Audio & Video
Onkyo TX-NR5008 AV ReceiverThis is Onkyo's current top of the line A/V receiver with 135W 3 zone powered audio, 2 zone Composite video, and 7 In/ 2out HDMI 1.4a upscale switching. It easily handles all my requirements. (supplier: http://www.crutchfield.ca)Some of the specific features I am using:
Not much I can say that is not great about this receiver, other than it has a small HDMI handshake issue between it and the Panasonic Viera Plasma that causes a screen full of static snow for a second between switching inputs/resolutions. MythTV DVRI have been using a home built Linux based MythTV DVR for 5 years and can't live without it.I built a new Intel i5 based box with an ASUS MB as its new home.
I am using a home built Iguana serial IR receiver & blaster. I got the HD-PVR IR receiver & blaster working with lirc, but it was not a smooth and stable, so I went back to a serial based IR what work flawlessly. All I had to do was make sure I did a setserial /dev/TTYS0 uart none Channel Vision 4 input modulatormodel E4200IRIt combines the composite signals from
It modulates them each onto a user selectable channel. It also takes care of repeating the IR signals (using a simple ChannelVision IR-4101) from each room back to the media closet and onto the controlled devices. This works really well! This signal is then combining with the OTA TV signal and distributing to various rooms. (supplier: http://www.aartech.ca) I have 10 over the air digital (OTA) channels that I can pick up in North Vancouver! Panasonic Viera 58" Plasma TV
It was the top of line Model 58VT25 from Jacks TV & Stereo in Delta BC.
All I can say is WOW! The 3D even looks Cool! It is going up onto the wall, soon. PSB Speakers
You can't find a better speaker and they are designed, tested, in Canada but built in
I got them all from from Jacks TV & Stereo in Delta BC. I worked with Dan who was friendly, helpful and very knowledgeable. I currently have 9.1 speakers, but have wires in the walls for 11.2. (front highs are not wired in and I am only using 1 sub-woofer) I went with Imagine series tower and center channel speaker and a SubSeries 1 subwoofer. My surrounds are in-wall CW262 with backer boxes built into the walls using 3/4 " MDF mounted with rubber sound isolation clips. All I can say is WOW! My music sounds Awesome. Especially at reference volume (0dB). NetworkingGigibit Ethernet throughout the house switched with 2 Cisco 102 series 24 port switches. (supplier: http://www.ncix.com)Firewall and VPN services provided by a Linksys WRT54gl running Tomato Firmware. Multiple Wireless (802.11) Ethernet Access points; Linksys WRT54gl for upstrairs G, WRT610N For downstairs G & N. (supplier: http://www.ncix.com)
SecurityElk M1 Whole house security systemThis is a very configurable system with 2-way voice monitoring, programmable and remote control via dial in or over the Internet. (supplier: http://www.aartech.ca ) It also provides very good interface to my Insteon based home control devices.I am not going to go into too many details other than the fact that if you are around my house, my system will know and is probably recording you. I spent a lot of time reading the good manuals and have a number of lessons learned with pictures:
Closed circuit video recordingI am using a dedicated Fedora Linux based PC running Zoneminder software (computer supplier: http://www.ncix.com ).It is even watching you at night with night vision. If you get close you are already on record. enuf said. Power and Home Control
Take a look at my Blog item that describes all of its benefits.
Its a fact of life... the power goes out. Ironically, the morning the electrician was here to cut over the pump circuits to this PowerHub, our feeder had an outage for about 3-4 hours. The scramble was on to find a gas generator. Yuck, why would I want the noise and hassle of having to manage and maintain something like that. Plus it only works if I am here. For the price, this has so much more added value than a gas generator. I strongly suggest looking into it. HVAC and Mechanical SystemsOne of the main drivers for the reno was we wanted a new furnace.HVACAt the start, we went back and forth between a boiler with in-floor heat and forced air. Each have their pros/cons.We went with forced air. The system is made by Armstrong Air.
Hot WaterInstant hot water heater by Rinnai - 9.8 l/min.We also installed a re-circulating pump to make sure there is hot water in the bathroom (30ft away) quickly. It is performing great. No issues. Structured CablingI got my cable, connectors and tools from either RP Electronics or aartech. Specific mention to the EZ-RJ 45 tool to crimp all CAT6 and CAT5 cable connectors. I used Keystone jacks and keystone Decora outlet covers.I used 4 Leviton structured media center (SMC) 42" cabinets plus I used the smaller 14" Elk cabinet to hold all the power and battery equipment. It took about 8-10 full days of work to pull over 100 runs of cable throughout the house. Then there was the terminations and cross-connections. All wiring was home-run to the media closet. I am finding that the coax I ran is being used the most so far because I can redirect the video signals wherever I want, and I can use the coax for composite signals as well because they provide a very good signal transfer for the low voltage composite signals. I have a whole page about all the wiring I did. Remote ControlsI have a Logitech Harmony 700 and I am planning on purchasing either Android ElkDroid app or the iPod eKeypad PRO for Insteon/Elk control, depending on the handheld device I will be using.I also created a listing of everything on the Equipment Page. |
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