Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Maybe I should start a v4.0 build thread somewhere

Sorry for the delay, we were out of town moving my daughter in to her college dorm. You are correct, that is the software I used. Very awesome stuff.

Picked up some crown molding and get it a good first coat of paint last night. I think one more coat will do it, but then I need to get it installed which isn't something that I've done before. I know how to do the cuts correctly, and attaching the bottom is easy, but since it won't go up against the ceiling (it will be down do that the rope lighting can sit inside it, I need to create some small spacer that holds it securely at the top and yet allows for the rope light to be unobstructed.

Oh, and I picked up a Darbee Darblet too. Put it in-line with my system and while I won't post a full review, my results are mixed. I am not seeing the massive improvement to total picture quality that some others are, but definately an improvement in detail. Might be because my JVC does so well with blacks and has a great contrast ratio already. Other people report not only increased clarity, but also a "veil of gray" being "lifted" from the image. I don't see much gray "veil" or "film", so not much to "lift" I guess.

Oooooh.... Ken's gonna want it if veils of any kind are being lifted....

It is an ugly little box and remote though.

Cool. Can you play Simon with that remote?
Also, if every device comes with a chocolate dollar, I'm in!

I'm a little late to this party, but I just wanted to say I love your room, looks like a labor of love. I've also been thinking about getting that Darbee as well. I JUST got a new Panasonic 60GT50 this past Monday. The picture is great, but I hear the Darbee greatly improves the PQ of 720 sat content. I'm on the waiting list for one from the AVS store.

I have a Darbee, my set is a LG LE8500 (full array, local dimming) I have also done a full calibration. My picture was already pretty awesome with my HTPC, I am using the best playback software, decoders and renderer available (to my knowledge) also I strictly use ripped Blurays (1080p/720p) with no compression.

The Darbee has made an improvement, the picture is noticeably sharper. I like it and it has become a permanent part of my home theater.

Hey Murph, it would be more of a "chocolate quarter". It is pretty small.

Vassillios, the core room is done and working great, it is the "wow factor" stuff that is taking the back seat to life in general. Things like the color changing LED rope light needs to go up in the yet to be installed crown molding. And I need to rework and install my fiber optic star ceiling panel. Every version of the theater that I've had has had some sort of "star ceiling" and thus was dubbed the "Starlight Theatre". I need to get a new, more modern looking sign to reflect that once it goes up.

However, things are now on hold for the crown molding.

The story, as I tell it, is that my wife went hunting 2 nights ago. She was hunting for deer... with the car.... She got one!

So I need to resolve some issues with the car to make it driveable while waiting on the body shop to fit it in to their schedule. So tomorrow will be a little bit of "body work" to get the driver door to open (they are replacing the front quarter panel, so I am good to do whatever to that), and the wheel bearing is shot. It was on its last legs and the guy said that it probably won't get covered due to it having some pre-existing issues. Then I am traveling next week. Harrison, NY and Denver, CO woohoo!

Boltron, I am still playing around with the Darbee. I think that I am going to buck the general consesnus for *most* people and try using Gaming mode instead of HD. It is amazing the clarity of the image though, so maybe I was just OVER-expecting greatness. I will say this, when watching something for about 2 minutes with the Darbee turned on, when you turn it off, you swear that someone messed with the focus or something. Crazy to think that without the Darbee, the "amazing" image I had before was that "fuzzy". LOL

PS. For someone wondering what the Darbee does, here are some screenshot examples.

You need to Mouse-Over them to get the alternate screen with the Darbee effect "on." In the examples, the GREEN #s are for the "HD" setting and the RED #s are for "Full Pop" mode.

Remember this is meant to bring clarity to the imageand reduce the "fuzziness." Imagine these kinds of adjustments on a 138" screen. It should be a big improvement, and is. I was just expecting even more.

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/143347
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/143348
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/143349
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/143350
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/143351
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/143352

I agree, we need to things into perspective, it does definitely improve sharpness but some people go completely overboard with their comments though.

To me however, the improvement in sharpness with well worth the cost. I have spent an enormous amount of time and effort (and quite a bit of money) to get the best possible playback quality. This just makes it a bit better and every bit counts.