DIY Home Theatre for under $200 dollars

We are planning a party with a bunch of kids and adults. While adults enjoying their drinks and conversations in the living room - kids need to be entertained in the basement. How? Bring TV down to the basement?.. hire an entertainer?

There is a better way - Big Screen Movies! DIY Home Theatre.

You would need a projector, screen itself, unless you already have unobstructed white wall to project to and some way to push video signal to the projector.

So, here is my setup...
Screen:

In my basement walls are not exactly white and with support columns here and there I do need a screen. 66x110 inch white blackout cloth. $39.95 . 66x110 it's like 130 inch diagonal screen. That's like adult human height screen!!!

Projector

Yes, you can buy projector for under hundred bucks! It might not be perfect for your next business presentation, but for kids watching cartoons - more than enough. I got mine for $89.99. It has build - in speakers that might be good enough for couple of kids, but if you hosting a big group you better get external speakers. I dusted off my old computer speakers - worked just fine.

And finally - Chromecast . That little dongle sticking out of the projector is the Google Chromecast. Currently retails for $31.59. No wires, plug it directly to HDMI slot of the projector, USB slot for power, select Netflix or [add your favourite online media provider here] movie from your phone, click the cast button and off you go!

Do the math - little over $160 dollars gives you remote controlled home theatre and bunch of happy kids and parents. Want to save few bucks - use white wall instead of projector and DVD player or your laptop as a signal source.

DIY Beer Can TV Antenna - How To Improve Antenna Signal

I've been playing with my Beer Can TV Antenna for a while and upgraded my TV to full featured 1080i HDTV model since original post in 2008.

Read orifinal post on Beer Can TV Antenna for details - but in few words - beer can antenna is made of two beer can halfes, connected to TV cable. One half to inner core of the cable and another to the outer sheilding.

There are two simple improvements that would boost your diy antenna signal receprion:
- Reflector
- Location, Location, Location

As for location - if direction is right (beer can halfes are perpendicular to TV tower) the rest is - the higher - the better

Reflector - just an arbitrary piece of metal, placed right besides the antenna (3-5 inches). If you have indoor antenna - you can try to put sheet of aluminum foil there. The important thing is to avoid electrical contact between a reflector and antenna. Do not use any metal to hold them together. In a picture below I'm using cardboard to separate antenna and reflector, and antenna is mounted on a stair's rail.


Foil is good for Proof Of Concept excersize, just to convince yourself that with reflector receprion is better than without one. You may go for something more robust like dish drainer from the dollar store.

Depending on the type of the dish drainer you may use it as is, or assemble final reflector from two draines, by connecting them (with guess what - beer cans and ductape!!!) so they form about 30 degrees angle.

Place beer can antenna inside the reflector, 3-5 inches from reflecctor, affix it together using some non-metal material as a base (card board, plastic bottle, plastic cookie box in my case.

Hang it as high as possible and enjoy your improved free OTA HDTV.


From Newmarket Ontario I was able to get 5 HDTV channels with antenna without reflector and up to 14 with one, equipped with dish-drainer reflector and hanged right below the roof.

Warning: youy should never place antenna outdoors without proper surge protection due to hazards, associated with lightning.

No HULU in Canada? No problem!

Hulu.com - the internet superhit of last year, delivering tonns of TV programming on-demand online to your PC is not avaliable in Canada. Not yet. The official version is there is legal paperwork to be done in order to "clear" the content for distribution in Canada.



Anyway - whatever real reason is - no hulu for canadians as of january 2009.

However - you still can whatch a lot of your favorite TV shows on your computer here in Canada. Legally. Yes, there are couple of tricks you can play to full hulu.com so it would think you are whatching it in US, services like surfthechannel.com - we are not discussing these here. All below is 100% clear TV content available over internet in Canada.

What hulu can't or not willing to do - Canadian TV broadcasters can and willing to. Publishing full episodes of TV shows online. CTV, CBC, Global - they all are making their shows avaliable to watch over internet.

