moving house, looking forward to new kit!

rotters · 25 Dec 2011 at 21:26

so im moving house, have a budget of 5k, would like a projector, have a sky box, I dont have a blueray, but in this budget I need a new rig.

So I would like if possible all my media needs covered, surround sound, projector, screen, new computer rig +blueray drive, decent gpu for gaming via projector.

is it do able? Btw I have nothing so very willing to start new.

I hope im not to much of a burden, but will have a few questions.

rotters

Raymond Lin · 25 Dec 2011 at 22:07

Don't forget surround sound!

Threepwood · 25 Dec 2011 at 22:21

Nice project dude!

I'ld be budgeting for;

Decor and furnishing
Building work and materials
Projector
Computer and monitor
Large flatscreen tv
Sub, speakers and wiring.

Anything else?

rotters · 25 Dec 2011 at 22:39

thank you, should I put the rig in hardware? or in here?

Warbie · 25 Dec 2011 at 22:48

Will this be a dedicated cinema room?

rotters · 25 Dec 2011 at 22:56

it will be the main living room. we have a 40 inch sony tv. would you guys recommend using the projector for everything or just gaming and movies?

rotters

Warbie · 25 Dec 2011 at 23:00

Just gaming and movies imo as there's no point wasting the bulb on Eastenders

Will there be any chance of treating the room to cut down on reflections? Dark walls and black velvet makes all the difference to projector image quality. The type of room has quite an effect on the type of projector and screen that will work best.

rotters · 25 Dec 2011 at 23:35

good question, so I thought I could have a pull down screen, but is this not the case?

Ill post a pic of the room lay out. its not huge, but big enough I hope.

its 17x14 foot.

what are your thoughts?

Warbie · 26 Dec 2011 at 01:13

The rooms plenty big enough

the key point will be the decor. If the walls, carpet and ceiling are a light colour, light from the projector will bounce around and wash out the picture. There's ways to try and fight this if turning the room into a bat cave isn't an option (plenty of lumens and/or a grey screen), but treating the room is always the best option as it allows for a considerably better picture and a bigger screen.

Toms88 · 27 Dec 2011 at 02:43

You'll get the best advice over at the avforums

Do you have an AV Receiver to run all of this?

rotters · 27 Dec 2011 at 10:04

As said I have nothing bar a 40 inch sony tv and a sky hd box. will take a look at the AV forum ty.

saitrix · 27 Dec 2011 at 10:59

I would get a separate bluray player to your pc as the software side can be a right hassle. Much easier to have that as a separate system, especially with the price of them these days.

If you are going for a good gpu then go with a sandy bridge setup for the htpc. Intel there is a lot more choice with m-itx size motherboards.

Dave L · 27 Dec 2011 at 17:10

You mean to say you have ££££cash left over for this type of purchase AFTER buying a property?????

rotters · 27 Dec 2011 at 21:30

indeed we do, so you guys would suggest a dedicated htpc rather than running from gaming pc? hadnt thought of this...hmm..

saitrix · 27 Dec 2011 at 22:26

rotters said:
indeed we do, so you guys would suggest a dedicated htpc rather than running from gaming pc? hadnt thought of this...hmm..

That way you can have a silent pc for when watching films. You don't want loads of fan noise in the middle of a quiet film! Plus correct choice of components will make it draw little power so can be kept on 24/7 to act as a nas/downloader box/audio server.

rotters · 27 Dec 2011 at 22:38

saitrix would you mind speccing me such a machine? the 5k is total works though, now will have to cover:

new gaming rig
Projector
Screen
htpc
5.1 sound
all labour

I was thinking of having a motored screen in a neat drop down box. I have spoken with my wife re a darker than normal front room, which got shut down straight away, but she is willing to have blackout blinds, lets face it gaming and movies are an evening thing most of the time (for me).

saitrix · 27 Dec 2011 at 22:53

Well this is the spec I was thinking about for myself to run XBMC, sabnzbd, couchpotato, sickbeard and squeezeserver on. I am not interested in gaming so I want an on cpu solution.

Lian Li PC-Q7 £50 (Looks good and plenty of space for a good cpu cooler)
Asrock A75m-ITX £75
AMD A6-3500 £70
4gb DDR3 £20
PicoPSU 120W £50

Not sure on the cooler yet, but a good tower cooler on that will require hardly any cooling, I would be hoping to get away without a case fan and just the cpu fan spinning at ~500rpm to keep it cool. You then will need storage, so one of those 'green' drives are perfect for storage due to the low noise of them. Then if you have the spare cash, using an SSD with XBMC is brilliant if you put all the fanart on the SSD too. Will make it v fast through the menus.

Add a dvd drive to it if you want to be able to rip you music cd's to it for music server purposes. I saw a handy adaptor that lian li sell which converts the single 5.25" bay to a bay which takes a slim dvd drive and a 3.5" hard drive. Perfect for that case which is a bit short on hard drive locations.

SFFNoob · 27 Dec 2011 at 23:23

Is this a hint at a build log, an epic one at that, going through all the stages from decor to final finish?

frosty03 · 28 Dec 2011 at 05:28

You're going to have light issues from the window come summer with the projector, so spend on good light proofing. Blinds alone wont cut it, since the leakage even at 8pm in summer will carp your projector image significantly.

What i found was that you cant justify using the projector for usual viewing since that will be around 10p/hour or so, if you factor in bulb life. 3000h @ 300quid/bulb. So i ended up getting a (at the time LCD TV) so YES, get a TV for general viewing. Doesnt have to be "good" since you'll be using your projector for movies.

moving house, looking forward to new kit!

Hitman