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Pastimes : Home Theater Systems - Designs, Products, Tips and Info
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To: Zen Dollar Round who wrote (4)4/19/2014 7:42:45 PM
From: Frank Walker  Read Replies (1) of 418
 
Do you have a home theater system? Post your setup!
Mine is a low end home theater and household computer in a small 14x12' "family room" that is the main hangout. I have another room that might eventually be used for a bigger home theater but this little setup is good for up to 3 people.

My display is a 40" RCA 1080P DLED TV (similar to the Insignia brand in BestBuy).This is just a low-end 60 Hz TV but I find it works great for my viewing which is mostly TV news and documentary programs. I was previously thinking I would get a good Panasonic plasma TV such as the ST series but those are much more expensive and power-hungry and unfortunately being discontinued.

The TV is mostly used to display 1080i TV programs from a Cisco CIS430 PVR STB IP TV box that is my main source. The Cisco STB is connected to a conventional looking router (4 wired ports plus Wi-fi) that is connected to my wired house phone cable that connects down the street to the Telus Optik IP TV system here in Canada. Telus Optik is apparently very similar to AT&T U-Verse and I am guessing there is a technology licensing deal there. Conventional phone wiring connects each house or residence to a neighbourhood distribution box a few hundred feet away, that box gets fed fibre optic data from a more central distribution point. The internet speed I get is a total of about 25 Mbit/sec of which about 9 Mbit is dedicated to IP TV and up to 16 Mbit is available for regular internet purposes. Basic TV channels cost $30 and internet is $50 monthly.

I have an Apple TV 3 that is occasionally fed a movie by VLC and AirPlay from a Mac Mini 2011. For movie discs there is an entry level 2013 Sony Blu-ray player, it has some Smart-TV functions and can play movies from a USB flash drive. The video source devices use all 3 HDMI inputs on the TV so I don't yet need an AV receiver for the purpose of video switching. I could free up one HDMI input by using component video for the Telus IP TV box.

For sound the TV headphone jack feeds analog to a Klipsch Promedia 2.1 sound system which is a self-powered 200 watt system including a pair of small 3-way speakers and a 6.5" subwoofer, essentially a quality computer speaker system that can unexpectedly work for basic home theatre. I'm satisfied with the sound. I was thinking of getting a new Denon AV receiver but there seems to be no big reason to proceed, it would certainly add cost, complexity, more wiring, another electronic box and remote, and at least 2 more speakers. I use the digital radio channel feeds on the Telus IP TV box so don't need to use an AV receiver's AM/FM tuner for local radio programs.

I have the Mac Mini 2011 base model on a small desk in the same room for my main computer. I have an iPad Air which is used a lot, and an iPad 2. Also have an iPod Touch 2 about 5.5 years old and infrequently used, but recently I was surprised this old device can transmit photos and audio by AirPlay to the Apple TV.

The IP TV STB, Apple TV, Sony BR player, and Mac Mini are all fed wired internet from the Telus router that also serves Wi-Fi to the iPads and iPod Touch. Surprisingly everything works well with no network conflicts and few performance issues.

I would like to improve the quality of the AirPlay video connection from the Mac Mini to the Apple TV. Movies occasionally look a little unsteady as though there are little freezes or dropped frames. That does not happen when I connect the Mac Mini to the TV directly with HDMI, or if I play the same movie from a USB flash drive in the Sony BR player. I'm guessing I need to check out the Wi-Fi settings or maybe get a faster Wi-Fi router.
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