Sitting Room as Home Cinema

gomamochi1 · 14-03-2015 12:20am

Pure class! Trying to do de same with my set up! Have run 4 cat 6, speaker cable,double coaxial from TV/set top box/amp/mini PC to the projector position. Can I send 2 cat6 to another room 30mtrs away to a PC monitor as hoping to have a home office there! Can I control a PC with a mouse/ keyboard over hdmi/ cat6? Or am I only hoping? Cheers

SachaJ · 14-03-2015 12:33am

gomamochi1 wrote: »

Can I control a PC with a mouse/ keyboard over hdmi/ cat6? Or am I only hoping? Cheers

I'm sure there's possibly a way of doing it over RF or something like that. Apparently USB itself is only good for 5m or something like that so your best bet might be powered USB extenders over CAT6.

gomamochi1 · 14-03-2015 11:57pm

Hi Sacha
thanks a mill for the thorough detailed layout as i am in the middle of doing the same as you did with a similar sized room so pretty much copying our wiring runs! we are currently renovating so at the 1st fix wiring stage! I am a chippy so limited elec experience but having a go over the last few days running multiple cat 6 and dual coaxial along with speaker cable,, fun fun fu.....k!
I am basing the central point under the tele in the same room as the projector is going to be. so far i have run 4 cat 6, dual coaxial and a speaker cable to the ceiling center point were the projector is going to be located. I have also run 2 cat 6, dual coax and speaker cable to a spare/ visitor/ aupair bedroom. Also sent 2 cat6 and a speaker cable to a home office which i queried earlier though i am none the wiser! the bedrooms upstairs are all accessible from the eaves since its a dormer which is handy for running cables later!
I have not purchased any hardware as yet other than teh 42 inch Samsung smarrt tv, and still trying to get my head around all the different types of sound systems, projectors and screens but mad keen to get the wiring end of things run first! Sorry for busting into your thread but keep coming back to it as a deadly resource! cheers and any advice really welcome!

SachaJ · 15-03-2015 12:20am

Apologies, I answered the second part of your question but not the first.

Can I send 2 cat6 to another room 30mtrs away to a PC monitor as hoping to have a home office there! Can I control a PC with a mouse/ keyboard over hdmi/ cat6? Or am I only hoping?

Yes you could most likely send some CAT6's to that monitor but in this case I'd send more than 2. I'd go with 5 as an absolute minimum but maybe as many as 6 or more:

2 for your HDMI over CAT6 (I'd maybe run at least a further two as you may need them for 4K or higher resolutions in the future)
1 for your USB (if it can be done)
1 for high speed network should you need it as trying to stream Blu-ray quality movies over WiFis not reliable nor fast enough.
1 for IR just in case you want a remote control in that office. I'm running a Harmony Ultimate and I find it brilliant. It's RF so I don't need the cable for IR but it's there anyway.

Put it this way. I'd much prefer have too many cables and look at them rather than not having enough cables and looking for them. CAT6 is very versatile so good to have extras. I have my 12v projector screen trigger running over telephone cable which is quite similar to network cable (CAT6). I'm now starting to install some CCTV around the outside of the house (picked up a few cameras from Aldi last week) and everything will be running over the CAT6 I laid during the house renovation. The cables were there originally for AV but found another use for them now.

SachaJ · 15-03-2015 12:29am

gomamochi1 wrote: »

Hi Sacha
thanks a mill for the thorough detailed layout as i am in the middle of doing the same as you did with a similar sized room so pretty much copying our wiring runs! we are currently renovating so at the 1st fix wiring stage! I am a chippy so limited elec experience but having a go over the last few days running multiple cat 6 and dual coaxial along with speaker cable,, fun fun fu.....k!
I am basing the central point under the tele in the same room as the projector is going to be. so far i have run 4 cat 6, dual coaxial and a speaker cable to the ceiling center point were the projector is going to be located. I have also run 2 cat 6, dual coax and speaker cable to a spare/ visitor/ aupair bedroom. Also sent 2 cat6 and a speaker cable to a home office which i queried earlier though i am none the wiser! the bedrooms upstairs are all accessible from the eaves since its a dormer which is handy for running cables later!
I have not purchased any hardware as yet other than teh 42 inch Samsung smarrt tv, and still trying to get my head around all the different types of sound systems, projectors and screens but mad keen to get the wiring end of things run first! Sorry for busting into your thread but keep coming back to it as a deadly resource! cheers and any advice really welcome!

