Home Theater Systems - Electronics and Forum - HomeTheaterShack - General Discussion

Plasma or LED

goose — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:41:12 GMT

I am wanting to buy about a 37 or 40in tv for small sitting room. Seems most televisions i have looked at have LCD screens. Should i buy an LED or Plasma?
Thanks for any suggestions.

Useful tip: PTFE Pipe thread tape on headphone cords

Chester — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:18:50 GMT

Hello: I just wanted to share this method I have been using for awhile now. Around my headphone cords, I wrap the white PTFE (Teflon) thread seal tape in a 'spiral' fashion starting at the 'head end' working my way down to the 1/8" plug. I have not yet put heat-shrink tubing around the end of the Teflon yet (to keep it from unwinding, however unwinding does not really happen anyways (heat-shrink would just make a more durable setup). I typically wrap the cord twice, one time clockwise and then the other counter clockwise, this helps keep the cord from having an odd twist to it from the tension applied by the twisting of the cord when you wrap it.

Now you may be asking WHY would I wrap my headphone cords with Teflon tape? The answer is body oils; Teflon keeps the oils from my face and neck from getting on the cords. Over time the oils will either break down or stiffen the material of the cables, causing the headphones to wear out quicker. PTFE tape costs around $1.50 at the Home Depot, so the investment of your time and $1.50 can help your headphones last substantially longer. Also, the 'slipperiness' of Teflon keeps the cord from getting so tangled, and the tension, along with the added thickness causes the cord to 'want to be straighter' which also helps keep things from getting tangled (especially with earbuds).

I will post some pics to demonstrate in a little while :)

I have also (recently) figured out a way to 'coat' my JVC HA-FX34 (the marshmallow style ones for ~$20 at Walmart; cheap but they actually have excellent sound for the price) the foam 'marshmallow' style ear inserts with Teflon (the inserts seem to break down/harden after ~2 months of use from oils too). I will give some details on that as well

Hope this helps some people save some money on headphones :)

Terminator 3 DVD/Bluray menus

Andysu — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:38:04 GMT

I thought I�d show the differences between the two formats menu features plus a quick Terminator 3 Terminator-vision preview.

There is no sound as I forgot the sound is on left and right front and I was using the centre channel output from the AVR, that is why you can hear slight bumps in the sound, that is the switch of menu settings on the DVD player Pioneer DV-525

The sound cuts in on trailer that is in six-track Dolby stereo and it�s the centre only which may sound a little odd without the rest of the music and effects.

You Tube

More or less the same with the Bluray same output different player Philips DP3000, I�ve also included quick brief preview of Terminator-vision which is picture-picture audio commentary.

For the audio commentary that plays on left and right front I quickly re-plugged the lead from centre to one of the left and right fronts.

You Tube

Sorry for the dodgy image it�s the fault of the pc or maybe the Kworld device that�s patched to the pc from video output to Kworld to USB input on the pc, Gremlins�lol

TrueHD poster in hi-res. Enjoy!

KASR — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:52:42 GMT

I know that some of us like this kind of stuff - I happened to make a poster for my friends here at work (in celebration of his birthday -he's been my partner in crime as for as the home theater hobby goes.)

It's a 18x24 inch 150 dpi poster I created for Dolby TrueHD and had printed on a color sheet printer and then framed...look pretty good too! There's one similar to it floating around the net and this is very much like it, except for a few tweaks! Enjoy!
(I'm working on a DTS one...I'll link it when its up.)

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/756/truehd2.jpg

Thumbnail attached.

Attachments

Star Trek Bluray DolbyTrue spectrograms

Andysu — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:46:21 GMT

Here are some direct to AVR of the low end from Star Trek Bluray B region, six-track Dolby stereo digital True, AVR is set at 0db.

The screen captures have been taken with my Vivitar ViviCam 3785 from the CRT Panasonic there are artefacts due to way the camera sees the CRT image with over exposed imaging. The image looks perfect the fault lies with the camera as its cheap �50.00 and it’s the only way I can do visual waterfall since my pc only has DVD player not Bluray, so there it is.

I’ve already viewed it on the big screen LCD video projection system and for regular viewing I use the CRT Panasonic 32”

Sequence is chapter 5, 40m 23s the rest of the fleet snaps away with punch in the low end that is mostly over the LCR with slightly deeper slam on the LFE.1 split-surrounds have slightly milder punch as this is the style of the mix.

I’m rather impressed with the mix of the film after hearing theistically at the Empire Leicester Square on May 7th twice in Dolby digital cinema and via the cinemas JBL dbx4800 drive rake Crown amps 56KW THX sound system.

I sat though the first showing, once at front row and centre and once more for second showing at the sweet spot circle, centre line of the Empire it was mega loud and totally out of this world.

After hearing it some 4 times on Bluray I’m not tired of yet, I’m just warming up, with Bluray. The kick maybe a few db less than what the Empire was kicking in my chest at times with jolt of 120dbc and it would differ from cinema to cinema at the Empire as well as in my living room.

The score is filling on Bluray by Michael Giacchino dropping down to planet Vulcan to disable Nero’s drill, and the sonic boom as the crew punches though the sound barrier.

Any requests for other, scenes?

Attachments

Best web sites to haunt for "Black Friday"?

