Oh yes, we all know the fervor of the day you decide to get started building a home theater setup.  Especially if you want to build a really sweet one.  You crave nothing so much as to get started, because deep in the back of your mind, all you can think is: “Sooner started, sooner done”.

But for Steve Caesare, that temptation was one he fought down, because his home theater projected lasted an awe-inspiring three years.  And that’s why we call it the three year home theater.

What went into this, besides a lot of time and, naturally, cash?  Good question–let’s get you an answer.  This home theater setup includes a  Da-Lite one hundred thirty three inch screen, a Pioneer receiver, JBL speakers, Samsung Blu-ray player, and a Sony projector.

Between three years of careful handcrafting, research, and consideration of the perfect product for every available slot, well, it’s clear enough that this is one sweet home theater setup.

Now HERE is an awesome idea, folks–Tom Hetzel, who lives in a townhouse in Cleveland, has neighbors surrounding him in pretty close quarters.

So how’d he beat that?  What he did was he built a room…in his basement.  The “room within a room” concept provides a little extra dead air insulation so that he can have his sweet home theater setup and not bother the neighbors.  He even showed the neighbors the construction process and how the various additions would be largely unnoticeable.

How sweet is this setup, you ask?  Sweet like candy, I’ll tell you that much.  He’s got Acoustic Research speakers, a ninety two inch Draper screen, a Pioneer receiver, a Samsung DVD player and a Sanyo projector.  The Acoustic Research 910s he’s got, for example have two twelve inch woofers, and one liquid cooled titanium tweeter.  They weigh a whopping one hundred forty seven pounds each.

Considering that the neighbors actually approve of this monster setup, you know it’s got to be pretty sweet to pump out that kind of force yet not wake the neighbors…or even the kids.

In his home theater, that is.  And for Adam Feldman, doctor by day and home theater buff by night, he’s got good reason to stay in–plenty of them.

It took him about six months and forty grand to put together this home theater in his formerly unfinished basement, so when you factor in all the construction costs, he didn’t really shell out a lot of cash.  Finishing a basement costs pretty substantial amounts of cash, so that accounts for a LOT of it.  But what did he get for the rest of it?

He’s got a whole flotilla of B&W speakers in there, as well as a Sharp projector, a Stewart filmscreen, a Pioneer Elite receiver and plenty of acoustically transparent wall fabric to help keep the sound in check.

The doctor pulled off one doozy of an operation, and transplanted a sweet home theater setup whole and breathing in his formerly unfinished basement.

There’s a whole lot of people out there who crave the “drive in movie experience” of yore.  But Kevin Van wanted it so badly that he built one.  In his backyard.

He bought his first projector for inside the house, and it got him to thinking, why can’t I use this projector outdoors?   But that wasn’t the end of his quest to remake the drive in, no…only the beginning.   Get this–the guy went so far to restore the “drive in movie experience” that he bought and restored nine vintage drive in speakers, paying a hundred and ten bucks for the lot on eBay.

He put a concession area on his screened-in porch to keep the bugs out, and included a commercial-grade popcorn popper, a hot dog steamer, a nacho chip and cheese warmer and even a chili warmer.  He even built his own screen.

But he’s also got a bit of the twenty-first century hooked in as well–a Sharp projector, a Sony Prologic receiver, Pioneer amps (the vintage speakers on eBay?  Pioneers all.) plus some Bose and MTX speakers too.  Speakers are a big part of outdoor theater.

The sheer devotion to the medium definitely earns the appellation of sweet home theater setup, and hopefully, the heartburn from the chili will be mistaken for the warming love of home theater.

Steve Mize is a man who feels much the same way I do about the movies.  Growing up, we both regarded them the same way, as a special treat.  See, we didn’t have Netflix back when I was a kid.  We didn’t have hundreds of cable channels.  We had some, yeah, but not that many. Cartoon Network was still a gleam in Ted Turner’s eye.  One of my earliest movie memories is my father packing me in his old pickup truck and the two of us driving a town over to catch Robocop 2 at the local small movie house while my mother was at bingo.  Needless to say, I went to bed late that night, and it was fantastic.

