Game plan for home entertainment room / Living Room - Brain teaser challenge!

pjhaahl

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Hi All,

I'm just waiting on delivery of my new Panasonic 65GZ2000 which arrives this week from Richer Sounds. While its on its way I'm trying to come up with a game plan on my interim room setup taking into account what I need to work towards so I don't waste too much money buying things now that I will only end up replacing in the relatively short term.

So the challenge is coming up with a setup that works well now, but also to plan an equipment upgrade path, so I can start picking things up over the course of the next 12 months or so.

I'll start with the room and my intended layout. It is rectangular and 17'2" x 11'5". At the front of the room (11'5") is a 7' wide window. in front of this will sit the GZ2000. Facing the screen, to the left of it sits my stack of A/V equipment. To the right of the screen sits my sub.

A 3 seater sofa is situated 8' from the screen position. along the right hand wall is a 2 seater sofa so there is 3 seater cannot be moved further forward. Along the left hand wall opposite the two seater will sit my old TV a Sharp 40LE831. The Sharp will function as a secondary TV for the missus to use during the day, and for watching 3D stuff when the mood takes us.

The equipment/ services I have at the moment as follows

Sony PS4
Sky Q - 1Tb box
Sony STR-DE485E
Sony STR-DN1040
Surface Book (which I connect to the DN1040 via HDMI and use to stream things like ifollow)
Amazon Prime subscription

Jamo E3 series 5.1 speaker set
Eltax Concept 180 x 2 ( bought these to move to enable 7.1 when I got the DN1040)

What I'd ultimately like to do is move to a full Atmos setup for the GZ, and at least 5.1 when watching the LE831, which I know is going to require a new A/V receiver however that is going to have to wait a little while depending on which one will do the job. Ideally I'd like to set it up so both TV's utilise some of the same speakers. Front left speaker when watching the GX2000 becomes the Front right speaker for the LE831 etc.

I'd like the Sky Box to be feeding both TV's, however I think I'm going to need to connect that direct to the GZ2000 and send the Audio via ARC/ Optical to the DN1040 as despite offering 3 4K HDMI ports my understanding is that it isn't HDCP 2.2 compliant. I'm not sure if I have the same problem with the Surface book or whether that can just be plumbed through one of the 4K HDMI ports on the DN1040 to then serve both TVs. As the PS4 is 1080p I guess that is fine being routed through the DN1040

So the question is

what is the optimum way to wire and set up all the gear I have right now (If I need to get the soldering iron out so be it), and what equipment should I be putting on the shopping list for the future to get the setup I'd ultimately like to have and to make the most out of the GZ2000?

I'm keeping my mind open to everything. Is it worth getting a hybrid LNB to give me the ability to wire in the freeview tuner as well as having the sky Q box. Is it worth buying an external hard drive to hook up to the GZ2000. Should I be looking at fire sticks etc or using the internal apps on the GZ etc (bearing in mind the Sharp is the dumbest smart TV ever made and has no app support)

A bit of a brainteaser!
 
'I'm keeping my mind open to everything' - good, as incorporating two TV's in your room is bonkers :) and potentially means two less than optimised systems.

Room plans - break out the etch-a-sketch and put an actual plan with dimensions, room features and proposed setting layout highlighted together.

Kit - great idea to build towards a multichannel system to allow the budget to be spread over a staged purchase plan.

TV - 'built in' Apps are rarely as good as those offered by external box's, ATV, Shield etc.

ARC - does your proposed TV support eARC?

Joe
 
'I'm keeping my mind open to everything' - good, as incorporating two TV's in your room is bonkers :) and potentially means two less than optimised systems.

Room plans - break out the etch-a-sketch and put an actual plan with dimensions, room features and proposed setting layout highlighted together.

Kit - great idea to build towards a multichannel system to allow the budget to be spread over a staged purchase plan.

TV - 'built in' Apps are rarely as good as those offered by external box's, ATV, Shield etc.

ARC - does your proposed TV support eARC?

Joe

OK here is a quick sketch of the setup.





Room layout.png

TV isn't proposed,the Panasonic 65GZ2000 was delivered on Tuesday and is now in situ.

the Sharp LE831 is my old TV which it is replacing and that is now in situ as per the diagram until I decide what I'm doing with it.

Unfortunately eARC is the one thing the new TV doesn't have.

The STR-DN1040 doesn't support eARC either, nor does it support HDCP2.2

For the moment I have

SKY Q box wired directly to TV
1Tb HDD wired into the TV's USB
Sony PS4 wired through DN1040
Laptop wired through DN1040

Output A from DN1040 to HDMI 2 of the GZ2000 (ARC)
Output B from DN1040 to Sharp 40LE831


Room layout.png
 
Last edited:
With your AVR not supporting HDCP2.2 I guess you have to decide if you are happy to 'limit' your audio to DD and connect your 4K capable Source devices direct to the TV then Optical Out of the TV to the AVR or 'limit' your video and gain HD audio plus the ability to share Sources to two TV's by having the Source devices connected to the AVR .

I suspect Source HDMI > TV then TV Optical > AVR is the better compromise but that will not be ideal if you insist on splitting the Sources to two TV's!

Joe
 

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