my wife said 1080p

[jpavery]

For some odd reason my wife said if she could say '1080p' first time without hesitation she'd be good with me getting a 1080p TV. Yesterday she finally said it (I think she didn't mean too) before she was saying things like 1040T...

I've got a room in my basement I am looking to build a theater into. It is unfinished.

Here's my plan:

a) build a PC, install XP pro on it, and use that to play movies. This would be the third PC I've built in the last four months.
b) get a Panasonic 50" 1080p (the one without the tuner.) This is the one Panasonic TH-50PF9UK Full HD Plasma Display - 50", 1080p, 16:9, 1920 x 1080, 5000:1 (No Tuner)
c) probably get klipsch speakers (I've got those in my living room and I am happy with them).
d) get a receiver to run the sound through
e) the PC will have a blu ray player in it
note: the motherboard I'd get has optical output for the sound.

I'm assuming I can get a video card that will have a feed I can connect to the Plasma.

My budget for this is around $6,000.

Would anyone have advice on this?

[jagabo]

If you won't be playing 3D games:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127301

SPDIF in, HDMI out, HDCP support, hardware MPEG2 and AVC decoding.

[jpavery]

The other option for me is to put this in our living room - which would make a lot of sense, since that is where we spend most of our time.

The issues
a) My AV equipment is located about 20 feet from existing TV.
b) I cannot change where the AV and TV is located
c) I don't have conduits to pull cables through.
d) I'm not opening up any walls.
e) I've got 4 coaxial cables run from the AV equip under the floor, through the basement, up inside the wall to the TV.

I'm using the coaxial cables to send RGB (only using 3 - 1 is not used) to the plasma (I had to find special connectors for them).

If I wanted to put the new plasma in my living room, would I be able use my existing coaxial cables to deliver a 1080P picture?


Posting three pics.

[jpavery]

second pic

[jpavery]

third pic

[redwudz]

For the living room setup, I would use the existing RGB cables and a RGB (Component) switch box, if your surround sound amplifier can't do the switching. You can get ones with optical switching included. Then just hook your HTPC to the switch box. There are several video cards out there with component out options.

Better would be HDMI or DVI, but then you would likely need new cables. You could try the setup above and the HTPC could still have DVI output if you want to tackle the rewiring for a future upgrade.

This case is similar to my present HTPC. It's quite presentable, even in a living room. It's made by Lian-Li: http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/lian_li35/ What mine looks like with the 'lid' off: https://forum.videohelp.com/topic337152.html#1764021

[jpavery]

rewiring is certainly out of the question. Word to future installers - put conduit s in! To rewire I'd have to open up a lot of wall.

We've pretty much decided to make the improvements in our living room.

These are the TVs I've got my eye on:
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3510519&CatId=388

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926HDS0010094375&catid=23249&PCNa...5255B4C609351E

Any opinions on them?

[mstone321]

Can I wade in?

Get a PS3 instead of HTPC and mount in on a nice looking cantilevered shelf close to the TV location (fireplace). Connect the PS3 to the TV with an HDMI cable. Find an optical to coaxial converter (small and inexpensive) for the digital audio out from the PS3 and run it back to the existing AV equipment in the "rear" corner of the room over one of the existing sub-floor coax cables.

I'm no Sony fanboy, but I think the PS3 represents better value than any HTPC you could build and looks better too.

matt

[redwudz]

I like the Pansonics. I came close to buying a 42", then decided to wait a bit and just upgrade my projector to a 1080 version. I do have a 5' X 8' screen, so I'm happy with my present setup.

If you are planning on a HTPC, go for quiet. Fanless video card, low speed case fans, quiet CPU coolers and power supplies. The closer it is to where you sit and view your videos, the quieter it needs to be. You may have to sacrifice performance with the CPU and the video card, but unless you are gaming, that shouldn't be a problem. There are plenty of low wattage CPUs out there with good performance that need minimal cooling. My HTPC is virtually silent, but it sits about 15 feet away from my couch. It's also connected through a Gigabit LAN to my video servers in a back room. They're not silent, but I can't hear them from the front room.

I use a program called Extreme Movie Manager ( http://www.binaryworks.it/extrememoviemanager/ ) to access and catalog my videos, about 1300 presently. They are in assorted formats. I use VLC Media Player and Zoom Player Pro for playback.

[RickA]

All good suggetions from everyone. Looks like you have a real nice setup going there.

Sorry if this veers slightly off topic but I think it important. Might I add not to forget to give your wife a big hug and kiss for giving the go ahead on the new HTPC system? Treat her to a night out or something special she will enjoy. Not only should that help keep the peace and her being happy. By letting her know you appreciate her saying yes to this, but may even encourage her to give the OK to other fun projects in the future. Ya know the old saying 'A happy wife makes a happy life.'

Cheers,
Rick

[lordsmurf]

I would get a severe neck ache looking up at a tv above a fireplace, and I'd have to sit 7 feet away to see it "big". I'm always amazed how people stick semi-big tv's in rooms so far away that it has about the same effect as a 13" tv.