While you're at this stage I'd highly recommend you run cables for Atmos, Auro3D and DTS:X (if it ever gets announced) speaker configurations. As mentioned above I'd prefer have the cables there and not need them than have to run again at a later date.

I've recently switched on Atmos on my Yamaha 3040 and also Dolby Surround for the audio tracks that are not Atmos. I can hand on heart say the system sounds so much better. I am so impressed with Dolby Surround - even the kids cartoons (especially Disney JR) just sound brilliant. My speaker layout is nowhere near optimal for Atmos/DD Surround and I can hear the difference. It's pushed me over the edge so I'm now after another pair of Monitor Audio Apex 10's configure a proper 5.1.4 Atmos layout.

In relation to what kit to get, the best thing to come up with is your budget and work from there. We're a bit shagged now with the Euro/£ rate but there's always great discounts to be had if you ask the right dealers. If you want you could PM me your budget if you want to keep it private and I could suggest some kit. In my case budget never sticks - I always end up spending more than I want or should.

gomamochi1 · 15-03-2015 7:35pm

Cheers for all the info sacha!
Budget-projector €600
Screen600€
Amp -€600
Surround sound speakers €500
Ceiling speakers x8- 400 euro
Outside speakers x2- 120€

Aim-mission!
Audio- amp to be connected to iphone app so that people can go to any room / outside house and play music/ radio in the room in which they are located through the phone/iPad and amp

Projector- 2x hdmi, play movies on projector from PC/set top box in living room and audio comes through surround sound / amp- does the projector have an independent media player on it that I can conectva hard drive to?

TV also play movies through set top box/ PC located beneath TV.Good
Home office- monitor, key board and mouse located there with multiple cat 6 sent through from central point under TV. Plan to run USB powered through cat 6 to PC.

Good room- extra TV to be located in room with hdmi x 2, dual coax, and internet access

Spare room- TV point x 2 hdmi and dual coaxial
Bedrooms upstairs x dual coax and 2x hdmi in each future proofing
Currently running wires so all direction welcome! Cheers

SachaJ · 22-03-2015 3:41pm

gomamochi1 wrote: »

Cheers for all the info sacha!
Budget-projector €600
Screen600€
Amp -€600
Surround sound speakers €500
Ceiling speakers x8- 400 euro
Outside speakers x2- 120€

Aim-mission!
Audio- amp to be connected to iphone app so that people can go to any room / outside house and play music/ radio in the room in which they are located through the phone/iPad and amp

Projector- 2x hdmi, play movies on projector from PC/set top box in living room and audio comes through surround sound / amp- does the projector have an independent media player on it that I can conectva hard drive to?

TV also play movies through set top box/ PC located beneath TV.Good
Home office- monitor, key board and mouse located there with multiple cat 6 sent through from central point under TV. Plan to run USB powered through cat 6 to PC.

Good room- extra TV to be located in room with hdmi x 2, dual coax, and internet access

Spare room- TV point x 2 hdmi and dual coaxial
Bedrooms upstairs x dual coax and 2x hdmi in each future proofing
Currently running wires so all direction welcome! Cheers

Apologies for the delay in getting back....

Audio- amp to be connected to iphone app so that people can go to any room / outside house and play music/ radio in the room in which they are located through the phone/iPad and amp

That's going to be a tough one as you'll need a lot of zone outputs on your AVR (amp). I think I can do 3 or 4 zone outs on my AVR but it means losing speakers in the sitting room and/or installing an stereo amplifier in some rooms and using the stereo outs on the AVR. I'm guessing the more zones you need the more expensive the AVR gets.

Projector- 2x hdmi, play movies on projector from PC/set top box in living room and audio comes through surround sound / amp- does the projector have an independent media player on it that I can conectva hard drive to?

Most projectors would have 2 HDMI's I think (mine does anyway) so you can run a PC (HTPC) to one HDMI and a Bluray or other to the other HDMI. But if you want your audio decoded you should connect all video sources to your AVR and then the HDMI output of the AVR to your projector. Off hand I don't know of a home cinema projector with an inbuilt media player.

TV also play movies through set top box/ PC located beneath TV.Good
Home office- monitor, key board and mouse located there with multiple cat 6 sent through from central point under TV. Plan to run USB powered through cat 6 to PC.

