Okay, this is my first project log, so please be gentle to me I've just moved to Wales and before moving I'd quit my job of 13 years as a project analyst for a large multinational corporate. I'd been unhappy in my job for a couple of years and couldn't really decide on what I wanted to do once we'd moved. After much thinking, I decided that I'd like to run my own business doing home cinema installations. It's something I've had an interest in for some time now, and I think it's an industry that's poised to take off big-time, with the price of large screens coming down in size and the advent of HDTV with Sky. I've had a talk with some people around the area, and there's definitely interest, especially from property developers who are looking for that "USP" to distinguish them in a cut-throat market. My only problem: I've never done an installation before - the major problem from having lived in a 2-bed flat for the last ten years! Thankfully, the house we've moved to is much larger - it ostensibly has five bedrooms, but two are downstairs: perfect to make one an office and the other the cinema! I'm also thankful to my wife, who is whole-heartedly behind my new venture, and also agreed to having a cinema in our new home! I didn't want to splash out vast amounts of money, as I'm aiming my business at the lower end of the market to start with - the £5k cinema, so to speak - so I haven't gone with top of the range equipment, but I have gone with mid-range stuff. The plan is that I can use my own cinema as an example of what can be done - so the screen is electric, and automatically comes down when it's needed; all of the remotes have been combined into one unit, and macros will be written for the remote so that one button press will do everything. All the cabling is also hidden in the walls, so it's as neat as it can possibly be. So, onto the pictures: This is the room as it looked before I started. It's about 3.5m square, which is just enough room for a 1.5m wide image to be comfortably viewed (for the fact fans, that's about a 60" diagonal). Any larger than that and it becomes uncomfortable to watch the whole of the screen (the image is too big for the eyes to take in at once, so there's lots of head/eye movement to take in all the action). The projector should have no probems with an image of that size.
The house is a recent renovation, and the cinema is in an extension on the back of the house - which is good for me, as the extension is a timber-frame and plasterboard construction! Easy to cut, with my trusty Dremel Unfortunately, because the external walls are insulated with foil-backed foam insulation, the stud-finder doesn't work on these walls, so I was forced to drill holes every inch along the wall to locate the studs.Unfortunately, because the external walls are insulated with foil-backed foam insulation, the stud-finder doesn't work on these walls, so I was forced to drill holes every inch along the wall to locate the studs. Once located, I cut a patch in the plasterboard so I could route the cables through the studs The amp and DVD player (and 360, of course - big screen gaming!) sit in the corner of the room, so all the connections terminate here: The left patch is for the speaker connections, the right patch is for the 12v trigger and HDMI connection to the projector. The projector also needs a fused spur running to it as well as the HDMI lead. The electrical wiring and HDMI connection are routed along opposite sides of the square to make sure that there's no interference with the video signal: One gotcha I found when running the cable for the rear right speaker is that this wall was originally the outside wall of the original house...and being Wales, that means the house was built with granite. I had to cut the plasterboard off the wall, but couldn't cut through the granite walls, so the cable on that part of the wall isn't very far below the surface, and to replace it I'd have to cut away the plaster again: Ah well, at least it's a learning experience! Once all the cables had been pulled, I decided to install some hardware: first, the projector, mounted onto the ceiling, courtesy of a Vogel's Evolution mount: Trust me, that was a very scary moment, letting go of a £1000 projector hanging from the ceiling Next came the screen: The cable you can see dangling is the power for the screen - I temporarily rigged the switch to a plug so I could test it was working. Once the screen was up, time to connect up the screen controls: The grey box with the circuit board inside is the 12v trigger for the screen. It takes a trigger signal from the amp and drops the screen when needed, and raises the screen once the signal is removed (i.e. amp turned off). Unfortunately the board is too big to fit in a standard back box, so it has to be surface mounted. Not a great problem, as I'm thinking of getting my friendly chippy to make a pelmet to run the width of the room and conceal the screen case and switches. Before I filled in all the holes, I had to make sure everything worked OK:
