Close, I'm in Belgium! (What gave me away?) So maybe your advisor would consider the trip. 

I know this is not the ideal setup, but this one is great for screenings. The best option is of course to have a room to cut and a room to screen. But unfortunately, that's not possible. Or maybe easy to rearrange furniture.
But I will think about it. I suppose the setup you suggest is also best with midfield speakers in the front? 

PieterS:

I suppose the setup you suggest is also best with midfield speakers in the front? 

If you place yourself up to 2 mtrs from the front speakers, you should used nearfields. Considering you'll spend more hours cutting/premixing in there than screening, I would set it up for cutting/mixing first, screening second.

So again, put your hot spot 2 mtrs from the L/C/R speakers, place the couch in the back (on a riser or platform), add a drop dow projection screen for screenings, and it would seem like a great dual-purpose setup.

If you go for speakers like the Genelec 1031's (don't know the 80xx equivalent, sorry) or Dynaudio BM15a's (probably the LYD48s too), those should work fine for screenings in such a room. You might even get away with the smaller ones, but since you'll be sitting further away when screening, you'll probably like the extra power the bigger models provide.

There's probably folks like him in Belgium, but 'my guy' here is Roel van Gils from www.klinktbeter.nl, and I highly recommend him.

Thanks a million!

No thanks needed, this is very much fun stuff for me ;)

Job ter Burg:

That said, you may need to be aware of the I/O device you use. My AJA T-TAP sends the 5.1/7.1 out correctly over HDMI, as do the Avid branded boxes as far as I know, but my BlackMagic Mini Monitor does not. It has Center and LFE flipped (as SDI has a different 5.1 channel order than HDMI). Same seemed to apply to any othe BlackMagic Design branded boxes.

Is there a workaround for this problem? Or is getting an AJA T-TAP the best solution?

The T-TAP, or one of the Avid-branded BMD boxes. Or you can use an AJA SDI-toHDMI converter, I know someone who used that to go from BMD to 5.1 HDMI.

Or possibly you could use a MiniDSP NanoAVR HD. That seems to allow custom channel mapping, according to the manual, on page 20. N.B.: Haven't used this box myself, so buyer beware. This box also gives you elaborate Room EQ options. Also allows you to force a 5.1 output signal (might be handy when you use pre-amps that won't handle a 7.1 PCM source over HDMI, like my Denon A7100's).

If you use the T-TAP for audio output, what device do you use for input? 

I have three systems. Main one is a Nitris DX, second system has a T-tap, third uses a Matrox MXO2 Mini. I hardly ever capture anything anymore, but the Nitris DX lets me handle those tasks. 

Hey Pieter & Job

I've been reading your "almost private conversation" with great interest, thanks for all the useful insights. I am editing for broadcast and cinema, all of my programms will be mixed/color graded in dedicated studios, so it is a "offline" workflow here. However, I would like to pre-monitor my edits in 5.1, or/and be able to watch mixed edits here. So no hi-end monitoring needed, rather a low-cost HiFi-SetUp. I am monitoring Video in HD with a HP LP2480zx, planning to invest in a beamer later.

I am about to configure my editing-studio similar as you are suggesting. As I am not able to make one big investment right now, I want to buy the gear step by step. First AV-Receiver, followed by speakers.

To begin, I decided to go with passive speakers, rather HiFi. So I would need an active AV-Receiver like Marantz SR5009, correct?

Currently, I have a Matrox Mini I/O running. Do I understand correctly, that the 5.1 signal comes embedded in the HDMI ?

So I would connect the HDMI from Matrox Mini to the Marantz and from there to my Video-Monitor?

How would I avoid "some weirdness with color space" Job was experiencing, how would I route the video signal?

Thanks for your input

best

m

Yes you can just hook the HDMI output up to a home cinema hifi type receiver. I have a setup in my attic that runs on a Matrox MXO2 Mini, HDMI out into a Harman Kardon 5.1 BD-player/receiver, then out to a simple 22" HDTV. I get proper video from that, no color space isues, and I get 5.1 sound over the passive speakers that are hooked up to the HK receiver.

More of a monitoring setup, any mixing I ever attempted on that has never really seemed to translate to my well-aligned and properly calibrated main studio. But it's speakers and the room I blame for that, not the Matrox or the receiver or the HDMI.

Thanx Job

I am currently looking if can shoot a nice used home cinema receiver.

good day

m