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  #341  
Old 11-26-2007, 06:42 PM
KLJ KLJ is offline
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Default Re: Get a projector

how important is having a dark room with regards to projectors?
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  #342  
Old 11-26-2007, 08:09 PM
gusmahler gusmahler is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Northern California
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Default Re: astroglide\'s home theater: what i own, what i would buy today

[ QUOTE ]
Top row: Sony VHS VCR; DirecTV HR-20 DVR; Xbox360 with HD-DVD add-on
Bottom row: Pioneer double cassette deck; Pioneer DVD player (480p output); Panasonic DVD-Recorder; Playstation 2; Denon AVR-2805 receiver



[/ QUOTE ]

Just thought I'd note that I got rid of the VCR and the cassette deck. I realized that I didn't use either device anymore, so it seemed foolish to keep them.

Also thinking of dumping the PS2 because I have no games that I regularly play on it. Wife sort of wants to get a Wii, but I'd much prefer a PS3 (for its Blu-Ray capability). Also got rid of the mirror and painted the room. The wall behind the TV is now a dark blue.
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  #343  
Old 11-26-2007, 11:35 PM
daxtrader daxtrader is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 78
Default Re: Get a projector

[ QUOTE ]
how important is having a dark room with regards to projectors?

[/ QUOTE ]

With the panasonic projector that I posted, not important at all. As long as sunlight is coming in from the side and not directly on to a wall that you are going to project on (though even then it may still be viewable), it's fine. The PTAX200U is the brightest projector for the money at 2000 lumens. You can find something with more lumens but then you won't get the contrast ratio/picture quality that this model offers. I'll try to post a daytime picture.

If you are really planning on getting a projector, get it from costco.com. You'll have 90 days to try it out and can return it without any hassles. Most other places offer a 14 day return policy and a restocking fee. Also, Costco adds 2 years on top of the 1 year manufacturer's warranty.
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  #344  
Old 11-28-2007, 06:14 PM
Rick Nebiolo Rick Nebiolo is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Los Angeles
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Default Apple TV versus Logitech/Slim Devices Squeezebox?

[ QUOTE ]
<font color="blue">My interest in a PC/Home Theater combo mostly has to do with music; I doubt I'd ever be playing/storing video off the PC. I love the iTunes interface and want it in my living room but with top notch sound</font>

have you looked at the apple tv? it sounds like a slam dunk for your interests.

[/ QUOTE ]

Update:

Looked at the Apple TV and it may appear on my Christmas wish list but I still hope to do more research.

Meanwhile I moved my old Sony tray type 5 CD player in my living room to the bedroom stereo (my even older one tray CD player broke and I needed one button repeat for my all night nature sound CD [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ) so for now I'm using the DVD player to play my CDs in the living room (along with using the iNano to play special playlists). From the looks of it I'll probably never get a dedicated CD player again for the main A/V center in the living room, eventually relying on something like the Apple TV above.

Meanwhile the AVS forums has an active thread called Lossless music on hard drive vs. CD which has some discussion of the Logitech/Slim Devices Sqeezebox which seems sort of similar to the Apple TV with more of a focus on music.

Does anyone here have experience with this device (or the more expensive transporter?

~ Rick
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  #345  
Old 11-29-2007, 12:16 AM
cwsiggy cwsiggy is offline
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Location: Philadelphia
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Default Re: Apple TV versus Logitech/Slim Devices Squeezebox?

[ QUOTE ]
Meanwhile the AVS forums has an active thread called Lossless music on hard drive vs. CD which has some discussion of the Logitech/Slim Devices Sqeezebox which seems sort of similar to the Apple TV with more of a focus on music.

Does anyone here have experience with this device (or the more expensive transporter?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't have experience with them as I'm still researching good USB DACs, but a good source of info is the audioasylum forums, especially the PC audio forum. They do get good comments though and they are a nice solution.

http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/etv.mpl?forum=pcaudio

Rick - you really should look into ripping your music in a lossless format like FLAC using a bit perfect ripper like EAC and feeding that to your stereo. It sounds silly, but just the access to your entire library and playlists make it worth it, not to mention better sound (won't get into the vinyl debate - that really does rule but.....) Physical cd's belong in the basement or attic.
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  #346  
Old 11-29-2007, 02:20 AM
beanie beanie is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2004
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Default Re: Apple TV versus Logitech/Slim Devices Squeezebox?

I have a 50 inch Pioneer Elite and I am telling you this TV is the flat out nuts. I have the one speaker yamaha system which seems to do the job but the audio could be a lot better. I have the Rectangular Logitech remote, it was easy to program through my computer but I have to say that it isn't as good as my Directv remote which I actually use more (could have saved $400 or whatever I spent).

Last year there was really no reasonably priced plasma over 50 inches that was reviewed well. Now there is a 60 inch Elite, I am not sure when I will get it but I almost certainly will. Watching TV has never been so enjoyable, if you are looking for a television I would highly recommend the Pioneer Elite.
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  #347  
Old 11-29-2007, 03:58 AM
Rick Nebiolo Rick Nebiolo is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 6,634
Default Re: Apple TV versus Logitech/Slim Devices Squeezebox?

[ QUOTE ]
Rick - you really should look into ripping your music in a lossless format like FLAC using a bit perfect ripper like EAC and feeding that to your stereo. It sounds silly, but just the access to your entire library and playlists make it worth it, not to mention better sound (won't get into the vinyl debate - that really does rule but.....) Physical cd's belong in the basement or attic.

[/ QUOTE ]

Years ago I used the EAC/LAME combo to encode most of my CD collection into VBR MP3s for desktop computer speakers and portable use. Agree EAC is a great ripper.

But now iTunes is my music library player and it doesn't work with FLAC encodes. In the meantime I've used iTunes to convert some of the better CDs to Apple Lossless and these seem great so far (including playing the files off my living room DVD player).

Just did a quick Google investigation and found out you can use the EAC ripper to feed into a freeware Apple Lossless encoder. I'll probably use that approach unless people tell me that going directly from CD using iTunes to Apple Lossless is good enough.

Thanks for the link!

~ Rick
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  #348  
Old 11-29-2007, 01:20 PM
astroglide astroglide is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 13,836
Default Re: Apple TV versus Logitech/Slim Devices Squeezebox?

[ QUOTE ]
Meanwhile the AVS forums has an active thread called Lossless music on hard drive vs. CD which has some discussion of the Logitech/Slim Devices Sqeezebox which seems sort of similar to the Apple TV with more of a focus on music.

Does anyone here have experience with this device (or the more expensive transporter?

[/ QUOTE ]

i own one - it's mentioned it in the OP and following detail post. so far i've only used it for listening to rhapsody, and it works pretty well.

my new receiver (i'll probably discuss it sometime in a post) directly supports digital network audio as well, including flac. perhaps at some point i'll get around to exploring it. i already have a 1.2TB network storage device, but i only use it for archival and it's usually off. i have a ton of eac/lame 192KB vbr mp3s on there that i've ripped, but so far i haven't been bothered to care enough about rhapsody's compression. perhaps i will now that i've signifigantly upgraded my audio between the receiver and a new 5.1 speaker setup from svs.
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  #349  
Old 11-29-2007, 05:48 PM
jeffnc jeffnc is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,631
Default Re: Blu-Ray and HD DVD

[ QUOTE ]
So this isn't going to be another VHS-Betamax thing? They'll both still be around in 3 years?

[/ QUOTE ]

No, that's almost exactly like what this is. They might easily still both be around in 3 years though.
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