Which brand is Best and why

[GSwaim]

After fixing things for the last six months my Royale is fixed! Well, as fixed as they ever get. In any event, I've now started down the renovation and upgrade road. With the New Cooktop in place for the wife (see our website for details - http://swaimquest.com/OurBus.aspx I have a green light to upgrade and renovate the entire bus entertainment system. I've done some extensive research in all brands of HDTVs but I want to tap into some of the groups experience with the equipment I've choose for this project.

HDTV - 32" Samsung UN32C6500 Internet ready, 1080p, LED backite HDTV. This is the thinest and brightest model with all the nells and whistles I could find. At just under $1000 per Unit it seems to be a good choice. Anyone had any bad experiences with this model? I know it's not 3D but I'm not all that crazy about that technology.

BLURAY - Since Samsung liek other manufacturers, has a back control channel in the HDMI that allows optimum resolution amongst their equipment I choose a Samsung BD C5500 1080p Bluray. Anyone had troubles with this unit. It's not 3D or internet capable but I don't need either of these features.

SURROUND - Bose Lifestyle V series (30 or 35) in Livingroom, 321's in Bedroom and Patio. These three units connected with Boselink will allow all units to share media server and Tank monitoring system diplays at all HDTV location. I like the bose sound and the way bose link networks the entire bus as one system. Any problems with bose in bus?

MEDIA SERVER - this is a real dillemma, to MAC ro Not to MAC? :confused: Apple has introduced the Mini Mac server with unlimited cloent licensing. With it's 1 terabyte storage, small form factor and instant networking as well as the incorporated airport N wireless access point it seems like a shoe in. The only problem is I'm not as familiar with MAC as I am with microsoft. THE HP EX 495 media server has the same abilities less the incorporated wifi router and it's harder to network with apple devices (Ipod, pad, Macs, etc). Both will end up costing about the same the main difference is the operating system. Anyone have an argument for one over the other?

INTERNET SYSTEM - with any system in this area at my becon call I have narrowed it down to AutoNet Mobiles cellular router. I have used this device for several months with excellent bandwidth and ease of use. Has anyone got a sollution with better bandwidth and ease of use that a cellular router with incorporated wireless access point with Verizon EVDO rev A service? With Rev B (G4) around the corner this unit will have to change but that technology hasn't been released yet. Sprint's Motorola canopy EVO propaganda is just sales pitch as far as I'm concerned. the sprint device is not all that strong during my tests and nobody can answer if Motorala canopy is going to be the G4 standard. In my opinion it will be bested by LTE technology. Anyhow, I want a commercial grade cellular router that will reach out and get a good stong high-speed signal and hold it while traveling down the road. My autonet does that. anyone seen anything better?

[ajducote]

Gary,

I can comment on 2 things.

MAC or no MAC: I was a windows guys from day 1. I used DOS 1.1 if that gives you any idea how long I used Microsoft products. But, I did not want to upgrade to Vista so I got a MAC Book Pro and I love it. It took very little time to get use to it.

Internet system: I LOVE the Cradle Point routers. I have two, the MBR1000 and MBR900. The 1000 has 2 USB inputs and 1 of the new small form factor Expres Card ports. I like these because you can use whatever data device you want from almost any carrier and get connected. I currently have a Verizon 3G and a Sprint 4G device. To get extra cell range, I use a Wilson amp with an external Wilson trucker antenna and an internal antenna so all our cellular devices can share the amp. It has work very well for us. Plus each data device gives us 5GB a month, and yes we use it almost all if we stay on line all month. To connect to park WiFi I have two routers that I have put DD-WRT software on and then I connect these devices to the WAN port on the Cradle point router. What is good about that is if I loose the WiFi connection it automatically fails back to the data card. Now to be "fair and balanced", it does take some work to get everything connected and working. Getting connected to some WiFi systems can be challenging. But WiFi saves us from using up all our data card limits.

I have used 3gstore to get a lot of this hardware and have beed happy with their support.
http://3gstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=137_418&products_id=765


There are a LOT of choices out there. Good luck!

