Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with hometheatre

Can anyone lend me a hand in designing my new home network computer setup?

decrescendo — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:54:03 -0800

Can anyone lend me a hand in designing my new home network computer setup? I have two computers right now.

1. Macbook Pro from about a year ago. In awesome shape. Bought it new. I currently use it mostly on travel and in my living room when I'm watching TV and browsing the net.

2. Desktop I built myself in 2006. I use this computer to store all of my music and listen to said music through speakers that are hooked up to it. I also have tons of pictures and videos stored on this machine. 3 harddrives, around 1.5 TB of space I believe.

I'd really like to make this Macbook Pro my primary computer. I spent too much money on it to use it for browsing the net in my living room. I want to be able to have access to the videos, pictures, and music that are currently on my desktop wirelessly while I'm on my Macbook.

How would I best go about this? I can see retiring this desktop or using parts of it to create a server. I envision this server living in my closet somewhere with a lot of storage and backup capability. I'd like to be able to access the data on this server wirelessly via my Macbook anywhere in the world.

And if I have speakers in my bedroom and a 7.1 system in my living room, how can I "beam" music on my server to these seperate speaker setups via my Macbook (basically it would sorta function as a remote control). I don't want to listen to music THROUGH the laptop or speakers connect to the laptop; I want it to come through other setups.

Also, would swapping out my laptop for a new one in a few years be an easy way to tech refresh this system since the server probably wouldn't have to be built from the most up-to-date components? The laptop is going to be what accesses the internet and edits video and what not.

So can I make this setup work and is it easy? (And does anyone have any good resources for building this server?)

Ah, obsolence.

converge — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:08:18 -0800

I'd like to hook up my new laptop to my old TV, but I can't find the parts. Care to help? Video and audio outputs on the laptop: VGA, HDMI, SPDIF. I also have a headphone jack and a couple of free USB ports.
Inputs on the TV: Component, RCA, and SVideo.
The laptop's an HP Pavilion dv7-1270. TV's an older Sony Trinitron.

I know any solutions will not involve HD, as the TV won't support it. I'm cool with that, though I would like to watch Blu-Ray movies on it anyway (laptop has a drive).

Any suggestions? Do I really need to buy a receiver? Would even that work?

Pushing audio from PC to Xbox 360

craven_morhead — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:45:20 -0800

Streaming music from laptop to xbox, sans TV: possible? I have a shiny new Xbox 360, tied to my home network via a router that's set up as a wireless bridge with DD-WRT firmware. Music and movies are shared from my laptop through Windows Media Player; I can access them through the Xbox dashboard with no hassles.

Here's what I'm looking for: I want to have my laptop and xbox powered on, TV off, push play on *something* on my laptop, and be able to play music through my xbox onto my stereo system to which the xbox is hooked. Possible? How?

Nomadic computer components must be civilized

saysthis — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 22:32:22 -0800

I'm looking for inspiration on how to reduce computer clutter. I run a lot of machines and make them do a lot of cool things, but in a 92sqm apartment where we're also trying to manage massive DVD, magazine, and book libraries, and where my previous work station (which was never all that orderly) has been conquered by my girlfriend's rampaging makeup and sewing stuff, it ain't easy. I want to compartmentalize, organize, and speed up the process of accessing my stuff. Ideas? The crux of the problem is that I have a LOT of "computer stuff", and that the network of stuff which we currently have is about to be scaled up, bigtime, due to an impending move to a bigger house. I'll want to include scalability and a solid phalanx of l33t gadgets in the future.

I've just been booted by my fashion designing wife off the corner of the room I used to use for more of her albums of pictures exactoed from fashion magazines. And, in the past year and a half, I've gone from 1 buggy laptop and a big USB hard drive to a substantial accumulation of knowledge and stuff, as I've begun exploring exactly what open source software can really do. I've been suitably impressed made much progress with it, paring down our AV setups from crappy independent DVD players, cords, and all kinds of discs to an interconnected system all controlled from my laptop. Up to now, I've kept the extra stuff in...well, piles. But the recent chaos of her expanding business, my expanding capabilities with hardware, and our impending move is a chance to get this beast under control before it becomes a cancer that conquers all of our available desktop space.