I've got a 55" that sits 9' away, and when I sit on the couch, the center of the screen is perfectly at eye level. I get a "movie theatre" type of experience this way.

[redwudz]

My 8 foot projection screen is 17 feet away. It was a bit overpowering at first, but I love it now. I just need to upgrade my projector to a higher res unit.

[RabidDog]

SOd the nite out, treat Her to a nite in (heart icon), not sure whether you enjoy drilling and banging to get your cables in
my 2c the tV should be below your eye level when watching it..probably about 1-2 foot off the floor?

[edDV]

Estimating viewing distance = 18ft.

The calulator shows a need for 130-160" screen to get HD benefit at that distance.
http://myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html

[jpavery]

my sketch was not to scale. When sitting on the main couch, the TV is 128 inches away from the eye balls.

The bottom of the TV is 53 inches up, and it is angled down - to me, it feels perfect for the viewing.

Thanks for the suggestion on the PS3.

does it play any blu-ray? For some reason I thought I read the disc need to be for the PS3.

[jpavery]

Can I wade in?

Get a PS3 instead of HTPC and mount in on a nice looking cantilevered shelf close to the TV location (fireplace). Connect the PS3 to the TV with an HDMI cable. Find an optical to coaxial converter (small and inexpensive) for the digital audio out from the PS3 and run it back to the existing AV equipment in the "rear" corner of the room over one of the existing sub-floor coax cables.

I'm no Sony fanboy, but I think the PS3 represents better value than any HTPC you could build and looks better too.

I'm really liking this idea. It lets me keep the cost down. I showed my wife this thread and she balked at the $6K budget.

I found this:

http://www.amazon.com/DAYTON-DAC-OC-OPTICAL-COAXIAL-CONVERTER/dp/B0002MQGQS

And it is is small too.

I've got the spare cable too, since I'd only be watching stuff off the PS3 in HD. For the rest of the signals I send at the TV the RGB should work.

Thanks mstone321!

[jagabo]

I showed my wife this thread and she balked at the $6K budget.

What, $5500 for the TV and $500 for the computer?

[mstone321]

The PS3 will play almost anything and can only get better. The killer add-on would be an external USB HD-DVD drive to play those HD-DVD movies. But I digress.

The PS3 does a great job of up-converting regular DVDs which is a BIG bonus. The blue-tooth remote (as opposed to the game pad) is pretty good. The PS3 hardware has a lot of potential.

Again, I'm no Sony fanboy and have been burned several times by Sony. The PS3 seems to have been done right.

[BJ_M]

the panasonics are alright - i owned and own several, but the pioneer plasmas just simply blow everything else away .... get th elites if you can , but the normal pioneer plasmas are just fine also...

1080p vs. non 1080p on a high quality plasma is a moot point and more a marketing term than what you can see ... if you have compressed (prob. recompressed) movies on media server - 1080p displays will not make them look better - in fact worse in some cases ... also , unless you use hdmi cables - you are only going to get 1080i anyway ..max ..

[jagabo]

Does the PS3 upscale DVD over component? Does it downgrade BD over component? Will it in the future?

[mstone321]

If you go with a big Plasma above the fireplace, I would suggest you probably want to re-buld the wood mantle to get rid of the top quarter and bring the Plasma down as far as you can (taking the centre channel into consideration).

Your fireplace looks like a direct-vent natural gas unit. Make sure you use the convection blower on it so you don't "cook" your new TV.

[jg0001]

Can I wade in?

Get a PS3 instead of HTPC and mount in on a nice looking cantilevered shelf close to the TV location (fireplace). Connect the PS3 to the TV with an HDMI cable. Find an optical to coaxial converter (small and inexpensive) for the digital audio out from the PS3 and run it back to the existing AV equipment in the "rear" corner of the room over one of the existing sub-floor coax cables.

I'm no Sony fanboy, but I think the PS3 represents better value than any HTPC you could build and looks better too.

matt

First off, OPTICAL OUT from the PC is highly suggested (well, by me anyway) to your receiver to help minimize the chances of any ground loop hum (a very annoying bit of low level noise that often occurs when electrically connecting to components that may have different grounding levels -- optical fiber doesn't have this issue).

The PS3 does an excellent job of upscaling DVDs, far better than my standalone Sony DVD recorder (which has upsampling and HDMI output). The PS3 is also an excellent BluRay disc player and the remote that you can get for $25 is BlueTooth connected -- i.e. no line of sight required. I've also never heard anyone complain about the sound

You can also feed your PS3 via streaming, but that would require another PC setup to provide the source.

The big negative with the PS3, of course, is that you will be limited in your # of interface choices ... it's also not a very good MP3 jukebox player... it has fine quality output, mind you, but no slick interface for mp3's.

You can selectively choose to output the audio via optical instead of HDMI if that is your wish and it lets you be very specific about which signal types your equipment can handle, downsampling the rest. It is far more impressive in this category than the XBOX 360 Elite.

RE: PC's and video cards... I see no good reason not to just get an 8800GT video card (with 512MB RAM) as the bare bones vid card to get. You can use a DVI->HDMI cable to connect it to your video display and use optical out for the audio.