Home Theater Customer Showroom

View of ceiling mounted Panasonic PT-AE900U.

Media center for gaming consoles and other AV components.

Projected scene from Kill Bill: Volume 1.

XBox cut scene from Tomb Raider.

Projectored view of XBox dashboard interface.

Joey Shipley
Panasonic PT-AE900U owner since May 2006

"Just wanted to share with everyone how much ProjectorPeople helped me out. I didn't have a lot of room and some what of a small budget. I needed a projector that was going to make me feel like I wasn't in my apartment, but rather in front of the silver screen, take care of my gaming needs and still be able to run my PC on it when I felt inclined to do so. So after a bit of reading on ProjectorPeople and question asking I came to the decision of purchasing the Panasonic PT-AE900U. This projector is amazing with movies and PC source, and does a great job with the games. The detail level in the game shadows were a little tough at first, but after setting up a special memory setting for the projector I was able to play my darker games.

Here is the run down on my home theater:

• Panasonic PT-AE900U
• Peerless Universal Ceiling Mount
• Monster Cable Home Theatre® UPS 500
• DIY Screen (120-inch)
• Yamaha Receiver w/5.1 Speaker setup
• ADS HDUP-1500 HDTV UpConverter
• XBox 360
• XBox (x2)
• Playstation 2
• GameCube
• RangeMax 240 Wireless Router
• Gaming chairs (x2)

So by now you can probably tell I'm a little geeky when it comes to my games. Until they come up with better cables for the games I am using component connections for the 360 and the older XBox. I use the 360 for my movies and most of my gaming experience. Currently I have the 360 and the Panasonic setup to display 720p. Everything else runs through my ADS UpConverter, which allows me to run Analog, S-Video and Component in, and then Component out to the projector. Also another reason I went with this is for gaming night, I run the two older XBoxes through the ADS and then with a variety of PIP options, I split the projector into two screens with an XBox displaying to each separately. From there we system-link any game we can, mostly Halo 2 and Steel Battalion. So that allows for up to 8 players on the big screen, then we use two 25-inch TV's when ever we have more than that. Now the only problem is, I need a bigger room for people sit in.

With the move from wired to wireless controllers I was able to put the entertainment rack behind the seating area next to where the projector is mounted, reducing the costs on the cables considerably. Also keeping in the theme of shorter less obvious cabling, I placed the router near the gaming machines and connect the PC's wirelessly elsewhere.

As for the screen goes: I constructed a wood frame with a V brace support design, over the top of that I stapled a multi-purpose non-glossy vinyl material. Having absolutely no carpentry skills I feel I did fairly well. I ended up with a hanging screen with a 120-inch diagonal. I hung it roughly 2.5 feet in front of my sliding glass door, so that we could still walk around it and get to the patio.

For the finishing touches, I will need to deal with the wires and purchase a universal remote to replace the many device remotes.

So my recent home theater purchase (projector, mount, cables, screen, power, upconverter and sound) was under $3,500 and Panasonic was kind enough to give me a $300 blockbuster card! : )

Please note: Images portrayed in the photography of this home theater are the property of their respective copyright holders.

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