Steve Mize brought this same kind of emotion into his home theater setup.  He built his theater around a ticket stand, concession area (I love theaters that remember the concession stand) and a “walk of fame” featuring stars of the past, like Hepburn and Bacall.

But it’s not all about the nostalgia, no sir.  There’s also some prime hardware in here too, like a JVC projector, Pioneer blu-ray player, Screen Research hundred and ten inch screen, and the ability to play almost every format ever released.  He’s got an HD DVD and a VCR in there, as well as a straight Denon DVD.

Steve Mize’s home theater setup brings the best of the past and present together, and must therefore always be called sweet.

Morris Saad’s home theater setup contains all manner of choice components, but it also does one thing really, really well, and that’s illustrate the value of modular function.

See, Morris has been working on his dream home theater setup for a lot of years.  Tech has come and tech has gone, and Morris kept up with the changes in gear, constantly swapping out old and busted for new hotness with virtually every opportunity.

He’s got a ticket booth, a concession stand (I LOVE it when home theater buffs add a concession stand. It really shows maximum dedication to the home theater concept when you go that far to replicate it at home), a bar and a game room, but that’s not all he’s got.  As for components, he’s got a Stewart filmscreen, speakers from Definitive Tech, an Epson home projector and a Pioneer receiver and DVD player.

So next time you get ready to set up a home theater, spare a thought for Morris Saad’s setup, and remember why his buddies always called him the “upgrade king”.

Vincent Bova’s home theater was something of a labor of love born out of tragedy.  He began analyzing the whole affair, trying to figure out what to do about it and how to set it up so that it would work out.  He made some calls and made some designs, but then, he got a problem he wasn’t planning for.

Vincent Bova had been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

He left his Wall Street job (when you’ve got a brain tumor?  That’s probably for the best.) and put most everything else on hold trying to get the problem fixed.  But to keep himself sane and from focusing everything on the cancer, he focused on home theater gear.  He called it “therapy”.

And his focus ended up creating an incredible home theater–a JVC 1080p projector, Paradigm speakers, a Marantz receiver, a Velodyne subwoofer, a Pioneer Blu-ray player, and more.

It’s an absolutely beautiful theater–and in case you were wondering about the tumor, he had an operation that turned out successfully, and as a result of all these he now works with two companies as well as having started his own, Total Control Remotes. But one thing’s clear:  he’s got one sweet home theater setup.  Here’s to you, Vincent, and your sweet setup.

A bit out of date, I know, but it’s doubly fun because not only is this a sweet home theater setup, it’s also a sweet home theater setup concocted, in its entirety, by a guy who worked at Best Buy.

Maybe you’re wondering–and rightly so–how a guy who works at Best Buy could ever possibly afford a sweet home theater setup. This guy actually works in their research and development division, so he’s naturally better paid than all the blue shirts out there.  Sorry guys.

So he waded in to make a home theater setup that was part proving ground and part fun family gathering place.  He put in a slew of M&K speakers and receiver gear, a Stewart Firehawk one hundred six inch screen, a Sony four hundred DVD changer, and even a couple of strange components like a Toshiba HD DVD player and a Pioneer laserdisc.

Even looking at the picture is enough to make just about anybody wish they worked for Best Buy R&D, because even if you (used to) work for Circuit City, you’re still probably calling that a sweet home theater setup.

Whoa.

Okay, guys, brace yourselves.  You may not be familiar with this right now, but Pioneer recently announced that they’re no longer making their flagship plasma TV model, the Kuro.  The Kuro is not only regarded as the best plasma TV that Pioneer makes, it’s also often regarded as the best plasma TV ANYBODY makes.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if the best piece on the market suddenly decides to bug out, that’s a sign to me.  That’s a sign that they want to get out of the market.  You’ve got name recognition.  You’ve got actual industry acclaim.  You’ve got a halo effect running over half your gear, so why do you exit the market by pulling the driver out of it?

See, plasma TV is great.  But it costs quite a bit more than LCD, and between LED and OLED, plasma may not be able to hold its own.  This is a HIGHLY debatable topic, but if plasma can’t compete in price, and it can’t compete in quality, then there may be nowhere left for it but to leave the market.

