Home Theater

[gostillerz]

What kind of setups do you guys have?

I run a crappy 42" 1080p LCD, Marantz 5006 receiver, Mac Mini with a 3TB hard drive running Plex, Xbox 360, 12" 100w Polk sub, 7 of those Insignia bookshelves which are actually quite good. I use either a Harmony remote or my phone to control it.

I gave up paying $120/month for Directv. Cable/Satellite are rip-offs. I use Netflix and Hulu for most video, OTA for locals, and use zone 2 on the receiver for a Roku box for streaming to the bedroom. Plex controls all music, tv and movies. Everything is networked so I can use anything on the Mac to any device in the house. For Windows users, XBMC is almost the same thing.

One really cool thing. Slingboxes have been around for a while, but there's a new one called Vulkano. It's a place shifter and a DVR in one box, but the apps for phones and tablets are free. To people unfamiliar with these things, it lets you watch and control a tv in your house like on a phone, or a computer anywhere in the world.

For games, I run MAME for arcades, and Mother Brain for all consoles. Those use an arcade controller or the usual Xbox one.

 

[cachsux]

You went over my head real quick. I am thinking of a Apple Tv if I can watch the movies stored on my PC over the Tvs with one.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I have a 42" 1080p Pioneer Viera plasma, a harman/kardon receiver, a Pioneer Wi-Fi 3-D Blu-ray DVD player and 5 Pioneer speakers. I have Charter HD cable and Internet for which I pay about $125/month. My daughter jokes that you need a college degree (which she has) to operate the damn thing. I stream movies from Netflix which I select on my laptop.

 

[gostillerz]

You went over my head real quick. I am thinking of a Apple Tv if I can watch the movies stored on my PC over the Tvs with one.

You'd be better with a networked hard drive and a Roku. Apple tv is great, but if you only use itunes, and Apple stuff. Besides that, it sucks. Windows media center can do a good job too.

 

[gostillerz]

I have a 42" 1080p Pioneer Viera plasma, a harman/kardon receiver, a Pioneer Wi-Fi 3-D Blu-ray DVD player and 5 Pioneer speakers. I have Charter HD cable and Internet for which I pay about $125/month. My daughter jokes that you need a college degree (which she has) to operate the damn thing. I stream movies from Netflix which I select on my laptop.

Pioneer (especially their Elites) made some really good plasmas. The only good ones left are from Panasonic. Plasmas and DLP are dying which is a shame. Both technologies give a better picture than LCD. If you ever get a chance to see the Mitshubishi laservue 92 inch DLP, it's amazing.

If she's there a lot, try a Harmony remote. I used to be into the Philips fancy touch screen ones, but they're a pain in the ass to program.

 

[Jones]

Sharp Aquos 60 inch LCD, Sony S370 Blu-Ray, Onkyo RC-260, Polks all around (only 5.1 but it works for the room, prime viewing area is against the back wall so 7.1 isn't really doable). Computer is hooked right into the receiver as well, HDMI out from an ATI card so it doubles as my internet/gaming setup. Everything controlled with a Harmony 880 remote so even Ms Jones has no problem with it.

 

[raceanoncr]

Uh, you lost me at "setups".