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My theater room. Time for some new speakers. They sound nice, but I'd like a cleaner, crisper sound.
 
Fez Hammersticks said:
Has anyone here purchased a 4K HDTV?
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I tend to wait on certain things like this (mostly out of budget, lol). Currently there's no real content for these tvs. If you buy the high end Sony they loan you a device which is basically a hard drive with some of their movies on there in 4K (or I think you can rent it with other models). The picture on the 4K's are quite detailed and I can see it's a definite step up, it's just too early for me personally.
 
Bob Dobalina said:
That's nice! Love the stadium seating. For which game are you inviting all your S2 buddies over? :devilwink:

What speakers do you have now? I can't see any at the front of the room. I see the two in-walls in the back.
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Ha! I've said before peeps are welcome to come over - it was in one of the threads about the new Fox Sports Channel (because some people still don't have a channel that carries Blazer games at home). I'd love to have some peeps over for a game or games. I dig watching sports on the projection screen and having the players be life-size.

As for the speakers, can't remember the brand, but they are a pretty solid brand (the previous owner had them installed during the build). The brand name isn't on the face - I have to pull out of the wall for brand/specs. They actually are much louder than you'd think for two speakers. The guy that built the house did it right - the wall with the speakers has a sound barrier and all that jazz. It's good sound, overall, like being in a theater. But the speakers are original, so I'm going to start looking for something new.
 
BLAZINGGIANTS said:
Ha! I've said before peeps are welcome to come over - it was in one of the threads about the new Fox Sports Channel (because some people still don't have a channel that carries Blazer games at home). I'd love to have some peeps over for a game or games. I dig watching sports on the projection screen and having the players be life-size.

As for the speakers, can't remember the brand, but they are a pretty solid brand (the previous owner had them installed during the build). The brand name isn't on the face - I have to pull out of the wall for brand/specs. They actually are much louder than you'd think for two speakers. The guy that built the house did it right - the wall with the speakers has a sound barrier and all that jazz. It's good sound, overall, like being in a theater. But the speakers are original, so I'm going to start looking for something new.
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Well next time you have an open invite, let me know. I'll be looking for somewhere to see some Blazers games anyway.
 
Bob Dobalina said:
Well next time you have an open invite, let me know. I'll be looking for somewhere to see some Blazers games anyway.
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Shit, the season is an open invite, but maybe we can try to pick a few games to make it a point to see if people care to meet up.
 
Alright, new question:

I've basically decided (if I can get a price match) on the Panasonic 60" ZT60 for the video, and now am looking for a soundbar in without going too much over $1k, if possible. Mrs. FromWA won't let my Boston Acoustic towers live in the house anymore, (so I don't have a dedicated sub--they were in the towers) and I don't want to repeat the buying process in a couple of years.

Anyone have a recommendation on the highest-fidelity sound (I know I won't get high-end 5.1), with decent enough bass to wow the girls as they watch Avengers or something? I've seen that the Martin Logan gets really high marks, but most say that it needs a dedicated sub on top of the $1200-1500 that you're looking at. The Yamaha YSP-4300 seems to be the absolute (and comes with a sub), but is it $700 better than a Bowers & Wilkins or Paradigm? It seems like, when looking at reviews, that it's a bunch of guys name-dropping and keeping with their preferred brand.

For that matter, is there a significant dropoff from the Yamaha 4300 to the 3300 and 2200 (basically 1/2, and 1/3 the price?)

EDIT: After looking at this some more, I'm not sure that I want to go soundbar...but I also have two toddlers running around the house (and the aforementioned "no towers" design constraint). Is there a legit wireless option for surround sound speakers?
 
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First off, hope you can get your hands on the ZT60, appears to produce a beautiful picture. Rumor is that Panasonic is exiting the plasma industry next year (though I think that’s been said before).

Am I correct in assuming that the Mrs. will allow you to put a Sub in the room to go with the soundbar (I assume, since you have considered the Yamaha which comes with a sub)? This seems important as a soundbar just won’t be able to produce much low frequency on its own to give that wow factor for The Avengers.

What sources are you using? Do you have a receiver which would feed audio to the soundbar or would you need switching at the soundbar?

In my quick searching, the Martin Logan does get a lot of recommendations. I also see folks talking about the Golden Ears Super Cinema 3d setup. This one comes with a soundbar, 2 surrounds and sub though. So that easy soundbar setup goes out the window. I really like Definitive Technology speakers personally. They have a couple of soundbar options though I don’t know how they stack up to the competition (and they are spendy).
 
I've been digging a lot today (Fridays are the day off here)...

