What is your home theater setup for watching Star Wars movies? (or what equipment would like to get if you could afford it/or dream setup?) — Page 4

TV's Frink said:

Are all of you going to tell us that our setups utilize technology there is no demand for?

Well, I play my CED's back on a curved screen that does on-the-fly 3D conversion, using a quadrophonic audio setup, so there's no risk of that for me.

FWIW, I think most of our CIH-viewing userbase has projectors rather than ultra-widescreen monitors.

CatBus said:

TV's Frink said:

Are all of you going to tell us that our setups utilize technology there is no demand for?

Well, I play my CED's back on a curved screen that does on-the-fly 3D conversion, using a quadrophonic audio setup, so there's no risk of that for me.

Not sure if serious.

Danfun128 said:

CatBus said:

TV's Frink said:

Are all of you going to tell us that our setups utilize technology there is no demand for?

Well, I play my CED's back on a curved screen that does on-the-fly 3D conversion, using a quadrophonic audio setup, so there's no risk of that for me.

Not sure if serious.

Just close your eyes and think of Frink.

Irony checklist: CED, curved screen, 3D, quadrophonic

CatBus said:

Danfun128 said:

CatBus said:

TV's Frink said:

Are all of you going to tell us that our setups utilize technology there is no demand for?

Well, I play my CED's back on a curved screen that does on-the-fly 3D conversion, using a quadrophonic audio setup, so there's no risk of that for me.

Not sure if serious.

Just close your eyes and think of Frink.

Irony checklist: CED, curved screen, 3D, quadrophonic

I already knew what CED was before you posted your reply.

Also, I'd rather think of something else than Frink when i close my eyes and...

Danfun128 said:

Also, I'd rather think of something else than Frink when i close my eyes and...

But they are so handsome! And like-minded!

team_negative1 said:

Projectors are the way to go. But if you don't have the room, widescreen monitors only take up a little more space than standard monitors, but have a huge impact on the viewing experience.

Team Negative1

I'm with you up to a point.  21:9 displays are definitely aimed at being a low-end (in terms of both cost and space) alternative to projectors, but...

21:9 is 2.33:1.  Depending on your source's "scope" ratio, you're still not using your display's full height, albeit pretty close.  Or, if you're watching Ben-Hur, it's still not really even that close.

Home video encoding is still 16:9.  This presents a lot of issues that are nothing new to projector owners (manual AR selection, movies that change aspect ratios, fun with subtitles), but with displays you've also got scaling and pixel mapping issues that may reduce image quality.  But going back to the "nothing new to projector owners" issues for a second though, all of these are very much new to owners of typical displays and aren't that much fun.  The Netflix app in a Smart TV typically disables most TV controls--would it even allow you to select the AR for a scope film?  Who knows?

If you watch in the dark, the invisible edges of the display and the invisible black bars blend in with the rest of your invisible surroundings.  All you get out of a 21:9 display is a bigger picture, which you could also get out of a proportionally bigger 16:9 display.

That said, I still like the idea of a 21:9 display, because nearly all of the content I watch is wider than 16:9, and my living room is small.  I'm just... wary (I also never watch TV with the lights on).  With higher resolutions on the horizon, the scaling/pixel mapping concern should fade away, at the very least.

50" Pioneer Elite Kuro PRO-111FD

ZVOX 580 (I'm only interested in mono and stereo)

Sony BDP-S790

@team_negative1: Yep, I upgraded! The black level on the Pioneer Kuro is stunning and much better than my old Sony WEGA CRT HDTV.

I still have the LG Plasma I mentioned earlier, but it's in my basement now. It's 60", so I went down 10" with the Kuro, but it was totally worth it for the amazing color reproduction.

The ZVOX 580 puts out excellent sound. It's a big step up from builtin speakers IMO. It uses a very sturdy wood housing unlike many other soundbars and easily holds the weight of my Kuro.

It can do fake surround (phase shifting, IIRC), but I view the TV from ~45°, so I keep it turned off.

Note: The bass speakers are oriented downward and they're powerful, so this thing needs to be on a very sturdy entertainment console to not produce an audible rattle.

I've swapped for a newer Sony CRT, this one's a 32" Trinitron Wega in perfect condition. Still flat glass, 480i with 16:9 capable mode and component ins.

LDs use Pioneer D702 into the Panasonic DMR-es25 for its comb filter, component out. For the ac3 SE I use the DVL-700-into Sony EDP-800 or Yamaha DDP-1 for ac3 decoding.

Everything else is run PS3 via component cable. I sometimes get to bring in a midlevel 60hz 42" LG LED HDTV, but usually spend so much time fiddling with it that I give up.

Sound is still the same Sony receiver with Klipsch setup. Hopefully I can soon upgrade to a higher model Onkyo.

Headphones are the very revealing Sennheiser HD-380pros. I use these for virtually everything but they are very critical.

Wishlist:

Epson 8500ub or above, dedicated screen, anamorphic lens, Shure HTS-5300 for proper Dolby Surround decoding, dedicated power amps, floorstanding towers for the mains, a second subwoofer.

Damn Anctu, great find on that Kuro. Always wanted to see one in action up close.

AntcuFaalb said:

@team_negative1: Yep, I upgraded! The black level on the Pioneer Kuro is stunning and much better than my old Sony WEGA CRT HDTV.

 Is that really possible?

BTW, the best cheap addition to my HT are my el-cheapo masking bars. With the lights off I simply tape two halves of black foam board to the top and bottom of my monitor to take out the letterboxing sections. This suggestion has been made by others...and by god it works. With the lights on it looks terrible and induces laughter..but it really works.

Really?