Loser Cinema Emotiva UMC-1

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majorloser

majorloser

Moderator
Like I said before, I wish there was a few inputs on the front panel.

  • HDMI port (video calibration with laptop)
  • USB port (firmware upgrades)
  • Microphone jack (audio calibration)
  • RCA audio jacks (iPod)

So I decided to make my own for now. Not pretty, but it works for me.

Well, here my final assembly. :)








All I need to do is put on the top cover plate.
The HDMI switch is used on one of the five rear jacks. It allows me to share the port between my desktop PC and my laptop. The laptop is mainly used for video calibrations.

Granted, this will really come in useful once I install the UMC-1 in the bedroom entertainment center for Loserwife.


Hopefully when the XMC-1 comes out all of these items (or most) will be on the front panel.
 
Alex2507

Alex2507

Audioholic Slumlord


I think if you dress up the face plate a little and market it as

King David's Temple of Audio Mod No.9

you could really clean up. :)
 
son-yah-tive

son-yah-tive

Full Audioholic
Hello MAJOR, or Dave. I just learned about Emotiva this afternoon. When I saw what the UMC1 did on your thread, I'm almost sold. I was looking at their 5Ch amp too, I guess it would run 1,500.00 for both.(power without all the FLUFF!) I guess it would BLOW AWAY my Yamaha HTR-5280. I've owned Yamaha Receivers for 25 years. I finally found a reason to leave Yamaha behind. If it wasn't for Audioholics I never would have got rid of my Bose Acoustimass 15s, and bought 5 Definitve Tech Mythos 2s and a Polk Micro 1000 sub either. You have put me on the right track. I want to thank you all again. Looks like I have more budgeting to do, huh?
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I think Emovita should just get rid of those silly silver side front plates and save even more money.:eek:

What is the point of those front side plates anyway? Aesthetics? Really?:confused:
 
GlocksRock

GlocksRock

Audioholic Spartan
I think the silver looks good on the amps and processors. That UMC-1 would look great next to my IPS-1, wish I had the funds for one.
 
radridd

radridd

Audioholic
GlocksRock said:
I think the silver looks good on the amps and processors. That UMC-1 would look great next to my IPS-1, wish I had the funds for one.
Click to expand...
I like the silver too. Still undecided if I will purchase mine when my number comes up. I am way down the second list so plenty of time to pitch it around.
 
majorloser

majorloser

Moderator
I spend the evening adding all the new cables I ordered and trying a few different options.

Since I finally got my custom made front panel completed, I thought it was high time I tried a few things out with my new laptop using the extra front HDMI port. I ordered a couple long HDMI cables, 15 ft & 25ft, just for use with my laptop This was the first time I've been able to surf the web, download updates and watch a movie over HDMI on the extended desktop in 1080p with 7.1 surround. All on a laptop. (Yes, I've had crappy laptops before) I don't have time to play around tonight, but now I have a laptop capable of sending my video source material over HDMI for calibrations. :cool:

Another one of the changes I tried was adding a new 7.1 bundled analog audio set I received from Bluejean Cables. This allowed me to compare the difference in the Oppo's on-board decoder and the one in the UMC-1. The Bluray movie of the evening was "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" which I picked up on sale the other day. A lot of people don't like the movie. But as a married guy, I can relate.

Tomorrow night I'll get the additional RCA audio jack configured as another input set. Then I'll have another place for using and iPod.

I also need to try the new microphone jack I made up by running a couple EmoQ cycles.

JUST WAITING FOR THE FIRMWARE UPDATE :(
 
U

utopianemo

Junior Audioholic
....And is Dave the only one who owns one yet? For all the people on the waiting list, I'd expect more comments from owners now that it's out.
 
R

roshi

Audioholic
I have one as well. Here is what I got so far:

THE GOOD:
- Upscaling looks great!
- Sound so far is good too, I'm still playing (Can't really compare since I was without a receiver for 8 months)
- Tons of settings you can play with
- OSD is sweet as well
- Love all the inputs - would have loved one more optical in, but oh well

THE BAD:
- EmoQ is not that great... The Audyssey in the Denon 3808 was definitely better - only ran it once though, going to run it again after the firmware update - actually ordered a measurement mic to do it myself, good thing the UMC comes with sweet EQ settings
- Remote really sucks and without the discrete codes for Harmony it really sucks right now, but that's supposed to come
- My dog goes crazy every time I play pink noise, but that's not really Emotiva's fault
- The worst so far is that it screws up native resolutions: When I output 1360x768 from my macbook pro to my 720p TV it totally goes crazy. I called and was told that I should wait for the software update and see what happens
- Would love to be able set individual output resolutions for each input, not one global one

That's what I got so far. Any questions, I'm happy to answer. Oh, and the official news about the software update is that it will be available monday. I will give some thoughts afterwards...
 
majorloser

majorloser

Moderator
Well, considering this thread is about my UMC-1 experiences, I've stated I planned to wait till I installed a new firmware update before making any final decisions or comments. I can also promise there will not be professional reviews of the UMC-1 till Emotiva has the firmware finallized. There has been few units shipped out from Emotiva and none have gone to reviewers.

I hope to receive a copy of the updated firmware this week. All of the issues I've experienced have been stated by others. The staff at Emotive have said these items are addressed in the update. Some of the biggest update issues has to do with the EmoQ calibration isssues. These include new microphone calibration files and adjustment to speaker levels. Hence, the issues stated by many that automated calibrations weren't working right.

Let me be clear, there are a few issues I have with the UMC-1 that can't be fixed by software. Mostly the lack of front panel jacks (note my patch panel) and the current tiny remote control (rumored to be replaced soon). It's not going to be the right pre/pro for everybody. But for the sticker price of $699 it's hard to beat. In my case, it's not going to be part of my primary theater but for my wife's bedroom setup.
 
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