How to Build a Home Theater System (5.1 surround, BenQ HT3550)

[@davidalanmedia]

Awesome walkthrough. Thanks for the video. I have the same projector as you but haven’t purchased a permanent screen yet.

[@Bootstrappin]

@@davidalanmedia thank you. It's a great projector, was quite happy with it while I had it. It eventually developed a dead pixel, but BenQ fixed it all under warranty, no charge. Good company.

[@ironicstatement]

*Chefs kiss* another great instructional video

[@mrkrasker9609]

Very nice installation. You are correct about heavy gauge HDMI cable. If you are only going a few feet cheap HDMI cable is fine. If you are going to have a long run you must use large gauge low loss cable. The other point about long runs of HDMI cable is not to make any hard bends or kinks in the cable. Kinks and hard bends can cause signal loss. This is the same for RG6 coax. Another issue is running audio and video cable parallel to AC wiring. Doing this can cause 60 cycle AC hum to be induced into video and audio lines.

[@Bootstrappin]

For me the HDMI cable business was a thought I had after the fact, but luckily there were no problems. I hadn't thought about the AC induction problem over audio, but you're exactly right. I got lucky but shielded cable would've been the right choice here.

[@mrkrasker9609]

I am a retired broadcast engineer, all the things that can go wrong flood into my head, (it's a bit of a curse) when it comes to video and audio installations. It's always best to do an assessment of where all AC power is running. As long as you are not running AV lines parallel to AC lines for any long lengths you are good for most installations. You did a nice job, your cat friend seems to approve.

[@SerbanCMusca-ut8ny]

The cat seems happy with the result, it's all that matters. ;) Thanks for making clearer the whole process and 5.1 thing! Take care.

[@Bootstrappin]

That's right, he was getting ready to attack the birds on that nature show and that made me nervous because I had visions of little kitty claws making papier-mâché out of my fancy screen.

[@SerbanCMusca-ut8ny]

@@Bootstrappin True, that cute bugger is gonna fduck that screen of yours some day. Gotta put some kind of mittens on his front paws at least before letting him into that room in your basement. This, may I suggest, would make for a good vidjayo. Not sure though how it would sit with animal (h)ac(k)tivists.

[@senthilalagersamy8639]

Hi, Good explanation, i am new to home theatre set up. one question my home is prewired , say example wall speaker i m planning to mount the wire, i can take from outlet they already provided , my question is how receiver have the same wire to connect ,whether another wire need to sent out to receiver or how it connect, can you explain in diagram thanks

[@deamian65]

Hey I find myself in the miraculous situation of an unfinished basement, and a Handyman who's traveling to stay a week ata time to finish it lol. I'm thinking 10ft wide by 14 ft long for the room? I'm trying to use BenQ online planner to some extent and that looks ok..But im a little worried that front seating will be too close to a 120" setup. Any input would be amazing thank you. And thanks for the shopping list!

[@Bootstrappin]

So that depends which direction you're planning on projecting in. Are you projecting on the 14 ft wall, or the 10 ft wall? If it's on to the 10 ft wall, it'll be fine, as the minimum throw distance is 9' 10" (max 12' 10") to get a 120" image for the HT3550. If however you want to project on to the 14 ft wall, I think that'll be cutting it really close, and probably won't be able to compensate to 120" screen with zoom. My room is about 17 ft by 12 ft or so if I recall correctly. I'm projecting on the 17 ft wall on to a 120" screen, and my couch is jutted forward so I'm sitting about 9 ft away from the screen, and it is a perfect size. Not too overwhelming.

[@deamian65]

@@Bootstrappin awesome If you don't mind I may pick your brain a few more times. Cool thing is unfinished I can run cables up out if site, choose outlets etc! I think we can go with a 11' wide by 17' long for 2 rows of seats, or maybe wider for isle room, mini fridge 😄

[@Bootstrappin]

@@deamian65 it's a great situation to have, never fun to route cables in a finished space! That said, make sure to buy thick gauge HDMI cables for long runs. And avoid running them parallel with AC lines, or they can induce noise/signal degradation.

[@nikcarter7341]

Question I have the same projector I used my HDMI cable to my receiver the same way you did and not getting a picture? Is there settings in your receiver that you needed to do?

[@Bootstrappin]

There are various things to check here, could even be a combination, I'll just rattle some things off the top of my head: 1) check to make sure your A/V receiver is set to the correct channel from which it is receiving video signal from 2) I do think the projector did have ability to select from multiple HDMI inputs as well so yes that's also worth checking 3) ensure your HDMI cable isn't faulty or undersized for the length you ran it for. You must have a thick gauge HDMI that allows for a 4k signal to travel. The longer the cable, the higher the resistance, the more loss on the signal. So for example, a 1080p rated cable will probably give you no signal if you're running 4k through it. And a final thought is just to go through a process of elimination. Use a known working HDMI with, say, a laptop and plug directly into your projector.

[@colnathan5501]

Good job, thanks for sharing. 👍

[@mauriciojurado4981]

Thank you for this tutorial

[@Bootstrappin]

You're welcome!

[@whitecollarworkshop]

Hoping you or someone who sees this can help out....Just had the HT3550 installed. The A/V guy was surprised that this unit does not have horizontal keystone. I see this is a pretty popular projector and seems to have gotten great reviews. Can you tell me how one would adjust the horizontal keystone or some type of workaround? Thanks in advance.

[@Tonyfix]

Looks so much better than that Wemax/ForMovie junk :) Well done!

[@Bootstrappin]

Thanks man! And it's cheaper too!

