Home Automation Domotica Forum Europe, Bwired Forum

Hi

Different types of products available in home automation.But home theatre is my favourite. Only a few years ago, the idea of building a cinema into your own home seemed like total fantasy, something only the super-rich could afford. But such as http://ilifesolutions.co.uk/ is the sophistication of the home theatre equipment available today that a home theatre can be achieved on a relatively modest budget. And in most instances, it will sound better than anything on offer at your local cinema.

thanks
ricky steve

Hi Steve , i have a 5.1 dolby digital YAMAHA 8 years old, it works great still these days. Obv, it isn't a 7.1 Blueray compatible but when will common people spend 39 euros for a BD movie? completely crazy this system! Then let's return on Home automation: how do you think HTheatre could be integrated without a lot of money? I can image some touchscreens wifi connected with HT, multiroom, but it means 5000-7000 euros at least, so not for everyboy. Cheers , Lorenzo

I have quite a home theatre project going on, but it advances only as fast as my budget.

In progress/finished:
TV integration: a Sharp LCD, they all have RS232 control ports for reliable control. The RS232 is connected to an ethernet com server.
TV elevator/lift: a TV lift wich makes the TV come out of the cupboard (www.flatlift.de) I control this with a kaku Sun500.
Windows media centre integration: I can select a movie on my touchscreen out of my 900+ movie collection and start in on the media centre pc of my choice. Data comes out of the MCE MyMovies plugin database installed on my server. Movies are stored centrally on the server. The interface is made in mainlobby. More info on this project here: http://www.cinemaronlineforums.com/foru ... hp?t=13641 .
IR control: Currently I use a iRtrans LAN module to control my audio, PVR and Xbox360
LED moodlight: I have some RGB led strips controlled by DMX to create the perfect movie experience.
Touch screen: Inwall 19" ELO 1939L touchscreen for control.
Music streaming: I use a roku soundbridge to play streaming music from the lan/wan. It's controlled by homeseer. It can also act as a speaker client.

On todo/budget list, before end 2008:

* Yamaha RX-V3900 7.1 reciever: has RS232 port for control, more reliable/flexible then IR. Has also 2 HDMI outputs to show video on TV or on overhead projector simultaniously.
* Epson EMP-TW1000 projector: has RS232 control and full HD resolution. In my ceiling I have place to hide the projector in and have it come out with an elevator. Electricity, network and a big pipe for video cables is in place in the ceiling. I'm still looking for an affordable lift for the projector, tips are welcome.
* Kingpin electric projector screen: will be mounted above the TV, but hidden from direct view. As the TV dissapears into the cupboard the screen and projector will come down out of the ceiling.
* Wishlist: second media centre pc and sharp tv in the bedroom. Additional touch screens, those ASUS Eee top's seem the way to go.

I use homeseer and mainlobby software for all this. I hope all will be ready before the end of this year when I move into my new house. My custom built tv cabinet with the tv-lift mounted in is being delivered today Cannot wait to see it!

Hi Droezel, i have 2 questions about your mediacenter: do you manage DVD or mpeg (avi, ...) files ? Because i hae MCE2005 and Mymovie plugin, but it creates a database linked to DVD disks that are not saved in a central server, so everytime i have to: "please input disk in your dvd drive..."
I'd like to rip all these dvds to a nas server ( i use , FREENAS in a linux machine that is recognized by MCE) . So How did you save your dvds in the server? (wich rip software,what file types saved) or you have "already ripped movies"? If so you have lost 5.1 dolby digital features i think. thanks . lorenzo

Droezel,

Sounds impressive! Can you share some screenshots from you mainlobby solution with us?

Grz

Herbus

Homeseer 2.2.66
ACT TI203, DooNetwork

drmacchi,

I have mainly avi's (divx) wich work easily with the right codec installed. But I also have ripped DVD's working both in ISO format and with the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders placed on the server. I also have avchd coded blu-ray iso's for PS3 working, wmv-hd files and blu-ray ripped folders. Most of my stuff is downloaded so I don't rip much myself, I do have good experience with dvd shrink.

To play all different formats I use PowerDVD, K-Lite codec pack, Arcsoft Totalmedia and Daemon tools (to mount ISO's). MyMovies has exellent integration with Powerdvd, Totalmedia and Daemon tools.

To make the movies work on the server you must add them as online disc with the network path. Have a look at the multi zone setup documentation of mymovies: http://wiki.mymovies.dk/Multi%20Zone.ashx .

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When linking to your shared movies from within My Movies, or when configuring folder monitoring to monitor a file system, it is important to point My Movies to the shared part of the file system. If on the server machine you have movies in "D:\Movies", and, you have created a share for this folder called "Movies", then you must link your titles to "\\servername\Movies" instead of "D:\Movies" - when using the browse dialog, you can do this by browsing to your local network instead of your local files.
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Herbus,

I'll post some screenshots later tonight, got to get to work now.