Sounds ok but remember video sources should connect to your AVR if you want surround sound.

Sounds like you have it under control with all the co-ax and CAT6 to all your TV points. Better have them and not need them.

Your budget sounds ok. Do you plan to have a fixed frame projector screen mounted on the wall or an electric/manual one? I'd be inclined to try and allocate some of your screen budget towards the projector itself and you might need it with current exchange rates. Quite a lot of people project onto white walls which might do you until extra cash is there for a screen.

SachaJ · 23-03-2015 1:51pm

A quick update. Managed to grab another pair of Apex A10's on eBay last week and hoping to see them later this week. Hopefully by the weekend I'll be testing Atmos 5.1.4 to an extent.

Again it won't be optimal due to:

My front Atmos speakers are actualy above my L/R speakers where they should be much closer to the sofa. When I'm brave enough I might hang the front pair of A10's from the ceiling in front of the sofa.
The centre speaker is still above the screen. It does sound very good currently but I'm thinking the whole Atmos experience would benefit from it being lower.
I'm running RXFX as sides. As the RXFX have side tweeters they are sending sound into the areas where the Atmos speakers should be filling. I'm concerned that the RXFX might drown out the Atmos speakers. To that end, I'm seriously considering changing the RXFX to directional speakers which would mean yet another pair of A10's or if I win the lottery, a pair of A40's.

And of course I'd love to try a second subwoofer, a matching XXLS400, but that's way down the road.

SachaJ · 23-03-2015 1:58pm

rednik wrote: »

The reason I bought the 105 is I have an older receiver which has the analogue inputs but I have yet to take it down from the attic, I only bought the 105 a month ago. The Anthem DAC is excellent but I am looking forward to comparing it when I finally get to it.

How are you getting on with the Anthem over the 105D?

I was very close to getting a 103D recently but it didn't really make sense. I use KODI 99% of the time and it's a bit of a waste forking out for a high end desc spinner. The Darbee I wanted so have the new 5100 on order.

SachaJ · 25-05-2015 11:15am

If anyone is interested I'm selling my screen to change back to a 16:9 aspect ratio from the 2.35:1

http://www.adverts.ie/projector/130-inch-draper-projector-screen-with-react-2-1-material/8076479

SachaJ · 29-05-2015 12:39am

A new toy arrived today in the shape of a Darbee Vision 5100. I've had the 5000 "Darblet" before but sold it back in September as I needed the funds for something else.

I'm not entirely sure how the Darbee works but I think it enhances darker colours to give more prominent outlines etc. Anyways, tonight I plugged in the 5100 and switched on demo auto on/off, high definition mode & set it to 60% of the effect. Oblivion was the demo movie of choice as Tom gets a few close-ups early on. The extra sharpness/detail on his cheek, lips and chin is amazing. A couple of iPhone photos:

SachaJ · 07-07-2015 8:37pm

I've not updated this thread in a while but some big changes are afoot.....

I'm building a pelmet around the screen to hide it completely and also a pelmet around the back of the room to hide 4 x Monitor Audio CT265-IDC ceiling speakers for Dolby Atmos. The pelmet frame is mostly built now and speakers arriving tomorrow. Also the rear pelmet will house some Philips Hue LED lights.

Here's a thread on AVForums in relation to the pelmet build
https://www.avforums.com/threads/doing-up-the-sitting-room-a-diy-pelmet.1962198/

slave1 · 08-07-2015 2:42am

Hey Sacha, away from home so forget my AV password to comment there, for any long length screwing into walls or wood the best stuff out there at the minute are concrete screws, they are fantastic and much better than frame fixers, probably won't get them in bnQ but your local builders providers should have them, you'll need a 6mm drill hole and from memory number 25 star bit, well worth the investment.

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0269/2767/products/adjustable4_grande.jpeg?v=1379366039

You'll be able to buy different lengths and individually

SachaJ · 08-07-2015 9:18am

slave1 wrote: »

Hey Sacha, away from home so forget my AV password to comment there, for any long length screwing into walls or wood the best stuff out there at the minute are concrete screws, they are fantastic and much better than frame fixers, probably won't get them in bnQ but your local builders providers should have them, you'll need a 6mm drill hole and from memory number 25 star bit, well worth the investment.

