Dedicated room on a budget

DLPMaybe · 06-10-2007, 6:27 AM

Background:

I have been considering upgrading my TV in my living room for some time. I currently use the TV with a HTPC for all my TV, movies and computing. The TV is a JVC 56" HD-ILA 720p. The TV is good but for computing I was finding the resolution too restrictive so wanted a 1080p set. The only TV I could find that I was almost happy with was the new 52" samsung LCD. It costs £2300 and for that I would have got a smaller TV that is 1080p but appart from that would not be much different to the JVC. This just seemed like a lot of money for not much improvement so decided rather than that I would convert my top bedroom to a dedicated room using my original budget for the TV (£2500).

DLPMaybe · 06-10-2007, 6:29 AM

The room:

The room was not much used and in a huge mess

Notice the lovely head board

DLPMaybe · 06-10-2007, 6:32 AM

Cleared the room:

DLPMaybe · 06-10-2007, 6:38 AM

Equipement:

For £2500 I needed projector, amp, speakers, HTPC. So far I have everything excpet the HTPC.

Projector - Sanyo Z5

£630

http://www.1staudiovisual.co.uk/cata...or-p-1783.html

Was a choice between this and the panasonic. Was concerned with the flickering issue with the panasonic so went with the Z5.

AMP/speakers

£900 - including cables

Onkyo TX-SR605
Q Acoustics 1000 speakers

http://www.creative-audio.co.uk/HCS_ONK605_Q1000.htm

DLPMaybe · 06-10-2007, 6:47 AM

The room with the equipement in it. Cabling for speakers and projector go into loft then back down in wall.

Got some ikea seats. Cheap but comfortable.

DLPMaybe · 06-10-2007, 6:52 AM

Painted the walls. Steel gray 4 and 1.

DLPMaybe · 06-10-2007, 6:54 AM

Moved my office furniture up from what was my office. The unit to the left used to be wider. I modified this myself to fit the space exactly. All the AV equipement will go there.

DLPMaybe · 06-10-2007, 6:59 AM

That is the progress so far. Someone is coming round today to fit lan cables from the server to the room.

wavefront · 07-10-2007, 7:59 AM

Looks good so far, I quite like the grey

I hope you don't mind asking but does the LAN wiring cost much and will any electrician do it or do you need someone specific?

kingfats · 07-10-2007, 2:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLPMaybe

The room:

The room was not much used and in a huge mess

Notice the lovely head board

What's wrong with the head board!

Looks like your rooms gonna be cool,nice one!

Miniholic · 07-10-2007, 2:59 PM

Great looking room mate.

Have you got a painted screen or is the full wall the same shade? Can't really tell from the photo.

DLPMaybe · 07-10-2007, 4:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wavefront

Looks good so far, I quite like the grey

I hope you don't mind asking but does the LAN wiring cost much and will any electrician do it or do you need someone specific?

I paid £100 for two runs of cat5e. One run from living room to garage. One from garage to third floor bedroom via loft. http://www.vispec.co.uk/ did the cabling. Very nice job including testing the quality of the line. Ran the cable through the loft down in the wall to a face plate. Nice bloke too; definelty recommended if you are local to them.

I guess an electrician would do it but you would probably have to test the line your self. The bit of kit he brought to test the line costs £1000

DLPMaybe · 07-10-2007, 4:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wavefront

Looks good so far, I quite like the grey

Out of the dark colours this was my favourite. I was painting it as a slight compromise to get a dark room but now it is up I think it looks quite cool. I will just have to call the room the "submarine"

DLPMaybe · 07-10-2007, 4:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miniholic

Great looking room mate.

Have you got a painted screen or is the full wall the same shade? Can't really tell from the photo.

I have painted the screen with a matt white (4 coats!). I will see how it goes and may get some screen goo eventually. I have some wood that needs a couple extra coats of black paint. What that is done I will put it up as a border.

On the subject of the screen do not judge the picture quality on these shots. I have made no attempt to capture how good the image is.

DLPMaybe · 07-10-2007, 4:28 PM

The "screen" with the projector off:

The office area including home made rack. The gap is for my HTPC (after I spec, order and build it). The big silver PC is my server(windows home server) and will be hidden in a cupboard in anouther room:

Razor · 08-10-2007, 10:09 AM

Nice one mate your hide away from your missus is going well.

DLPMaybe · 09-10-2007, 9:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razor

Nice one mate your hide away from your missus is going well.

Thanks. That is missus and kids. Can anyone recommend a good lock

THE_FORCE · 09-10-2007, 9:31 AM

That room is coming along beautifully. Nice one DLP!!