My inviolable principles include:
a) that one of my hobbies is fixing up junk and giving it away. It's an interesting means to get to know people, expand your network, and learn and practice computer skills. Gift economy 4 lyfe.
b) I'm a strong believer in ghettotech, and almost everything I own on the list was inherited. I've spent maybe $500 on computer stuff since 2006. Triple-R 4 lyfe.
c) I take an "appliance" approach to computers - the "all-under-one-box" approach has never worked for me, as something's always gone wrong or I've filled up the hard drive or busted the software and had to reinstall, and I've wasted much too much of my life on downtime and much too much of my money on new machines that proceed to break and not do what it says on the box. Modular single-purpose units 4 lyfe.

We have:
3 desktops
- a sweet media/gaming FrankenPC that gets hooked up to the living room projector
- a gutted box that serves as an uberNAS, with 6 IDE slots, 2 SATA plugs, and 12 USB ports (you bet your ass my data is redundant)
- a clumpy old workstation for volunteers in my organization who can't travel to our main office or the other side of the city; my house is the only locale we have on the east side of the city, and in Beijing, where a lot of the students we rely on to do our volunteer work sometimes don't have computers, or need to work or train with me in person

2 laptops
- my trusty daily driver, from whence I also manage this stuff, a 2005 ultraportable
- my lady's beater, an early 2004 Dell Inspiron, which is likely about to bite the bullet, and will need replacing soon

Peripherals
- bluetooth mouse & keyboard x2, for when I, and the woman don't feel like hunching over my/her laptop
- USB mice and keyboards for the desktops (or laptops if we want to)
- USB bluetooth adapters when necessary, I think we're at 4 now
- an optical drive in an external case - it keeps me from having to buy separate ones for each unit, and we rarely use it, but sometimes I do need to burn things (I work in post-production, clients occasionally just want a multiplexed DVD) or get at something on a disc (rip, mount to virtual drive)
- a grip of thumb drives that I use for data transport, disk images, booting, what have you, all neatly labeled
- a VOIP handset
- CORDS!!! yards and yards of wire in every shape and size, 'cause, y'know, things gotta get linked to things
- a totally sick wireless router
- hard drive USB cases, leftover from the days when I didn't have an uberNAS, and waiting for more hard drives to be connected to the uberNAS
- much of this all needs its own power cord, and I have them in abundance
- the odd RAM & PC card, motherboard, and whatnot waiting for a home in the computers I take home and patch up for friends and family
- various backup hardware in case something important goes kaput
- a couple WIFI cards for laptops, mostly for guests, but the woman's laptop currently needs one to get online.
- 2 monitors for the workstation, gaming machine, and occasional maintenance.

Right. Well, we're moving from a 92sqm apartment to a much much larger one in the coming months (as soon as the decorators are finished!), and we'll be expanding from our current setup of:
- 2 TV's controlled by the media machine
- uberNAS in a corner behind the couch
- laptops on the coffee table
- workstation on a teensy desk in the bedroom
- one phone hookup

to a two-floor apartment with:

- 4+ TV's & audio setups on two floors that all want access to the uberNAS
- a dedicated office for the woman's girlygirl stuff (er, actually, her job) and my own office/den/schmoke lounge for manlyman things
- wherever the uberNAS goes, probably my office
- an upstairs living room with
- the gaming box
- a PS3 (!!!)
- and a downstairs all-purpose studio that wants access to same (this room is a party area, yoga/dance studio, movie screening room, all kinds of fun stuff, but it all calls for proper geekery, and will likely want powered USB gadgets)
- a gajillion phone jacks and in-wall wiring for just about everything but VGA and HDMI
- probably more area and rebar than one wireless router can handle

The wife's hobbies call for lots of shelving and workspace, while mine only calls for a philips screwdriver, voltometer, and lots of teensy compartments. All this stuff, other than the stuff that's actually out and in use, calls for, at most, a dresser-drawer-sized space, but it requires a lot of compartmentalization and protection from dust and spills. I'm looking for inspired solutions on how to minimize and properly store the cords, components, peripherals, and other buildup that goes along with a hobby like this.

The best ideas I've had are toolboxes or tackleboxes for the loose stuff, twist-ties for the cords, a moratorium on any new desktops in the system (any new TV/media hookups are going to be disposable 2ndhand laptops w/ S-video outs and wireless), and a desk area that can be cleared for maintenance if need be. And that might be good enough, but I bet I could improve on it.

I'd love to hear creative, inspired storage solutions if you got 'em!

Cupholders for lazyboys

Unsomnambulist — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:49:24 -0800

Looking for "add on" or "accessory" cup holders for fancy, cushy chairs... Instead of buying $1000 seats for my home theatre, I'm planning to buy a number of $200 leather or cushy chairs that I'd like to add on some sort of cupholder.