[GSwaim]

Thanks Andre,

I too have used a cradle point in the past when I had a DataStorm and an Verizon aircard that I wanted to network. Overall I liked the setup but Failover was clunky when I would put the satellite down and want to run down the road with the aircard. I was forever going into the admin to switch it manually.

I'm going to set down with the business manager at the apple store in knoxville when I return. He is very interested in getting the Mac Mini out there as a media server. I certainly like the fact that ipads, ipods and iphones are all plug and play with no setup but wonder how the server administration management is. have you played with the mini mac? I also don't know what Mac software is out there to maike the server act like a DVR, do you?

[ajducote]

Thanks Andre,

. have you played with the mini mac? I also don't know what Mac software is out there to maike the server act like a DVR, do you?

I have never used a Mac Mini, so I can not help you there.

DVR software:
I did a google search on " mac os x dvr
And found this and many others.
http://www.miglia.com/products/video/tvmax/index.html

I would think the Apple store could set you up with information on
http://store.apple.com/us/product/H1832VC/A?fnode=MTY1NDExOA&mco=MTgwMzAxNDM Mac Mini DVR.

Good luck. Hope you get it all installed before POG 9 then you can give a demo!

[Darrell and Linda]

Gary, I just completed installing my Bose Lifestyle 48 in the coach. I have a wave in the bed room connected to the TV. I have routed the Bose link to a future entrainment center outside in the bay area. As to the Lifestyle 48.. Its incredible sound. We chose the lifestyle 48 because we have it in our home. Purchased the sub, wiring, premium jewel speakers and VS-2 from EBay. All I have to do now is take my media center from the house and hook it up and off we go. Another reason we chose the lifestyle was the RF control, everything is hidden behind the front overhead where the old TV was stored. We replaced the old TV with a 36" LCD Toshiba. (I had to reinforce the overhead structure to accommodate the weight of the sub..... it may have not been needed, but I built it just in case.) Besides the surround sound the other attractive feature is the storage capacity of the music.... 300 hours of stored CD. Very happy with our choice, no other way to go.... but as you know.... a little pricey. Undecided what to purchase for the outside entertainment center but it will be a Bose product.

The biggest negative to all this upgrade is that Bose does not sell the medic center, their premium jewel speakers or sub separately. This is why I purchsed the coach sytem on Ebay.

[GSwaim]

Thanks Darrell,
I have the Bose Lifestyle 30 in the bus currently and like it a lot but it's kinda out of date so I want to upgrade and keep the nice Bose sound. I am pondering going with a Samsung's 1000W HT-C6500 theater bluray theater sound system because of the interface to the Samsung LED HDTV's I'm using. Not only can I take advantage or the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) technology, coined "all Share" by Samsung. Basically it optimizes all system configurations to the best resolution as well as audio coding. By using All Samsung I also take advantage of the advanced remote control functions that allow the Flat Panel TV to act as the receiver for the remote and passes all commands to the surround sound and bluray unit behind it. Samsung includes a learning remote that mimics the direcTV remote so all functions of the DVR will be on one remote without hours of programming and troubleshooting The C6500 surround and the 6500 series LED HDTV talk all the same language even when it comes to internet applications like weather, news, youtube and media player using internet connection instead of satellite to bring down all its content. The system also has 1 GB internal memory for media storage and even has a built in wireless (wifi) device so it logs into your wireless network easily and shares all of its content to any computer on the network so seeing pictures, videos and music will be easy as well as going from the bluray to the computers on the network. Since I'm looking at adding a media center server as the center of this network I will have full control of client computers as well as unlimited ability to add network storage for all media. That's all too many feature and function to ignore so I'm sold on keeping it all Samsung. The problem is I don't like the lookes of the samsung speakers.

