Building the Ultimate Home entertainment System

Do you want to own your own home entertainment system, with an LCD projector, 100"+ screen and PVR (Personal Video Recorder), but think its too expensive? If you're willing to construct it yourself, I can point you to some resources that will help you build this equipment and save you thousands of dollars.

In the articles below you will find almost everything you need to know, to build your own low-cost home entertainment system with a video projector, screen, cables, and DVR.

Building the Projector:
To make the projector, check out the following site (Lumenlab). Here is a brief except from the site: "You can build an HDTV projector that rivals units costing many thousands of dollars! Our free builder guide will get you started and our user forums will give you the critical support you need. Imagine a 120" HDTV screen in your living room. You can use it for Power Point presentations, video games (PlayStation 2, Xbox), DVD movies, HDTV and more. Building it yourself means you control the quality and the cost. I should warn you though - this can become a very addictive hobby."

Building the Screen:
To make the screen check out the following article (Make a 100" Screen for under $100). Here is a brief except from the article: "As the price of entry level home theater projectors drops below $1,000, the price of professional quality projection screens has become increasingly objectionable for new home theater enthusiasts. Nobody who spends $1,000 for a projector is interested in spending another $500 to $1,500 for a screen. You can always use a white wall, but there is no frame, and walls usually have texture that shows up in the image. Not only that but the color of the white paint on the wall is rarely conducive to giving you good color balance."

Building the Cables:
This is a article and video podcast on how to make high quality A/V cables. Here is an except from the article: "Say goodbye to the bank-breaking audio/video cables at your local electronics superstore. Save your money and build out your home theater DIY style. With a total running time of 45 minutes, Kevin and Dan talk to a broadcast engineer to demonstrate how to make your own high end A/V cables for a fraction of the cost and a 'monster' savings."

Building the DVR:
This is a article and video podcast on how to make a MythTV system. Here is an except from the article, "Tired of shelling out hard earned cash to download the program listings of your DVR? Want to backup your videos but don't want to deal with the hassle of DRMed files? Kevin Rose & Dan Huard show you everything you need to know about the free and open source PVR alternative, MythTV."

You don't have a use MythTV for your PVR, there are several other alternatives out there such as Windows Media Center, and other software. There are also several other pre-built solutions that are available at most local electronics stores.

Running Wires
This is an article on how to make some basic cables and run them behind walls for new home entertainment system.