For assorted reasons, this is very important, as opposed to just using a side table. I really need an easy way to add a cupholder.

I believe somewhere out there is a product that you add to a lazyboy that includes a cupholder... possibly also holds a remote, newspapers, etc... which will work, but mainly I'm just after the cupholder add on.

(btw, I checked out this question about adding cupholders to real theatre seats, but the answers are impractical for cushier arm rests)

Suggestions?

Help me set up my new 5.1 surround sound speakers!

Effigy2000 — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:23:51 -0800

I just bought a 5.1 home theatre system. The speakers are Klipsch; the receiver is a Yamaha RX-V363. I'm having some (read; a lot) setup problems that I'm hoping the hive mind could help me out with. Specifically, I'm having trouble getting sound out of my PS3 and a picture and sound out of my Wii. Hope me! OK, so this is the first time I've ever tussled with a 5.1 surround system so this is a bit new for me. Normally I'm pretty good setting things up like this with a bit of trial and error but I've been at this for a few hours now and I'm at my wits end.

I'm doing some things right though. I have my iPod dock hooked up to the receiver (via the portable connection at the front of the receiver) and sound is running from my ipod through my speakers beautifully. So it's safe to assume the speakers are connected properly.

The first problem is that my PS3 isn't giving me any sound. I'm running an HDMI cable from the PS3 to the HDMI port marked 'DVD' on the receiver (see this picture of the back of my receiver for a clearer picture of what I'm talking about). From there of course I run another HDMI cable from the HDMI out port on the back of the receiver to the HDMI In (1) port on the back of my TV, which is a Sony Bravia 40" LCD. I am getting a picture from the PS3 just fine. No sound though, which is a major bummer.

I have a theory about what may be needed to fix this. As you'll see from here's this diagram of the back of my TV, there are two HDMI In ports; HDMI In (2) has audio ports next to it. I'm assuming if I had an audio cable I could run a cable from my receiver to these ports on the back of my TV. I'm just a little confused as I've always managed to run sound and video through the single HDMI cable into the HDMI In (1) port on my TV. I'd test this out but it's night where I am and no shops are open (I need to buy this cable). In the meantime I just want to ask if I'm on the right track here?

As for my Wii, it usually runs through to the TV via component cables. With the arrival of the home theater system, it had been my hope to run the component cables into one of the component cable connections at the back of the receiver. No such luck. Switching to the DTV/CBL channel on my receiver (where I had plugged the Wii cables into), I got both no sound and no picture. I have no theories how to fix this at this stage.

I've also run the auto audio setup thing the receiver has, and I've fooled around with the 'scene' settings like the manual says. No luck.

And I've told the PS3 via it's menu to run sound through the HDMI port. As you can guess, still no luck.

To help you help me (and just in case you missed the earlier links), here's some pictures of the front and back of the receiver. Also here's something of a diagram of the back of my TV. With these pictures I'm hoping it makes it easier for any tech experts out there to tell me exactly what needs to be plugged where.

Please help me!!!

How can I use my TV speakers as the center channel on my receiver?

odinsdream — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:02:13 -0800

How can I use the speakers in my TV as the "center" speaker on my receiver? I have a receiver hooked up to four normal speakers. I'd like to use the speakers in my TV as the center speaker.

My TV has audio inputs for each set of video inputs. These are normal RCA red-white connectors.

Is there some way to connect powered speaker wires to these without breaking the TV? My first thought was to open the TV and disconnect the speakers from the internal wiring and substitute my own. I'd prefer not to do this since the TV is new and still under warranty.

The other problem would be that the TV has two internal speakers, left and right, which I want to treat as one.

Any thoughts?

I like a sing-ah, in my living room-ah...

weirdoactor — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 09:51:37 -0800

I need help making my living room into a karaoke bar. I love karaoke, my wife...not so much. It's mainly the crowds at karaoke bars she hates. I jokingly suggested we could get the equipment and just invite our karaoke friends over to the house so she wouldn't have to sit through yet another painful sorority girl/bachelorette party chorus version of "My Heart Will Go On", etc. She looked at me, and asked "You could do that?"

I have a friend who makes us custom karaoke CDs, and a home theatre system. For some reason, our fancy DVD player (a component of the home theatre, and not a great DVD player to begin with) does not play VCDs/CD+Gs...maybe because it's a five-disc thingy.

I figure we need a DVD player capable of playing VCDs/CG+Gs, two cordless microphones/stands, a small monitor and stand for the singer(s), a mixer to put the mics and DVD player through...maybe a strobe light.

