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Home Theater Paint/Furniture Make-Over

You can see a little dip or seam in the middle of each panel which is why they were deemed "defective". They have a slight crease but are otherwise intact and mounted pretty flush and it's very hard to see in person especially when the lights are down for movie watching.
 
Hot Monkey said:
Good eyes yes they are. I grabbed a few extra shelves to space them tighter then stock for DVDs and CDs.
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I have 8 full size, 1 half width and 2 half height Billy bookcases in my house. Most of them have glass doors because we mix books with fragile curios and we have cats. I'm a big fan.
 
Haywood said:
I have 8 full size, 1 half width and 2 half height Billy bookcases in my house. Most of them have glass doors because we mix books with fragile curios and we have cats. I'm a big fan.
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Nice. I picked up three full size with extra shelves to deal with the overflow from my two DVD closets which are lined floor to ceiling with shelves on each of the three closet walls. Might add a half width or two if collection grows much more. But like most people my disc acquisitions have slowed down as I do more streaming. I will still seek out a blue ray copy of favorite titles because the playback quality is so much better... and I do have that collectors bug that I will probably never fully get over.
 
Hot Monkey said:
Nice. I picked up three full size with extra shelves to deal with the overflow from my two DVD closets which are lined floor to ceiling with shelves on each of the three closet walls. Might add a half width or two if collection grows much more. But like most people my disc acquisitions have slowed down as I do more streaming. I will still seek out a blue ray copy of favorite titles because the playback quality is so much better... and I do have that collectors bug that I will probably never fully get over.
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I shifted almost all my purchases to Vudu around 2014 and am sitting at a bit over 1400 on Vudu and around 700 on disc. I only upgrade favorite movies that get watched a lot over time to UHD and only when they are on sale. I'm guessing I'm at around 100 including upgrades and purchases for 4K.
 
Haywood said:
I shifted almost all my purchases to Vudu around 2014 and am sitting at a bit over 1400 on Vudu and around 700 on disc. I only upgrade favorite movies that get watched a lot over time to UHD and only when they are on sale. I'm guessing I'm at around 100 including upgrades and purchases for 4K.
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At some point I will figure out a better streaming platform. Right now I use an XBOX One with Netflix, Amazon, ESPN+ and a few other services I have tried out. Some streaming content looks better than others. But all seem to suffer from occasional to excessive noise, blocking and poor black level detail when compared to a BluRay (or even regular DVD) on my trusty 60" 1080p Panasonic plasma. It's a relic by current standards but still can and does look amazing with the right source material. I know it's not 4K but the image quality is as good as I have seen otherwise. That's why I have been reluctant to upgrade it. For the screen size and viewing distance it still looks great. I have seen plenty of impressive higher resolution displays. But nothing that looks as natural, smooth and artifact free.
 
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Hot Monkey said:
At some point I will figure out a better streaming platform. Right now I use an XBOX One with Netflix, Amazon, ESPN+ and a few other services I have tried out. Some streaming content looks better than others. But all seem to suffer from occasional to excessive noise, blocking and poor black level detail when compared to a BluRay (or even regular DVD) on my trusty 60" 1080p Panasonic plasma. It's a relic by current standards but still can and does look amazing with the right source material. I know it's not 4K but the image quality is as good as I have seen otherwise. That's why I have been reluctant to upgrade it. For the screen size and viewing distance it still looks great. I have seen plenty of impressive higher resolution displays. But nothing that looks as natural, smooth and artifact free.
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Love my VT60!
 
Hot Monkey said:
At some point I will figure out a better streaming platform. Right now I use an XBOX One with Netflix, Amazon, ESPN+ and a few other services I have tried out. Some streaming content looks better than others. But all seem to suffer from occasional to excessive noise, blocking and poor black level detail when compared to a BluRay (or even regular DVD) on my trusty 60" 1080p Panasonic plasma. It's a relic by current standards but still can and does look amazing with the right source material. I know it's not 4K but the image quality is as good as I have seen otherwise. That's why I have been reluctant to upgrade it. For the screen size and viewing distance it still looks great. I have seen plenty of impressive higher resolution displays. But nothing that looks as natural, smooth and artifact free.
Click to expand...