CBC
- The Border
- Little Mosque On The Prairie
- Sophie
- Coronation street
See all the shows avaliable online at CBC Television website Each show has it's owm site with videos to watch.

CTV
CTV Video page if you'll figure out the navigation part - tonns of shows are there including South Park, Corner Gas, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, Desperate Housewives, ER, Grey's Anatomy and much more. Best content, but tricky UI.

Global
Global Full Episodes Page Features House, 24 and few others like Family Guy and Prison Break... Though, for some show it may display just "episodes coming soon". The only nasty think about Global's online videos - there is no way to get them to real full-screen. You have two options "small window" and "larger window". No full-screen...

City TV
No joy there. Just couple of episodes of Ugly Betty and Priveledged As of January 2010 CityTV Video site went through major upgrade and now features tons of shows, including 30 Rock, Mercy, Cougar Town, Murdoch Mysteries, Trauma, Supernanny and others.

And don't forget about Antenna. You can whatch all of these broadcasters for free over the air. Super-Bowl weekend is here. Sunday February 1st, 6:20 PM ET. CTV would broadcast game in Canada, NBC in US. All you need to get it for free - DIY TV Antenna.

Update: Sep 11, 2009 - For Kids
TVO KIds hosts full versions of Arthur, Little Princess, Miss BG, Mighty Machines and many other shows here...

TreehouseTV finally get some rather limited set of full episodes online here....

Update: Feb 15th 2009 E! Video Page has few shows like Knight Rider, Secret Millionaire, Deal Or No Deal, 5th Grader and some more. A Channel hosts Last and Private Practice (also available at CTV)

Update: Dec 1st 2009 Rogers Just launched RogersOnDemand.com - promising video-on-demand project, but for Rogers' subscribers only.

Update: Jan. 19, 2010 Major update on CityTV website.

Update: Nov. 18, 2010 ShowCase.ca video site features video od series like Weeds, Trailer Park Boys, Rent a Goalie ant others.

HD-TV Antenna. Free HD-TV - $34.99

Tonight I walked down College street near Spadina and came across hardware store, advertising "Free HD-TV". Obviously selling TV antennas for $35. Store owner also made The Smart Thing indeed posted list of HDTV channels you can receive in Toronto on this antenna.

Not sure if his list is accurate, but here is what the guy advertised:

CityTV - channel 57

OMNI1 - channel 47

Global - channel 41

CBC - channel 5

SunTV - channel 52

CTV - channel 9

PBS - channel 17

Hmm... there is surely CBC in French there which is not listed here.

The last one (PBS) is US channel from Buffalo, NY. Not sure why only one US channel made this list. If you'll make an effort you probably can get 15-20 HDTV channels from US from Toronto. The challenge would be an antenna orientation since direction to CN Tower and to Buffalo antennas may not be the same if you live east or west of downtown Toronto.

Earlier this year blogger inne posted in LiveJournal Toronto community list of HDTV stations she can receive from Toronto:

4.1 WIVB HD (CBS)
5.1 CBLT HD (CBC)
7.1 WKBW HD (ABC)
7.2 WNGS SD (RTN 11)
7.3 WCSN SD (WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SPORTS NETWORK)
9.1 CFTO HD (CTV)
23.1 WNLO HD (CW 23 BUFFALO)
25.1 CBLFT HD (CBC FR)
29.1 WUTV HD (FOX)
29.2 WUTV SD (FOX)
36.1 CTS HD
43.1 WNED HD
43.2 WNED SD
43.3 WNED TH
43.4 WNED TH
49.1 WNYO HD ("MY TV" BUFFALO)(previously affiliated with WB)
49.2 WNYO SD ("MY TV" BUFFALO)
57.1 CITY TV HD
66.1 CKXT HD (SUN TV)

Anyway - you may spend $35 for "HD-TV Antenna" or make TV antenna from a beer can - the free signal is out there, go, grab it!

How to build TV antenna from a beer can. DIY, free TV

You can receive bunch of TV channels for free over the air (OTA). Including HDTV (High Defenition TV or Digital TV - DTV). All you need is some kind of antenna.

