Home Theater? Where to put the cable box?

[John Weber]

Sorry for the stupid question, but I just added a Motorola DVR-HD cable box to my stack (Receiver, DVD, Tape, & CD Changer). The problem is I'm not sure where to put it. The best place seems to be between the DVD and Tape Deck, as neither generates a lot of heat. On top of the TV is out, and the lower shelf with the VCRs, it just doesn't fit very well. The problem is I'm not sure how much heat the cable box generates, the cover is well ventilated, making me think it's a heavy heat generator, so will sandwiched between the DVD and Tape Deck cause a problem? (the instructions say not to put anything on top of it) I rent it, so I guess if it fires, they would replace it? Thanks for any thoughts.

John

P.S. I upgraded my digital cable a bit and added the network HD TV channels, my TV will only support S-Video and the receiver optical audio from the cable box, but audio and video were killer, the last week of the games looked great - I'm really looking forward to college football this year...

[Rich Konopka]

John:


The DVR is a basically a PC because it has a hard drive, graphics card, and most likely Linux OS. The unit will need to be kept cool or as you said it will burn up. If you have a whole series of New Yankee Workshop recorded, Soprano's, or your favorite cartoon they will be lost when it burns up.

I have had my Tivo for 2 years and I love it, absolutely love it. I just went through hours of the Olympics and half of it was commercials which were skipped over.

Enjoy it, once you have it there is no going back !!

[Hal Flynt]

That box generates a lot of heat. I am building a cabinet and currently plan to put the DVR above the Receiver (another heat source) since the DVR is shorter and then actively cool them with a fan.

[Chris Padilla]

http://www.middleatlantic.com/rackac/cooling/cooling.htm (http://www.middleatlantic.com/rackac/cooling/cooling.htm)

http://www.atechfabrication.com/HTPC_accessories.htm#80mm_x_15mm_Axial_Fan (http://www.atechfabrication.com/HTPC_accessories.htm#80mm_x_15mm_Axial_Fan)

Some quiet fans to consider. Mine are a tad noisy even though I wired them up to run much slower. Quiet points in movies and you can hear them otherwise, you can't.

[Jim Becker]

I put ours on top of the LCD TV "receiver" with a couple blocks of wood to raise it up a little for more air flow. Our HD cable box doesn't have the DVR setup (I can't justify the extra money they want for the little we watch TV) so it will not generate quite as much heat, but it still do get warm!

Make sure your next TV/display supports component video...it's even better than S-video. (I compared the two when we got our Sharp Aquos earlier this year) But as you've found out, the optical audio connection is "killer", especially on the HDTV concerts that are in 5.1 surround!

[John Weber]

Thanks guys, my free standing stack is basically a lower section with storage and 2 VCR's, the upper shelf starting at the bottom supports the CD Changer/Tape Deck/DVD Player and Receiver. The cable box will fit between the Tape Deck and DVD player, but it makes the stack almost as high as the TV, has the already mentioned heat issue, and is silver when everything else is blackish. I ended up sticking it in the TV cabinet under the center speaker (but on its own shelf). It works fine, but I need to redo my homemade speaker grill that was "the door" for the cabinet shelves (or just leave it open).

Rich,

I recorded my first show: "Wood Works" of course, I'm not too worried about loosing stuff, and it is cool. I need some more time to play.


Hal,

I would be worried about my receiver with a DVR on top, the receiver can really generate a lot of heat and if it gets hot can pump distortion into your speakers and fry them. Separate shelves are best with ample room and air flow above each component. I'm not that worried about the DVR as it belongs to the cable company and as long as I don't abuse it, they will replace it should it fail. Replacing the receiver and/or speakers, however, would come out of my budget.


Jim,

I don't watch much either, but to get component/s-video/optical audio in a cable box, you had to upgrade. A basic second box is $4, the standard box is $8, and the HD/DVR box is $13 with 5 HD channels and DVR. So not too bad. I'm hoping my TV still has some life left. I bought it back when I worked at Philips, it's an early 31" with the best chassis we ever made, I also had my buddies fine tune the set up so the picture is still killer. Its 14 years old, so I hope it can go another 6 years.

I'm also trying to figure out all the surround sound stuff. We bought Finding Nemo and it is AWESOME, both the sound and video. It decodes and can play in matrix 6.1, other newer movies sound very good as well in standard 5.1, but older movies just don't have the separate channels for the great home theater experience, from an audio perspective.

Finally as one thing leads to another we are looking for some leather furniture for our "new/old" home theater. Any ideas?

Thanks again for your thoughts and ideas - John

[Hal Flynt]

John,

I probably wasn't clear when I said I was putting the cable box on top of the receiver. The receiver is on a full 18"x18" shelf and the cable box is on an 18"x 12" shelf about 2.5" above the top of the receiver. The fan is at the top /rear of the cabinet pulling the warm air from the receiver vents and the cable box together. The total clearance from the top of the receiver to the top of the cabinet is over 6.5" for the rear 6" of the receiver. Cool air enters from the front of both items.

I too am more concerned about my equipment than the cable co's. I have an option to put the cable box behind the crown moulding on top of the whole cabinet if it creates too much of a heat problem.

[Jim Becker]

I don't watch much either, but to get component/s-video/optical audio in a cable box, you had to upgrade. A basic second box is $4, the standard box is $8, and the HD/DVR box is $13 with 5 HD channels and DVR.
I have the HD CATV Digital box...without the DVR. It's an extra ten bucks with Comcast per month for the DVR function and Dr. SWMBO and I decided not to take it right now. Even our $31 cable bill with the HD/Digtial box is "pushing things" for our use!! (No premium channels...and we still get approximately 150 channels, including about 8-9 or so HD channels and growing)