The HT is about 90% complete (in my mind)! See it here. The reality of course is that I'm just beginning, and I'll probably revisit each of the bullets below over and over again for the next few years. This PLOG tracks "final touches", including...

• A "muffler" chamber for my remote blower to reduce fan/air noise - DONE!
  
• Replacing the silly ZoomPlayer splash screen - DONE!
  
• An audio/HTPC rack that reduces noise and hum - DONE!
  
• Rebuild center channel speaker to improve imaging/sound - DONE!
  
• Painting my BO screen with pearl and what not - DONE!
  
• Upgrading the HTPC receiver to a Sony ES - DONE!
  
• Relocate the "movie" external HD to further reduce drive noise - DONE!
  
• A master remote control for HTPC, receiver, LCD, and X10 - DONE!
• A projected DVD menu page - for use with remote control - DONE!
• Cooling fan for the Sony ES receiver - DONE!
• Sound absorbing panels in HTPC closet, control booth, and more
• Revisiting the 22" triplet
• Exploring audio improvements: rear surrounds
• Whatever else I think of along the way

Creating a "muffler" chamber for my remote blower to reduce fan/air noise

So I gave up on trying to slow down my micro-hood fan with dimmers and ceiling fan switches. They'd only burn out my fan motor. I found a smaller bath fan (50cfm) for only 13$ at HD, so I figured I'd give it a whirl. I installed the fan facing my insulation material (batting from Joann's) and built a small muffler chamber, and filled it with the same batting. I also replaced as much of my 3" foil venting running from the blower box to my PJ with standard vinyl rain gutters. I slapped the blower box back into place and...

SWEET! It runs SUPER quiet - just a little louder than my Dell HTPC! And the PJ still stays cool...

- fan on and PJ bulb off = 55F at lcd panel
- fan on and PJ bulb on = 60F at lcd panel

But, now that the PJ is quieter, I can hear my external HD fans humming away I guess that's next on the list?

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From my experience the hardest thing to keep quiet during movies is kids. If you figure that one out let me know!

Excellent work on the rest of your setup though!

LOL! So true. Maybe that's why they sell such large popcorn containers at the movie theaters?


Thanks. I appreciate that. BTW - Waiting for more pics of your super clean build!

Replacing the silly ZoomPlayer splash screen

OK - I'm sick as a dog and too tired to build anything, but I did manage to find a few calibration test images as well as the QuickGamma app. I ran through the basic adjustments and am happy with the results. I was a little bored and realized I had never changed the silly Zoomplayer splash - which doesn't even match my WXGA panel aspect ratio - so I flipped through some of my old graphics and came up with this. LOL! My poor family...

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Building an audio/HTPC rack that reduces HTPC noise and hum

So it's been a while since I've touched the HT. I guess my Summer home projects have kept me way too busy! I did manage to piece together a quieter rack - based on standing pole. It contacts the closet wall less than my previous shelf, which really reduces noise from the HTPC/external HD's - and it still leaves space for a hamper below

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Rebuild center channel speaker to improve imaging/sound

I took a few hours yesterday to finally rebuild my center channel speaker. It's been bugging me for a while. The Polk speaker components are ok, but the "box" was too small and it sounded "tinny". The new box is a bit larger and it's located ABOVE the screen. Since my left/right speakers remain BELOW the screen, the new setup seems to create better imaging.

Next up - painting with pearl?

Upgrading my BO cloth screen to something brighter

So I've decided to paint my BO cloth screen rather than resurfacing it with 4x8 panels until I understand what I'm getting myself into. Resurfacing would also involve beefing up my screen mounts so I'll have to revisit this. I have a feeling I'll be painting for awhile

Paints
Basically, I created a white base with Kilz primer covered with Behr UPW 4850. The remaining top coats are experiments using the "pearl coat" (1q Behr Poly 780 + 2oz Folkart Pearlizing Medium) and adding various other pearl and metallic silver paints until I'm happy with the brightness AND my blacks. Each day I'd try a little more this or that and test it out that night.