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0269/2767/products/adjustable4_grande.jpeg?v=1379366039

You'll be able to buy different lengths and individually

They look good and I might try them for any more screwing to walls. I think my local builders suppliers have them and they recommended them also before I started (which I didn't listen to). In hindsight I think they might have been better for the front wall where I had so much trouble getting the frame fixers to hold. Thanks for the tip and maybe I'll listen to the builders suppliers in future!

As part of todays delivery of CT265-IDC's today I'm also getting a couple of Monitor Audio CL80 garden speakers so wiring them up will be the project for the weekend. As my Yam 3040 has 9 onboard channels which I'll be using for the sitting room I've had to purchase a Nakamichi AVP1 7 channel power amplifier to get the extra two amps for the garden. I'll use 5 of the Nak's channels to power my 5 lower speakers in the sitting room (and leave the Yam to power the Atmos speakers only) in addition to the two garden speakers.

@slave1 - Looking at your stuff on Adverts I reckon you might sell that Octava quicker over on AVForums and get more for it. I sold two on there recently and I got around £60 or £70 for an Octava 4x1

TCP/IP · 17-07-2015 9:17am

Where did you get the Darblet and is it rack mountable. Thx a mill

SachaJ wrote: »

A new toy arrived today in the shape of a Darbee Vision 5100. I've had the 5000 "Darblet" before but sold it back in September as I needed the funds for something else.

I'm not entirely sure how the Darbee works but I think it enhances darker colours to give more prominent outlines etc. Anyways, tonight I plugged in the 5100 and switched on demo auto on/off, high definition mode & set it to 60% of the effect. Oblivion was the demo movie of choice as Tom gets a few close-ups early on. The extra sharpness/detail on his cheek, lips and chin is amazing. A couple of iPhone photos:

SachaJ · 17-07-2015 9:38am

TCP/IP wrote: »

Where did you get the Darblet and is it rack mountable. Thx a mill

Yes it is. It's 1U in height and came with a pair of ears/brackets to mount in a standard 19" rack. Or it's the standard 438mm (or whatever) width to sit on a normal AV shelf.

I bought it from Ideal AV (https://www.idealav.co.uk/product/darbee-dvp-5100cie-custom-installer-edition/) where I get most of my kit.

If you're ever this far north (Drogheda) welcome to drop in for a look at it.

Here's a photo from someone on AVForums that has it rack mounted

clancynl · 02-08-2015 11:10am

SachaJ wrote: »

Thanks for that. Might give it a bash and see what it's like

Old thread, but just wanted to mention JRiver .. blows Kodi, Plex and any other media player out of the park. You've to pay for a license, but well worth it .

SachaJ · 06-08-2015 12:08pm

clancynl wrote: »

Old thread, but just wanted to mention JRiver .. blows Kodi, Plex and any other media player out of the park. You've to pay for a license, but well worth it .

In what way do you think it blows Kodi out of the water? I've tried JRiver and couldn't bond with it at all. The UI is nowhere as easy to use as Kodi and the skins are more limited. The version I had wouldn't even scrape cover art - was a known bug at the time (and that was less than 6 months ago).

With Kodi I have it running MPC-HC and madVR as external players/renderers so it should match JRiver's "Red October" configurations fairly good I think. Audio wise everything is passed through to the AVR anyway so audio shouldn't be any different.

Kodi is aimed to be the most user friendly media player but not necessarily the best so I'd be interested hear your opinions on JRiver MC.

slave1 · 06-08-2015 12:21pm

Kodi is simply the best, best skins, best functionality and customisation and free as a bird, I have it feeding my Panny 60" and Panny 120" PJ and it plays everything 2d/3d flawlessly.
Gonna be feeding my 65" 4k Sammy next week too as my Panny went all DSE on me

SachaJ · 06-08-2015 12:50pm

slave1 wrote: »

Kodi is simply the best, best skins, best functionality and customisation and free as a bird, I have it feeding my Panny 60" and Panny 120" PJ and it plays everything 2d/3d flawlessly.
Gonna be feeding my 65" 4k Sammy next week too as my Panny went all DSE on me

Yep - I've been around other media players and I always come back to Kodi for MY OWN USE. I was having some issues around HDMI handshaking (that's more PC related than Kodi) and the fact that if I use MPC-HC as an external player I cannot have Kodi set to automatically play the next file so in essence Kodi is useless for the kids watching their cartoons (ie. I want one to play after the other).