Rancho5 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:56:40 GMT

We will be out of town for Black Friday. While not a big Black Friday shopper, I'm determined to get a great deal for a blu-ray player. I am subscribed to a black friday web site that shows the ads to come but was wondering what sites to visit. I'd hate to miss out because I didn't know about a certain site.

Newegg, Amazon, Tiger Direct....

Others?

DD Ex 5.1 sounds better than TrueHD

KASR — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:25:55 GMT

I dunno what I'm doing wrong here...but on my last few disks (HD-DVD) the TrueHD audio isn't as loud as the other format available (DTS, ES, DD EX, etc.)

For example, I'm watching Perfect Storm HD-DVD right now - in Dolby TrueHD the dialogue is quieter and the entire soundstage sounds muffled. When I switch it to DD ES (the available format) the dialog pops back up in the way that you would expect. What could be the possible culprits? See sig for components.

Ceiling Speaker Wiring

bikermunda — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:57:26 GMT

Hi i just bought a townhome and looking to get it wired for the ceiling speakers for the home theatre purpose and general purposes as well. but i have no idea where to find the people who can do this work and if it is reasonable money wise

Can folks here advice me where i can find the right people to get the job done or any other advice regarding the same will be very helpful

I've got two A/V girls lined up: Who do I take to the PROM?!?!

KASR — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:31:07 GMT

Hehehe...ok, they aren't really dates, but it's still a tough decision:
I'm updating my A/V receiver, but I'm stuck between these two choices:

http://us.marantz.com/Products/2926.asp

Or the

http://www.harmankardon.com/EN-US/Pr...PID=AVR%201600

I'm so torn, right now!!!! What's your recommendation???

LCD Screen replacement

slim2fattycake — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:08:54 GMT

Can anyone tell me where I can get replacements for LCD screens? I have a friend that has a Sharp 42" LCD HDTV. The bad thing is that its screen is cracked. He said it turns on and everything works fine but its just cracked really bad. I cannot find any place online that sells LCD replacements besides for laptops.

Good wall shelf for the center speaker?

TheBuzzer — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:16:00 GMT

I got my svs STS-01

The middle speaker is the SCS-01(M)

I need a shelf to let that speaker be on above the tv.

Anyone know a good shelf to get?

$2500 CASH Giveaway

Sonnie — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:19:58 GMT

The Home Theater Shack $2500 CASH Giveaway!

As if giving away a pair of Elite 100" Screens, three Dayton EMM-6 calibrated microphones, three GIK Acoustics ArtPanel's and a massive Exodus Audio Maelstrom-21" subwoofer were not enough... we'll top it off with $2500 CASH to TEN (10) lucky Home Theater Shack members!

Ten lucky winners!

Three $500 CASH Winners...

Two $250 CASH Winners...

Five $100 CASH Winners

:spend: :spend: :spend: :spend: :spend:

Qualifications: (Please Read Carefully!)

Qualification period is from November 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009.
Qualifying members must be registered by December 15, 2009 in order to qualify.
A random drawing will be held on New Year's Day 2010 from the qualified entries.
You must have a minimum total post count of 50 posts in the forums.(Minimum 25 word count!)
>>> Members that already have a post count of 50 will already meet this requirement. <<<
Your equipment must be listed in our Home Theater Equipment forum.
Tell us that you are qualified and would like to be entered into the giveaway using the $2500 CASH Giveaway Qualification Thread.

$2500 CASH Giveaway Qualification Thread

Sonnie — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:18:48 GMT

Qualification period is from November 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009.
Qualifying members must be registered by December 15, 2009 in order to qualify.
A random drawing will be held on New Year's Day 2010 from the qualified entries.
You must have a minimum total post count of 50 posts in the forums.(Minimum 25 word count!)
>>> Members that already have a post count of 50 will already meet this requirement. <<<
Your equipment must be listed in our Home Theater Equipment forum.
Tell us that you are qualified and would like to be entered into the giveaway using this thread.

ALL CASH will be paid via PayPal to your email address on file here at the Shack. PayPal fees and rates are the responsibility of the winners.

NOTE: Qualifying members must be registered by December 15, 2009 in order to qualify.

Qualifications are subject to amendment with notice posted here.

DO NOT POST HERE UNTIL YOU HAVE QUALIFIED!

This is the qualification thread only... questions and comments may be posted in the discussion thread.

Best of luck... :T

Houston Group

FlashJim — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:00:55 GMT

I haven't checked in for some time now and thought I'd see how everyone is doing. Any cool projects going?

I just built a Windows Home Server and started dumping all of my movies and music on it. All of the PCs in the house are running Windows 7 now and I can stream everything to them. I'm still working out the bugs on the Xbox 360 extender, but I did watch an episode of Vampire Diaries" through it this morning.

I'm still in the doodling stage of my entertainment center. I hope to have it built by Christmas because Santa might be bringing me a new TV. I'll have plenty of pics of the entertainment center build. It'll have active cooling, 19" racks, etc.

Would love to see you guys before the end of the year, if there's a meet scheduled.

Samsung Hlr 6167 loosing signal

sparkie1263 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:11:03 GMT

I have my cable box connected using component cables and I keep getting No signal. I do still get audio. Could it be a bad component cable or a bad input.

Thanks

Frank