My experience with Vudu is that the maximum bitrate is high enough if you have sufficient bandwidth to take full advantage of it that visible artifacts are rare on MOST content. There can be a lack of black level detail with some material in HD, but that goes away entirely with 4K HDR material. If I were to lay it out in percentages, I would say Vudu gets you about 90% there with HD material compared with disc.

If it is not quite as good, why did I got that route? Cost. Being able to get an HD copy of a movie I already owned on DVD for $2.50 was hard to say no to. That was also around the time the secondary market for Ultraviolet movie codes popped up. I was able to buy new release movies in HD for $6-8, which was also hard to say no to. That allowed me to buy a LOT of movies at affordable prices. I would estimate that 1000 titles in my library are either disc-to-digital or after market redemption codes. I stopped doing codes because some of the studios changed their terms of service and I did not want to risk losing my account. The fact that 4K codes were only marginally cheaper anyway made that decision very easy.
 
Haywood said:
My experience with Vudu is that the maximum bitrate is high enough if you have sufficient bandwidth to take full advantage of it that visible artifacts are rare on MOST content. There can be a lack of black level detail with some material in HD, but that goes away entirely with 4K HDR material. If I were to lay it out in percentages, I would say Vudu gets you about 90% there with HD material compared with disc.

If it is not quite as good, why did I got that route? Cost. Being able to get an HD copy of a movie I already owned on DVD for $2.50 was hard to say no to. That was also around the time the secondary market for Ultraviolet movie codes popped up. I was able to buy new release movies in HD for $6-8, which was also hard to say no to. That allowed me to buy a LOT of movies at affordable prices. I would estimate that 1000 titles in my library are either disc-to-digital or after market redemption codes. I stopped doing codes because some of the studios changed their terms of service and I did not want to risk losing my account. The fact that 4K codes were only marginally cheaper anyway made that decision very easy.
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Cool thanks that's helpful intel. I will hit you up with some questions when the time comes to update my streaming situation.
 
Actual update... seating capacity has improved from three to four (humans). I swapped the far right chair for the loveseat from the same manufacturer/series so it all matches nicely and (barely) fits. Girlfriend has been joining for movie nights so the seating needs (and company) have improved greatly. No offense to previous company.

:)

IMG_20210812_183012744.jpg
 
The little wedge tables got shoved back a little to make room for the wider seating. But they are still functional for drinks, snacks, lights, etc. We use trays for snacks anyway most of the time.
 
Still dealing with impending move and my home theater has been packed away in storage for months. Been watching movies mostly at my girlfriend's place using this entry model Yamaha powered soundbar. It's a far cry from my home theater but it doesn't sound half bad and really does sound a hundred times better then the horrible built in TV speakers. I have a new appreciation for things like this. I bought a second one for my temporary TV rig at home at least now I can hear intelligible dialogue for UFC, baseball, occasional movies. If anyone needs a simple affordable sound enhancement for a 2nd or 3rd TV in a smallish room around the house outside of actual home theater I think this one is decent. Still very much looking forward to unpacking and setting up my real rig again once I get relocated and settled. It's especially heartbreaking with live music footage, bigger action movies, etc. I got spoiled I guess. On the upside I do find myself going out to the movies more often for big screen hits. If COVID didn't happen I would probably go more often.

Onwards.
 
I went a similar route when I purchased our 85” Sony since my HT equipment (what’s remaining of it) is stored in the basement. I added a Sony Atmos Soundbar & Sub. Its a better experience than nothing at all.
 
Batman said:
I went a similar route when I purchased our 85” Sony since my HT equipment (what’s remaining of it) is stored in the basement. I added a Sony Atmos Soundbar & Sub. Its a better experience than nothing at all.
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It's amazing how awful most TV speakers are. Not just poor but truly unlistenable. Literally gives me a headache trying to hear dialogue.
 
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