Easy. I only have two sources: A DVD player and a Bluray player. Each uses toslink optical to the receiver, and component video to the receiver. Then from the receiver to the projector there's one long component cable.

The receiver I have understands Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby ProLogic and DTS Neo 6. Enough for my needs.

The curtain is about to close on my current receiver.. I will soon need HDMI because the MPAA cowed the manufacturers into taking hi-rez component video out of the picture. Any new sources I buy / build will likley lack component out. Thank you MPAA for forcing an unwanted upgrade. The Panasonic XR-55 I use is a freakish thing possesed of a most sweet sound. The encouraging thing is that anything made in the last 10 or so years will sound just as good.. it's not like the dark ages of the 70's 80's and 90;s.. back then you wanted good sound, you used tubes. After the invention of the digital "amp," great sound is within everyone's reach.

You just need the speakers to let all that good sound out... and that's where the horns come in.

Problem with this is, most people I know won't make the commitment that it takes to make a nice home cinema. Not a fancy one -- just a technically accomplished one.

What does it take?

0. Absolute light control. No windows, no shutters, no blinds, no light.
1. Black ceiling and front wall
2. Dark-ish side and back walls -- the room should have as little light reflection as possible.
3. A fixed screen of half the height of viewing distance, placed high up coupled with chairs with a good deal of gangsta lean. (so if you sit 8-9 ft away from the screen, the screen should be 4 ft tall, which works to about 7 ft wide. This is what I have.)
4. 3 IDENTICAL channels up front -- not two big "mains" and a ridiculously tiny "center." You need three of the same speaker up front
5. Surrounds identical to the front (or at least from the same family)
6. Properly calibrate all that mess.
7. Shelving to store physical media and display figures, models, whatever.
8. Lighting with a remote dimmer to light all those toys and things -- narrow spots, for the most part. That means low-voltage MR16 heads, and that means more $ and more commitment.
Still think the avg. homeowner can do all that?

I did, It took me 3 months of after-work labor just to paint and wire and carpet. All my audio gear is 10+ years old, some of it sourced from Craigslist. None of it is what people would cal hi-end. But it all works, and I can throw a better picture than a badly-ran theater. I'm particularly proud of my audio, which uses horn speakers, letting me get outrageous fidelity and almost unlimited headroom. Bring on the ka-boom. .

But none of my friends will do it, none of my coworkers will. All they want is a stupid TV with speakers haphazardly strewn about. To them that's good enough. And I bet you 90% of people think the same way.

It takes commitment and a certain degree of crazy to make a proper home cinema.

Muvico.

Cinemark.

Regal (some)

And now I will call one out by name, because it is especially deserving of shame: Frank' Theaters, you have to go. You're a grindhouse. All your theaters are grindhouses. Shrivel and die already. Mountains of dust on the aperture plate. Head-to-tail scratches on the print. I saw an employee go from one room to another with an entire print draped like a bandolier, without clamps. Good thing digital has rendered the incompetent projectionist obsolete (and sadly put many a good projectionist out of biz.)

Don't have any decent ones around you? Get in your car, catch a bus, whatever -- and go to a decent moviehouse.

I drive 20 miles to go to Muvico. And I do it without complaint.

If wound daily, my daily wear watch (handwind only, no auto) takes 8 turns to wind. Less than 20 seconds.

My other watch is automatic, it winds itself. If I have to wind it due to not wearing it, like, during the weekend, then I hand-wind it about 10 turns.. again less than 20 seconds.

I never understood humanity's aversion to winding a watch. it's a no-brainer, something that is second-nature and takes very little time. Even if one has a battery of 5 watches, winding all of them in the morning takes less than two minutes.

After a constant barrage of post-wikileaks / snowden sensationalist coverage, I think The Public has been conditioned to outrage at any hint of Gov't maleficence.

Then again, the good old USA has developed instant outrage over anything, over everything, ever since Facetwit came into being.

In any case, the Gov't earned it. Bad Gov't, BAD! *THWACK*

So in short, all of Creation was created by P-Funk, and documented in The Mothership Connection?

Now *that* I can groove to!

Adiane: "Are you humans that stupid?"

Yoko: "Unfortunately... yes, yes we are."

Attenborough: "Who cares! Fire!

Our fine species, in a nutshell.

You're the only other person I've heard of that does this. I would like to think it's more widespread than I think -- but I fear it isn't widespread at all.

People look at me weird when I tell them that I do this.

I've had two "love taps" from behind, one by a tailgater in dense traffic, one by a lady putting on makeup while driving.

Then I got rear-ended by some punk teen in his hopped-up Tacoma with a big tacky add-on tach, gauges on the a-pillar, etc. That impact lifted the rear of my Miata and twisted her lengthwise. Instant kill. I was ok, the car died protecting me. It was a fun 10 years that I had that car, and I still miss her.

So now, whenever I stop at a light or stopsign, or when in traffic which is slowing down, I keep an eye on the rear view mirror. If I see an approaching car and I think they're not stopping -- or if I actually *see* them working the phone, I flash my brakelights and honk the horn lots. Saved me already once, for-sure. Guy looks up and the nose went down, he was hard on the brakes. Then he looks up, as if saying "What?!"

Forget our petty differences, reconcile with the irreconcilable, forgive the unforgivable, relish the memories, and then throw the most epic party in the history of our planet as one united people planet-wide.

Go out with a raised glass of whatever beverage you prefer in one hand and a joint in the other!

It's sad, it's ridiculously two-faced, but the sad truth is in the USA people in cars / trucks kill cyclists quite often -- and seldom are charged. Even rarer is for an alleged "motorist" to get jail time for it.

I'd hate to be the guy a) pitching this operation at the change control meeting, and b) the guy signing off on this change.

Global Thermonuclear War.

I'll even face the brilliant flash of light and light my last cigar with it. *FOOM!*

"One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, TWELVE BLADES!"

Immediately followed by "Mixture on, SWITCH ON!"

*pop*pop*poketa*poketa*rrrrumbleprrrrrrrrrrr*

Cisco got fr1st post!