To get over that I bought a Mede8er 1000X3D off eBay for all the kids stuff. No where near as nice as Kodi or as fast (UI) but it's simple and works. Kids use the Mede8er and I use Kodi. Looks great on my TV and the 130" screen.

A "Dr. HDMI" has more or less sorted the HDMI handshaking issues also.

clancynl · 06-08-2015 12:56pm

SachaJ wrote: »

In what way do you think it blows Kodi out of the water? I've tried JRiver and couldn't bond with it at all. The UI is nowhere as easy to use as Kodi and the skins are more limited. The version I had wouldn't even scrape cover art - was a known bug at the time (and that was less than 6 months ago).

With Kodi I have it running MPC-HC and madVR as external players/renderers so it should match JRiver's "Red October" configurations fairly good I think. Audio wise everything is passed through to the AVR anyway so audio shouldn't be any different.

Kodi is aimed to be the most user friendly media player but not necessarily the best so I'd be interested hear your opinions on JRiver MC.

Erm ... I've used Kodi since XBMC days, and was introduced to Jriver by a post over on AVSforum. I'm a woeful tinkerer and was playing around with getting MadVR integrated into XBMC at the time. It was possible to do, but was very finniky. What attracted me to Jriver was that the MadVR filters were pre-baked into the JRiver app.

A bit of reading revealed that JRiver started out as an audiophile solution for Losless Playback (FLAC etc), so their audio processing was already top notch, they eventually got into video playback with MadVR intagration, and although it takes a more powerful GPU to get the most out of it, the results are audibly and visually noticable.

Playing a 1080p rip through XMBC, and then through JRiver ... the difference in audio playback is not subtly different, but definitely audibly so. A marked difference.
And with MadVR, street lighting / neon signs for instance, just have a more spectrumed glow (if you catch my drift) .. there's to be more of a gradient in the lighting. (That was improved even more when I upgraded from the dedicated Intel Graphics to a dedicated AMD R9 280x). XBMC's video lookes fuzzy afterwards .. definitely not as crisp or clear

Throw into the mix that JRivers Options keep a tinkerer up into the wee hours trying this and that with this video and that file (skins are available, but not priority because it takes away from the processing power of the underlying app seemingly, plugins abound, but rearely play around with them .. I should do really), it leaves Kodi and the like a bit lacking for me

A few links that convinced me: From AVS

MadVR Options for the tweaker

JRiver Review

Oh .. and their Music Manager is light years ahead of iTunes ... and again .. playback quality with bags of punch.

EDIT: Considering you've got a Darbee in your AV Chain would aid Kodi Video quality no doubt. I'm considering the Darbee Darblet presently, for integration with my recently purchased Benq1070 ... I've promised my SO that that'll be it then ... (for another month

SachaJ · 06-08-2015 1:06pm

clancynl wrote: »

Erm ... I've used Kodi since XBMC days, and was introduced to Jriver by a post over on AVSforum. I'm a woeful tinkerer and was playing around with getting MadVR integrated into XBMC at the time. It was possible to do, but was very finniky. What attracted me to Jriver was that the MadVR filters were pre-baked into the JRiver app.

A bit of reading revealed that JRiver started out as an audiophile solution for Losless Playback (FLAC etc), so their audio processing was already top notch, they eventually got into video playback with MadVR intagration, and although it takes a more powerful GPU to get the most out of it, the results are audibly and visually noticable.

Playing a 1080p rip through XMBC, and then through JRiver ... the difference in audio playback is not subtly different, but definitely audibly so. A marked difference.
And with MadVR, street lighting / neon signs for instance, just have a more spectrumed glow (if you catch my drift) .. there's to be more of a gradient in the lighting. (That was improved even more when I upgraded from the dedicated Intel Graphics to a dedicated AMD R9 280x). XBMC's video lookes fuzzy afterwards .. definitely not as crisp or clear

Throw into the mix that JRivers Options keep a tinkerer up into the wee hours trying this and that with this video and that file (skins are available, but not priority because it takes away from the processing power of the underlying app seemingly, plugins abound, but rearely play around with them .. I should do really), it leaves Kodi and the like a bit lacking for me

A few links that convinced me: From AVS

MadVR Options for the tweaker

JRiver Review

Oh .. and their Music Manager is light years ahead of iTunes ... and again .. playback quality with bags of punch.