Pioneer unveils another first with the launch of their Pioneer HTP-SB300 sound bar speaker system. The new sound bar system was unveiled at the CEDIA 2009 just recently which is intended for on-wall installation that should properly distribute the audio playback within a given area or setting. The Pioneer HTP-SB300 is a 3.1 channel system boasting of a 250 watt power and comes with dual center channel speakers, a wireless subwoofer and interface options that include HDMI and A/V output. The wireless system also supports most formats such as DTS, Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD. The Pioneer HTP-SB300 is scheduled to be released in the Winter of 2009.

(Source) Pioneer

Admittedly, this by itself is a sweet home theater setup, but what switches this over into a full-on themed setup is just one thing, and you can see it in that picture.  Just in case you can’t, it’s the huge life-sized model of the Silver Surfer done in fiberglass and plastic up on the wall there.  It’s truly amazing what you can find on eBay, isn’t it?

The first interesting thing of note with this setup is that it’s green.  It’s VERY green.  Bamboo flooring in the main room, rubber floor in the control and equipment rooms, a control board table made out of recycled sunflower seeds–the works.

But this is just the beginning of the awesome–this home theater also includes a home recording studio space for the owner’s band to practice in.  Plus a wide array of home theater gear like a Pioneer PDP-507CMX plasma display, a Denon DVD player with Sony four hundred disc carousel, and enough speakers to choke a hog.

Considering the sheer variety of options available here–home theater, home recording studio, home everything–and the awesome little extra touch of the Silver Surfer watching over the proceedings, this is unquestionably a sweet home theater setup.

If you have a home theater chances are you heavily rely on a Blu-ray burner on a daily basis, be it backing up movies or taking a less legal route. Whatever the case Blu-ray burners have become a staple in the lives of theater nuts everywhere.

Currently, there are only 8x Blu-ray burners on the market which aren’t incredibly slow but they aren’t lightning fast either. Today, Pioneer has come forth to announce that they are ready to launch the world’s first 12x Blu-ray burner called the BDR-205 this October for $250.

Press release after the break.

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Pioneer has today announced that they will be launching an ultra-lightweight, ultra-slim portable DVD burner for use with netbooks and notebooks.

As you can see from the above picture, it bares resemblance to a CD jewel case more than it does to a DVD burner but that’s the point; it’s ultra portable. Spec wise this thing will read/write DVD-Rs at 8x and CD-R/CD-RW at 24x.

This particular DVD burner will go on sale next month for a MSRP of $79.99. Now we’ll just have to wait a while longer before Pioneer releases a Blu-ray burner in this form factor.

Panasonic is the next company to follow the lead of most companies like Pioneer in unveiling new HD recorders in light of the growing trend of full HD in TV broadcasting. For their part, Panasonic unveils three new recorders:

• DMR-BS850 Blu-ray Disc Recorder
• DMR-BS750 Blu-ray Disc Recorder
• DMR-XS350 High-Definition Recorder / DVD Recorder

The added feature that these new recorders bring is the Freesat compatibility which allows users to record high quality digital satellite broadcasts as they deem necessary. In terms of audio, the new DMR-BS850 and BS750 support the superior surround sound of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-Master Audio Essential on Blu-ray DiscTM media.

The new recorders also support Panasonic’s VIERA CAST Internet function, so users can easily access Internet content such as YouTube and Picasa Web Albums and view it on a large-screen TV. With these three new recorders, people can worry less about recording their favorite programs, particularly the ones who don’t want to sacrifice playback quality.

(Source) Press

Recently Pioneer rolled-out its latest VSA-LX52 7.1ch AV Amplifier. The amp supports many popular formats including WMA, MP3, Dolby NR TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio and the list goes on! The Pioneer VSA-LX52 delivers jitter free PQLS multi-surround 190W sound and Linear PMC multichannel audio via HDMI.

The Amplifier can be connected to your iPod for ultimate media playback through its new Digital DAC. When connected to a TV, the Pioneer’s Advanced MCACC allows you to control your iPod without touching it

It’s only been a few days since Pioneer took the cover off of their three BD-Live touting Blu-ray players and already we have another announcement concerning the same players.