I've been doing some research on Bose and see they have a solution for this problem. It's called the Bose AcoutaMass 10 series theater speaker set. It takes a Surround encoded signal from any surround sound unit and pipes it through the Bose processing in its acoustamass and jewel speakers. The existing Acoutamass (sub) location of my current Bose system will work and all the wires are in place to the same exact Bose Jewel cube surround speakers. I'm going to leave the existing five jewel speakers in place and just change the sub so it accepts the Samsung 5.1 theater input. Really, the only tough part of this installation is routing the 5 speaker outputs of the Samsung Surround unit above the driver to the Bose Acoustamass under the driver-side couch. Shouldn't be that tough, I think I can use the window valance box and maybe the drivers console to get it from above to the floor.

The bonus to all of this is I can salvage the old bus Bose lifestyle 30 media center and acoustamass and add the five new bose jewel speakers that came with the new system and use it in my home so I get two systems out of the Bose left over equipment. I guess maybe even three systems since I can use the Samsung surround speakers and sub out in the garage with an old indash surround radio I have laying around the shop. Hmmmm, maybe I'll use that old dash surround unit I have in the patio bus bay. should sound good with 600 watts of surround out on the bus patio. Well, lotsa possibilities should be a fun project!

[dmatz]

Gary

I have coach #330 electronics are very similar to you coach from what I can tell. We have also started the project of researching the upgrade. I am very interested in your final decisions. Have you considered and looked at the routing for new cabeling yet? I have always been a fan of Sony but I like the things you are pointing out.

[GSwaim]

I too like sony and have that currently but there are a couple of draw backs in the LED HDTV relm for them. First off they were beaten to the punch as was everyone by Samsung on the raw materials to put together a backlit LED panel. Secondly, Sony has the hotest running electronics in the industry and I don't mean sales numbers. I'm not sure why this is but it is fact. Since I am putting a lot of equipment in a small space even though I'm air conditioning that space both going down the road and parked stationary, I felt the BTU output of Sony componetry was just too high.

Of course there is another issue with any brand versus Samsung, a flat panel backlit LED 1080p tv is only 1 inch thick! You gotta love that when hanging a TV as a door.

[dmatz]

Great facts was not aware of the heat output difference. The 1 inch deal is very big. Look forward to your final decisions and the before and after pics.

[GSwaim]

Doug,

I agree about the 1" thick being a biggy, but the Samsung LED/HDTV has so many more features going for it too. At this point I haven’t seen anything beat the Samsung 6500 series.
Now, I just have to decide on the surround for all three zones.

My bus currently has Bose in the salon and I like Bose except for remote control compatibility. I'm one of those people that believe one remote should be used and it shouldn’t take 5 hours to programming a Harmony brand remote to have the privilege of one remote. With the size of the IR code database the electronic manufacturers have plenty of choices to use existing codes. Bose doesn’t believe in using existing and wants their remotes very proprietary. To solve this, I think I’m going to use Bose for the sound broadcast but leave the TV, surround and Bluray and satellite receiver functions to SamSung. That way my Samsung remote will do everything right out of the box and the Bose will do a great job of broadcasting the surround sound Samsung provides. I’m leaning towards a Bose AcoustaMass 10 in the Salon and a Cinemate GS in the Bedroom. Any thoughts?

[GSwaim]

I’ve been doing some extensive research for the bedroom HDTV sound system. You may recall I was leaning to the Bose Cinemate GS for the bedroom of the bus but was pretty leery of the remote control being compatible. I received a tip to research sound bars.

Has any of you audiophiles used one of these yet? Every manufacturer is making these and I looked closely at Sony and Samsung and like the Samsung for many reasons. Sony had a nice HDMI switching network and a lot of utility as I have become accustom to with Sony but the real news in my opinion is Samsung here. Their HT-BD8200 model not only is a great looking sound bar but it is equipped with a wireless subwoofer for ease of installation and many more features. They have incorporated their micro Bluray player in the middle of the soundbar which is another big plus especially since they kept the sound bar to 1” thick to match their new LED HDTVs. As I’m learning, Samsung seems to be incorporating wireless streaming into everything they're producing these days but they have added auto shutoff, multifunction remote function with their TVs, iPod cradle, USB port, and Bluray able to play DVD (upconverted to 1080p), Divix, as well as almost any media format out there.

