The Uberbot Home Theater 2009 Upgrade Thread!

[SHines-IT]

I just realized you lived in Orlando, is that a Town House or a House? I don't think it's an Apartment, since in one pics it looks multi-story.

[Uberbot]

Originally Posted by JamesKurtovich

I think you should get a more comfortable couch.

I swear to you, that couch is super comfortable. I replaced the typical fluff couch with this one and I will never go back. It is firm, supportive, spacious and way too easy to fall asleep on!! If my head hits the arm rest it's over.

[SHines-IT]

Originally Posted by Uberbot

It is firm, supportive, spacious...

I am a softy, I would ***** and complain the seat is to hard, lol.

[Uberbot]

Originally Posted by SHines-IT

I just realized you lived in Orlando, is that a Town House or a House? I don't think it's an Apartment, since in one pics it looks multi-story.

It is a two story home. I really hate Florida homes but I was lucky enough to find a 4 bedroom floor plan that was gutted during initial construction. Instead of 4 rooms it has two larger rooms and a loft. This gives the home an extremely open feel. I dig it for now but I would love to custom build one of these days. I guess I require more than $88 in the bank for that.

DAMN YOU HT!! Soaking up all my spare cash!!!!

[SHines-IT]

Originally Posted by Uberbot

It is a two story home. I really hate Florida homes but I was lucky enough to find a 4 bedroom floor plan that was gutted during initial construction. Instead of 4 rooms it has two larger rooms and a loft. This gives the home an extremely open feel. I dig it for now but I would love to custom build one of these days. I guess I require more than $88 in the bank for that.

DAMN YOU HT!! Soaking up all my spare cash!!!!

I agree, I hate Florida... But I lived here all my life. I currently reside with my parents, about 45 mins north of Orlando. I plain to get my own place in 3-4 months down in Orlando. I may try and get a place with my brother, maybe. But I can't wait to get out of this stressful house and create my own retreat over time.

IE: Home Theatre and maybe a dog.

[Uberbot]

Originally Posted by SHines-IT

I plain to get my own place in 3-4 months down in Orlando. I may try and get a place with my brother, maybe.

IE: Home Theatre and maybe a dog.

Trust me. Stay at home and free from a ton of bills for as long as you can!! And a dog is a must for any serious home theater. Just pick a good match for your personality and treat it properly.

[Uberbot]

I spent a couple of days playing with those Ikea DIODER lights to see if I could put them to acceptable use instead of returning them. I mounted them with velcro fairly quickly. The lighting in my loft makes it tough to get a good glow. I had to keep moving them until I was happy with their brightness during any time of day yet maintain a decent symmetry. I'm still not sure I'm digging this.

Shot in the dark:


The Dioder is one power unit with 4 LED circular lights. I put two lights right above the center channel which is cool. There are two on the bottom shelf - 1 left / 1 right. The one on the left mirrors too much on the piano black TIVO. I might have to switch around components.

BTW - I picked up the Panasonic DMP-BD35K at Costco for $220 last night. I really wanted to give my PS3 a rest. More on that later.

[SHines-IT]

Originally Posted by Uberbot

Trust me. Stay at home and free from a ton of bills for as long as you can!! And a dog is a must for any serious home theater. Just pick a good match for your personality and treat it properly.

I don't think you read many of my post, lol... If you know how stressful I have it at home and how miserable I am hear. You may understand why I want to move out. I may have more money at home to spend on useless things. But I rather have no money and live pay check to pay check, then live here. There is no family here, there is no love for one another. This is a house full of hate and screwing people over.

On the upside, that's a nice TV.

[leov36]

ahhh, that room is beautiful man. i love it. that sony is awesome, i wish my projector looked like that, cant sony make 90 inch tvs, lol

[Wader2121]

Hey Uberbot, I found the Panamax M5300 here for 315 shipped.
http://www.highdecibels.com/proddeta...?prod=M5300-PM

I was wondering if I should buy the panamax or the APC H15. I found it online for 150 shipped.
I have had some blackouts latly at my house and want to protect my stuff.
Is the panamax that much better or is it just that it looks cooler????

Any input would be great. Thanks


PS. I like the blue DIODER lights!!!

[Uberbot]

I have an original PS3 with all its glorious SACD and backwards compatible abilities. I really use that sucker and, since it isn't easily replaceable, I don't want to burn it out. Enter the Panasonic DMPBD35. I just picked one up at Costco for $229 and I thought I would share some basic first impressions from the point of view of an interface snob.

First thing - I can bitstream audio now! I am embarrassed to say how much I let the lack of proper readout from the PS3 annoy me even when I knew it made no difference. Regardless, behold the beauty that is a DTS-HD readout!



