Display your HD-Tivo Setup....

[ebonovic]

Lets use this thread to show off pictures of your HD-Tivo and HD-Theater setup.

I will post mine later tonight when it is all hooked up (no option to play hookey today).

[ebonovic]

Here we go:

The happy couple:


The entire family:


The family house:


The Window:

[kittycarole]

nice pics earl.... btw, has anyone ever told you that you look like the lead singer of green day?

[Toeside]

Nice pics. Your pictures prove something, to me anyway. I think the new Philips DTiVo has a much nicer, classier enclosure than what DirecTV picked for the HD TiVo.

Granted, it isn't the case that matters, it's *what's on the inside that counts*.

Craig

[ayrton911]

Very nice ebonovic. I'm jealous!

[ebonovic]

Originally posted by ayrton911
Very nice ebonovic. I'm jealous!

Thanks for the comments...
And that jealousy fades when you see the credit card statement

As for the singer of Green Day?.... That is a first

[TimGoodwin]

Nice clean setup! Must not have any kids huh?

[pdoyle]

ebonovic,
While I'm of course jealous that you have the HDTivo and the gorgeous plasma display I have to say that the cords have gotta go! How could you spend so much money on the equip and not do a little drywall work to clean up the installation? Sorry, I don't mean to rain on your parade. The setup is very nice. I'm just curious.

[ebonovic]

Originally posted by TimGoodwin
Nice clean setup! Must not have any kids huh?

Actually I have a 2 1/2 yr little boy.

Both cabinet doors have locking tot-locks... Down on the fireplace edging their is grey padding.

Just out of the picture in the bottom right, is his big stuffed Bear chair, from Bear in the Big Blue House.

And... I spent about 15 minutes cleaning the fireplace edge off of all his toys before snapping the shots....

I can tell you two things though:

Having the TV 5ft off the ground where he can't touch it...
And having the locking Audio Cabinet so he can't touch it...
PRICELESS beyond belief..

[ebonovic]

Originally posted by pdoyle
ebonovic,
While I'm of course jealous that you have the HDTivo and the gorgeous plasma display I have to say that the cords have gotta go! How could you spend so much money on the equip and not do a little drywall work to clean up the installation? Sorry, I don't mean to rain on your parade. The setup is very nice. I'm just curious.

Actually, and the cables are hidden in the wall, as well as the power supply for the plasma (they are all tucked up behind the screen).

The cable you see there (primarily), is the 9ft HDMI->DVI cable that came with the HD-Tivo. I have a 15ft DVI in the PVC pipe that is running in the wall right now (see just to the right of the cabinet on the bottom). My converter didn't come in the shipment, but then again... I didn't ask for it until this Friday.

Once that arrives... That cable will be gone.

You can't see it well in the picture, but the speaker wires to the cabinet are soon to be wrapped, and the incomming signal cables (bottom left of the cabinet) are soon to be wrapped as well. My biggest problem... happened a year ago when having the house built.

I had the wall be hind the screen, double studded... Works great as I have 8 bolts into 4 different studs holding that TV up. However, the "wiring guy" if you call him that... (my builder wouldn't let me in to do it). Ran the PVC pipe too close to the fireplace on the bottom (it was supposed to be two more feet to the left)... But his biggest crime.

I have 5 incoming coax, 1 Phone, 1 Ethernet, 9 speakers (7 in the room, 2 outside), 2 sub woofs..... SPREAD ACCROSS 5 faceplates on two walls.
Moron. I even gave him a diagram how it would have fit into 1 4 gang box, with a 4 Open Decora plate from Leviton.... Fixing it is an eventual project, just not one I want to right now... And he put the Center speaker wire... Way too high.

At least the electricians didn't screw up... They gave me my double gang - 4 plug outlet right in the corner as asked.

Cripies... this reply got a little long Sorry... not ranting... Just explaining what went on.

[italia]

I read in the "Initial Impressions" thread that you have a 503CMX with the Aurora A303 and that is the same set up as my system.

I was hoping that you can give me as much detail as possible as to the setup for the new HD TiVo as I am expecting it to arrive any day now.

