Batcave Home Theater

An anonymous reader noted a fun follow up to the Star Trek Home Theater we disussed not that long ago. "A retired naturalist thought that her cellar would be a great Batcave, and transformed it into the ultimate home theater. That's right, a Batcave themed home theater created by New Hampshire-based installer DC Audio Video Systems. The set-up includes prop bats which hang from above, a motorized 110 16:9 Stewart Electriscreen, Triad Silver THX Speakers, and a Sony G90, a $36,000 commercial 1080p 2500 x 2000 CRT projector. The room also features eight black, motorized leather recliners and a LiteTouch LC5000 System for Lighting Control." Update 18:16 GMT by SM: updated link to the original story.

Comments

Not all that batty

[Rob T Firefly]

While it certainly looks like a cave, I can't really see anything bat-like about it. Not Bat-computers or Bat-insignia or anything. Still interesting though, in an armchair geologist or spray-foam aficionado sort of way.

Besides, there's no big penny! A Batcave without a big penny is no Batcave at all.

Re:Not all that batty

[eln]

I agree. I've been in plenty of batcaves and without the overpowering smell of guano, it's really not a true batcave. Nice effort though.

Lame ...that's just a cave

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

Where are all the cool gadgets, radar and tape drives?? Here is a proper batcave

Holy batcave!

[King Gabey]

We've been robbed, Batman! All they left is our leather couches...

Great,

[Fengpost]

what is next? Star Wars laundry room? Serenity bedroom? Or, dare I say it, Hogwartz garage?

well..

[rucs_hack]

Very pretty, but I don't see how this would add value to a house. Try to sell a home with this fitted and you seriously limit the number of potential buyers. A well put together, neat, and uncluttered home theater is likely to be a greater selling point.

Is I a killjoy? Probably, Should I have my slashdot karma revoked in a fit of outrage? Reckon.
But still, these things are important, especially now.

Re:well..

[Poeir]

Houses are for living in. Why focus more on resale value than enjoying living where you do?

Re:well..

[tm2b]

You've got to live somewhere, which means you've got to pay. Unless like many Slashdotters you live in your parents' basement, of course.

When you rent, you're throwing away some of the cash every month - when you buy, you're keeping a fraction of the money in equity. The only problem is that some people overreach and get mortgages larger than they can afford instead of something with monthly payments that are roughly equivalent to rent minus a maintenance budget and insurance. People do get into trouble and forget to budget for maintenance and such, but that's not a problem inherent to buying.

There are reasons not to buy of course - if you don't expect to live in the same place, the overhead of buying a house is substantial. But the idea of owning a home rather than renting is solid. But that's funny, germans are usually better at math.

As to the final point, sure, keep an eye on impact on resale value. But don't ignore your dreams just because it might make a few $k difference down the road - life is for living.

Re:well..

[toddestan]

If a house is purchased, then by implication, it is to be sold at some point. certainly this is usually the case nowadays. Therefore any modification made to a house should ideally be done with its effect on resale value.

On the contrary, if you wanted to do a modification like this you would have to own the place. No landlord would allow you convert their rental to a batcave. That's the big benefit I see to owning a place, the ability to modify it however I want.

Status...

[nighty5]

I know she's retired, but is she single?

Slashvertisement

[giminy]

How much did Sony/et al. pay for this thing to be made? I wonder if the author is getting a bonus for getting it included on Slashdot?

The Star Trek one looks like an ad for Creston as well. Where oh where did that *good* Star Trek Apartment go? The one that the autistic fellow in the UK made by hand?

Reid

Is this real?

[sxltrex]

The projection system is front-projection (you can see the projector between the front row seats in one of the photos), yet in the picture with the curtain half raised the picture is only visible on the exposed part of the screen--there's no hint of it on the curtain itself. I would think that would only be possible with a rear projector?

Re:Is this real?

[ePhil_One]

I imagine the picture is faked, like most TV images in ads (they simply don't photograph well)

A bunch of stuff wrong here

[hipsterdufus]

1) The best seat in the place is where the HUGE projector is located. No need for something like this in a completely blacked-out room.

2) The spray-foam cave idea looks ok, but how do you keep it clean and dust free? Further, the ambiance is ruined once you put the smooth leather chairs in there. They should be rock-like, imho.

3) Speakers: like any real theater, you shouldn't be able to see them. No real reason that the Triads couldn't have been placed behind foam-esque screen and hide their existence.

4) Pretty large investment and yet you can "only" have 8 people there to watch a movie.

5) Where's the gear? (I hope it is truly hidden)

6) Do you enter via a statue-pull-bookcase-open and a pole?

an obvious upgrade

[llZENll]

a $50,000+ setup and he doesn't even have a 2.35 aspect screen with a panamorph lens?

My Bat Cave Home Theatre

[Dystopian Rebel]

My own Bat Cave Home Theatre (BCHT) didn't work out so well. The computer equipment with flashing LEDs was easy by current case-modding standards. I had a little trouble with the analog input that was supposed to take alphabet soup and convert it to a list of movies, so I abandoned that after the first few blown motherboards.

What really stopped the project for me were the problems related to the Mechanical Wardrobe Manipulators that I had built to change my clothing as I slid down the pole from the main floor closet into the BCHT. The distance from the closet to the BCHT is about 12 feet max, whereas I guess Batman's Bat Cave was probably at least one hundred feet under Wayne Manor. I just never got the right balance of speed and safety. The Vertical Descent Shirt Unbuttoner alone put me in the hospital 4 times.

What the design tells you about the designer...

[teslar]

Q: How can you tell the cave was designed by a geek?
A: All seats are single-seaters - there is no comfy cuddling-with-significant-other possibility ;)

Re:There's more to bats than "batman"

[MightyYar]

C'mon, gotta have a linky!

Re:There's more to bats than "batman"

[LMacG]

And apostrophes don't indicate plurals, but you don't see me shouting about it.