[@impb6606]

is the transmitter sold separately?

[@Bootstrappin]

Sorry been a while since I filmed this. By transmitter, do you mean the wireless transmitter for the subwoofer? If so, no - it's included.

[@992291]

what’s the subwoofer wireless transmitter?

[@Bootstrappin]

It doesn't say. But it behaves an awful lot like Bluetooth, you have to pair the woofer with the transmitter.

[@gamegamegameful]

Why not connect Roku to PJ. Any issues if we do it in this way?

[@Bootstrappin]

It'll work, but without sound going into your sound system. I think sound will only come out of the built in speaker on the projector.

[@keepitshema]

So if we connect Roku stick to AVR, do we need to plug projector into ARC hdmi in avr as we have then sound only through avr and picture could go through regular hdmi from avr? I am wondering if I can connect projector to normal hdmi in avr and tv in the arc hdmi in avr(I have 2 hdmi output on the avr, one normal and 1 arc)-this way I wouldn’t have to swap the hdmi cables in the avr every time I’d like to watch movie on the projector. I had this problem with xgimi horizon projector-it only shows a pictures once connected to arc hdmi port in the avr…or I did something wrong. Thanks

[@vincentgomez319]

Hi...What is the viewing distance from screen to projector/ seating? I have a 14 ft/14ft room. Wondering if an 120 inch screen too close for viewing distance?.

[@Bootstrappin]

For me, about 12 feet, maybe slightly less. I used this website for a bit of reference: www.projectorscreen.com/projector-screen-calculators

[@kojihigashino3780]

Hi , I have same ht 3550 and trying to connect to Bose sound bar 300 it has HDMI ARC and ht 3550 has just HDMI ,please tell me how do I connect that ??

[@Bootstrappin]

You can connect to hdmi arc directly I'm pretty sure, but that sound bar is the only thing that'll be producing sound. If you want more speakers in the future, you'll need a receiver.

[@kojihigashino3780]

@@Bootstrappin Thank you very much ! I will try it. Hopefully it will work.

[@kojihigashino3780]

I use this ht 3550 projector connect with Apple TV . When I watch movie from Amazon prime , ht3550 can go full screen but when trying to watch from KZbin it screen size becomes much smaller like 1/6 and this start happen after I changed to new Apple TV 4K wasn’t like that before. Would you advice me how to fix it ? Thank you very much.

[@Marcel_Audubon]

Tomorrow's Amazon Prime Day ... I'm gonna get up at 4am to see if I can score a deal on one of those 10:49 roll down projectors you recommend! sounds like amazing technology even if I can't quite visualize it!! 😆

[@Bootstrappin]

Ayy lmao, that's honestly a pretty sick idea for a Freudian slip, just imagine? No need to fuss with a projector, it just kinda unfurls and is perfect from the start. Soon!

[@HiFiMods]

Great tutorial! ;) ... i'm considering buying my first projector and seem to be drawn to this BenQ HT3550 that you installed, could you comment on the fan noise level it makes, especially as it's mounted above the seating area? I heard it a little when you got up close to it in the video, but I'm not sure if it's very noticeable 5 feet below when watching a movie... Thx! :) The cat was funny at the end!

[@abhisheksethi3411]

I sit right next to it when watching movies, never had a problem!

[@Bootstrappin]

It's mounted about 3-4 feet from my head, and I don't notice anything. It's very quiet!

[@Chuniekun]

Is the benQ better image quality than the Wemax?

[@Bootstrappin]

In fairness I never managed to setup the wemax 100% properly, but from what I did see I couldn't really tell the difference.

[@SK-qu4wo]

The kitty cat seems to like the lion video 🐱

[@ThePhrygianFingers]

Wow! Looks nice!

[@localeyesvideoproduction6586]

Thanks for making this video! Love the setup. Does your AV remote control everything, minus the Roku? Looking at installing a similar setup (Klipsh speakers, denon receiver, benq projector, and fire stick) and was wondering if there was a way to control everything with one remote?

[@Bootstrappin]

Wonderful question, you could probably buy a universal remote, but as it stands I have 4 remotes to deal with, which is unfortunate. Let me know if you find something that works!

[@localeyesvideoproduction6586]

@@Bootstrappin Thanks! Going to look into the Logitech - Harmony 665. Will let you know how it goes!

[@YoungCIG]

Not related to the video right now but, just saw your review on the Coway AP-1512HH Air Purifier and loved how you actually reviewed and cleaned it up. Definitely hooked me up to buy one and it’s coming in 3 days! I had to like m subscribe after forsure. Thank you man! Last thing is are you still using the same purifier and how has it been?

[@Bootstrappin]

Thank you. Yeah still using it, now going strong on year 5 or 6. Bought a second one recently. Still no complaints really, with the exception of two: I wish you could remove the grate to clean the fan, and gotta be careful removing the face plate - a magnet there has a tendency to fall out; if not there, machine won't turn on.

[@bierbrauer11]

Looking sharp!

[@Bootstrappin]

Thank you!

[@vincentgomez319]

Awesome. Subbed!!

[@StarkillerRadio]

Audio Return Channel. ARC

[@natetechr]

Subwoofer location does matter...

[@Bootstrappin]

You're probably right, I may have just gotten lucky with it "feeling right" being behind me.

[@kman9387]

👍👌🤘👏

[@RaveSoulDancer]

Butt pounding action 😂 what excatly are you watching? 😅

[@Bootstrappin]

😳

[@oldschoolbluesplayer5319]

$1600 and NO FILTER???

[@Bootstrappin]

Doesn't need one I guess, seems like a pro rather than a con