TKNice's Home Theater

[bigred7078]

Originally Posted by TKNice

Has anyone found any good sites for fake plants/trees? I don't get much light (if any) in the theater but I'd like some green up front. I'm looking for something like these which are pretty small and would go on both sides of stage. I have outlets there too so I could do a little up lighting like this.

What do you guys think?

honestly, IMO, plants in dedicated HT rooms just look....well, not right. But thats just me! You of course do whatever makes you happy

[kurtis21]

Originally Posted by TKNice

Has anyone found any good sites for fake plants/trees? I don't get much light (if any) in the theater but I'd like some green up front. I'm looking for something like these which are pretty small and would go on both sides of stage. I have outlets there too so I could do a little up lighting like this.

What do you guys think?

Hey TK....i got some nice fake plants & trees from a store near me called "Michael's". Here's a link for online ordering incase there isn't one near you.

http://www.michaels.com/home-decor

[Spurrier Sucks]

Originally Posted by bigred7078

honestly, IMO, plants in dedicated HT rooms just look....well, not right. But thats just me! You of course do whatever makes you happy

+1. Fake plants are always a bad idea in any room, but your HT is WAY to nice for fake plants.

[TKNice]

Originally Posted by kurtis21

Hey TK....i got some nice fake plants & trees from a store near me called "Michael's". Here's a link for online ordering incase there isn't one near you.

http://www.michaels.com/home-decor

Thanks for the link kurtis.

Originally Posted by Spurrier Sucks

+1. Fake plants are always a bad idea in any room, but your HT is WAY to nice for fake plants.

haha.. thanks for the opinions red and spurrier, I actually agree with you both and would love to get real plants instead but they won't work. If I can't get nice looking fakes then I won't do it and I've seen some really crappy ones for sure. My Dad has some nice palms in his theater that you can see here. I'm looking to fill those spaces up front with something.

So none of you guys have plants in your theater/media rooms? Now I'm second guessing it because I definitely don't want to clutter up my setup!!

[TKNice]

Hi Guys, reposting this mini-review I did over in the Emotiva forums.

Just wanted to give my thoughts on the UMC-1 since I've had it for about a week now. First, I should say that I don't have a ton of experience listening to different types of processors, but I do consider myself a serious A/V enthusiast.

It came installed with beta v1 so I immediately followed Lonnie's instructional video and upgraded to beta2 without a hitch. Input setup was pretty easy and I set visible = off for all of the inputs that are not in use. My setup is all HDMI with a HTPC, FIOS Box, PS3, and Vudu player. I also have a DVDO Edge video processor, but pulled it from the chain until I get used to exactly how the UMC-1 works.

I decided not to use EmoQ (because of the reviews) and instead set everything up manually. After configuring the crossover, speaker size, and distance settings, I encountered my first issue. While listening to a movie on the HTPC, I began playing with the mode options to try out PLIIx Movie. After switching modes a few times, the volume output increased noticeably and was a little distorted. I've also noticed this happens occasionally when fast forwarding or rewinding or when movies are stopped and started. It also seems to happen a lot when returning to the HTPC menu and the sounds become much louder than they should be. Once another movie is played, the UMC fixes itself and the audio is fine again. I would say get into the habit of turning down the volume when changing settings etc. until this is fixed. My Yamaha 663 receiver never did anything like this--just rock solid, steady volume.

I have not had a single dropout (knock on wood) but have had some HDMI handshaking/locking on issues. I've tried all of the HDMI 1 vs HDMI 2 suggestions etc, but the UMC-1 occasionally still has trouble grabbing the signal. While I understand that this is a common problem with set top boxes and TVs, my DVDO Edge or receiver have never had this problem...not even once, all using the same equipment, so there must be something that can be done.

With the bad out of the way, let me just say that my home theater sound has improved dramatically!! I thought adding the UPA-7 amp was a big difference, but this is well...amazing. The sound quality improvement of the UMC-1 connected to the UPA-7 is very noticeable and I finally feel like I have home theater sound to be very proud of. I tested all variations of codecs including DTS MA and True HD and all matrixed out to 7.1 beautifully using PLIIx. I'd also like to give a nod to Dolby Volume because the sound quality when watching TV is improved significantly IMO. I have the compression set to low and the audio sounds much more detailed to me. My only suggestion is they to add it into the settings for each input so I can default it to "On" for TV and "Off" for movies. Toggling back and forth is for the birds.

So yeah, I'm very excited with every single new and old movie I play. Music sounds fantastic too. If they can sort out these wierd volume issues and some of the handshaking problems, this piece of gear will be untouchable in terms of price and quality.

Thanks Emotiva.

-TK

[petew]

Your room looks great! Love the wood columns. The movie poster wall art is awesome. I might have to steal that idea. iPad control is very cool. I want to do that too with an iPad for the big stuff and an iPod touch with a pause button and lighting control. I'll have to look into homeSeer.

[talstarone]

Thanks for posting the review on the Emotiva UMC-1,TKNice.
Sounds like you have taken your system to an entirely new level.

Get the couple of trouble spots taken care of,and like you said,nothing would be able to touch it for its price and performance.

I am glad you are happy with the performance you have taken your system to.Adding both the UPA-7 and the UMC-1 are two of the Best Upgrades anyone could add to their systems.I am sure it even has your components looking better with the lighting and display the Emotiva Components have.

I have wanted to change from my Yamaha AVR to a UMC-1 from Emotiva,like you have done.
I know now,Thanks to Your Review and Post.
That doing so would be a good move which would provide an increase in Performance and sound quality.