Pioneer says that the BDP-120, 320 and LX52 (now known as the BDP-23FD) are coming to the United States sooner than later. The three players will run you $299, $399 and $599, respectively.

These players are virtually the same as the ones announced for the European market except the BDP-23FD will be branded with “Elite” as shown in the above video.

Read (EngadgetHD)

Pioneer has recently come forth and introduced us to 3 new Blu-ray players set to launch in the UK this month and next: the high-end BDP-LX42, mid-range BDP-320, and entry level BDP-120.

All 3 players will feature BD-Live support along with full 1080p, DTS HD Master Audio Essential and Dolby TrueHD. However, the BDP-120 will come bundled with a 2GB flash drive for use with its USB port and the BDP-320 and BDP-LX52 will both come with built-in memory.

The higher end 320 and LX52 will have the ability to connect to the Internet (presumably via an ethernet port) to download the latest firmware along with sync up with Pioneer’s KURO LINK auto set-up video adjust system.

The BDP-320 is set to drop in the UK this month for £399.99 while the LX52 and and 120 will drop in July for £549.99 and £269.99 respectively. No word on if or when we will see these things drop stateside.

Read (Pocket-lint)

Panasonic brands their TC P46G10 Flat Panel TV as the model to compete against Pioneer’s Elite Kuro PRO-111FD which carries the bragging rights of being the best flat panel HDTV ever.

The Panasonic G10 series is the new king. No, it’s not as good overall as the soon-to-be-extinct Kuro Elite, but it comes closer than ever in the arena of black-level performance, and mounts a good fight in just about every other field of picture quality, with the exception of some color accuracy issues.

Panasonic steeped the G10 in extra features compared with its less-expensive brethren, adding a THX mode that’s largely responsible for its excellent picture, along with VieraCast for access to a limited range of Internet extras.

The downside, as always, is that it costs significantly more than lower-end models, but if you’re looking for the best picture quality in a post-Kuro world, the Panasonic TC-PG10 series is the safest bet so far this year.

The 2009 Panasonic TC-PG10 series is available in four screen sizes. We performed a hands-on evaluation of the 46-inch model, the TC-P46G10 ($1,699 street price), but our remarks on picture quality also apply to at least two other models in the series, the 42-inch TC-P42G10 ($1,299) and the 50-inch TC-P50G10 ($1,999)–all three share identical specifications except screen size.

The largest model in the series, the TC-P54G10, also shares similar specifications, but the screen size difference is great enough to warrant another hands-on evaluation when that model becomes available.

(Source) CNet

We all know that Pioneer is shutting down its Plasma TV production which was announced last February. But if you happen to see some Kuro Plasma TVs in the markets, you can be assured that this is the last batch you will see.

The company will roll out two 50-inch Kuro TVs (RP-500A and KRP-500M) and two 60-inch models (KRP-600A and KRP-600M, which is pictured above) starting April 1. But the 2,500 50-inch models and another 500 60-inch TVs will be the last Kuro products.

Pioneer says they will take care of after service in Japan until 2017 (details about other markets aren’t available at this point). After establishing the high-quality Kuro brand in September 2007, the company managed to sell 300,000 Kuro plasma TVs in Japan and 2.8 million units worldwide.

(Source) Crunchgear

We all know that plasma TVs are slowly shying away from the market but if money talks, would you pass up the opportunity to have one? Especially for people who are getting their first hi-tech TV set, the Panasonic Viera TC-P42S1 Plasma could possibly satisfy their cravings.

The Panasonic Viera TC-P42S1 consumes a good bit less energy than previous PDPs, and it also sported black levels that “nearly rival” Pioneer’s heralded KURO. Other praises include excellent shadow detail, solid color saturation and a decent array of ports. The only real knocks were the less-than-accurate primary colors / color temperature and the skimpy picture controls, but as we mentioned, these aren’t likely to matter to the non-enthusiast.

Overall, critics found that this here set struck a great balance between price and performance, but we’d still recommend putting your eyes on one before pulling the trigger.

(Source) Endgadget HD