Home Theater Focus Blogs

Ian Masters: Answer Man

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 18:55:00 GMT

Like almost all audio nuts, I had picked up most of whatever early information I had from various sources, some of the most fruitful being the question sections of various magazines. Joseph Giovanelli and Herman Burstein offered scads of useful stuff in Audio magazine, as did Norman Eisenberg in High Fidelity. A relative latecomer to this group was the "Q&A" column in Stereo Review, written by Larry Klein. Of these, Klein's effort was probably the most influential, if only because Stereo Review was by far the largest magazine (as is its successor, Sound & Vision).

In 1984, I had begun to write for Stereo Review on a casual basis, contributing mostly the usual how-to-buy-a-speaker stuff, as well as a couple of pieces that still infuriate the more ardent subjective audiophiles. One of these reported on a series of experiments that sought to discover the exact nature of sound differences between CD players (we didn't find any, as long as the machines were not actually broken).

The other suggested that audio amplifiers didn't really exhibit distinctive sound characteristics if they were working properly. You can still find the outfall from that article on the Internet almost twenty years later.

Then, one summer afternoon, SR's editor-in-chief William Livingstone called me to tell me that the magazine and Larry Klein had parted company, and to ask if I would be interested in taking over "Q&A".

Would I be interested in rewriting the Bible or the Koran?

Sure thing! I started in the fall of 1986 and am still doing it. One thing I couldn't have predicted however, was that they would want to illustrate the column with a drawing of my face, derived from several photos I sent. I was assured that the artist did caricatures for the New York Times, so I had nothing to worry about.

The resulting drawing (above), I hasten to assure anyone who cares, looks nothing like me (even 20 years ago), but it did have its good side: nobody ever recognized and stopped me at an audio show for as long as the illustration ran.

What I didn't Know - Ian G Master's Blog

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 18:20:00 GMT

Mentor Floyd Toole with his amazing 1970s sideburns

My first few days on the job as an audio journalist all those years ago seemed like winning the lottery. In earlier jobs, I had always been the guy people came to to waste time talking about hi-f. Now, here I was in extensive discussions about sound equipment, and from time to time I was hit with pangs of guilt as I chatted about the minutiae of some piece of audio gear, when was caught suddenly by the realization that that was what I was supposed to be doing.

In my very first issue, the editor let me loose on what was the mag's first review of a Dolby cassette deck -- a fairly exotic component at the time. In subsequent years, I have been repeatedly astonished that my old editor trusted me with such a mission at a time when I could hardly find the office restrooms, but as I recall, he kept a pretty tight rein over what I wrote.

But, although I felt I was a very knowledgable audiophile before I took the post, I soon came to the realization that my understanding of the field was embarrassingly shallow. I wasn't untypical in that, but to be an editor on a magazine devoted to the subject presupposes that one have something more to offer than a mixture of audio prejudices picked up around the office water cooler or from (all-too-common) ill-informed audio salespersons.

Fortunately, I soon came under the technical guidance of a colleague who would now probably be called a mentor, but at the time was simply one of the magazine's contributing editors (that is, a freelancer who writes regularly for the publication and can offer ideas and advice without the full-time staff getting bent out of shape) and a friend. He also had a wealth of education in audio and scientific things in general, where most of my knowledge was mostly picked up by osmosis. The fact that he also had a fine taste in old rock 'n' roll and old scotch cemented the relationship.

That was the redoubtable Dr. Floyd Toole. We'll get back to him shortly.

- Ian G. Masters

Microphones for Christmas

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 17:59:00 GMT

Today, it seems hard to believe, but when I was growing up, the ultimate in high technology was audio. How I managed to get interested in the field is a mystery to me, as it certainly was to my family -- my parents thought they had spawned some kind of alien.
Nevertheless, I was interested in audio from earliest childhood. Actually, my prime focus was on radio, but in order to understand the workings of a broadcast studio, I had to acquire some knowledge of audio basics. This was largely gained through poring over various electronics magazine, which wasn't all that satisfactory, as they were mostly interested in short-wave radio and remote-controlled model airplanes, rather than audio.

Author Ian G. Masters in his home studio -- with treasured microphone -- in 1960

Eventually, however, I cobbled together enough knowledge to put together my own basement "radio" studio. It was primitive by today's standards (in fact it was primitive be the standards of those days as well), but it allowed me to immerse myself in audio throughout my youth. My parents were always dismayed when my wish-lists for Christmas and birthdays usually included a microphone or some tape-manipulating device (I still have my first splicer! And microphone).

Video came in 1968, when I won a gargantuan open-reel video tape recorder in a contest sponsored by a U.S. electronics magazine. I have been flirting with what we now call "home theater" since those days.
I don't suppose I ever really expected to be able to make a career out of my interest in electronics, and I did spend some post-university years in accounting and investments. Big mistake.

