Home Theater

I’m still trying to finish setting up my home theater, it’s hard to believe how much stuff there is to buy for it.  I thought buying the TV would be the hardest part… it probably was financially, but not strategically.  All of the little pieces do add up though.

I still need to buy:
Samsung HT-X50 Surround Sound System ~$300
Samsung SWA-3000 Wireless Receiver Module ~$150
Logitech Harmony 880 Remote Control ~$150
Impact Acoustics A/V Selector ~$50
TOSLINK cables and adapters ~$25
Apple Mac mini ~$600
newertechnology miniStack v2 ~$70
500 gig Barracuda Parallel ATA drive ~$150
Possibly Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Remote Control ~$35

You’re probably wondering what I need all of that stuff for.  The Samsung sound system is to add 5.1 surround to the setup.  The expensive wireless module is so I can have the rear speakers be wireless and not have wires running over the entire apartment.  The Samsung sound system only has 1 TOSLINK digital input, so the A/V selector is just for switching between the digital audio inputs.  The A/V selector also has an IR remote, so it will work perfectly with the Harmony 880 remote.  The rest of the stuff is simply for setting up the home theater PC.  The Mac Mini will run Windows Vista Ultimate, hooked up to a 500 gig external hard drive via firewire for the DVR and archiving.  I may need to buy the MCE remote for the IR dongle so I can switch channels, I’m not sure yet if the Mac Mini’s internal IR receiver will work (Boot Camp 1.2 has IR drivers, but I still don’t know yet if they work with an MCE remote).

I already bought and hooked up an HDHomeRun (http://www.silicondust.com/, ~$170) so now I can record clear QAM HD channels in Vista.  Works 99% so far, just a little flakey changing channels (sometimes I get a no signal error).  I also bought the Xbox 360 wireless gaming receiver for Windows, so I’ll be able to use a gamepad for emulators, etc.

Other than that, I’m just waiting for Samsung to get off their asses and release the JustScan firmware update for the LN-S4695D line of LCD TVs.  JustScan allows for 1:1 pixel mapping over HDMI so you won’t have overscanning problems.  Right now it basically stretches (overscans) a 1080p image on a native 1080p display so it looks bad.  I’m not going to buy my sound system until they release it… no point in giving a company money until you know they are fixing problems with their existing products.