Project took about 5 months. I did everything except for electrical outlets/switches and laying the carpet. I did all the low voltage wiring. 5.1 surround with stereo for the separate amp for the 27" tv. Wired for component, composite, svideo, vga to the projector. Cable/network outlets on 3 walls. Networking ran to a little closet with another coax port for incase I was going to use that for the communication room and toss the cable modem in it (which I didn't end up doing). There is a modulator in that closet plugged into the coax port for the security camera aimed at the front door. The camera signal is injected into the cable coax so that all tvs can see the camera on the designated channel - just so that I can see who is at the door so I know who I'm ignoring because I'm too lazy to get up.

The speaker plates are high for satellite speakers. Right now, I am using floor standing speakers with a Z-5500 Logitech system.

I built a double wall (2 steel foam core doors) dividing the basement. It's a condo and sound just bleeds through from the neighbors and I didn't want to be rocking the basement at 3 am and wake them up. The double wall does a decent job at holding the sound back.

Mounting the Evo:
I was thinking about getting the telescoping mount and making a box cover to go over it to kill some of the fan noise. I was getting tired of it being on the table and getting in the way so I just took a square piece of plywood and some cut up studs and threw it up. The whole thing is bigger than it needs to be. It was a temporary thing but I threw some sides on it and I'm going to keep it. It cuts the fan noise a good 60% even with it not being air sealed. I didn't even bother cutting the base down. I just use it as a shelf to throw remotes on. I put an exhaust fan on the side which does a good job at evacuating the hot air. The fan is run at 9 - 10 volts and is quiet.

I have to do the wooden frame and paint it for the screen yet. Projected image is 97".

The next time I move, the basement will be better. A separate theater room with lots of seating, probably olive green walls, maybe lighted walkway, wall sconces, framed posters, popcorn machine, etc etc. A separate bar area with bar/stools, couple 19" tvs hanging from the ceiling, arcade games, dart board, etc etc.

Very well done! More pics of the PJ!

You said you were in woodhaven, i may have to come check out your setup and have a few

Only if I get to check out your hi-def projector! The Evo will keep me till I move and then I'll make a HD one... then I'll need a 130+" screen

... a beer sounds good


here are the Simpsons at about 120 - 130"ish spillin over

Thats an evo!? Wow. We shall arrange that beer one day

let me know... my camera is real bad at taking pics in the dark so some of these aren't that great

5.4 Cobra putting the smackdown

here's my double wall... world's shortest hallway


I just finished the wood frame around the screen. Looks real nice.




My screen is 85X51 for the 15:9 Evo screen.
The projected image is about 1.5 inches shorter on the left and right side. These measurements aren't exact but close. The projected image is closer to 82x51 which would give a 14.47:9 LCD. (around about.. again, not exact as the projected image isn't centered exactly or rotated 100% correct)

Very nice results. Makes me want to finish my basement.

Shit I'm In Monroe

small world i'm in monroe offen stewart rd near meijers

You know, the reason your image might be a little taller/thinner than 15:9 may be because of the keystoning.

thats crazyness...
about 2 miles from my place lol.

Wow, I can't believe how many people on these forums are from Michigan. We should have a Michigan lumenlab bar night somewhere that would be fun.

yeah no doubt...that is crazy, pretty much everyone i have seen is all within an hour of each other

Michigan basement theaters rule!

Nice job, Blownshift.

I agree to both of these statements!

It's been a busy summer but I picked up a Yamaha HTR-5940 6.1 which is great and a Samsung SIR-TS360 HD satellite receiver which is great also.

My Logitech Z-5500 had no controls and picked up RF interference and I just got sick of it. This Yamaha kicks the crap out of it. I finally got a real amp.

The Samsung allows me to pick up OTA HD and digital stations. The HD channels are a huge difference from running cable into the projector. I can crank up the saturation and sharpness to the max now and I get some nice color out of the projector.

I'm running component from the Xbox into the Samsung and to the projector which now allows me to use component with the Xbox without getting the horizontal jitter that I had from running the Xbox directly into the Evo. The VCR I was using for cable was throwing interference into the audio/video switchbox I was using before and screwing everything up. I don't need that junk anymore since I got the Samsung so the Samsung fixed alot of problems.

I made a UHF antenna which works well. I bought an amplied RadioShack antenna that had 50 great reviews on it. Got it home and it didn't work half as well as the one I made.

I'll take some pics in a couple of days.

Here's the antenna I made with scrap wood, coat hangers, and dollar store cookie racks. I went to Radio Shack and bought their $49.99 amplied antenna that had 50 reviews saying it was the best ever to compare mine to it. The Radio Shack antenna didn't do half as well as mine so it went back immediately.




I got the Yamaha amp at Radio Shack for $160. Cheap and worth every penny. The Samsung SIR-TS360 is below the Xbox and was also worth every cent.

any updates on this??

Just that I pre-wired the room with extra cat-5 lines. I made two adapters. Each has a (HD-15)VGA connector on one end and a (RJ-45)network end on the other. So I plug the VGA end into the Samsung receiver, the other into the walljack (RJ-45 keystone). Then the other adapter goes to the VGA on the EVO and plugs into the walljack plate that I have above the suspended ceiling tiles. So now I'm running the EVO on VGA through cat-5 cable.

Great picture. I was using component with the saturation at 80 and sharpness at 23 and gave a great colorful picture but also gave me some jaggies (all text had stair stepping for example). With the VGA, I'm 99% free of that problem. At first, the picture didn't seem to have as much color as with the component because there isn't a saturation option on the EVO for VGA but after unplugging cables and it going through its auto-config a couple of times, now it seems just as colorful. Best of all, there is no more EVO component jitter problem anymore since I'm not using component.
So I can run the Xbox to play movies through component into the Samsung and have the Samsung feed the projector with VGA.

I also got a 7" low-res lcd monitor from Target for $40 (clearance). It now sits on my desk. I made rca breakout boxes to feed it video and audio over more cat-5 lines. The Samsung can provide tv/movies for the projector, a 27" tv and the desk monitor all at the same time.

I might use a computer to run the movies just so I can tweak the colors and such. I'm going to get some cables and a VGA switchbox from Monoprice. Then I can run the Samsung, Dreamcast, and PC on VGA to the projector. I might make a new box for the projector to sit in. This one I just tossed together. It quiets the EVO down but I want to try making an air-tight one that will quiet it down more and I need to move the EVO lower a few inches so I can lessen the keystone (top of screen is a little out of focus).