Application
I ended up hand brushing all coats. I started with a roller, but found it far to difficult as the unsupported areas of BOC didn't provide enough resistance to take paint from the roller evenly. As long as I worked quickly and finished with long strokes in the same direction (horizontal), it seemed to work ok. Once I resurface with panels, I'll be able to use a roller

Results
Pretty good improvement over my original BOC. Overall, I'm pleased and quite surprised how I can tinker with my brightness, colors, and blacks in this process. Next time around, I'd like to push the limits of hotspotting and maybe improve my blacks even more.

Upgrading my receiver to a Sony ES

11.13.2008
Arrrrgh! So I finally got an old Sony DA50ES receiver from my buddy in great condition! I installed the monster (vertically with power supply on top) and got everything hooked up - only to spend the next 48 hours trying to get DolbyDigital via the digital coax input. I tried all my audio decoders to get SPDIF passthrough with DD but I'm not sure my old Audigy card can actually output more than 2 channel PCM. I confirmed the receiver is not the issue by hooking up my DVD player on same coax input (it sounded great BTW).

My old receiver (a Philips) SEEMED to be decoding "digital input" just fine, but then again, it was a cheap receiver Could I really have been THAT drunk EVERY time I watched a movie?

I started shopping for a new sound card, but it looks like I'll have to spend some money Based on buyer reviews, a lot of the cheaper sound cards falsely state SPDIF passthru capabilities...Arrrgh!

12.01.2008
YES! Apparently I was being my normal pessimistic self and did not consider that Creative would actually put out a new driver in the last year for this old card. As I grabbed my jacket and headed out to find a new card, I found and installed the new driver out of desperation and BLAM ... DD passthrough! It sounds great and just needs tuning on the ES side and I'll move on. I made that way too difficult - once again.

Relocate the "movie" external HD to further reduce drive noise

So in my quest for a quieter HT system, I've been searching for a decent location for my external HD - which generates about as much fan noise as my HTPC. My HPTC closet (AKA laundry closet) is getting pretty full so my options were limited.

The other day, as I dug through my local Goodwill electronics pile I ran across a PS111W (a wireless pserver with b card) for 6$. After some config, I found that it actually worked and was able to move my printer out of the HPTC closet and into a kitchen closet, giving me much needed HTPC space! Maybe even enough space for a custom hush box?

Configuring a master remote control for HTPC, receiver, LCD, and X10

Finally got around to programming an HTPC remote! The remote learns IR, allows programmable macros, has a backlight, and sends both IR and RF signals so I can point it at the movie screen rather than the HTPC closet at the rear of the room. It controls 4 items: X10 (external HD's), the 10.6 LCD, a Sony ES receiver, and my Dell HTPC. I considered making my own serial IR receiver for the HTPC, but I found a USB IR receiver at my local PC recycler for just 2$. Using HIP and an old app called MacroExpress (cuz I had it), I control ZoomPlayer, IE, and any other apps that I need via remote.

Overall, it's pretty nice to have - but I think my favorite feature are the 3 "resolution" buttons I created - LOW, MED, HIGH. During ZoomPlayer playback, the buttons can set the resolution multiplier (ffdshow Resize & Aspect setting) to different levels for any DVD that I'm watching. This let's me maximize resolution for each DVD without having to get up when it's too high or low. Apparently, some DVD's max out my HTPC utilization more than others

Next up, designing a projected "menu" that allows me to switch between different DVDs via remote control.

A projected DVD menu page - for use with remote control

Well, I'm still working out a couple of kinks, but the menu page is done! With the cursor buttons on the HTPC remote, I can nav from movie to movie without getting up. The page is IE in kiosk mode so I'm having a bit of trouble configuring the remote up/down buttons in HIP, which of course means scrolling down the menu is painful right now. Oh well, more tweaking...

I wonder how far my wireless mouse can roam from it's base

Cooling fan for the Sony ES receiver

So my ES receiver heats up pretty good in extended use so I found a pretty quiet 12v fan at my local PC recycler. This is a super simple improvement since the 12v adapter and a PCAC fan speed controller (added after photo below) are plugged into the switched ES rear panel power supply. Vertical mounting of ES and the closet location (next to a dryer no less) make heat an key concern. There is additional operation noise, but nothing that can be heard with audio on. Hopefully, I'll have sufficient acoustic insulation material to make a few HTPC closet panels which will address this.

A $6 insurance project for a $1000 receiver