1hr. Home Theater special on HGTV

[Pat]

I was watching TV with my wife and she had some fix-it-up show on and there was a commercial for a 1 hour special about Home Theaters. It is going to be on HGTV this Sunday, Jan.21 at 9pm eastern time.
Here is the description from the HGTV.com web site:

Many people are duplicating the movie theater experience in their own homes through home systems ranging from the most basic to the grandiose. Over the course of this hour-long special, we'll team up with a home theater expert and follow along from start to finish as he transforms an attic space into a multipurpose media room. Along the way, we'll tour a wide variety of home theaters from the most ornate to the least conspicuous. Host Don Wildman also goes to the experts for tech tips all of us can benefit from when creating our own home theaters.

Here's hoping that it's going to be good




Pat's Page

[Robbie]

I hafta work Sunday night. If I could get the wife to record it I would. She watches HGTV but do you think she would watch a HT show...NOOOOOOO Oh well maybe it will be on again sometime.

Robbie Caldwell

[Lexman]

Thanks for the tip Pat. There was an old ht show that one of the networks aired. Hope this is a new one. But either way, I will try and let TiVo tune in.

Lex





<A HREF="http://www.catcables.com" <IMG SRC="http://www.htguide.com/lexman/other/sm_logo.gif"

[Pat]

Back to the top for anyone who may have missed it.




Pat's Page

[Lexman]

Well, I recorded it, but haven't watched it yet. Have to set Tivo to not delete it, until I watch it.

Lex

[Trevor Schell]

Got a good chuckle from the guy who didn't like the look of TV's and speakers and therefore had everything hidden out of sight..Only problem was the TV was hidden well in the corner of the room and I came to the conclusion that his center channel speaker had to be located to the LEFT of the left front main. Pretty strange and abnormal ..He also had his tiny sub located in a drawer of the entertainment unit.??? Whatever!!

Anyways overall excellent program..it would be nice to see this as a weekly program.




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

[John Holmes]

I'm so pissed. I forgot and fell asleep. Oh well, maybe next time




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[Susan]

it'll be re-broadcast Wednesday night at 10pm and I think again at 12 or 1am...the 24th.

[John Holmes]

Thanks Susan. I'll be sure to catch it this time




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[SiliGoose]

Trevor,

I thought the "hidden" home theater in that home was pretty lame too. The whole family must have stiff necks. Did you happen to catch the location of the L & R speakers in relation to the TV? Rediculous. -and it cost $6500 with a JVC receiver!! The installers should be fired!

The whole show was, unfortunately, pretty lame. I was kind of upset with how they kept quoting prices of home theaters. They failed to recognize that you could go cheap (in comparison to the rooms they featured) by just buying the electronics and putting them in an existing room. The show really made it sound like the home theater is only for the wealthy...certain to turn off a lot of viewers.

I also didn't like how they had to put a catch phrase on everything. The use of the term "media room" as any HT integrated with a PC really bugged me. I hate to hear people using terms they really don't understand.




-Sili

[Lexman]

Come on Sili, tell us how you really feel, lol.

I will watch it today on TiVo.

Lex

[AndrewM]

I wasn't that impressed by the whole show either, it was nice to see some of the general ideas behind some of these theaters, but most were very poorly executed, for reasons mentioned above. Plus, I'll add to the gripe about money and prices they were throwing around, they definatly left a slant that a Home Theater had to cost a lot of money, $50k+ kind of money. Now granted the show wouldn't be to impressive if they showed a HT system on a 20" TV, but they took it to the extreme. I did however like some of the ideas they used for integrating the theater into a room, most of it was stuff I have already seen in photo's and such, so seeing it on video did give me another perspective.

It wasn't bad, but it was far from great also.

Andrew

[Pat]

I got a chuckle out of the guy who had everything on the left.
I bet he get some sweet imaging from his "inwall" speakers that are about 6-7ft off the ground especially when the left speaker is almost ontop of his center channel.

I didn't really like them throwing around prices like they did either.

Overall I guess it was OK but nothing to jump up and down about.




Pat's Page

[migliore]

Watched the re-run of it today.

Man, IT WAS BAD.

First piece of misinformation:
Running multiple dedicated circuits will help prevent ground loop problems. Wrong, it can make the problem worse. The best way to eliminate ground loop problems is the plug everything into the same outlet.

Second piece:
Putting fiberglass insulation in the walls will help absorb bass. Nope. The fiberglass will absorb high frequencies. A loose/flexible structure will absorb bass info. Unusually this is not desired! Many recommend installing extra floor supports (jacks, etc) for the HT if you have a suspended floor (not concrete), b/c it can absorb alot of the bass. I haven't tried this yet, but I'm told its more effective than upgrading your subwoofer.

What was up with those systems? In-walls? A $75,000 media room w/ something like $8-10k in media equipment. What happened? $20,000 consultation fee, $20,000 construction fee, $20,000 materials fee, and the rest in gear?? I find the more extravegent the HT room, the less extravegent the gear + performance.

They also mentioned positioning the projector outlet based on where the project would be installed. Then they mentioned positioning the screen after all of the construction was done, and positioning the projector based on that. What happened? Was it just guestimated at first? Also, I'm not sure a projector needs a dedicated 15A outlet to power it, but why not.

Oh yeah, and howabout the subwoofer placed in that cabinet???? AGH!!!!

Sorry, just ranting.

Rob




Reviews and System

[Lexman]

Would someone pleaes tell them a Media room would be a room where you stored your media, NOT where you watch it? I think that would be called a multi-media room.

The show did stink, at least in part. I mean, if they were going to show HT done right, then what's this crap built in stuff, off center no less! How could someone call themselves a home theater consultant and put their name on that?

Lex

[John Holmes]

Oh well, seems that we need to educate some consultants as well.




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[migliore]

Should we write to the show??

As a friend mentioned, their audience is comprised of people who want to hide/blend a HT in to their decor, not have a kick-butt theater.

Rob




Reviews and System

[reddavid]

It was a COMPLETE FAILURE.!

I really wanted my wife to see this. So she could learn something about my enthusiasm for HT. (i.e., approve of my next purchase ;-) )

I taped it (on HER tape - over the 'last show' of Magnum P.I. nonetheless!) and put it on. (Good thing she knows how Magnum turns out!)

As most have pointed out - it was not very informative.

My dear wife's reaction was fairly predictable.

After 15 minutes of doing laundry, taking out her contacts, brushing her teeth, etc... she sat down and said, "what's this...oh" and got out her favorite book and fell asleep.

O-fer (again).

- John

[John Holmes]

Reddavid,
That's a good story.




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's