[Homemade] Game / movie / recording room

[Hot Trout]

Very good speakers for just 75euro. Use good cable to connect them to get the most out of them.

[JAHGoVeg]

This is So Cool thank you so much for the update!

[stinow]

Reminder / placeholder for myself for a massive MASSIVE update

[stinow]

Unfortunately I lost quite a bunch of photographs while updating my phone .
So I just shot a few new ones with the semi-finished look.

See attachments for images:

Sorry for the large image, but a closeup of the drumkit:

I've painted the whole room in a nice gray colour. Hung up a lamp and a dolby digital board.
Have to finetune some of the edges though with a knife .

The computer has got a small update, being able to play Commander Keen and HD movies requires a nice processor and / or videocard. But since my receiver supports HD sound formats like DTS-HD, I preferred the option of a new graphics card that allows for passtru of those formats. Everything from the Ati HD5000 will suffice, so I went for a sale version of the HD5770.



It plays blu-ray movies very well now (including awesome 5.1 for now hehehe). There are very slight hickup's every now and then, but they are hardly noticable and propably due to the processor: a Celeron E3300.

Next to that, installed the pc with Windows 7 and got the new electronic drumkit hooked up via USB.
Have to figure out though how to remove the latency via USB.. it's damn anoying when playing over the speakers at this point .

I'm playing and recording using Cubase 5.1 and have selected the right parameters in the midi settings.
No luck so far.

The consoles have all been sold as you might have seen in the trade topic. Instead of that, I got a game controller for playing my arcade stick on this pc also:



Center speaker will have to be replaced someday because it's just wayyyy to small for the room and I cannot get enough volume out of it. The front and rear's are perfect. Only have to get or make some stands for the front speakers and find a nice location for the side speakers.

So far the update!

[crustyasp46]

Looking good, keep us posted, really like your setup, and am very impressed.

[stinow]

Looking good, keep us posted, really like your setup, and am very impressed.

Thank you Crusty for your kind words. It's sometimes hard to find motivation to continue otherwise!

[Hot Trout]

This is once again an awesome stinow project. We expect lots more images and updates. Great so far

[stinow]

Hi there guys,

Several weeks ago I've tried posting some updates, but for some way, my browser hung several times,
which caused my updates to be lost .

Update of 11-DEC-2012

One of the last things I've done, I try to figure out a way of how to go from 5.1 to 7.1 in terms of speaker placement. I took some time on thinking about how to hang the two small speakers to a wall; but it worked out! Since there is an inverted ''screwhole'' in the rear of the speaker (LOL), I made a small wooden board (4x3cm) with also a reverse screwhole in it and bought (in Dutch) schroefdraad (or ''screwwire''). And screwed that into the speaker and then attached the speaker to the board I hung up just by turning the speaker.

Also, for better sound direction, I've raised the front and center speakers on some old encyclopedia.
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9Lh89HLOxdMcU9kQ2NRVkg5SHM

For some time now, I've been thinking on how to add more (optional) lighting. I went for the idea to build a frame at the last 30cm around the whole ceiling. Made a start, ordered nice spots, but realised the build-in depth of those tiny bastards has to be more than just 6cm. 12cm is advised! But when I want to keep to 12 cm, it won't look at all nice anymore.

New plan, same frame idea: using TL-tubes for indirect lighting. Will continue work on the frame in a few weeks (after the busy holidays) and post photographs of that later.

Maybe you can still see something though on the following picture.
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9Lh89HLOxdMcU9kQ2NRVkg5SHM

Next thing I've been doing, is adding some fun decoration like Star Wars storm troopers
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9Lh89HLOxdMd2Q5alRfMzBUUTA

Speaking about Storm Troopers, I've also added a Spirius Lego set, which I bought at Lego World in Zwolle (Netherlands). There I found this very interesting took place:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9Lh89HLOxdMdnVxYU5MRWVUUDg
A storm trooper also needs a drink (juice)!

Also, a LED strip has been added underneath the rear window. Unfortunately that won't show well on a picture. I'll make a picture soon with daylight.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9Lh89HLOxdMNVVIaWlaNGI5a0U

Drumkit:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9Lh89HLOxdMcFIydGFicGRIS2s

The computer has undergone an update too. I noticed the PC I wanted to use here won't be used a lot for gaming, but just really for 100% movies and television. So I moved the gaming PC downstairs as 2nd game PC and brought (and bought) together some gear for a low-energy HD-movie machine with the following specs:

* Asrock mITX with AMD E-350 processor and integrated graphics
* 4GB DDR3
* 500gb sata (will become SSD)
* Wifi

A nice case will be built or bought later. The choice for the SSD is because for several months I've been using a NAS for all movie and game storage. So that will stream the video-material over the network (hopefully fast enough for 720p). Also, an SSD is neat to keep the PC as TINY as possible (little side project )

The computer will be running Linux if I can find the right drivers for my Sweex 150n adapter. Otherwise I will have to find a working Windows 7 install . XMBC will also be installed ofcourse, which will automatically update the NAS files with boxart, screenshots and movie information. XMBC will be remotely controllable by my Android telephone .

Will try to shoot some more pictures soon lads.

LOTR FTW!
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9Lh89HLOxdMQ0VtaG0yTm1hMWs

Take care!

Stijn

[Hot Trout]

Stinow,

As always your projects never lack scale. Awesome job, not so sure about the dodgy storm trooper pic,

[stinow]

Stinow,

As always your projects never lack scale. Awesome job, not so sure about the dodgy storm trooper pic,

Thanks lad!

Next up:
* Cable management (when my salary arrives)
* Finishing the roof (with some help when placing the plates and lights)
* Getting an Internet connection at the PC and at the TV receiver.

The last point is slightly becoming a pain. I've tried several things, but since my TV receiver has to be connected to certain ports of my router, I can only put a switch in between, or a 'LAN over Power' block.
The switch isn't an option (a cable will have to run to the top floor), and the 'LAN over Power' does not suffice in giving a stable connection (there's all kinds of receivers etc. on the line in between).

Final option that works for the PC, but not for the TV receiver is setting up a wireless bridge.
I can put the bridge at the top floor, there it will receive the wireless signal from downstairs and send it through via UTP. (no help for the TV receiver though).

If anyone has a thought on this, please share!