Home Entertainment: An Introduction To My System
This blog will include my home entertainment center and construction.
Keep in mind, I trained and worked as an electronics engineering technician.
Some of my knowledge and experience was valuable in acquiring and setting up this system.
DESCRIPTION :
I have recently built a a media center for my blu-ray and dvd discs as well as my audio album collection and old VHS tapes.
The system is composed of:
-LG oled55c8pua smart tv (4K capable) w/remote
-Panasonic VHS player/recorder w/remote
-Samsung BD-F5700 Blu-ray/DVD/CD player w/remote
-Pioneer SX-255R tuner/receiver w/remote
-Pioneer VSX-42 AV receiver, w/remote
-Altec Lansing Valencia 846B speaker cabinets, modified for bi-amping
-Cerwin Vega HED ch203 speaker cabinets
-Polk Audio PSW-10 subwoofer
-Bang & Olufsen RX-2 turntable/SMMC4 catridge
-RCA digital signal antenna
-Channel Master 2-port HDTV signal amplifier
-Eotech DAC optical digital audio converter for use with DAO
-Sennheiser HD201 headphones
-unbranded game controller wifi keyboard to save the tedious point-and-click of TV's remote
-Discwasher D4 record cleaning kit
-Moznow ZeroDust cartridge needle cleaner
-unbranded turntable tracking load scale
-ESP phono preamp with RIAA equalization
-Pioneer BDR-XD05B blu-ray recorder/player
-Asus Vivobook F510U laptop
-Western Digital MyPassport Ultra 4TB hard drive
-assorted AV, HDMI, RCA phono, LAN, and USB cables and adapters
-assorted software including apps to repair or modifiy unsable videos
-- dongles --
SDR-RTL software defined radio (2), radio broadcasts
EZCap VHS RCA phono to USB converter, digitize VHS tape content
Hauppauge HVR-WinTV 950Q television receiver, watch local over-the-air television
software, all free
-Media Companion catalogs movies in manual and automatic mode
-VLC is a well known multi-function player
-PlayOn manages my PlayOn subscription
-YouTube Downloader, self explanatory
subscriptions
-HBONow, primarily for Game of Thrones
-PlayOn to record and download from subscription sites
-Netflix
websites
-binsearch to search Usenet groups for videos
-Netflix $
-HBONow $
-ROKU channel, free
-Crackle videos, free
-Google to search the web
-YouTube, some free, some not
-others
I do not list some sources since popularity often results in the monetizing of free of sites, and other problems. This is not a How-To blog.
The blu-ray recorder, laptop, and hard drive are included since they are integrated into the system as useful tools. In the era of IoT (Internet of Things) more and more devices use the web and wifi for intercommunication. Not only does my LG TV use the web but my LG washer as well.
The laptop can project onto the TV, where the TV can play online content, play media from external hard drives as well as laptop media using ScreenShare. The hard drive stores all my videos and the laptop contains all my LP albums.
Most of the he video and audio media in my collection have been 'ripped' for ease of use (convenience). However, my skills with a laptop and the internet leave me with the skills to find and download pre-ripped versions of most video and audio files in, for videos. I prefer HD(720p), FHD(1080p), and UHD(4K) resolution when available. Older (1910 Nosferatu for example) are only found as SD (480p or less).
This preserves the media and eliminates wear from usage over time. Media such as CD, DVD, and Blu-ray can degrade with time. Even simple jostling can damage the disks.
Editing:
Sometimes, a video will have a 1080p video but a foreign language audio dubbed or overdubbed. I use an editor processor to extract audio from a low resolution version, e.g. 480p, and combine with the video portion of the 1080p version.
The original foreign language audio is often more faithful to the artist's intentions in expression and under the director's and actor's control. An over dub version can be hard to understand and a dubbed version is usally not as aesthetically pleasing, as already mentioned.
I sometimes edit to crop nwanted space or re-sync an out of sync audio.
The web is a source of subtitles for foreign movies such as those by Akira Kurosawa.
The TV can connect to the internet router, and internet, to access hundreds of channels offered by LG known as CH+ (Channels Plus by Xiomo). Simlar to satellite dish offerings, I think.
Other sources, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are also available and access is built in to the TV. A subscription is needed. There is a web browser built into the TV software.
The DAC (Eotech) converts the optical Digital Audio Out of the TV, for use with the Pioneer tuner/receiver. Digital audio is considered better in quality than standard audio output since no electrical noise is introduced by metal wiring.
The Channel Master amplifier boosts the RCA antenna reception.
The turntable is for playing my LP collection and the VCR is to play old tapes I inherited. The tapes are only 480p since they were recorded from the old TV sets, which have a vertical scanline count of 500. An EZCap VHS RCA phono to USB converter allows recording (ripping) VCR tapes onto my laptop.
The Pioneer VSX-42 has a front panel access for Apple devices. I also have iPhone apps to control some of the devices.
