Stuart’s A/V install project–Part 4

Hello welcome back to part 4 of my AV install project. As of today my system is mainly all installed tested and working. I have no Internet connection in our new house until the 15th of June which is a bit of a pain as I cannot re-program my Harmony remote controls until then, also another problem I have and I don’t understand why this is a limitation of Media Center on the XBOX 360? Is that I cannot play AVI files in My Movies, it comes up with an XBOX dashboard message saying I need to download a media codec to play the file. I’ve obviously already downloaded this and its just not working because I am not signed in to XBOX Live. Seems stupid to me. I am however able to play DVD rips in VIDEO_TS folders via My Movies with its in-built transcoder however.

I still need to buy a Linksys DMA extender for the kids bedroom and some Denon speakers to match the Denon amp I have for this room. I also have an issue with the Component video wiring in the living room, I get ghosted text in the XBOX UI. I don’t have this problem with the XBOX upstairs on Component so something is not quite right. Also I am not happy with the TV bracket for the kids small 19” Samsung TV and I might change it for another type. Other than that everything has gone well and worked out exactly as I’d planned.

Master Bedroom

I used the exact same wall mount bracket as downstairs. I have to say for the money about 37 pounds these are really good brackets and I am very happy with them.

Below you can see the AV wall plates in the master bedroom. The speaker one is a little close to the power socket but I had to squeeze it in between that and the channel in the wall to the left of it.

I was a little worried about the HDMI wall plates they were cheap ones from Farnell CPC and had no mention of HDMI 1.4. I put in the walls HDMI 1.4 cables also bought cheaply from CPC. I’ve now tested the HDMI wall plates and they all work with my XBOX 360 OK. I might have a problem in the future if I introduce HDMI 1.4 kit like a 3D TV etc but as I have no new equipment that will actually use HDMI 1.4 its not a problem currently.

There is 1x HDMI, 1X Composite, 1X Component, 1X TV RCA Audio Out, 1X iPod Dock RCA. The speaker binding posts – the left pair are for the two bedroom ceiling speakers and the right pair of binding posts will be for the single stereo speaker in the bathroom. You can also see a pair of network points and an old NTL cable socket. The ceiling speakers are better than I said in the last post, now I have the correct amp installed in the bedroom they sound much better and quite bassy if you want them.

AV cables exiting the brushed faceplate, I used that plastic cable tidy stuff to keep all the cables neatly together. Two more network points behind the TV for future use and one double power socket.

I had to solder on every single RCA connector which was allot of connectors overall. Not too difficult and I was even using a dodgy old soldering iron with a broken tip.

Here you can see the AV connectors which I labelled up so I don’t get them mixed up.

Back of the TV which is a 37” Samsung LCD.

TV flush to the wall, I wanted the TV mounted in the corner out of the way, as on this wall the door in to the bedroom is just to the right of this picture.

TV pulled out away from the wall.

XBOX 360 hooked up for the first time.

I’m yet to put in our chest of drawers which will sit under the TV and I will have the XBOX and amp sat on top, not sure if the wife will be happy about that, her gear will have to go in the bathroom, how’s that for WAF.

Cambridge Audio Azur 350A and XBOX 360 slim.

The Cambridge Audio Azur 350A is a lovely entry level amp but I should have bought an older Azur 540A. The 350A has a remote control but it has no standby mode so you cannot turn the amp on and off with the remote which is a major draw back. I will have to use one of those Inteli-Plugs I wrote about previously.

In the picture above you can see the two RCA cables from the wall, the back of these connect to another RCA wall plate at the opposite side of the room where my iPod dock sits next to the bed.

XBOX 360 4GB Slim, I put in the hard drive out of my old white XBOX which died so I have much more than 4GB storage now.

Video Games sound amazing via the ceiling speakers!

This is the opposite side of the bedroom to the amp, where my iPod dock will sit on the bedside table. That adapter plug thing you can see is a Z-Wave HomePro lamp module so I can control the bedside lamps via mControl and my iPod touch and also in the Media Center UI.

I’m using my trusty old Logitech Harmony 555 universal remote for this room.

In part 5 - I have some newer pictures of the living room, today I wired up the 5.1 surround sound speakers which sound great, the neighbours are gonna love me! I also have some pictures of the children’s bedroom and their TV install, see you then.