You are correct sir.

Here is a tiny job I had over the past few weekends: (Obviously it wasn't programed by me, just installed)

Hitachi 42" Director Series
Sharp 32" LCD with built in DVD
Chief Mounts
Denon 3310-CI
Denon AVR-1610
Denon Blu-ray
Denon ASD-11R iPod Docks
Paradigm AMS-250
RTI XP8
RTI T3-Vz
RTI T2Cz
Wii
PS2 (guy already had it)

These are just some preview pictures, I still have to go back one more time. And..excuse my tools in the picture, I was in a hurry and just took the picture without even noticing they were there until I was on my way home! :D



Gotta' love drywallers!










Only issue with this project was the ledge that all the equipment is on! They are terribly placed, but good thing is that this is just temporary. Guy is building a cabinet for everything to go inside. Another thing that made it messy was that he asked me to leave a lot of room for the wires in the back because he might want to build a cabinet on that entire part of the wall, but place the equipment on the right wall, after the ledge. Good thing is the wires will be in the cabinet so no one will notice them going to the right. I just hate it because I had about 2" in the back to keep it all organized...Tried my best, but it didn't turn out too well. I'm just glad It won't be like that forever! :D

Feel free to criticize, I would appreciate it!

Ali,

What about having a shelf/counter top made that would mount to the top of the ledge and extend far enough for the devices to sit on so they are not hanging off the ledge.

And if you added a little wire chase along the box you could have your cables hidden and bring them out exactly behind each stack of components. That would allow you to make 2 higher stacks and center them on the TV.

I know the guy wants to build a cabinet.. just thought these quick fixes would make things look better for right now.

As far the drywallers.. You have nothing to complain about until you find all your boxes, outlets and speakers completely covered up :). A 4 inch piece of blue tape would have saved that outlet :). The first thing i do on jobs now is grab my razor knife and a chisel and walk around cleaning up my all my boxes and speaker openings. I hit them with a vac and that way i don't have to deal with it during trim out.

I actually mentioned this to him, and he said that although it was a good idea, he didn't want to do anything extra. He said he just wants to wait for everything to be done and then build a cabinet to house the equipment. :[

Stamp,

GREAT IDEA! I will ask him if it is okay for me to take everything out, add the box, and put it all back in. If he aproves, I will get it done! Thanks..

Funny thing is, there was tape on ALL of these outlets...Contractors ripped them off and plugged in their tools. Never covered them up! Good thing was my dad was the electrician of the remodel and told the owner and we got it all worked out, because both of the rooms were like this! Once we ran our wiring (me and my dad), we didn't go back. This was almost a year ago and the outlets were fine then. First day back on this job we found ALL of the outlets like this...

Im just curious why you went with the XP-8 for that system?

2-way?

Ya that's what I figured but cant really see for what, meta data for ipod dock? volume feedback?

Seems overkill but I'm just wondering if I'm missing something obvious

get the cable boxes off the amps!!! that is one of my biggest pet peaves

Or at the very least put some of those Middle Atlantic hockey puck fans between them..

The guy had an RP-6 and T2C in a simple setup in his old house and loved it. He asked if It was possible to get FM/AM, iPod, and Sirius radio feedback on his remotes so I ended up getting the XP-8 for him with 2 new Zigbee remotes. Also, since both zones have TVs, as far as I know, the XP8 is the only processor than can accept multiple commands at one...So if 2 people are watching TV, which they usually are, they can change channels and use the remotes for other functions at the same time.

Also, I know about the DVRs. But I have 3 fans behind them that pull air into a duct and out through a vent so everything is kept cool.

Ali- nothing a little watter and soaking sponge wouldn't fix. Have your father film your progress for out education... :-)

I am SO sick of troubleshooting intermittent HDMI issues.  Here's what I've been doing in a media room that I've already had up and running for probably 2 weeks.  Just had one intermittent problem that I was trying to iron out.  Some of this was done on 2 other trips, but I spent 3-4 hours messing with the PS3 today....

