, I've thought about putting some kind of tv in the bathroom so that when people are taking bathroom breaks, they won't miss anything.

I can dream can't I.

MikeN

· #18 · Dec 20, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcdoctor
[email protected]#$

If the outside of your theater looks like that, what does the inside look like?!?

Also, I've thought about putting some kind of tv in the bathroom so that when people are taking bathroom breaks, they won't miss anything.

I can dream can't I.

If you can do a standard composite video output, you could just use a 12v 7" wide screen (used in car audio/video applications) for about $150, then just trim it out in the wall

b curry

· #19 · Dec 20, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcdoctor
[email protected]#$

If the outside of your theater looks like that, what does the inside look like?!?

Also, I've thought about putting some kind of tv in the bathroom so that when people are taking bathroom breaks, they won't miss anything.

I can dream can't I.

Originally Posted by MikeN
If you can do a standard composite video output, you could just use a 12v 7" wide screen (used in car audio/video applications) for about $150, then just trim it out in the wall

MikeN, I used a 16:9 7" 12V LCD for a rack mount monitor. The LCD came with two different trim bezels and a desk stand for about $130. I just cut a hole in a blank rack panel. The LCD popped right in. I use it to que up the movie, skip previews etc., before I turn on the projector.

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MikeN

· #20 · Dec 21, 2005

Yup... exactly what I was talking about.

I actually used a 15" TFT touch screen in my rack, but the idea is the same...

1 - 20 of 27 Posts

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