Here is a quick pic of my set up (yes, the picture was taken during Christmas, and no, I don't have those items out everyday).

[ebonovic]

Nice Setup

As for the initial setup..... After setting up the unit itself, the connection to the TV was two steps... Disconnect old DVI, connect HDMI->DVI cable.
That was it. I did not have to change any settings on the unit itself.

I have alwayse watched my SD Material via my SD Tivo, hooked in via S-Video. I usually leave it set on the TV to full mode. On same channels you see pixelation when you are right up against the screen, but at normal length it is very watchable.

Same with the HD Unit. When watching a non-OTA station, the SD material looks almost the same as material comming accross via the S-Video from the SD-Tivo. Maybe a little worse in some cases, as the DVI cable sends over more details and the display shows what it gets. But, I don't watch much SD via the HD-DTivo.

As for content via digital-OTA... The ratio's via HDTivo don't do anything to the picture. It stays at the ratio given by broadcaster. I still need to try the TV's ratio settings, (I haven't had the chance as 95% of what I have watched via HD-DTivo is HD-Letterbox programming).

I will try it soon for you.

IMHO: The Display Unit, Aurora Card, and HD-DTivo make a great family I am very very happy with all the hardware involved.

[italia]

Thanks for the reply.

I have my SD-Tivo setup the same as you (S video, set to full mode) and I think the picture is a lot worse than anything coming through DVI. So much so that I would dread having to watch something through Tivo.

I was hoping that by having everything in one box that the less conversions would equal a better picture.

Good to hear that the HDTivo doesn't do anything to digital-OTA, but ya, see if you can play with the TVs ratio setings. I would be interested in what you find.

I have read that HD content through HD Tivo is darker on the display. Have you experienced that?

[ebonovic]

Not really, in my case...
The image looks almost identical to what I was having with my Zenith SAT-520.

I will see if I can test the few scenerios above and let you know soon.

[herdfan]

Nice setups for both of you. I have to ask though since you both have the TV's above the fireplaces, how is it to watch TV with it up quite a bit higher than you are sitting? It seems to me that it would almost be like sitting in the front 10 rows of a movie theater.

However, as ebonovic stated, keeping kids hands off the TV would be priceless. I went through almost an entire bottle of Monster Screen Cleaner one year due to my daughter thinking she could touch the characters on the screen.

[ebonovic]

Actually,
It is not that hard.

The picture doesn't really show it well, but the TV is at about a 20ish degree slant downwards, it is not flush to the wall at the top.
(Massive bracket in the back, specifically designed for Plasma's with an designed adapter for specific model TV... Solid construction, plus the TV is only like 75lb though).

So when sitting only 10ft away, it is easy to look up at it, barely a noticable increase in bending the neck.

60% of my TV viewing is while lying on one of the sofa's, or in a overstuffed chair that is about 20ft away. But when we watch it from the kitchen, you don't notice it's hight. And from up in the loft, you have to look down at it. but all the other rooms, it is just normal viewing.

And when I have an XBOX night, we tend to pull in some extra chairs from the kitchen to about 10ft in front of the TV... None of the players have complained about stiff necks or anything like that.

[joegarrett]

How come nobody else is displaying their setup. Come on I wanna see, I wanna see!

[Dolfo]

Nice, Earl. Now you need an all-in-one remote

[ebonovic]

Originally posted by Dolfo
Nice, Earl. Now you need an all-in-one remote

had one (Pronto) sold-it (for a good penny too )

I found that the TiVo-Peanut did just about everything I needed it to do for normal daily usage.

I will get another some day, but for now... remote shuffle.

[Mr Pieces]

As soon as I can get my 2 1/2 year old twins toys out of the way I will post a picture of my current setup. Just added a Denon 3805 Receiver, now if the HD Tivo ever gets here my setup will be complete!

[mercurial]

Excuse the quick and dirty pictures... And no comments about the cabling! At least when we move to the new house in November, I'll be able to get some flexi-conduit and actually run them neatly for once...


The whole 9-yards with the Samsung 61" DLP:




The HR10-250 up close:




The little brother (SAT-T60):




The control center (Pronto TSU-3000):

[Shark73]

Mercurial,

Nice setup....what sony receiver do you have? It looks identical to mine. I have the DE935. I'm trying to hold out on upgrading to a new one.