Reviews are good to great with the biggest complaint being there is only one Digital audio input. I pondered on this and for a bus bedroom application I can’t see any other device needing amplified seperately. The Bluray is built in and the only other thing I can think of that might need sound might be a video game but once connected to a tv input it too would be broadcasted in 2.1 surround through this system.

I’m one to keep things uniform throughout the entire bus but this unit solves a lot of problems with the Bose remote compatability and adds a space savings bluray and wireless sub to boot.

I would love to hear from anyone in the group that has used one of these.

[flloyd]

As far as media servers go, I'm a big fan of the Sony PS-3 game console. Forget about the games, it's a great Blue-Ray, DVD, CD player, plays most digital files, and can play files stored on your PC. It also has USB and SD Card slots so you can pop the memory card out of your camera and put them right on the TV screen in nothing flat. Most of them have a 60GB hard drive, which isn't all that large, but, it's still a heck of a lot of material. For $300, it's a smoking hot deal. Be sure and get the Bluetooth Remote, which is also very nice.

[GSwaim]

Well, the new Samsung LED HDTV, blueray, surround system as well as the HDTV DirecTV satellite system and wireless cellular router system is going into the Royale this next coming week. I’ve been bench testing the system components for the past two weeks and like the incredible amount of streamed media and information that is provided from the wireless cellular router as well as the more traditional means of content from the blueray, XM, and satellite TV. How nice it will be to simply click on an onscreen icon for everyday items of interest like local weather, news and events. The LED HDTV screens are very pleasant to watch with their crystal clear displays and are very compact and light form factor. The integrated sound system is so nice to operate with the AllShare integration using the HDMI (CEC) technology. Simply said, one remote operates all sources of entertainment with a single button selection and an on-screen display. No more bulky remotes and menus to navigate to see all sources in full 1080p and full Dolby Digital Surround.

Speaking of surround, I’ve decided to use an enhanced & integrated Bose system to deliver the sound in the bus. Although Bose doesn’t fully embrace HDMI, Blueray or friendly remote interfacing, they do have a leg up on speaker sound quality and ease of installation since my Royale came with a Bose lifestyle 30 system. I’m converting the existing Bose system to an AM10 Bose system that will use the same jewel speakers currently in place and take the 5.1 surround signal from the integrated Samsung Blueray/surround system and plumb in through the Bose speaker system. This affords me the capability of high quality sound but still uses the sexy Samsung Allshare integration features as well as a single user friendly remote control and onscreen menu.

I'll be posting more detailed results & reviews on my website for anyone how may be interested. Should be a bit of fun to see this fully integrated internet, DTV, XM, Satellite, and blueray entertainment system in action. feel free to come take a look at the POG rally in Kerrville coming up this year.

[billc]

One thing I can't wait to try in the big rig is our Apple TV. We have bose and my son told me I can hook up my iPhone and my Apple TV to the bose and use it like I do at home. We have access to already recorded movies, tv shows, music, podcasts, family photos and more. I love my apple tv and use it every day.

[Ray Davis]

An Apple TV is a no-brainer, especially if you have a wireless internet in your bus. If you don't, you can pre-load movies etc before bringing the ATV into your vehicle.

If you don't have wireless, but do have a cellular modem for PC, you can use a CradlePoint router to create a wireless system. This is how we setup Ken Z (Bluevost) with ATV in his bus.

ray

[James]

An Apple TV is a no-brainer, especially if you have a wireless internet in your bus.

Ray,

Does your Crestron system work with the Apple TV?

[Ray Davis]

I honestly don't know. I would venture that the crestron could learn the apple remote codes but the apple remote only has about 4 buttons. It would be with a try. You would have the crestron learn the codes and then you have to pair the apple tv with the remote in the atv menu.

I was more concerned about getting content down to the unit so this wasn't something I have tried.