Keep in mind, I trained and worked as an electronics engineering technician.
Some of my knowledge and experience was valuable in acquiring and setting up this system.
DESCRIPTION :
I have recently built a a media center for my blu-ray and dvd discs as well as my audio album collection and old VHS tapes.
The system is composed of:
-LG oled55c8pua smart tv (4K capable) w/remote
-Panasonic VHS player/recorder w/remote
-Samsung BD-F5700 Blu-ray/DVD/CD player w/remote
-Pioneer SX-255R tuner/receiver w/remote
-Pioneer VSX-42 AV receiver, w/remote
-Altec Lansing Valencia 846B speaker cabinets, modified for bi-amping
-Cerwin Vega HED ch203 speaker cabinets
-Polk Audio PSW-10 subwoofer
-Bang & Olufsen RX-2 turntable/SMMC4 catridge
-RCA digital signal antenna
-Channel Master 2-port HDTV signal amplifier
-Eotech DAC optical digital audio converter for use with DAO
-Sennheiser HD201 headphones
-unbranded game controller wifi keyboard to save the tedious point-and-click of TV's remote
-Discwasher D4 record cleaning kit
-Moznow ZeroDust cartridge needle cleaner
-unbranded turntable tracking load scale
-ESP phono preamp with RIAA equalization
-Pioneer BDR-XD05B blu-ray recorder/player
-Asus Vivobook F510U laptop
-Western Digital MyPassport Ultra 4TB hard drive
-assorted AV, HDMI, RCA phono, LAN, and USB cables and adapters
-assorted software including apps to repair or modifiy unsable videos
-- dongles --
SDR-RTL software defined radio (2), radio broadcasts
EZCap VHS RCA phono to USB converter, digitize VHS tape content
Hauppauge HVR-WinTV 950Q television receiver, watch local over-the-air television
software, all free
-Media Companion catalogs movies in manual and automatic mode
-VLC is a well known multi-function player
-PlayOn manages my PlayOn subscription
-YouTube Downloader, self explanatory
-WinAmp audio player, a favorite 'retro' audio player from the nineties
-Avidemux editor/processor, adjust audio sync problems
-ffmpeg editor/processor, miscellaneous media editing tasks
-HBONow, primarily for Game of Thrones
-PlayOn to record and download from subscription sites
-Netflix
websites
-binsearch to search Usenet groups for videos
-Netflix $
-HBONow $
-ROKU channel, free
-Crackle videos, free
-Google to search the web
-YouTube, some free, some not
-others
The blu-ray recorder, laptop, and hard drive are included since they are integrated into the system as useful tools. In the era of IoT (Internet of Things) more and more devices use the web and wifi for intercommunication. Not only does my LG TV use the web but my LG washer as well.
The laptop can project onto the TV, where the TV can play online content, play media from external hard drives as well as laptop media using ScreenShare. The hard drive stores all my videos and the laptop contains all my LP albums.
Most of the he video and audio media in my collection have been 'ripped' for ease of use (convenience). However, my skills with a laptop and the internet leave me with the skills to find and download pre-ripped versions of most video and audio files in, for videos. I prefer HD(720p), FHD(1080p), and UHD(4K) resolution when available. Older (1910 Nosferatu for example) are only found as SD (480p or less).
This preserves the media and eliminates wear from usage over time. Media such as CD, DVD, and Blu-ray can degrade with time. Even simple jostling can damage the disks.
Editing:
Sometimes, a video will have a 1080p video but a foreign language audio dubbed or overdubbed. I use an editor processor to extract audio from a low resolution version, e.g. 480p, and combine with the video portion of the 1080p version.
The original foreign language audio is often more faithful to the artist's intentions in expression and under the director's and actor's control. An over dub version can be hard to understand and a dubbed version is usally not as aesthetically pleasing, as already mentioned.
I sometimes edit to crop nwanted space or re-sync an out of sync audio.
The web is a source of subtitles for foreign movies such as those by Akira Kurosawa.
The TV can connect to the internet router, and internet, to access hundreds of channels offered by LG known as CH+ (Channels Plus by Xiomo). Simlar to satellite dish offerings, I think.
Other sources, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are also available and access is built in to the TV. A subscription is needed. There is a web browser built into the TV software.
The DAC (Eotech) converts the optical Digital Audio Out of the TV, for use with the Pioneer tuner/receiver. Digital audio is considered better in quality than standard audio output since no electrical noise is introduced by metal wiring.
The Channel Master amplifier boosts the RCA antenna reception.
The turntable is for playing my LP collection and the VCR is to play old tapes I inherited. The tapes are only 480p since they were recorded from the old TV sets, which have a vertical scanline count of 500. An EZCap VHS RCA phono to USB converter allows recording (ripping) VCR tapes onto my laptop.
The Pioneer VSX-42 has a front panel access for Apple devices. I also have iPhone apps to control some of the devices.
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