The simplest kind of TV antenna you can imagine is an unfolded paperclip stuck right into tv antenna socket

With paperclip antenna, depending on the location of your house and your TV in the house, (close to the window, facing TV tower is the best) you may get couple of channels in moderate quality or at least convince yourself that there is something in the air.

Paperclip, while being technically an antenna is not the best antenna for your TV. There are at least two reasons: first - paperclip dimensions and geometry are not the best for the frequencies used to broadcast OTA TV (UHF/VHF). Second – TV itself is a source of interference (as well as computer or microwave oven) and having “antenna” right next to the TV is not a good idea. Never place your antenna on top of TV or anywhere near it.

OTA or Over the Air should not be confused with FTA or Free-To-Air television. FTA is a satellite signal one can also receive for free, but you'll need satellite receiver and satellite dish antenna - equipment way more sophisticated than just a paperclip or beer can. Unlike FTA, OTA is receiving a free signal from a local TV tower, not the satellite. We are talking good old OTA here.

So, now let’s build a real antenna from a beer can. Drink do it yourself project

All you’ll need is an empty beer can (I would recommend to start with full one and finish it as a first step), piece of cable and something to put and hold the whole thing in place. I’m using some Ikea furniture and painter’s tape.

While paperclip has not, beer can apparently have a right geometry for a dipole antenna. Long story short – simple dipole antenna consists of two metal rods, each ¼ of the wavelength for a channel you are about to receive. 0.5 liter aluminum can of Mooshead beer is 16 centimeters (6.3 inches) tall and is a perfect match for TV channel 15. It is still capable of receiving all the other channels, but in theory the farther you go from channel 15 the weaker the reception would be. In practice – it all depends on how strong the signal for particular station is. I got the best quality on channel 9 (CityTV) just because it has a strongest signal, while my beer antenna is not designed with this channel in mind.

Start with cutting your beer can in half, then affix these halves with a tape/staples/nails to “the base” (Ikea chair in my case).
Now you have to connect the cable to an antenna. You may just strip-off one side of the cable separating inner copper wire from outside “screening” wires , connect inside copper wire to the one half of the can and outside screening wires to another half. Alternatevely you can use "matching transformer" which you can buy in Radio Shack or other radio outlet for less than five dollars.

Connect your antenna to TV and find a right spot and direction. Antenna should be perpendicular to the direction to TV tower. . The key is to place antenna as high as possible. I’m just putting the chair on top of the table. . http://www.antennaweb.org in US would help you to figure out location of TV towers and channel lists for your area.


Run Auto Channel Search on your TV (make sure Antenna is on for a signal type) and see what channels you’ll be able to pick up

Now open up another can of beer and enjoy your truly free TV.

I live in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, which is 27 miles (43 kilometers) north from Toronto’s CN Tower and 80 miles (130 kilometers) from Buffalo, NY. With my beer can antenna I can get 5 HDTV channels, about 15 analog channels in decent quality, including one or two channels from US, depending on the weather and time of the day.

With this Beer Can antenna, mounted with the tape right to the Window I got 5 HDTV/Digital channels:


Now – word of warning and disclaimer:

You probably heard that outdoor antenna works way better than indoor one. This is true. Elevated high enough, decent outdoor antenna would potentially give you better quality and variety of channels. Beer can antenna is not ready for outdoor use. Any outdoor antenna should be equipped with surge protector. Without one you are at risk of damaging your TV or even putting whole house on fire in case lighting would strike an antenna. Putting the beer can antenna at the attic should be no risk at all.

There are whole bunch of commercially avaliable antennas out there, including Jensen, Terk, Zenith and others, with and without amplifier. There is a good chance that some of them would be way better than this Beer Can Antenna. But if they are not - please let me know!

I’m not associated in any way with Mooshead, Ikea or RCA. They just happened to be the beer I drink furniture I use and TV I watch.

See also: How to improve TV antenna reception with reflector - illustrated guide on how to improve beer can tv/hdtv antenna reception with simple reflector made from tinfoil or dish drainer.