Ray

[GSwaim]

Well folks the new HDTVs are in and working marvelously!

http://swaimquest.com/images/Front%20TV%20complete.JPG
The Samsung LED HDTVs have great picture quality making the SD content even look like HD. They TVs run cool and can be seen from just about any angle with no degrading of the picture quality. I hinged the Flat Panels to access the theater system, Satellite Reicever, and Media center. I like how the Samsung Bluray/theater system seemlessly integrates with the TVs and provides all internet content like weather, music, video and music. The new Bose AM10 rivals the theaters you go pay to watch. I can't wait to get the Mini Mac media server going so that all wireless internet devices can have access as well as share on all the HD Flat planels.
http://swaimquest.com/images/Back%20of%20front%20tv.JPG
I used vinyl covered racks for shelves to make the equipment cabinets breath without fan forced air. So far the cabinets don't get over 100 degrees without airconditioning in the bus. I left room for fans if needed but hoping I won't need then.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

That's so nice, I don't know what else to say.


JIM:)

[johnbrowder]

Gary,
That is a GREAT looking installation in that vintage Royale! Did you do the cabinetry work? Also, what are you using for HD Sat? I assume a MotoSat. Do you also have an in-motion dish? If so, what about switching between the two? Hopefully I will be looking at some of the same options soon. Please advise.

[BoaterAl]

That is a very. very nice looking install. Your back looks as good as your front.
Thanks for the pictures.
AL

[GSwaim]

Thanks all for the comments, I'll post some of the bedroom stuff when I get a moment.

John, I'm currently not using a HD satellite system. I planned to use the MotoSat HD-SL5 system in conjunction with the TracStar SV360 in-motion but I was so satisfied with the picture quality and ease of use from the TracStar, I held off on the Motosat HD system install. Since I made my equipment bays easily accessable behind the TVs I can add a HD system when I'm ready very easily.

As for the cabinetry, I do the design and electronics and leave the cabinetry to a professional woodworker. Dan @ Royale Phoenix did this cabinetry work. He is very methodical and a perfectionist so it came out just as I designed it. I would use him again on any level of cabinetry project.

[GSwaim]

Hi all, as promised, here is some more information on the bedroom Entertainment upgrades -

I used the same Samsung HD LEDTV and HR24 DirecTV DVR in the bedroom as I did in the living room to make the menu features and remote control operation exactly the same throughout the bus. Getting a 32" Samsung HDTV in the bedroom meant changing the cabinet.

http://swaimquest.com/images/P1010837.JPG

This wasn't all that impactive since there was room without disturbing the ergonomics or appearance of the bedroom. It did mean I had to be very particular in my TV choice since the bedroom TV would be at a 30 degree off-angle from the bed which is the viewing area. The Samsung 6500 LED HDTV series doesn't degrade as the viewing angle increases so there was no problem in this area.

http://swaimquest.com/images/P1010836.JPG

Again I used the same installation concept and hinged the TV so that full access to the back area was available. Since there was a little shelf area for the Satellite receiver and such below the TV already I didn't really need the rear access but for wiring access and future upgrades I wanted the rear access. I didn't like seeing the components on this shelf so I created a removable panel to cover the shelf that appears to be a speaker grill.

Behind the TV I also didn't like seeing the hardware or wires so I used a black carpeted panel which is velcro'd up for easy removal. Behind this carpet panel is all the antenna, cable, satellite and audio video wiring. That also made it easy to velcrow the in-motion Tracstar satellite controller to the carpet access panel for easy satellite signal viewing whenever we pull into a tree covered site. It is very nice to be able to get to all the wires that run the entire entertainment system easily anytime I want but not have to look at them anytime I open the back TV cabinet. In the future, I may install a bedroom 321 bose sound system in the available open area behind this TV but the sound from the TV is fine for now for the little bedroom viewing we do.

[Sid Tuls]

Wow Gary when are you comming out to Calif or West Texas you have my vote to replace my front TV. It looks great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!