Adidas4275's new living room theater build

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ctamez

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Wow, that's a pretty amazing setup. The only thing I would have done different is just bought a prefab rack. The dual purpose screen/shelving is way cool.
 
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Adidas4275

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Renner Technology said:
sorry if i missed it. but what did you rip your dvds to? what format.. iso, folders, etc...
Click to expand...

well over the last 2/3 years I have ripped them into too many different formats. ATM i am using makeMKV which is fairly simple and so i rip blu-rays and DVDs into mkv containers with good results.

I have about 200 ~1GB AVI files i ripped 3 years ago with DVDshrink when i had only 500gb of storage.

Then some MP4 that i ripped blu-rays into about a year ago, when i had about 1TB of storage.


SO i have 20 ISOs, 10 or so DVD folder rips, AVIs, MKVs, MP4s, and i am sure i am issing some.....

ctamez said:
Wow, that's a pretty amazing setup. The only thing I would have done different is just bought a prefab rack. The dual purpose screen/shelving is way cool.
Click to expand...

I will buy a nice/real rack in the future, just didnt have the $$ at the time and didnt want they on the ground. I have since built a workbench into the setup with the "rack"

ill post some pics later, maybe today
 
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ROCKETR

Gawd
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Alright, now this thread is getting a little creepy. You're talking about an underage girl who you do not even know. This thread is supposed to be about Adidas's Living Room Build...not his sister who helped paint it...
 
FrEaKy

FrEaKy

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wow, I read this back when the pix went up, didnt expect to see posts about under-age girls....... Get a life much?!?

Anyway, awesome setup Adidas
 
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Adidas4275

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I just added a T100 10" sub from thespeakercompany.com and it sounds great.

I bought a lilliput 7" touchscreen to wall mount, but it seems that something is wrong with it... or me. I cannot get it to work with my finger, just the sytlus.... so that is going on hold :(

Monday I will be wall mounting my 32" LCD in the guest room/ workout room and adding a new HTPC in there.... monoprice wall mount and recessed power stuff.


I will post some pics on monday or tuesday, with a better camera :D

My next major update will be incoorperating home automation with zwave stuff and either micasaverde, mcontrol or homeseer....


I want to use mcontrol, but i was trying to wait for v3 but it seems that they have other ideas, mServer and mPannel rather than their official W7 update with a larger and newer zwave library....

so it is either wait for a new mcontrol :( or buy homeseer their competitor :(

I'll keep this updated....
 
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novadude

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I haven't looked into those screens/switches, but does it matter which position you leave the switch in when controlling from the panel (which one is he master, basically)?
 
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Adidas4275

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okay so after installing 2 3 way dimmer and 1 3 way relay I can now answer your question.


The switches do not stay up or down, but rather return to the middle when you let go. therefore up is all ways on and down is always off on all swtiches.....

you can invert them via software (homeseer for me)


I just got my touchscreen to actually control my 3 sets of lights in my living room / theater.

I setup All on/off switches and Room Lights on / off switches for my first scenes..... these are virtual switches on my touchscreen and are all done insided homeseer and not using the "scene" function of the z-wave switches.

the switches work great as normal light switches as well and the dimmers have a gentle on/off where they gradually get brighter when turn on (easy on the eyes)...... and most importantly my wife like them... :D
 
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novadude

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So even with a scene running you can go to a switch and turn the lights up when you need to, then you can resume the scene from the touchscreen?
 
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Adidas4275

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yes.... with software control you can even run multiple scenes that have the same switch and set which on gets priority.

but always local control has the higest priority.
 
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Spidey329

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Adidas4275 said:
its my HTPC for the projector..... it is in a ebay special 4U rackmount short case. That way when i make my temp rack (will buy a real MA network rack some day) it will fit nicely rather than in my nmedia HTPC case...
Click to expand...

Check craigslist for a decent rack. Here in Vegas, there are AV and network (server) racks on all the time for around $40 (mainly because of casinos doing upgrades/etc). I picked up a full enclosed 4 post NetFrame rack with glass door and fans for around $90. Might be worth a look.

Btw, how did you score the ELO's for $40? What did you search for? That's a helluvadeal. I have a 17" ELO, but I want another (smaller) one for the kitchen.
 
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Adidas4275

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I got my elo's, i got 2, for $40 each on eBay. I searched for elo USB when I found them. I wish i bought more. He had 100 so keep looking they might be back.
 
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Nefarious

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Love the storage server setup. I've got a rack and need to buy a mass storage array to go in it.
 
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Adidas4275

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i am using Home Seer with HStouch.... it is their own touch centered UI that works with most major home automation protocols....

I am using a USB-UIRT to send IR commands to my HTPC, STB, and AVR.

I just got a 6 channel amp that I am going to setup for Whole House Audio and get some monoprice in ceiling speakers...

then i need to install the 2nd touchscreen into the hallway next to my garage...

then install, motion sensors, more light switches, HVAC controlls, Automated Ceiling Registers, Irrigation control, a weather station, a TED electricity monitor and some relays for the washing machine and dryer.....

this will take a while :D
 
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Adidas4275

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Crap!!!!!!

my PSU in my WHS just sparked and went out!!