I actually got the ZT60 for $600 off by price matching Amazon with video only. So I was able to get the ZT for less than the VT would've run me. And yes, I'm absolutely stoked about coming home next month and seeing the TV ready for me to pull out of the box (on a side note, I also just ordered a rec tec grill, so the day before Thanksgiving will actually be like Christmas Eve for me, in terms of opening presents and assembling toys. ;) ).

Yes, the sub's fine for her, if for no other reason than it's relatively portable. I actually don't have one, because in the BA Towers they had the powered subs in the bottom of the tower--which was always plenty for what we needed. So I'm not adverse to buying a decent one if it came to it, (and she'll accept it) because a large part of her "movie-watching enjoyment" comes from the audio--rumbles, gunshots, etc. She still raves about the time we watched Master and Commander when I had the whole 7.1 setup dialed in in the old house.

I have two receivers I can use up, one a 2004-era Yamaha that never let me down, and a 2010 Pioneer Elite that I got right before we moved out of our old house into 3 years of apartment living (and therefore, it stayed in the box in storage). AFAIR, I don't think either have HDMI. But the TV has an optical out, if it came to that. Since aesthetics are a big issue (and we can't drill through the walls to make in-wall cable runs), the more minimalistic, the better.

The Golden Ears also looked good---but as a passive, with surrounds, a sub, and needing a receiver (and maybe an amp?), it moved out of the price category (and as you said, setup is no longer easy). If I was going to go with one, it would probably be either the Yamaha YPS-5100 (which comes with dedicated sub as well), as the ML with a proper sub gets into the 2500 or so range. For that, I'd probably just go with the Bowers and Wilkins MT-60D setup and call it a life.

I told her I could probably get some on-wall speakers and set it up similarly to the picture below, but she wasn't keen on it. After explaining this to her this morning, she said that the BA towers would probably be ok for now, and then when we eventually build a place I'll have to get in-walls. Fair enough, I guess. It's not a proper "Home Theater" room right now, anyway.

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Looks like you got a great deal. Video Only is hard to beat on price. Only thing better is getting a Video Only price without actually buying from them!

BrianFromWA said:
So I'm not adverse to buying a decent one if it came to it, (and she'll accept it) because a large part of her "movie-watching enjoyment" comes from the audio--rumbles, gunshots, etc. She still raves about the time we watched Master and Commander when I had the whole 7.1 setup dialed in in the old house.
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Do I understand correctly? She actually enjoys what speakers provide during her movie watching, but doesn't want to see any? Even the slim on-wall variety? Sounds something like my wife to be honest! :devilwink:

BrianFromWA said:
I told her I could probably get some on-wall speakers and set it up similarly to the picture below, but she wasn't keen on it. After explaining this to her this morning, she said that the BA towers would probably be ok for now, and then when we eventually build a place I'll have to get in-walls. Fair enough, I guess. It's not a proper "Home Theater" room right now, anyway.
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So it sounds like you are off the hook for now and will leave your current setup as is?
 
Submariners need subwoofers!

Since you're not going 5.1 or 7.1, your receivers should be fine... Optical connection is fine.

There are newer audio formats, like Dolby TrueHD that your old receivers would not decode if you do go 7.1, though.

Klipsch makes these in-wall speakers that wouldn't take up floor space, but if you can't do construction, they're out.

http://www.klipsch.com/architectural-reference-speakers
 
so, last gasp before I give up on the project for now:

Found a guy who'll sell Bowers & Wilkins Panorama (1) Soundbar--so it doesn't have the bells and whistles/HDMI, so I won't get the TrueHD. But I figure that if I'm getting a soundbar I'm already giving up audiophile sound quality anyway. I can hook up airplay via the coax, run the Blu-Ray player through the 1st optical input and the TV through the other. If I can get that for ~500-600, I can still get that and a Hsu subwoofer (probably the VT1 Mk2, but the VT2 Mk4 is only 100 more) and be under 1k. And there's no receiver, minimal wires, no towers, etc.

We'll see how that goes. Mrs. may want to hoard that 1k for patio furniture rather than a newer, less cluttered sound system.

EDIT: And Bob, my "current setup as-is" is "in boxes in the storage place miles down the road"...not even under my own roof. ;)
 
The Panorama guy said he'd sell for 500, still under Best Buy's extended warranty, so I'm going to go with that. If I really don't like the bass response, then I'll pick up a Hsu subwoofer. And I told Mrs. that she could buy material for curtains and dining room chairs. Win/Win.
 
Bob, I don't know if you realize this but your bedroom walls are...................................green.
 