Has anyone out there ever decided to make a tiny karaoke lounge in their house? Any tips? Tricks? Bargains? Help! Thanks.

LCD HDTV Prices: Buy now or later?

logovisual — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:35:29 -0800

What do I need to know about current LCD HDTV prices re: buying a set now or later? I'm in the market for a new TV, and obviously there's no point in a new TV if it's not going to be an HDTV. I've done enough of my homework to know that for what I can spend (under $1000, preferably under $900; I'm in my twenties in New York City at a low-paying job, what can I say) my options are all going to be sub-32", LCD panels, with more than likely a maximum of 720p HD (which is going to be fine for my needs for the next couple of years; I like movies and games, but my next system's gonna be a Wii not an XBox, and I'm not plunking down the cash for a next-gen DVD drive yet). I am also somewhat knowledgeable about what kind of brightness and contrast ratios to look for, what sort of inputs I'm likely to need, etc. etc.

What I don't know anything about is pricing: prices have obviously gone down lately (especially due to the holidays), but are they poised to drop further? Could the upper end of my price range start buying me a larger or higher-res screen sometime in the next three or four months, or do we look to be at a stable price level right now?

I'm probably looking at name-brand-ish sets here, rather than Best Buy store-only-brand kinda stuff, though I haven't heard any complaints about, say, Westinghouse sets which are consistently cheaper than most brands. If you have any personal experience with brands that give the best bang-for-buck ratio or resellers to track down or avoid, I'm open to that kind of stuff too.

Best video card for DVI output to HDMI input?

omair — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 09:30:09 -0800

Has anyone had success connecting a PC (DVI output) to a TV (HDMI input)? I, myself, have not tried it yet, but have a couple of questions before I do... Reading the countless forums and webpages that discuss this, there seem to be a lot of issues (sync, overscan, etc) connecting a computer to a TV through HDMI...although theoretically it seems pretty simple to me.

I was wondering, are there specific video cards that any of you have tried that have not given you any issues? I have a Panasonic EDTV (and the only input that is currently free is HDMI), a PC with Windows Media Centre and I still need to purchase a video card.

To connect to the TV, all I know for sure is that my video card will have to have a DVI output, but will things be as simple as connecting the two together, or will I need to put more thought into what kind of video card to get?

So, is there anything to worry about, or can I go pick up an average video card (like the ATI Radeon 9500) and excpect DVI to HDMI success?

Thanks!

Home theatre audio picks?

drpynchon — Wed, 25 May 2005 23:47:57 -0800

Say you're on a budget and you need a receiver and a surround sound speaker system... So you just got one of these fancy dancy 42" plasma HDTVs, and for absolutely free no less! But the catch is there are no speakers included, and you wouldn't want to spoil the experience with shitty factory speakers anyway.

So you have $700-900 to spend on a receiver and surround sound speakers. The room is about 12' x 15', and you're more interested in the quality of the "surround" and general sound quality over sheer volume. You'd also like to use the system for general purposes other than TV/DVD viewing, basically meaning you want to run your mp3 player through the receiver. You'd like the system to last at least 5 years and hopefully much longer. In the future there may also be an Xbox 360 or Windows Media Center PC involved in the mix...

Well folks, what combo of receiver and speakers would you go for?

Which manufacturers make well-built home theater equipment at a reasonable price?

danwalker — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 19:21:06 -0800

Over the past several years, I have been burned by poor quality in home electronics from various manufacturers. I have purchased pieces by Sony (home stereo), Panasonic (theatre-in-a-box) and RCA (various pieces of junk), and all have given out in one way or another far too quickly for my liking. In a renewed attempt to build a proper home theatre system (DVD/CD, receiver, speakers, etc), and recognizing that I haven't the money for really high-end stuff but will avoid anything cheap, I seek outside opinions as to which manufacturers are making products that are of reasonable quality, and reasonably priced. Your experiences, please.

Do DVDs come in bad batches?

xyzzy — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 14:42:01 -0800

DVD Troubles: For Christmas I received a DVD box set of an 80's tv miniseries that I loved as a young teenager. The second and third two-sided DVDs showed as "bad" in my DVD player. With much sadness, I packed it up and returned the item to Amazon, requesting an exchange.

Today I received the replacement set. I eagerly popped the second DVD into the DVD player so I could finish my miniseries marathon. But it is yet again showing as "bad." I tried this DVD in two players (one cheap, one midlevel), both with the same result. There are no hairs, scratches, fingerprints, or dust. So what is going on, and what should I do?