Thank You for the time to let us know how these upgrades have worked out for you,TKNice.
Have a Great Weekend.

[TKNice]

Originally Posted by petew

Your room looks great! Love the wood columns. The movie poster wall art is awesome. I might have to steal that idea. iPad control is very cool. I want to do that too with an iPad for the big stuff and an iPod touch with a pause button and lighting control. I'll have to look into homeSeer.

Thanks petew, I really appreciate it!

Homeseer and home automation is a really fun hobby all in it's own and then to combine it with home theater is

Please let me know if I can ever help you with anything.

Originally Posted by talstarone

Thanks for posting the review on the Emotiva UMC-1,TKNice.
Sounds like you have taken your system to an entirely new level.

Get the couple of trouble spots taken care of,and like you said,nothing would be able to touch it for its price and performance.

I am glad you are happy with the performance you have taken your system to.Adding both the UPA-7 and the UMC-1 are two of the Best Upgrades anyone could add to their systems.I am sure it even has your components looking better with the lighting and display the Emotiva Components have.

I have wanted to change from my Yamaha AVR to a UMC-1 from Emotiva,like you have done.
I know now,Thanks to Your Review and Post.
That doing so would be a good move which would provide an increase in Performance and sound quality.

Thank You for the time to let us know how these upgrades have worked out for you,TKNice.
Have a Great Weekend.

Thanks for the nice words Tal. Yeah, you'll love the UMC-1, it really is quite amazing. I can't wait till the next firmware version is released in a few days. Hopefully it will lay to rest some of the problems people have been seeing in their systems. Now that I've got the Dvdo Edge in the chain, I'm only seeing one problem that I hope gets fixed so otherwise it's a homerun for me.

How are you feeling these days? I haven't checked in on your thread in a little while; I'll have to do that.

Have a good one bud.

-TK

[TKNice]

Holy crap guys, I just heard my theater is going to be included in this book from Electronic House!!

http://www.electronichouse.com/artic...t_diy_projects

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by TKNice

Holy crap guys, I just heard my theater is going to be included in this book from Electronic House!!

http://www.electronichouse.com/artic...t_diy_projects

Very cool, but I am not surprised. You have an amzing HT, and that LCD poster screen you developed is really neat. Congrats TK!!!!

[TKNice]

Originally Posted by Fors*

Very cool, but I am not surprised. You have an amzing HT, and that LCD poster screen you developed is really neat. Congrats TK!!!!

Thanks Fors!!! I'm pretty stoked. Never done anything like this before so it's kind of neat. I submitted thinking what the hell, nothing to lose. I think the DIY angle helped some since other books I've seen have outrageous theaters that are more expensive than anything I could dream of.

I told my wife and she says in her typical fashion, "Is there any commission??". I was like.. Umm, no I'm sure there's not but who cares!

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by TKNice

Thanks Fors!!! I'm pretty stoked. Never done anything like this before so it's kind of neat. I submitted thinking what the hell, nothing to lose. I think the DIY angle helped some since other books I've seen have outrageous theaters that are more expensive than anything I could dream of.

I told my wife and she says in her typical fashion, "Is there any commission??". I was like.. Umm, no I'm sure there's not but who cares!

LOL!!! That is funny.....suddenly when there is money to be made, our wives no longer consider our HT's as a PIA, but as something special.

You should be stoked......I think in that magazine, they showcase 3 different HT's all within a high, medium, and low budget. I usually keep my eyes on the low budget (low to them is like under $10,000 I think.... )

[Morrissey]

Originally Posted by TKNice

Holy crap guys, I just heard my theater is going to be included in this book from Electronic House!!

http://www.electronichouse.com/artic...t_diy_projects

Congratulations TK....it's well deserved buddy!

[TKNice]

Quick update fellas, I added something else to the theater. The program HomeSeer I use also has voice control so of course I had to nerd it up even more.

Since the computer is controlling lights and IR commands, I can now control the theater using voice recognition by saying a listen phrase (in my case it's "theater"), followed by a command. Some examples would be "theater, system on" or "poster display" or "switch to FIOS". You normally only need to say "theater" once and then you can say lots of commands. I can control the lighting this way too. I had been holding off trying it because I was lazy about researching and buying a microphone. Then it dawned on me...I could probably use a calibration microphone that came with one of my receivers! I plugged it into the automation server's sound card and it worked perfectly. This is how it is "listening".

My friends were over last week and launched into a 30 minute comedy routine. "theater, get me a beer" ... "theater, blow me" etc. etc. etc.

It never ends.

[TKNice]

Updated rear surrounds to Emotiva ERD-1 bipoles--need to update pictures though.

Anyone else try these out?

[teknipper]

I was reading online on HT and saw this article. The pictures looked familiar but I have browsed a lot of home theater galleries. However, the "wall poster" was unique enough to strike my memory.

Very Nice!!!!!

http://www.hometheaterdesignmag.com/012111kern/

Tom

[trm3]

Just stunning! Love everything!

[madrizz]

I am in the process of creating a HTPC, but do not know what program to use in order to burn my old dvd's onto my hardrive and have them recognized by WMC. Right now, they are saved as .vob and .ifo files. Can someone please help

[TKNice]

For anyone following my thread, we just upgraded our projector to a Panasonic PT-AE7000u!

Looking forward to the improved 2D image as well as checking out the lens memory the pannys have--always been interested to see how that will work in my setup.

oh ya... also 3D!!!!!

[qx56]

Nice theater man. Good luck over at the ED contest.