My New House Gaming Setup is SICK!

[Plouffe]

New house, new gaming setup! Things are really coming together now that it's been lived in for a few months, but the RGB isn't installed yet and Linus has some issues with his camera, mic, and display. Unfortunately, not everything goes exactly as planned...

 

 

Buy a Rode NTG8 Long Shotgun Microphone: https://geni.us/Ozpo

Buy an LG C2: https://geni.us/OD36PS

Buy an Alienware AW3423DW Monitor: https://geni.us/J5aPBc

Buy a Aeotec Z-Wave RGB Strip: https://lmg.gg/gVOqu

 

Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.

 

 

 

[LapsedMemory]

May I make some recommendations?  For powering your LED strips, looks like those strips use about 4.5W/ft maximum (16ft string, 72w max draw per string), and from my rough estimation in the video you have about 32ft (~10.6m) of LED strip to power.  This puts it at 144W max power draw, which is WAY too high for your single brick power adapter.  Spend a little extra money and do it correctly, here's an example:

 

Switching Power Supply: 24-28 VDC out, 10A, 240W (PN# PSN24-240) | AutomationDirect

DIN Rail: 2/pk, 35mm, 7.5mm height, slotted (PN# DN-R35S1-2) | AutomationDirect

Screwless Single-level Feedthrough Terminal Block: 50/pk, blue, 24-12 AWG (PN# DN-Q12B-A) | AutomationDirect

Terminal Block Jumper: 5/pk, for multiple terminal blocks (PN# DN-24J2Y) | AutomationDirect

Wiring Trough: NEMA 1/3R, 6 x 6 x 12in (HxDxL), wall mount (PN# RSCG060612) | AutomationDirect

Cable Entry System Frame: black, (12) small opening(s) (PN# 568321) | AutomationDirect

 

in total the entire package is about 380USD but it gives you silent power, plenty of it, and keeps it completely safe and secure with no fire hazard.  

[rcmaehl]

55 minutes ago, Plouffe said:

-snip-

Is it possible when a github repo is mentioned in the video to get it linked in the description? Really helps smaller devs and saves a few minutes of trying to find the repo if it's not clearly shown on screen.

[swimtome]

I love the subtlety Dan brings:

Hey! I need your table... immediately uses as a chair.

[ToboRobot]

14 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

Is it possible when a github repo is mentioned in the video to get it linked in the description? Really helps smaller devs and saves a few minutes of trying to find the repo if it's not clearly shown on screen.

GitHub - JPersson77/LGTVCompanion: Power On and Off WebOS LG TVs together with your PC

Think this is it, I search GitHub for the username Linus thanked.

[kumicota]

15 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

Is it possible when a github repo is mentioned in the video to get it linked in the description? Really helps smaller devs and saves a few minutes of trying to find the repo if it's not clearly shown on screen.

it's not a sponsored link, so the team probably doesn't care

[Nystemy]

To be fair, LED lighting _{(especially more fancy RGB)} is mostly a pain to deal with.

There is practically no good off the shelf solutions on the market that doesn't have massive annoyances. _{(though, some WS2812B strips are nice, due to 24 bit color, uses a simple serial protocol, need 5 volts, and are generally overall nice, though wouldn't use an off the shelf driver for them myself.)}

 

Also, pickup paterns for microphones is attenuation relative to angle, where the center of the diagram is the microphone itself, one end of the circle is 0 degrees in front of the mic and the opposite point on the circle is 180 degrees away from the front (ie, the back) Exceptionally few microphones will have a "more of a spherical pick up pattern right in front of it." 19:30 in the video. _{(the diagram in the manual might look like a representation of distance, but it isn't. There is however stereo microphones, and one can always go for an array of microphones, and here one can DSP away everything outside of a specified distance if one throws enough computing at the problem.)}

As an example, here is the pattern for a classic SM58:

Here we can see that sounds on either side of the mic will still get picked up relatively well, since sounds coming in perpendicular to the mic will be attenuated by only about 6-7 db.

 

Here is the pickup pattern for the Røde NTG8 shotgun mic:

As we can see, this attenuates off angle sounds a lot lot more than the SM58 above.

 

Also, I can't hear any echo in the recorded example. _{(Neither would one suspect much since the mic points at a wall that is off angle to the mic, that in turn requires sound to bound in from a bookshelf, so realistically speaking adding some sound absorbing foam/art to the plain wall would help remove any unwanted sounds from reaching the microphone.)}

[whalo]

obviously, monitor boxes should be used as chairs, not as tables.

 

 

[Padrone56]

Cmon Jake  any self respecting Home Assistant addict knows WLED is the go to for LED lighting

 

• Locally hosted web server on the LED controller
• MQTT integration
• Flawless home assistant integration
• Android and iOS apps
• a ton of effects
• controller linking and multi controller control
• etc

You could probably do a controller per row of shelves, and just link them, or control them independantly.

