Home Theater Build

[RONDAL]

Re: Home Theater Build

but if its tucked away in an AV cabinet who is going to see it?

[popp]

Re: Home Theater Build

why the frick would you want a screen ON the htpc itself.

cause its cool looking.......gawd.

[RONDAL]

Re: Home Theater Build

btw, if anyone is wondering what XBMC is check out xbmc.org or go to youtube and type it in.

I was a skeptic at first, but have since fallen in love with it. The ability to use scrapers to pull information about your files from the filename itself, search through things like imdb.com and then pull cast, summaries, plot, artwork, dvd covers, and display all of that in a GUI is awesome.

it took me a little while to set up, but once set up properly really is slick

[RONDAL]

Re: Home Theater Build

Someone buy one of these HTPC's so I can play with it!

why the frick would you want a screen ON the htpc itself. Then i gotta deal with it while its tucked away in my AV cabinet.
buy a harmony remote, scrounge a MCE IR receiver from fellows eurodrivers, program the remote to work with XBMC and you're set.

i just did mine so that i set up an activity to "Watch HTPC" which switches the amp to the correct input, the TV to the right input, and the HTPC turns on (or if already on stays where it is) and turns off everything else.

i will then be sitting with a screen displaying my desktop.

i've set up XBMC on the desktop with it to load when you press an F button (ex. F5).
I then in the harmony remote set up a soft button as XBMC and it commands F5. So i touch it and it launches
I then input play, stop, pause, etc. with all the correct keymapping to work in XBMC so i can control it directly from the remote.

its friggin slick, and replaces the need for having my keyboard around.
i still use the keyboard once and a while if i'm configuring libraries in XBMC, but thats like a once every few months thing. Otherwise it works well.

I'm also going to set up the remote to work with winamp, so i can load it using an F button similiar to how i did XBMC with F5, and from there then program in the keymapping required to control winamp. The cool thing is winamp allows you to customize the keyboard setting for its program. So i'm gonna switch them to what XBMC has, and then i can run it straight from there.

All harmony needs to do is build a remote (not a square one like the 1100) but a proper normal remote, with a slide out qwerty keyboard, and tech geeks can rejoice as they will effectively be able to control and do anythign with just the remote.

[CanadianCoupe]

Re: Home Theater Build

John

What is on the back of your projector?

It's a cable cover. I could only find one in USA. It's not even on the Canadian accesories list. I can send you details of where I got it from. About $100.

For gaming you can always reduce the image size from the projector. The AE4000 has memories so you can switch between settings such as image size.

John

[popp]

Re: Home Theater Build

Someone buy one of these HTPC's so I can play with it!

[popp]

Re: Home Theater Build

nooooo i need him!

it's ok, she'll recover

[RONDAL]

Re: Home Theater Build

Punch Hickey square in the face!!!! And when he's bleeding on the floor, tell him Popp says Hi, Don't worry, your job is safe.

nooooo i need him!

[popp]

Re: Home Theater Build

Northlands...work weds-suns

Punch Hickey square in the face!!!! And when he's bleeding on the floor, tell him Popp says Hi, Don't worry, your job is safe.

[RONDAL]

Re: Home Theater Build

yeah i set theirs up to 108" @ 11'.

its big.

[RSS]

Re: Home Theater Build

Just knock down the wall and move back some more! I think my 106" at 18' is fine i could have gone bigger most likely.

[RONDAL]

Re: Home Theater Build

Sit a little farther back solves that problem. Didn't your mother tell you not to sit to close to the TV you'll go blind!

you can only sit so far away before your back is against the wall haha.

trust me, you'll know what too big is when you get there. it just becomes overwhelming

[RSS]

Re: Home Theater Build

hey if you guys are ever up for some gaming bitskyline is also my gamer tag 360 and ps3

I would but MW2 seems to have pooped itself after the latest update.

Sputnik RSS on teh 360

[RSS]

Re: Home Theater Build

be careful about going TOO big for gaming.

i installed a 108" screen in my parents place when i was still living there, and is was fine for some games, but others it was too big. you literally were having to move your head to see things, where you would just move your eyes a bit on a 52" LCD. It became really difficult for FPS's. Guitar hero was also a chore.

It pwns for movies though

Sit a little farther back solves that problem. Didn't your mother tell you not to sit to close to the TV you'll go blind!

[RONDAL]

Re: Home Theater Build

be careful about going TOO big for gaming.

i installed a 108" screen in my parents place when i was still living there, and is was fine for some games, but others it was too big. you literally were having to move your head to see things, where you would just move your eyes a bit on a 52" LCD. It became really difficult for FPS's. Guitar hero was also a chore.

It pwns for movies though