Razor · 09-10-2007, 9:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLPMaybe

Thanks. That is missus and kids. Can anyone recommend a good lock

Just leave a basket of washing and a box of toys outside the door. That should slow them down.

kingfats · 09-10-2007, 9:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLPMaybe

Thanks. That is missus and kids. Can anyone recommend a good lock

I know what you mean,mate!
Mind you my two boys are older now (so that's cool) but my little girl is not.
She's fine,but when her friends come round to play (nightmare) the front room remains closed.

DLPMaybe · 09-10-2007, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingfats

I know what you mean,mate!
Mind you my two boys are older now (so that's cool) but my little girl is not.
She's fine,but when her friends come round to play (nightmare) the front room remains closed.

I had not even considered friends yet

When I put the room together I thought I would just never put the projector on when my son was up there (he is 2 1/2). That way he would not even know what it did and would have no interest in the room. I went out for like 10 minutes and the wife decides to show someone the room and took him up with her. He just kept saying "look" "look" "look" and pointing at the image wall

Needless to say he now wants to go up into my room now

kingfats · 09-10-2007, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLPMaybe

I had not even considered friends yet

When I put the room together I thought I would just never put the projector on when my son was up there (he is 2 1/2). That way he would not even know what it did and would have no interest in the room. I went out for like 10 minutes and the wife decides to show someone the room and took him up with her. He just kept saying "look" "look" "look" and pointing at the image wall

Needless to say he now wants to go up into my room now

My Bruv has a nice Plasma (got a couple of girls) he come home from work one night to find all chocolate cake squashed on the screen!

I laughed about it, he did not.

Razor · 09-10-2007, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingfats

My Bruv has a nice Plasma (got a couple of girls) he come home from work one night to find all chocolate cake squashed on the screen!

I laughed about it, he did not.

Thats a funny story and it reminds me of my friend who bought a rear pro Toshiba many years ago. It was his pride and joy and only owned it for 4 or 5 days. We both popped out for a few hours and when he came home he found the rear pro front screen pushed inside the case.

LMAO... The look on both of our faces when we saw it. Apparently his kids were doing laps of his lounge and were using the rear pro screen to push themselves off.

After a good period of time the screen was back in place and there was no damage.

DLPMaybe · 09-10-2007, 2:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razor

Thats a funny story and it reminds me of my friend who bought a rear pro Toshiba many years ago. It was his pride and joy and only owned it for 4 or 5 days. We both popped out for a few hours and when he came home he found the rear pro front screen pushed inside the case.

LMAO... The look on both of our faces when we saw it. Apparently his kids were doing laps of his lounge and were using the rear pro screen to push themselves off.

After a good period of time the screen was back in place and there was no damage.

I might have to get two locks just in case.

Franco50 · 10-10-2007, 11:48 AM

Just makes me glad I don't have kids!

DLPMaybe · 18-10-2007, 7:21 PM

I've added the border around the screen:

miceri · 23-10-2007, 7:01 PM

That border makes quite a startling change for the better. How is the image quality on a painter wall?

I see you have the centre on a low coffee table, I would worry about the relections it is causing with regards to the overall soundstage. Will be bouncing straight off and away from your ears. Same goes for the panning effects from the fronts. I would look into a dedicated stand of some sort.

My son smeared a cheese sandwhich into a 2 day old plasma... Rubbed pretty hard with the supplied micro-fibre cloth and it disappeared.

tel999 · 23-10-2007, 9:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingfats

She's fine,but when her friends come round to play (nightmare) the front room remains closed.

Got any photo's of that????

dunks517 · 23-10-2007, 10:09 PM

Nice setup, how are you finding the Windows Home Server?

DLPMaybe · 24-10-2007, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by miceri

That border makes quite a startling change for the better. How is the image quality on a painter wall?

I see you have the centre on a low coffee table, I would worry about the relections it is causing with regards to the overall soundstage. Will be bouncing straight off and away from your ears. Same goes for the panning effects from the fronts. I would look into a dedicated stand of some sort.

My son smeared a cheese sandwhich into a 2 day old plasma... Rubbed pretty hard with the supplied micro-fibre cloth and it disappeared.

The border does make a big difference. I am very happy with it. Four (

) coats of blackboard paint on some cheap wood.

I hear what your saying on the coffee table. I need to get some permanent solution for that. We had that table going spare so thought to would do for now.

The picture quality on the painted screen is hard for me to say. I think the picture looks excellent. I do suspect that I could get better with goo but without a side by side comparison it is really hard to say. This is my first front projector so I have no comparison to help me here. Details in dark scenes are good but the black levels are good but not great. I will stick with the painted wall without goo for now as I am very happy with the picture quality. One day I may buy some goo.