Eventually, I stumbled upon a help-wanted ad looking for an assistant editor for a Canadian electronics magazine. The publication was in the process of converting itself into an audio magazine -- that's where the ad bucks were in those days -- and it needed an in-house audio nut to help make the transition. The editor-in-chief reasoned that he could teach any reasonably literate person to edit, but not to be manic about audio. He looked at my covering letter, my (otherwise useless) degree in English, and my long-standing fascination with audio and video, and hired me, in spite of my total lack of knowledge of publishing.

That magazine and its editor are long gone, but here I am, still working the same corner.

-Ian G. Masters

What's a Tonearm?

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 01:42:00 GMT

Editor's Note: Please join TheaterFocus in welcoming Ian G. Masters to his first blog.

Ian G. Masters

Excuse me, let me just move a few of these boxes to make some space. As long as I'm going to inhabit this small corner of the blogosphere, I should give myself a little elbow room.

In fact, I've been clearing stuff out for some time now. After my decades of involvement in audio and video, the accumulation of dead or near-dead equipment in my basement and garage has gotten out of hand. Prompted by the possibility of eventually selling the family homestead and moving to something more manageable, along with the increasing chorus from my wife of "why are you keeping all that junk?", I've begun to dispose of everything that isn't usable or out-and-out historical.

It's not as easy as it may seem. Nostalgia is fine in its place, but it turns out that there aren't all that many people willing to lay out actual money for a piece of the past. Especially if that piece is actually broken.

I did luck out with one aficionado who was in the business of restoring old audio gear and selling it on the Internet. He cherry-picked his way through my stuff and walked away with a few pieces that were both interesting and fixable. He didn't give me much hope for the rest of the equipment, however.

I did have a bit of success when it came to my old 78 r.p.m. records. Some of these were discs I bought back when I was a pup, but most had been wished on me by "friends" who were looking to clear out their own attics and thought I might be interested in their shellac dinosaurs. I took them because . . . well, I don't really know why. But some 500 of them have occupied a couple of shelves for years. Not long ago, I lucked into a local antiques dealer who had several old wind-up gramophones for sale, and he figured his potential buyers would need something to play on them, so he took the whole shebang for 100 bucks.

Hardware proved to be more difficult. Several local second-hand stores that deal with sound gear -- mostly musical instruments, but some audio and video stuff as well -- were willing to pay a few dollars for pieces where they recognized the brand names, but much of the equipment drew blank stares. I offered some unused high-end record-playing accessories from the 80s to one, whose only reaction was "what's a tonearm?"

I did make a very small amount of money from what I could sell, but mainly I just wanted to get rid of the stuff. And last weekend, the town I live in came to the rescue, with its first-ever "E-Waste Day".

Citizens were invited to bring their cast-off electrical and electronic junk to a local parking lot, where it would be collected and recycled by a company that specializes in that sort of disposal. I loaded up the ol' family sedan (a couple of times) and trundled off to the site, not really knowing what to expect. I was greeted with an immense expanse of discarded electro-junk, from mangled headphones to side-by-side refrigerators and Mediterranean-style console TV sets.

I had to wonder how much of the stuff was really broken, rather than just inconvenient, and I expected that there would be scavenging by some who thought they might find something useful. I only saw one person walking away with an item somebody else had discarded, a beat-up boombox ("I still have a few cassettes," the new owner explained), the rest was scooped into a truck and hauled away.

I have no idea whether or not any of it was actually recycled. But now, at least, it's somebody else's problem.

Monday Night Football Buys First 103” Plasma

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 17:10:00 GMT

Remember the monster sized man-eating HDTV? It was Panasonic’s 103” inch plasma the largest production plasma screen made to date. The cost is outrageous, get ready to pay some $70K for the devil’s HDTV. That’s almost as much as the Lutz’s paid for that house in Amityville NY back in the 70s.

The first customer for the giant plasma was NBC for the set of Monday Night Football. Gizmodo has an interesting take on the whole thing. We geeks who would put the 103” monster with a full 1920 x 1080 resolution and 5000:1 contrast ratio have lost. If I took it home I would lock myself in my house and watch whatever I could get my hands on in HD DVD, an Xbox360 game would be next. Watching a football game would be pretty far down my list of priorities. But football won the battle for the 103” plasma and the geeks lost. Pity.

Updates have been few and far between on the HomeTheaterFocus blog. But they will be revving back up later this month of September. Much of my time lately has been taken up with getting a new blog on another website ramped up check out the GizmoCafe blog.

I am about to drop out of civilization for awhile on a week long trek through the wilderness of Algonquin Park by canoe and foot. The only audio I’ll get out there is the sounds of loons and hopefully a chorus of wolves in the distance.

EISA Awards for Electronics Excellence

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:16:00 GMT

EISA or European Imaging and Sound Association gives out awards every year for excellence in consumer electronics products. Like many awards they announce the winners before the actual event which seems a bit anti-climatic.

EISA is a collective of Editors-in-Chiefs from 52 electronics specialty magazines from 19 different nations in the EU. The awards for ‘06/’07 were announced yesterday although the ceremony, will be held in Berlin in two weeks. The complete list of winners can be seen at the EISA website buried under info about last year’s awards. EISA has troubles keeping the site updated.