(4) Fios boxes & AppleTV through component matrix, plus PS3 as a local source
PS3 --> 30' Cat6 to [email protected] HDMI baluns --> Marantz SR6003 --> 40' Cat6 to [email protected] HDMI baluns --> Epson Pro 7500UB

All sources "blink" out for 10-15 seconds at random times.  Troubleshooting I tried:
Re-terminate baluns, change output settings on PS3, change output settings in AVR.  Change stupid EQ knobs on baluns back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.  Gets better then blinks out 3 times in 5 minutes.
Moved balun power supply to rack, even plugged into UPS that AVR and Fios boxes are plugged into.  Swapped A & B balun cables.  Tried to retro 35' HDMI cable through bulkhead.  Spent 2 hours trying, can't do it without cutting holes in drywall.  

Friday.  Pulled [email protected] baluns [from AVR to projector] and replaced with Ethereal.  Blinking seems to stop on component sources, but now the PS3 is going crazy.  Audio stutters, picture kicks in and out, etc.  Play with EQ knob on those baluns.  Finally seem to get it working.

Friday at 9:00pm.  Get a call that the PS3 won't play a DVD.  (not a blu-ray, a regular DVD).  When the customer turns the PS3 off then on the menu comes up and stays up.  As soon as a DVD is put in the audio starts playing but "Not Supported" appears on the projector.  Keep in mind I have the PS3 set to play standard DVDs at 480, not 1080 because the scaler wasn't doing a very good job for a 106" screen.  So the PS3 would play fine with its menu and games at 1080p, but freaks out when it tries to play 480p.  Yeah, that makes about as much sense as everything else going on.

Today.  Can't even get a picture from the PS3 for more than 2 seconds.  Take it to another room and plug straight into another TV and of course it works fine.  Said "screw it" - I'm pulling those [email protected] baluns and retroing an HDMI cable through the front wall from the rack in the next room to the cabinet where the PS3 is inside the media room.  Moved the screen over to expose an access hole we had already cut, but still had to fish the HDMI cable across 3 stud bays to get to the cabinet.  Took about an hour.  Hook it up, pop in a DVD and it works!  Go in the other room, look at something, come back in and "Not Supported" is on the screen.  AAAAHHHHAHAHHHHH!!!!!  

Took the PS3 to the other room where I was testing it.  Changed output resolution to 1080p from Auto (since I knew games had been working), turned off any extraneous settings I could find.  Tried the baluns again.  Same thing. Reterminated the baluns AGAIN.  Same thing.  Moved the HDMI cable from input 2 on the AVR to input 3.  Picture comes up!  OH MY!  It was the AVR the whole time!!!  Well at least I figured it out.  I took an SR5003 that is going in the Family Room once those cabinets are done, ripped the 6003 out of the rack and swapped it in there.  Plug everything in, turn it on.  "Not Supported"   OMFG #$#$#%#%##[email protected][email protected]%!#*  Take PS3 to the rack, connect with a 1m HDMI straight to the AVR.  "Not Supported".  Take PS3 back to cabinet and plug HDMI cable straight into Transmit side of Ethereal balun in rack.  Picture consistently tries to come up, but doesn't.  Cry.  Just a little, on the inside... :)  Did I mention that at this point I'm 30 minutes late for leaving for another appointment??

*edit* - at this point, after removing the [email protected] baluns from the local source location, I hooked up a cheap $50 samsung upconverting DVD player to the new HDMI cable and it worked on every resolution perfectly.  480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p.  So the Ethereal baluns were working.  Just wanted to make that clear.

Took the PS3 to the other room where I was testing it.  Patched a network connection to a plate behind this TV.  Put the PS3 on the network and did a System Update.  Finds software v 3.01.  Let it run and do its thing.  Take it to the cabinet in the media room.... and it works perfectly.....


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!


[end rant]

Jim:
Call me dammit.

LOL I meant to email you over the weekend, then when I was at the house today I was in such a rush to get to my afternoon appointment I didn't think I was going to be there long enough to really get into any troubleshooting.  Little did I know.......

Jim, it's HDMI! What could possibly go wrong. Are you sure you didn't forget to plug the TV in?

Welcome to your future bro. :)