And a few quick shots of the player for those who haven't taken a close look. It's very basic and pretty compact. I actually prefer my components to be a bit beefier.



And the flip down door for access to basic functions and the SC card you will need to get your BD live working (which I don't care about since the PS3 is better for such activities).



With that out of the way, I have to say that the BD35 seems to handle audio and video fine, for the most part. I have had signal drop out of the Master Audio track while taking these photos. I had to stop the disc and start it all over again to get that audio option working again. I'm not sure if this problem is with the Panny or my Onkyo but I will experiment further. Video also seems identical to the PS3 but I will compare with greater detail once my new monoprice cables arrive. I want to make sure I create an even playing field. However, this post isn't about these issues. I am an interface snob. I return equipment all the time because I hate the way the menus flow and how the pop-up menus are designed. From that point of view, the BD35 is a big disappointment, especially coming off of the smooth and clean PS3. Let us take a brief but closer look with the help of Freddie Mercury!!

Starting with basics - The pause will be nice for photos of screen shots since it disappears after 3 or 4 seconds and you get a clear pause. The bad comes from any step forward and backward that you might require. The BD35 offers little from this regard. I can't seem to jog back at all and going forward usually lunges past the place I want to be.



Hit the status button and get a very simple display showing the title, chapter, total time and remaining time. As far as I can tell, there is no info anywhere on the player sharing things like mbps which just makes me sad.



If you hit display you get this screen. It gives you four categories to explore with all being very basic, save video which is detailed below.



Here is the kind of basic info you get on most menu screens.



If you prefer to bypass your $3000 and let your $200 BD player manage your PQ, be my guest. Whether any of these could or do offer PQ improvements will take some experimenting but if I were the betting type ...



There is a sub-menu button and pop-up that seems to just bring you to menus that you can reach by hitting other buttons. Strange.



I saw this pop-up most of all. Usually when I tried to step frames up and down while in pause.



It is pretty easy to hit the wrong button with any new remote. I often found myself back at the players menu and, be warned for I often had to start the movie from the beginning again. From this menu you can access the basic setup functions of the player.



That is just a quick overview for better or worse. Those who want serious details can download the manual or search over the countless bits of info on forums here at blu-ray.com and beyond.

All in all, the interface is very amateur on this unit. Sure, it is a budget unit but does it really cost that much extra to put some thought and creativity into the interface? Baby blue and orange? That's not in touch with the vibe of HD.

I'm sure I will keep this unit since it serves the purpose of taking some burden off of the PS3. But I am disappointing that the bar raised for A/V hasn't been met by the graphic design departments.

On a related "out of touch" note - Panasonic just announced a Blu-ray VHS combo unit at CES.

[Uberbot]

Originally Posted by Wader2121

Hey Uberbot, I found the Panamax M5300 here for 315 shipped.
http://www.highdecibels.com/proddeta...?prod=M5300-PM

I was wondering if I should buy the panamax or the APC H15. I found it online for 150 shipped.
I have had some blackouts latly at my house and want to protect my stuff.
Is the panamax that much better or is it just that it looks cooler????

Any input would be great. Thanks


PS. I like the blue DIODER lights!!!

That is a great price! Just be sure they are an authorized dealer because without that your warranty is void.

I was faced with the same dilemma. The APC H15 is a good unit with solid reviews. However, I wouldn't say one is better than the other unless I had them both. The Panamax is top notch, especially for the price, and it certainly looks better. If you are a design nerd like me, the choice is easy.

[Wader2121]

Hey thanks for the input. I should be buying one soon, so I will let you know.
Your right about how good the panamax looks, especially at night!!!

Keep up the good work!!!!

[Hammie]

I, too, was very disappointed with the BD35 interface. It is cludgy at times and not very helpful. I also miss the status information from the PS3. The audio and video bitrates was very interesting to see sometimes.

Anyway, I'm also with you in that I will keep it and let me PS3 be used for gaming which its getting less of these days since the kids got DSes for Christmas and I'm too busy watching movies I got for Christmas.

[Uberbot]

Originally Posted by louhamilton

Anyway, I'm also with you in that I will keep it and let me PS3 be used for gaming which its getting less of these days since the kids got DSes for Christmas and I'm too busy watching movies I got for Christmas.

I decided I will be taking mine back but not because of the ugly menus! I pulled the trigger on an Emotiva XPA-3 Amplifier to handle my 4ohm fronts. I feel like I overspent on my end of year budget this year so the Panny will go back and keep using the PS3 for a while. I can always get another one BDplayer later when the price is right and the guilt is gone!

I'll report back on the XPA-3 once it arrives.

[Blurayne]

very nice setup.

