Complete noob!

rkr87

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Evening gents,

I'm planning on treating myself to a living room home cinema setup, but I don't really know where to start.

My plan is to get a screen and a projector.

I was planning on getting a Chromecast to plug directly into the projector as I have a dedicated mb3 (like plex) server in the loft and was only planning on using the projector for movies and some TV shows (Epic ones, more Game of Thrones, less Corrie).

I was only planning on getting a basic sound setup (maybe just a soundbar) as I've had a decent surround sound setup in the past and used it maybe twice in the time I had it.

My planned budget was £1k, but I could probably stretch to £1.3k if there's a substantial upgrade worth it.

Now for what I need you guys for, basically, recommend me a decent setup with in my budget range!

Projector
Screen
A sound suggestion (I will go for surround sound if you guys think there's something decent within my budget)

I was also wasn't sure about the best way to get my audio from my chromecast/projector in to the soundbar or w/e below my screen. I did see some cheap bluetooth audio transmitters/receivers but wasn't sure how good they'd be! I've a feeling they'd maybe put a downer on the whole experience.

Thanks for any help/advice!
 
OK - from a traditional point of view you are looking at connecting stuff up the wrong way.

The "standard" way to connect everything up would be to plug the Chromecast into an AVR (along with any of your other sources - SKY, Blu Ray etc) and use this to feed the video to the PJ and deal with the audio itself.

I have no experience of using Chromecast but I would imagine that you may struggle with wireless connectivity if you are looking to stream high bit rate movies.

Getting a Screen, PJ, AVR and Speakers for your budget will be tight but is possible -

OPTOMA HD141X (PJ) £ 480
Sapphire SWS240WSF-ASR2 (106inch SCREEN) £ 200
Yamaha RXV677 & Tannoy HTS101 (AVR & Speakers) £ 630

Above prices from RICHERSOUNDS website.

That lot comes to £1310 but on top of that you'd definitely need some speaker cable and a long HDMI - you may also need a PJ mount and speaker stands / brackets depending on your mounting options.
 
I was also wasn't sure about the best way to get my audio from my chromecast/projector in to the soundbar or w/e below my screen. I did see some cheap bluetooth audio transmitters/receivers but wasn't sure how good they'd be! I've a feeling they'd maybe put a downer on the whole experience.

You'd connect the Chromecast to the AV receiver as opposed to connecting it to the PJ. You'd pass the associated video through the AV receiver and out to the PJ. PJs have no audio capabilities.

You'd need an AV receiver or soundbar with HDMI inputs and at least one output. You'd need one with 2 ouputs if wanting to use both a TV and or PJ in conjunction with it and the sources connected to it although you can use an external HDMI splitter if needs be.

The distance from the AV receiver or soundbar to the PJ may require you to use an HDMI signal extender? HDMI cables longer than 8m are prone to signal dropouts.
 
Makes sense!

The Chromecast seems to do ok with most of the stuff I throw at it, for anything it can't handle I use an old xbox 360 setup as a WMC extender to connect to my MB3 server - with the soundbar option with multiple hdmi inputs I could have both hooked up!

I've been looking at the Sony HTCT770 - seems to be pretty cheap on Amazon compared to other online stores at the moment. Any other alternatives?

This would increase my budget for screen/projector a little if there's any improvements in that area anyone could suggest?

EDIT: Also found this which doesn't seem too bad if I were to go for a 5.1 setup over the soundbar.
 
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