OK I hear you.... I'll take on the Pepsi Challenge and see how JRiver compares to KODI when I have my Atmos setup finished (only running 2.1 at the minute). I've been using XBMC/KODI for years now also and my HTPC has a GeForce GT 730 dedicated card (fairly low end in fairness).

As mentioned I'm using MPC-HC as an external player for KODI so when I play an MKV, KODI minimises and MPC-HC takes over. MPC-HC then uses madVR to render the video so in essence I'm using KODI as a video manger/video wall but MPC-HC/madVR to do all the work.

I'll try and have a read of those links. Cheers....

slave1 · 06-08-2015 1:11pm

SachaJ wrote: »

... in essence Kodi is useless for the kids watching their cartoons (ie. I want one to play after the other)...

Eh, Kodi has playlists so you can line up the cartoons, I keep all our kids TV and Films in separate folders i.e. no access to Game of Thrones or violent films so when I add Kodi to other parts of the house they will only be able to access those folders...

SachaJ · 06-08-2015 1:11pm

clancynl wrote: »

EDIT: Considering you've got a Darbee in your AV Chain would aid Kodi Video quality no doubt. I'm considering the Darbee Darblet presently, for integration with my recently purchased Benq1070 ... I've promised my SO that that'll be it then ... (for another month

Do it - get the Darbee. I swear it upgrades your projector by about a grand. What I mean is you'd have to spend an extra grand on a projector to gain the sharpness that the Darblet will give you for less than £200. You can see in my images earlier in the thread how much sharper Tom Cruise's face is with the Darbee switched on.

And buy it from Allan @ Ideal AV also. I get quite a bit of kit off him and he's brilliant for pre-sales, backup support and so on.

SachaJ · 06-08-2015 1:15pm

slave1 wrote: »

Eh, Kodi has playlists so you can line up the cartoons, I keep all our kids TV and Films in separate folders i.e. no access to Game of Thrones or violent films so when I add Kodi to other parts of the house they will only be able to access those folders...

Yeah I looked at that also and using different profiles etc but in the end the Mede8er was just a simple solution. I wanted to get to a place where it would just work 100% of the time so the wife wouldn't be ringing me if XBMC minimised or something like that. Like I said for me it's Kodi every time, for them my life is easier if it's the Mede8er....

clancynl · 06-08-2015 1:17pm

SachaJ wrote: »

OK I hear you.... I'll take on the Pepsi Challenge and see how JRiver compares to KODI when I have my Atmos setup finished (only running 2.1 at the minute). I've been using XBMC/KODI for years now also and my HTPC has a GeForce GT 730 dedicated card (fairly low end in fairness).

As mentioned I'm using MPC-HC as an external player for KODI so when I play an MKV, KODI minimises and MPC-HC takes over. MPC-HC then uses madVR to render the video so in essence I'm using KODI as a video manger/video wall but MPC-HC/madVR to do all the work.

I'll try and have a read of those links. Cheers....

Whooo ... Atmos :eek: I'm jealous now. Sounds awesome!

Your solution sounds like what I was aiming for with MadVR / XBMC integration, with MPC looking after it all. So maybe from a Video quality perspective, it'd be interesting so see if Jrivers Pre-baked MadVR settings vary from MPC's.

But from an audio perspective you should notice a fair kick out of Jriver compared to Kodi. I certainly did. Just playing a video at the same volume level between XBMC and JRiver .. it was initally just immediataly Louder. Then the subtleties kicked in ... glass shattering etc .. (Yamaha RX-V673 here with Monitor Audio Silvers for reference)

Again, it's personal preference, but JRiver does it for me personally... happy reading!

Let us know how the Atmos setup goes!

clancynl · 06-08-2015 1:21pm

SachaJ wrote: »

Do it - get the Darbee. I swear it upgrades your projector by about a grand. What I mean is you'd have to spend an extra grand on a projector to gain the sharpness that the Darblet will give you for less than £200. You can see in my images earlier in the thread how much sharper Tom Cruise's face is with the Darbee switched on.

And buy it from Allan @ Ideal AV also. I get quite a bit of kit off him and he's brilliant for pre-sales, backup support and so on.

Thanks for the tip! Will do

clancynl · 06-08-2015 1:23pm

SachaJ wrote: »

OK I hear you.... I'll take on the Pepsi Challenge and see how JRiver compares to KODI when I have my Atmos setup finished (only running 2.1 at the minute). I've been using XBMC/KODI for years now also and my HTPC has a GeForce GT 730 dedicated card (fairly low end in fairness).