 

Ive used multiple for DnD room lighting and its very smooth

Edited August 23, 2022 by Padrone56
typo

[ToboRobot]

45 minutes ago, whalo said:

obviously, monitor boxes should be used as chairs, not as tables.

 

 

Everyone knows ATX case boxes make the best tables. 

[dogwitch]

4 hours ago, ToboRobot said:

Everyone knows ATX case boxes make the best tables. 

server cases make the best dinning tables!

[Aussie Guy]

Can I ask, what camera lens were you using on top of Linus's monitor in the end?

[SSSJDanny]

An option for the RGB LED Strip issue: There are T's and Angles available from SolidApollo dot com.

I would use a Dremel or Oscillating Multi-Tool to remove just a bit of the back end of the shelf so the Strip slides behind it.

 

I use my Stream Deck (and a Universal IR Blaster & Home Assistant) to send a signal to power on my tv, lights and mini split. 

 

[Arcomador]

There's a company who is working on a solution for that monitor issue you were having, that would enable you to use the display port on the dock with your monitor. Not sure if they have brought the product to market yet though.

 

Paradetech:
DisplayPort™ to HDMI™ / DVI Converters
PS171 DisplayPort™ to HDMI™ 1.4/DVI Converter
PS175 DisplayPort™ to HDMI™ 2.0 Protocol Converter for Mother Board Applications
PS176 DisplayPort™ to HDMI™ 2.0 Protocol Converter for Adapters and Receivers
PS181 DisplayPort™ to Dual-Mode DisplayPort™ Converter
PS186 DisplayPort™ 1.4a to HDMI™ 2.0b Protocol Converter for Adapters and Receivers
PS196 DisplayPort™ 2.0 to HDMI™ 2.1 Protocol Converter

 

May be able to get a review sample or something from them? They seem to be one of the first companies to be actively working to build active conversion for the spec.

[OrakMoya AmitSira]

Did Linus or Luke lose the linux challenge? I see Linus is rocking Windows 10 on his PC, so presumably one of them lost the challenge and Linus switched back.

 

That or the challenge wasn't a permanent thing, but I heard somewhere that both of them will be switching to Linux for their personal PCs.

Edited August 24, 2022 by OrakMoya AmitSira
Linus switched back, not Linux

[Ultraforce]

2 hours ago, OrakMoya AmitSira said:

Did Linus or Luke lose the linux challenge? I see Linus is rocking Windows 10 on his PC, so presumably one of them lost the challenge and Linus switched back.

 

That or the challenge wasn't a permanent thing, but I heard somewhere that both of them will be switching to Linux for their personal PCs.

The challenge wasn't a permanent thing and they ended up without a "winner" Luke used Linux Mint on his laptop for a while after the challenge but ran into a problem and then reverted to windows. But the challenge had been both of them switching their personal PCs to Linux.

[Thestuntlot]

I have been planning on adding a shotgun mic to my streaming set up for a while now, and after i saw this video i went and got an NTG1.  The current issue i have is i am not very familiar with a mixer (physical or virtual) and i am not sure how to properly tune the microphone so that my audio comes in crystal clear like i am picturing it would in my head.

 

Do you have any tips on how to do this?

 

[James Tillenger]

On 8/27/2022 at 7:34 PM, Thestuntlot said:

I have been planning on adding a shotgun mic to my streaming set up for a while now, and after i saw this video i went and got an NTG1.  The current issue i have is i am not very familiar with a mixer (physical or virtual) and i am not sure how to properly tune the microphone so that my audio comes in crystal clear like i am picturing it would in my head.

 

Do you have any tips on how to do this?

 

Depends on what isn't clear. There can be a lot of reasons you're not getting clear audio. 

1.This isn't likely your issue but it may be a contributing factor. Unless you're gaming outside shotguns are the wrong kind of microphone for this use. The slits on the side of a shotgun do passive noise cancellation through phase cancellation. Basically the reverb in the room can make the microphone sound weird. The correct type of microphone is a pencil condenser which is effectively a shotgun without the problematic cancellation. They can still be very directional. The Audix SCX1-HC and Schoeps MK41 are examples of the ideal out of frame indoor microphone with high directivity. 

2.A mixer mixes sound. This can let you send multiple sources through a single output. It can double an audio interface which is probably what you mean. An audio interface is simply a device that lets your analogue devices like speakers, headphones, and your microphone to the digital domain. A super common example of this is the focusrite scarlett solo. This MIGHT be your issue. If something is wrong here... for example if you used a phantom power adapter to get the microphone working (NTG1 can't take a battery) then you used an XLR to 1/8th inch adapter to directly into your computer the sound card could be very noisy. If you're suing a small mixer to do the job of an interface (which is fine) it's possible that you do have something set wrong or it has low quality preamps which would make it hiss a lot. 

3.If you're routing your sound through something like a compressor or really anything that isn't a pre-amp before it hit's a preamp there is a good chance the signal that's being modified from the microphone is so weak that you're hitting the noise floor. If this is the case(I don't think so based on your post) look up gain staging. Basically you'll need to at least partially amplify your signal before you modify it. This can also be a problem in the digital domain.