[CubbyBlu]

Great set up especially with the Polk speakers. I have a few questions...Where are the other two LSI9s? I see two, one on either side of the tv, but I don't see the other two. Also, where are the two subs located? I don't see them either. And finally, you know what you're doing so I'm not trying to suggest that your set up is flawed in anyway, but have you tried to move the front left and right speakers (the 2 LSI9s that I can see) out a bit or would they then be in the way of the white storage units? If you have tried moving them out did it just not make a difference to you?

[Uberbot]

Originally Posted by CubbyBlu

Great set up especially with the Polk speakers. I have a few questions...Where are the other two LSI9s? I see two, one on either side of the tv, but I don't see the other two. Also, where are the two subs located? I don't see them either. And finally, you know what you're doing so I'm not trying to suggest that your set up is flawed in anyway, but have you tried to move the front left and right speakers (the 2 LSI9s that I can see) out a bit or would they then be in the way of the white storage units? If you have tried moving them out did it just not make a difference to you?

Thanks! I do enjoy those polks although my goal for 2009 is to upgrade the front to towers and move my existing LSi's to the rear.

My second set of LSi are on and off in use. They were too out in the open and I was worried they were going to get knocked over. I am very clumsy, sadly. I am currently looking for a good ceiling mount but, in the meantime, I have some JBL satellite speakers filling the void on the 7.1 system, which can be seen in a few photos.

The subs are on each side of the couch. The one in the corner, especially, offers some nice rumble for the couch while viewing movies or playing games. UPDATE : Photo added!



With the two fronts, yes, I worry too much about them if they are any closer to the storage. Those speakers are very heavy and I don't feel they sit very well on the stands I have. It would be a nightmare if someone knocked them over into my TV. With that said, I have played with them in slightly different positions and notice very little sound difference.

[Uberbot]

On Monday I ordered an Emotiva MPA-3 to power my fronts and center. The Polks are 4 ohm so that gives me 300 watts per channel and 400 watts with two channels. The package arrived three days later and I got things hooked up last night.

At first I had some problems. I had crossed the left and right RCA inputs and speaker wire which caused the unit to shut down. Once I straightened that out everything worked properly (although there is currently a slight hum if you put your ear to the speakers). I haven't had a chance to rework the settings on the Onkyo and tweak everything. However, I can say there was an immediate difference in the quality coming from the Polks. I was expecting music to sound better and my expectations were easily met. Things jumped from great quality to pro sound. I was also quickly impressed by the improvement in Blu and TV audio. The center channel, for example, was much more crisp and immersive.

The unit looks fantastic on my shelf but it is heavy and very deep. It is pushed back as far as it can go and still sticks out about 1/2 more than I would prefer. With the weight of the unit, my shelf exceeds its recommended weight capacity. I propped some old books under the shelf to give it some extra support. I'm going to have to come up with a permanent way to stylishly add support to the entire shelf, especially since I hope to add the MPA-5 later in the year to power the rest of my speakers. I want to place it on the right side of the Onkyo and move my other components to a different place in the loft. Ha ... I am babbling about stuff that, I'm sure, is of no interest to anyone else.

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by Uberbot

On Monday I ordered an Emotiva MPA-3 to power my fronts and center. The Polks are 4 ohm so that gives me 300 watts per channel and 400 watts with two channels. The package arrived three days later and I got things hooked up last night.

At first I had some problems. I had crossed the left and right RCA inputs and speaker wire which caused the unit to shut down. Once I straightened that out everything worked properly (although there is currently a slight hum if you put your ear to the speakers). I haven't had a chance to rework the settings on the Onkyo and tweak everything. However, I can say there was an immediate difference in the quality coming from the Polks. I was expecting music to sound better and my expectations were easily met. Things jumped from great quality to pro sound. I was also quickly impressed by the improvement in Blu and TV audio. The center channel, for example, was much more crisp and immersive.

The unit looks fantastic on my shelf but it is heavy and very deep. It is pushed back as far as it can go and still sticks out about 1/2 more than I would prefer. With the weight of the unit, my shelf exceeds its recommended weight capacity. I propped some old books under the shelf to give it some extra support. I'm going to have to come up with a permanent way to stylishly add support to the entire shelf, especially since I hope to add the MPA-5 later in the year to power the rest of my speakers. I want to place it on the right side of the Onkyo and move my other components to a different place in the loft. Ha ... I am babbling about stuff that, I'm sure, is of no interest to anyone else.

Power amps (class A and class A/B) can get quite large and heavy. Make sure there is enough breathing room for the amp. They need space to dissipate the generated heat. Heat is a killer that can shorten the life of your electronic equipment.

Rich