Monoprice's in wall speakers are 10% off right now. They are awesome speakers especially considering the price. I've got 7 of them in my living room and I think they sound great.

www.monoprice.com
discount code IWS10
 
For anyone wanting a top notch HD (& 3D capable) projector:

Portable InFocus HD Home Theatre Projector Available to U.S. Movie and Gaming Enthusiasts for First Time

PORTLAND, Ore. – November 21, 2013 — Building on its recent impressive reception in Europe and Asia, and just in time for the Holiday season, global digital display technologies manufacturer InFocus Corp. (www.infocus.com) will make its high definition IN8606HD home media projector available in North America.
 
20160226_224045_017.jpg Just watched our first movie with the new Benq 2050 projector on a 135 inch 16:9 screen. Pardon my blurry selfie camera pics as I broke the good camera on my phone a few months ago.

Just had the front 2 speakers and sub hooked up for the first show, the wife rented The Good Dinosaur which was actually pretty good and perfect for the color this DLP projector shows. Wow, I've been missing out.
 

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We have the Samsung JS9500 which has an amazing picture. The upscaling is awesome, too. It's incredibly bright as well. The downside is the software crashes routinely. I have to unplug the TV and plug it back in again maybe once a week. The apps (Netflix, etc.) crash a lot, too. In short: great technology, crap software.

We also have two Sony TVs that I recommend.

The 850c is a decent TV for the price. The selling point for me was not only picture quality but 3D support. There is almost as much 3D content out there as there is 4K content, and I really like seeing movies in 3D.

The 810c has a superb picture for 4K and HD content. It's shockingly good for a UHD TV under $1,000 (55" model). The picture is definitely better than the 850c, but it lacks 3D.

The Sony pictures are far less bright than the JS9500 and lacks HDR and local dimming. However, they are back lit vs. edge lit and the picture is still of super quality.

For a fraction of the cost of the JS9500, a 65" 810c is perfectly fine for watching TV and UHD. You won't be disappointed.

I have a rant about UHD, HD, and bit rate that I'll post later.
 
Probably not going to buy another tv for years now that I have watched my new projector. It's an inexpensive one. I have 1100 bucks in the projector and the screen.

I wouldn't mind seeing an expensive setup to see how much better it is.

I figure this projector will do well until 4k stuff is dialed in.
 
So... Bit rate.

Compression technology has basically doubled twice in capability over the past 20 years or so.

It wasn't long ago that mpeg 2 was the state of the art. Then mpeg 4, which compresses 2x better than mpeg 2. Now we have HEVC which is 2x better than mpeg 4.

The higher the bit rate and the better the compression, the better the picture quality.

For the longest time, DirecTV had the best picture quality. A bit rate of 8-10 mbits and mpeg 4. The bit rate varies tho, depending on what channel you are watching. A satellite transponder has a max bandwidth of 35-45 mbits, and as DirecTV has added channels, especially HD ones, they have chosen to sacrifice bit rate/quality of the lesser popular channels. That is, they are cramming 6 channels per transponder, ESPN for example at 10 mbits and c-span at 4 mbits.

This was fine until the new 4K tvs came out. All the newish models have HEVC built in. DirecTV doesn't take advantage of it, but streaming services like Netflix do. So an 8mbit HEVC Netflix stream is effectively 2x the picture quality of an 8mbit DirecTV one. Simply because HEVC is 2x better than mpeg 4.

Not only does Netflix have 2x the picture quality quality, a 4K tv will upscale the picture to near 4K quality. The tv will have 10 bit color depth , nano crystals, 4x the pixels on screen, and assorted other picture enhancement technologies.

Netflix is what I call IP tv. You select a stream and a server streams the video bits to the tv, which renders it on screen. Compared to cable or satellite which is multicast and you basically tune in to the same stream as anyone else watching (or recording to DVR).

IP TV is the future. Once you choose a stream to watch, the remote server is not limited by cable or satellite transponder bandwidth. Eventually, a fast enough internet connection will allow 125mbit UHD streaming, which would only be possible on DirecTV if they dedicated 4+ transponders to the stream and replaced every set top no they have out in people's homes.

Google Fiber, XFinity, Verizon FIOS, and Time Warner MAXX are all IP TV. I'm not sure if they support HEVC yet, but it will be inexpensive to provide that capability. I expect by the time they address UHD in general they'll be supporting HEVC. For little cost, they can double picture quality without any additional bandwidth cost.

I absolutely recommend UHD TVs at this time. Everything you watch benefits from the upscaling and enhanced picture technology.
 
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