4. The mechanics of how a microphone actually picks up sound doesn't really vary a whole lot. What a shotgun or pencil condenser is doing is making the signal quiet enough by eliminating unwanted environmental noise through cancellation or raw pickup pattern which then allows you to amplify it a whole lot but if there is noise in that pickup pattern area like soundwaves from a fan or hum from your air conditioner or even reverberations from the room you're going to pick it up and amplify it a whole lot. The device causing the problem doesn't need to be there the sound simply has to bounce off a surface your microphone can hear. You'd be amazed what a microphone can pick up. With a few exceptions sound dissipates the same way light does it's called the inverse square law. Basically If the microphone is 1 inch away from the sound source it'll be twice as loud if you move the source to .7in or half as loud if you back away to 1.4 inches. So when you're close mic'd like you would be with a Rode NT1a pretty much everything is so incredably far away according to the inverse square law that you naturally get pretty clean audio. With a shotgun or pencil mic however it's now a foot away or if you placed it wrong thinking it was supposed to be super far away it could 5 or 10 feet away. At 10 feet it would require 4 additional feet for something to be half the volume. Now you're dealing with lots of reverb and every little thing is going to make it to your microphone and in addition to that you'll have to push your preamp which depending on it's quality could induce hiss on top of all the other problems. You can flat out eliminate some of these problems with something called a high pass filter. It cuts off or at least dramatically reduces all frequencies below a specified frequency. 80hz is very common. Lots of hum is below this frequency but it's rare for voices to go that low. Your NTG1 has a high pass filter built in. on the top of the mic you'll see a recessed switch. There is a streight line and a line with a bend in it. Move the switch to the bent line. 

5.If you manage to get things basically working That is to say that your mic is properly positioned, and you don't have excessive hiss from a bad configuration you can add some things to your signal chain that will make a difference this can be done either physically if you want to hear your voice through your headphones or you can use a DAW like reaper or protools then loop it's preview audio back out and stream that. Daws tend to add a touch of latency and often it's enough that it is hard to speak and hear your own voice because they'll be just enough out of sync that you'll pause. Physical boxes tend to have effectively no latency. On the useful things. You can add a noise gate. What that does is mute the microphone whenever anything isn't loud enough. Your friend talking in the background the hum of your fridge the truck driving by outside are all muted. You say anything and the gate opens everyone can hear you(and everything else) it waits a beat or doesn't depending on how the gate is set then mutes again. You can add a compressor which will let you scream bloody murder into your microphone and your tone will carry through but the loudness wont. No clipping. You could add some form of equalization which will allow you to cut out unwanted frequencies or give a little boost to ones you want. You could mute the sound of a dying fire alarm(Maybe change the batteries first?) and give your voice a little bass boost to give you that radio personality sound. Lots of cool stuff.

Fix the basics first. Describe the sound you're hearing that is wrong and attack them one at a time. The answer may be as simple as needing room treatment or repositioning your microphone. All tech is the same this way. Solve one problem at a time and start with the easy stuff. 
 

[James Tillenger]

On 8/23/2022 at 10:02 AM, Plouffe said:

New house, new gaming setup! Things are really coming together now that it's been lived in for a few months, but the RGB isn't installed yet and Linus has some issues with his camera, mic, and display. Unfortunately, not everything goes exactly as planned...

 

 

Buy a Rode NTG8 Long Shotgun Microphone: https://geni.us/Ozpo (No)

Buy an LG C2: https://geni.us/OD36PS

Buy an Alienware AW3423DW Monitor: https://geni.us/J5aPBc

Buy a Aeotec Z-Wave RGB Strip: https://lmg.gg/gVOqu

 

Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.

 

 

I said it in the post above but please don't use a shotgun for this. Use a pencil condenser. Actually, why didn't the guy who does all your sound yell at you for this? The mic to beat in this area is a Schoeps Mk41 with a CMC 6 or CMC 1 body(Two parts for Schoeps) or perhaps a Sennheiser MKH 50. They're expensive but are pretty much immortal as long as they're not physically abused. 

Second. Smyth Research Realiser A16. This is critical for an S grade gaming setup. It is a device that does absolutely convincing Dolby Atmos in headphones. For best results you need to actually put (included) microphones in your ears and listen to test tones first on your headphones to remove tonal coloration then again on real speakers and the nicer those speakers are the better your headphones sound because it reproduces the frequencies like the speakers and the setting that created them things like reverb and the shape of your ears. If you get into skywalker ranch and do your test tones there it'll sound like skywalker ranch. If you do it off of tinny creative speakers from 1993 it'll sound like that (and you can switch between them too!). To be clear I'm not talking about dolby atmos for headphones where you can sort of tell something is probably sorta in that direction over there. I'm talking about the kind of insane experience where at 1 in the morning you go... oh god I left my speakers on and now my whole family has to be awake. Oh wait it's just my headphones. 

 

[Edward Richtofen]

Can anyone tell me the name of the mixer he is using for his setup?