Jim

[mercurial]

Originally posted by Shark73
Mercurial,

Nice setup....what sony receiver do you have? It looks identical to mine. I have the DE935. I'm trying to hold out on upgrading to a new one.

It's a STR-DE835. I actually got a great deal on a STR-DE895 from OneCall.com that I have hooked up in the basement for now. It does 6.1 so when we move, i may take the plunge and re-cable the main family room HT (which is what is pictured) with it so I can add a center rear surround later. It just wasn't worth it to bother with right now and I didn't have any receiver in the rec room when I got the 895.

[litzdog911]

mercurial,
Nice system! I like the way you've raised up your Sony SAT-T60 on CD cases for better airflow. I used pop bottle caps!

[mercurial]

Originally posted by litzdog911
mercurial,
Nice system! I like the way you've raised up your Sony SAT-T60 on CD cases for better airflow. I used pop bottle caps!

Actually, it is a combo of empty CD cases and Reaper stone-side hex battle bases that are epoxied together that were part of some I was using to make my own 25mm miniature based fantasy chess set that still "in progress" 3 years later (the joys of having a 2 1/2 year old).

[litzdog911]

Originally posted by mercurial
Actually, it is a combo of empty CD cases and Reaper stone-side hex battle bases that are epoxied together that were part of some I was using to make my own 25mm miniature based fantasy chess set that still "in progress" 3 years later (the joys of having a 2 1/2 year old).

Even better!!!

[austink]

Where did you get that entertainment center and what size sammy is that? That unit seems perfect...

[pkscout]

OK, here's a link to mine:

http://ksj.homeip.net/gallery/public/av

Don't everyone go looking at once, I'm not sure the connection will handle that much bandwidth.

FYI, the cabinet is a custom design and hand built (well with some power tools) by yours truly. If anyone is really interested, I could be convinced to part with it for the right price.

[smak]

Oh great, welcome to the TV's smak can't afford thread.

-smak-

[adman80]

Greetings!

New Member, but a very amused reader of these forums lately!

I haven't had anything relevant to say up to this point until I saw this thread.

My system is waiting on my B.B. "Preorder".

Here's a picture of the AdMan Theater.

The new HD unit will be easy to install as the equipment cabinets on eiter side have built-in AvRack shelving systems that pull-out and rotate for equipment installs. Rather proud of the set-up, I custom designed it on my Mac and had it custom built to speck. The old 73" screen will look nice when playing back HD programming.

For those so inclined towards equipment lists, here's mine...

Mitsubishi–WS-73907 73” 16x9 TV
Mitsubishi–SR-HD500 Direct TV HiDef System
3-Sony–SVR-2000 Tivo Hard Disc Recorders
Denon–AVR-5800 THX/EX Receiver
Denon–DCM-5000 100-Disc CD Changer
2-Denon–DCM-5001 100-Disc CD Slave Changers
Escient–TuneBase CD Control System
Pioneer Elite–DV-38A DVD Audio/Video Player
Pioneer Elite–DV-C36 5-Disc DVD Player
Sony–SLV-R1000 Super-VHS VCR
Denon–CDR-W1500 CD Recorder
Denon–DP-47F Phono Turntable
MonsterPower–AVS2000 Voltage Stabilizer
2-MonsterPower–HTS5000 Power Centers
3-M&K–S-150AC THX Speakers
2-M&K–SS-150 Surround Speakers
2-M&K-SW-85 Ceiling Back Surround Channel Speakers
2-M&K–MX-350 THX Powered Subwoofers

Total of 11 TV's in the house, flat panels in the bathrooms, etc.
On-Que Whole House wiring system with video modulation to all TV's of main DVD player output, DirectTV-Tivo output, Escient-Tunebase output, and Front and Rear Security cameras. Whole house sound system with a total of 22 JBL speakers with individual room volume controls and infrared repeaters throughout.

I know, I know, it's a rough life, but I'll manage.

Oh yea, 1,312 DVD's in the collection to date.

Here's hoping we all have a Mother's day to remember!