As mentioned I'm using MPC-HC as an external player for KODI so when I play an MKV, KODI minimises and MPC-HC takes over. MPC-HC then uses madVR to render the video so in essence I'm using KODI as a video manger/video wall but MPC-HC/madVR to do all the work.

I'll try and have a read of those links. Cheers....

Forgot to mention ... JRiver has a Mobile App too .. which works pretty well on Tablets. A bit clunky sometimes .. but rather cool

SachaJ · 06-08-2015 1:33pm

clancynl wrote: »

Whooo ... Atmos :eek: I'm jealous now. Sounds awesome!

Your solution sounds like what I was aiming for with MadVR / XBMC integration, with MPC looking after it all. So maybe from a Video quality perspective, it'd be interesting so see if Jrivers Pre-baked MadVR settings vary from MPC's.

But from an audio perspective you should notice a fair kick out of Jriver compared to Kodi. I certainly did. Just playing a video at the same volume level between XBMC and JRiver .. it was initally just immediataly Louder. Then the subtleties kicked in ... glass shattering etc .. (Yamaha RX-V673 here with Monitor Audio Silvers for reference)

Again, it's personal preference, but JRiver does it for me personally... happy reading!

Let us know how the Atmos setup goes!

It's a long road as I've been setting this up for months now at this stage. I was using a Yamaha 3040 AVR but sold that recently and now have a Marantz 7702 and a pair of Nakamichi AVP1 power amplifiers so will be using 11 channels for the sitting room. My speakers are all Monitor Audio also with Apex 40's across the front, RXFX as my sides and CT265-IDC's in the ceiling. Haven't figured what I'll be running as rears yet but lately I've been reading about DIY speakers and thinking of building a set.

Are you running the new Silvers or the pre-RX Silvers series?

SachaJ · 06-08-2015 1:35pm

clancynl wrote: »

Thanks for the tip! Will do

yeah do. He's the UK and Ireland distributer for Darbee Vision anyway so you might as well go straight to the source.

clancynl · 06-08-2015 1:47pm

SachaJ wrote: »

It's a long road as I've been setting this up for months now at this stage. I was using a Yamaha 3040 AVR but sold that recently and now have a Marantz 7702 and a pair of Nakamichi AVP1 power amplifiers so will be using 11 channels for the sitting room. My speakers are all Monitor Audio also with Apex 40's across the front, RXFX as my sides and CT265-IDC's in the ceiling. Haven't figured what I'll be running as rears yet but lately I've been reading about DIY speakers and thinking of building a set.

Are you running the new Silvers or the pre-RX Silvers series?

RX Silvers akin to these. (not sure whether they're new or pre- .. pre- i think)

I went with a BK Elec Sub rather than MA's own. Was very tempted by the BK Monolith, but ... well ... I'd doubt the neighbors would've appreciated it

I'm trying to save for the RXFX .. considering using them for the side sound stage in a 7.1 setup. How do you find them? Or would the be better off as pure rears?

SachaJ · 06-08-2015 2:00pm

clancynl wrote: »

RX Silvers akin to these. (not sure whether they're new or pre- .. pre- i think)

I went with a BK Elec Sub rather than MA's own. Was very tempted by the BK Monolith, but ... well ... I'd doubt the neighbors would've appreciated it

I'm trying to save for the RXFX .. considering using them for the side sound stage in a 7.1 setup. How do you find them? Or would the be better off as pure rears? How do you find them?

Ah you have the same as me - the RX "Silver" series. The previous series and the new series were just called the "Silver". I have the RX1 (kitchen) and RX2's (office). I also run the BK XXLS400 in the sitting room but have the urge for a dual sub setup so not sure whether to try and build a pair of matching subs but that's down the line a bit.

SachaJ · 06-08-2015 2:04pm

clancynl wrote: »

I'm trying to save for the RXFX .. considering using them for the side sound stage in a 7.1 setup. How do you find them? Or would the be better off as pure rears? How do you find them?

Yeah the RXFX are great speakers I have to say and can be used both as sides and rears or some people use them for both in a 7.1 (so 4 x RXFX). You won't be disappointed with them anyway

Sitting Room as Home Cinema

Comments