Brian's Brain

An upfront warning: those of you who think nothing of spending $43,000 on a pair of speaker cables may feel extremely ill after reading the text that follows. I'd suggest you instead content yourself with Loyd Case's recent high-end setup series (which you'll probably still find too pedestrian for your refined tastes):

• Home Theater Madness
• Six Steps to a Better Home Theater from THX
• 10 Common Home Theater Buying Mistakes
• Loyd's Home Theater: Once More, Into the Breach

As I mentioned two days back, I've brainstormed a by-no-means-ideal workaround (two HDMI-to-DVI cables, plus an as-needed back-of-display connector swap) for the HDMI video switching problem that was precluding me from using both a Sony PS3 (as Blu-ray disc player) and Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player in my weekend home's entertainment system. Audio, however, is a separate issue. As I noted earlier this month, the PS3's lack of six-channel analog output capability was fundamentally incompatible with my admittedly atypical PC speaker-based setup.

My original long-term plan for the mountain abode was to eventually dispense with both the PS3 and HD-A1 in favour of a Windows (XP or Vista) Media Center Edition-based computer system, with separate Blu-ray and HD DVD drives attached to it and controlled by high-def video playback software. But after a bit of reflection (coupled with a bit of frustration), I've backed off on this ambitious aspiration, for a few fundamental reasons:

• The idea of booting up a computer (or at minimum bring it out of standby or hibernation) and manipulate it with a keyboard and mouse (or even a dedicated remote control) every time I want to watch a movie or even just listen to some music wasn't appealing...particularly from a SAF (spousal acceptance factor) standpoint
• I realized that, compared to the gear I already had, the primary incremental motivations for going with a Media Center Edition system would be for watching downloadable video rentals (from Amazon, CinemaNow, and Movielink, for example) and for streaming music from our Sirius Online and Yahoo Music Unlimited accounts. An S-Video tether from a laptop (which we were both already carrying up there) to the display, coupled with a headphone jack link to the audio system, would passably suffice for movie-watching moments. And see another post for how I addressed the audio streaming scenario.
• As I mentioned yesterday, I'm already employing a constantly running laptop (an intentionally humble Fujitsu Lifebook P-2110, based on an 867 MHz Transmeta Crusoe CPU) up there, at least on a temporary basis, as a home automation hub. I'm also using it to run DynDNS's update client on my dynamic IP DSL account, since I've found that the clients built into several routers I tried were profoundly unreliable. The Media Center Edition system I was contemplating could alternatively also support these functions, but it would have substantially higher power consumption. This lifetime Sierra Club member couldn't reconcile the incremental 'green' impact of the setup he was contemplating. And anyway, as I also mentioned yesterday, the residence experiences frequent power outages. Unlike the laptop that's up there now, a MicroATX Media Center Edition system doesn't have built-in batteries and would quickly drain an external UPS.
• I barely have enough time to take care of the computers I already own, far from building, tuning, and maintaining another one in a remote locale!

Instead, I headed to Fry's and dropped $130 on an on-sale entry level A/V receiver, JVC's RX-5060B. Yes, it's only got two digital audio inputs (coax and optical S/PDIF)...but two digital audio inputs are all I need. Yes, it only switches composite video inputs...but I don't plan to use it to do any video switching (given my sub-par experience to date with external HDMI switches, why on earth would I pay substantially extra to get one integrated in an A/V receiver?). Yes, it doesn't have an amplified subwoofer output...but I've already got a self-powered subwoofer up there. And compared to the older and even more humble Technics SA-DX1050 that drives my home theater setup in Sacramento, it provides some notable sonic enhancements:

• DTS 24/96 support
• Dolby Pro Logic II decode and virtualization modes, including a 7.1 channel virtualizer for my 5.1 channel speaker setup and Dolby's Pro Logic II Music mode for my various two-channel tune sources.
• 3D headphone virtualization

The hardest part of the setup? Squeezing the RX-5060B's 5.8" height and 14.6" depth into my home theater rack. At times like these, the advantages of Class D amplification become tangibly obvious. But with that challenge surmounted, my wallet and my ears are both quite content with the end result.

Although, come to think of it, I suppose I could use some upgraded speakers...