Once I was sure it all worked OK, time to fill them in! First, the cabling was covered with capping (to make sure nobody tried to hang a picture right through a cable), then steel mesh was used to provide support for the plaster. Then an undercoat plaster was used to fill the bulk of the hole and finally a smooth skim to complete the finish. Thankfully, I'm a fairly competent plasterer in small patches, and the walls look OK. Unless you know where to look, you wouldn't know the holes were there! Once the plaster was dry and sanded back, time to paint: The colour I chose was Crown Solo "Fireside" - chosen as it's a nice dark, matt colour (minimises too much stray light) and it matches the colour of the sofa we had! See - not just technical, but an interior designer too! Will my talents never end? (actually, I think I just listed my only 2 talents... ) Final coat of paint, and it's looking good! Next, the speakers went up - fairly smooth sailing by now, and we're on the home stretch! Once the speakers were up, it was time to install all the interesting stuff! There's still the traditional rat's nest behind the amp, but that's the only place you'll find untidiness! It looks a lot neater from the front though As an additional nicety, I also replace the light switch with an electronic dimmer - this is also remote controlled too! Finally, the money shots - kudos to anyone who can name the film Well, that's it - it's been worth it - I think the room looks fantastic, it works exactly as promised - and it's going to get lots of use over the coming years. If you have any questions, just ask - I'm available for parties and barmitzvahs too!
Nice room, my plasma gets here tomorrow so i've got some drilling to be doing once i've measured it up. Edit: Can we get an equipment list? thanks
OK, equipment is as follows: DVD player: Denon 3910 A/V Receiver: Denon 3806 Projector: Panasonic PT-AE900E Speakers: Mordaunt Short Genies Screen & Trigger from Owl Video Lightswitch is a Lutron Telume Control all done with a Phillips ProntoPro NG & IR extenders. DVD is connected to amp with HDMI & Denon Link; 360 is connected to amp with component & optical; amp is connected to projector with HDMI. There's about 40m of speaker cable in the walls. DVD player also upgraded with latest multiregion firmware.
dammit i wish i had a home cinema. nice work btw, i didnt know you had to break parts of the room before you could install all the stuff.
My mum is getting her own projector very soon for work, as she works from home and only uses the projector on a tuesday, I'll be using it in my room as a home cinema! But I would love to have a dedicated room, and Fibblebot, you've done very well, putting all the cables inside the walls etc! Real nice! Can we have more pics of the room though, so far it's mainly the amp and projector!
Wow! Thanks for all the praise - I'm truly humbled... I'll post some more pics of the room later - it's being used as a bit of a store while I decorate the office next door At the moment, we only have the sofa - I need to get some shelving in there for the DVDs, and I plan on getting some pictures (I'm thinking of getting a couple of these frames and a few movie posters either side of the screen - interchange the posters every couple of weeks Willy, once you've seen big screen movies, you'll never want to go back - that's how I started, borrowing the PC projector from work - the bug bites quickly, you know
yep, i can wholeheartedly praise projectors. I have myself a nice High deffenition wide screen LCD one and i love it to bits. Even with the fact that i have it projecting onto a wall at the momment.
Looks nice, but for that sort of money you'd be a fool not to somehow incorporate a HTPC. I'm newly converted to the whole idea - I've stuck my PC downstairs and I'm running Media Portal on my PC, connected to the 28" TV. It's nothing compared to your setup of course, but it's great having the HTPC to watch stuff from. I would certainly recommend it.
Nice Theatre. A person after my own heart. The movie is Contact. you basically did what i want to with the exception of one thing. a HTPC pulling my movie library off of a file server some where else in the house . Great Work.
i have your projector too... and i cannot get it to show a picture through the component input, is there a secret to getting it to work?? i am confused i just figured the red, green and blue plugs would go into the red, green and blue holes... let me know if i have done anything wrong, or if you have any tips... my dvd player is pioneer dv344 projector is Panasonic PT-AE900E i love the projector, but cant get a decent picture from it, from my xbox either... it is all fuzzy, do you have any tips for getting that cleaned up either?? it looks out of focus, but the menus and the laptop i plug in thru the Svideo all look crisp... i am a newb... u have a leet setup... please help!!!!!!!