It is an antec earthwatt 650w

not good! I have my gaming rig with its ATX main and 8 pin running it right now.... both cases are sitting next to each other.....

SUCK!!!!

I really wanted redundant PSUs but damn $$

maybe a redundant PSU is in my future....
 
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Adidas4275

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okay so after like 4 hrs of diagnosis what happened and fixing it...... I have antec earth watt 650 that died taking 1 of my WD GP 1TB 32mb 2 month old HDD and my Intel 430 celeron CPU with it..

:(

lucky I have a shuttle that had a e8400 in it that i jacked and I jacked my zalman 500w heatpipe PSU out of my gaming PC,

lucky the drive that died was that last one added and there was less than 2% of data on it and it was all backed up....

damn that was a lot of work......

RMAing the PSU and HDD, celly it a goner!!!! i tried it in the shuttle and no boot... its fried.
 
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ROCKETR

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Sorry to hear that Adidas. Thankfully you had all the data backed up on the HDD or that would have been terrible!
 
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Adidas4275

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WD has such great service....

advanced replacement got my HDD here in 1 day :D

now if only antec had that kind of service, they make you fill out like 3 forms for an RMA :(
 
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CrimandEvil

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Spidey329 said:
Check craigslist for a decent rack. Here in Vegas, there are AV and network (server) racks on all the time for around $40 (mainly because of casinos doing upgrades/etc). I picked up a full enclosed 4 post NetFrame rack with glass door and fans for around $90. Might be worth a look.

Btw, how did you score the ELO's for $40? What did you search for? That's a helluvadeal. I have a 17" ELO, but I want another (smaller) one for the kitchen.
Click to expand...

Side note: I saw this over on Lifehacker, using an IKEA table as a rack. :)
http://lifehacker.com/5459719/build-a-network-rack-with-an-ikea-table
 
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Rob Black

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I looked over your thread again...maybe I missed it but what are you doing for view live tv? cablecard? directv ?
 
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Adidas4275

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I am using a HDhomerun for clearQAM and I have a Comcast STB for all other HD.

I will be getting a ceton or SD Cable card tuner sometime soon.

i would love for a cable card hdhomerun but I am not sure if we are really going to see one with the FCC's announcement that CCs will be replaced soon.

I like the ceton but I have 2 HTPCs and a desktop that I would want to stream to and the ceton only will stream to one other PC.
Still 1 better than the ATI tuner, but not what I want.
 
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nitrobass24

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Yea im going to install the ceton in my HTPC and save everything on the WHS.

But on my main TV i will keep my STB, but i will be able to get rid of two others.
Which will be nice.
 
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Adidas4275

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well I just had my 2nd hardware failure in 4 months on my WHS...

seriously pissing me off.... came home with the server stuck in the bios....

rebooted, C drive not recognized..... freaking A

my WD 1TB green OS drive was only 4 months old... and it is gone, not even a clicking sound. it is on a UPS and i have a good PSU

I have no idea what is going on here :(

replaced it and took the opportunity to install the free public beta of Vail.....

I have full backups of all my data and I was tired of the damn floppy F6 Win 2003 install crap for my controller cards

install is done and I am migrating data off my storage pool drives from WHS into my storage pool of Vail.....

we shall see if this was a good idea or not.... :D
 
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Tiberius

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What do you have for surge suppression? 2 hardware failures in 4 months is unusual. Also, back when you were building the shelves...(http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/9624/img0547haz.jpg).

What did you do to make the vertical part of the shelf thicker? is just molding or what?


Adidas4275 said:
well I just had my 2nd hardware failure in 4 months on my WHS...

seriously pissing me off.... came home with the server stuck in the bios....

rebooted, C drive not recognized..... freaking A

my WD 1TB green OS drive was only 4 months old... and it is gone, not even a clicking sound. it is on a UPS and i have a good PSU

I have no idea what is going on here :(

replaced it and took the opportunity to install the free public beta of Vail.....

I have full backups of all my data and I was tired of the damn floppy F6 Win 2003 install crap for my controller cards

install is done and I am migrating data off my storage pool drives from WHS into my storage pool of Vail.....

we shall see if this was a good idea or not.... :D
Click to expand...
 
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Adidas4275

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I have a 8 month old APC 1400VA UPS, which was added in place of an older UPS after my last hardware failure


the vertical molding is decorative pressed wood that you can get at home depot, lowes or local hardware store. I forgot the name, but ill look it up for you.
I stole the idea from my father in laws custom made built in shelving in their home
 
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Adidas4275

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So it has been about a month of running vail and so far so smooth...

could things I really like.... installation was simple and much faster and WHS v 2003

dashboard, media streaming, new remote access home page, all a great!


bad things.... no addins yet...

video streaming doesn't work right... no autologin for the launchpad, dashboard takes a long time to load.


i had a bunch of requests for the seller of the ELO touchscreens that I used...

responsiblerecyclers
 
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