Welcome to Mr Crackers Website

HDTV is unbelievable!! All the HDTV programming on PBS & CBS is truly stunning. The HD football games I have watched on CBS & Fox are impressive. The PBS-HD has the best quality programming, but it repeats way too often.

Some pictures of my new Home Theater. The screen is 8 feet wide x 4.5 feet high. The room is 8 feet high x 13 feet wide x 24 feet deep. The front of the couch is 16 feet from the screen.

Pictures of HDTV

These pictures give a general idea of the quality of HDTV. It is difficult to take the pictures because of the very long shutter speed due to low light. These pictures are a little "soft", the real image from the projector is much sharper. All the images of the HDTV were taken from 16 feet from the screen. 

CBS Lateshow (not HD, but a really nice picture)

PBS 

Monday Night Football

Pictures of DVDs

Pictures of Games

Pictures of the Screen. I built this 96"x54", 110" diagonal screen using heavy duty stretcher bars from www.rexart.com & Dazian screen material from ebay. It was very easy to build and costed $200. Similar pre-built screens range in the $1000-$1500 range. So by building it myself I save alot of money. I am going to try to build a screen out of aluminum next spring 108"x60",120 diagonal.

Pictures of the center channel. I built this center channel stand for less than $20. I used one piece of 9"x48" pine wood from lowes. Flat black paint & polyacrylic clear coat was $7 from lowes. It took about 1hr to cut & build. 2 coats of paint & 2 coats of clear coating took about 30mins, spaced over 2 days. I was going to purchase a center channel stand but the prices were high, ranging anywhere from $50-$300. I could have saved $5 by building it out of 3/4 " MDF, but it would have taken a lot longer. 

List of Equipment:

    Benq 8700+ DLP Projector, 1280x720

    Harmon Kardon 525 7.1 receiver

    Philips 642/17 DVD/Divx player

    Zenith 420 HDTV receiver

    Magnavox VCR (not hooked up yet)

    Teac Dual Tape Deck (not hooked up yet)

    Front Speakers: Acoustic Research S50

    Rear Speakers: Acoustic Research S40

    Center Channel: Acoustic Research S20

Cabling to Projector

    10Meter NXG DVI cable

    10Meter NXG Component cable

    10Meter NXG S-Video cable

    40' green power cord

Cabling to Speakers

    16AWG in-wall speaker cable to all speakers

    RG-6 with RCA soldered connector to subwoofer

Specialty Items:

    Ron-Loc Blackout Drapery linings

    Black Electrical Plugs under screen w/custom painted covers

Work still to be done:

    2 recessed lights in the front of the room near the screen, dimmable

    4 recessed lights in the back of the room for general lighting, dimmable

    Build A/V Rack - Modular shelving from Home Depot stained black. The current rack I have only holds 3 components, I need room for 6.

    Run separate circuit breaker for A/V Equipment, 15amps

    Black Leather couch & more seating