Points of interest to me includes Philips taking two LCD HDTV awards. The High End LCD and Green TV. The High End LCD prize was won by a Philip’s Ambilight FlatTV. Ambilight is a clever feature that spreads ambient lighting behind your HDTV that actually matches a primary color on the screen. The feature is said to reduce eyestrain during long movie marathons.

The Green TV award was won by Philips 42” LCD from Philips FlatTV line. It was won for Philips' adopting environmentally sustainable manufacturing practices.

NAD won an award in the high end audio category which is very nice to see being a fan of NAD. Its entire “Master Series” line is a good bed for any budget conscious audiophile.

The category of Personal Media Player was won by none other than Apple’s iPod, surprise! Personally I think iPod is suffering overexposure that will help Microsoft with Zune. You heard it here first - Zune will be made a hit next year by a ‘pod weary public.

The best Loudspeaker was taken by B&W’s CM1 which is a bit of a surprise. Although I’ve never heard the CM1 and I know B&W make very good speakers, I’ve always been of the opinion that B&W is just a tad overpriced. I’ve made head to head comparisons with pricey B&W vs speakers at half the price I’ve never been convinced that you get enough for the extra spent. But hey, who am I to talk about Loudspeakers, I’m just a Loudmouth!

According to EISA the best all around Camera of 2007 is Nikon. Is there really any competition at that level?

I’m not sure why they announce the winners prior to the event at some awards like this. It seems to spoil the event itself. A storm of press releases are dropping right now from manufacturers that were handed awards.

Check out the new blog at GizmoCafe.com.

Onkyo Moving in Stereo

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 19:35:00 GMT

You thought stereo was dead, didn’t you? At a time when manufacturers are moving to nothing but multi-channel systems aimed at home theater, Onkyo has introduced a different idea. We hear about new HTiB systems and more channels being tacked on to further the multi-channel experience it seems many manufacturers forgot about high end sound. Onkyo brings us a throwback to the days when two good channels sounded so much better than seven mediocre ones. But there’s a twist, Onkyo’s new two channel stereo integrated amp is built with digital amplifier technology.

Onkyo calls it a high end integrated amplifier that will showcase its new VL Digital power amp technology. The A-9555 Integrated Amplifier reflects a steady shift from Onkyo in its transition to digital amplifiers. The move to digital amplification is becoming more common in budget minded multi-channel receivers. But Onkyo says it has designed its new stereo amplifier with all the style and elegance of classic stereo systems of old.

Onkyo’s 4^th generation of VL Digital amp graces the interior of the A-9555 Integrated Amplifier. It’s an implementation of the hybrid class ‘D’ amplification. It’s a highly efficient design delivering 100 watts RMS per channel into 8 ohms. The strengths of digital amplifiers are low power consumption, low heat with surprisingly high output from a relatively small chassis compared to other amplifier classes. Although class D amps are known for higher levels of distortion there is no THD specification available for Onkyo’s A-9555 on its North American press release. Onkyo’s press release only offers that its hybrid class D amps offer “remarkably low distortion”. Less than 1% is generally considered too low for the human ear to detect but we’ll have to wait for specs to be released. Onkyo Europe has a pdf posted with some specs that give the A-9555 a .8 THD which should be acceptable.

Whether or not you’re skeptical of digital amplification being equated to anything ‘audiophile’ the design of Onkyo’s new A-9555 sure appears to be going for that old time hi-fi look. With its silver finish and large fat finger friendly knobs it looks like the finer Onkyo equipment from a bygone era.

TV on the Net

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 17:52:00 GMT

This link has been going around lately so I decided to chime in with it because it’s very good guide. It also verbalizes the state of TV/IP as we stand today. It’s Jeff’s Quick Guide to TV on the Net (TV/IP) found on Jeff Pulver’s Blog.

Among the commentary it contains one of the most comprehensive lists of television available for viewing online here and now. The technological groundwork for IPTV is quickly coming into view. That such a complete list of programming is already online means the phone companies are probably jumping on IPTV at the right moment. Since there is already some built in competition to TV on the 'net it'll be interesting to see how it all pans out. Unfortunately it’ll probably be through more restrictions, more flags, more DRM and programming blackouts.

Phone companies are promising its broadband services will topple CableTV as the default choice. Strong words from AT&T’s Ed Whitacre punctuate the phone company’s intentions with a bit of in your face attitude. Many of the networks outlined in Jeff’s guide are already restricted by DRM and content management, meaning you can’t get some of the streams from certain locations unless you pay. It’s as Morpheus said: “Welcome, to the real world.”

The biggest disaster with a direct relation to regulated television and HD content available online is the situation the Net Neutrality bill seeks to curtail.

Integra NVS-7.7 with ViiV

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 20:21:00 GMT

Integra is a front company of Onkyo that ships higher end versions of its Onkyo counterparts.

Now Integra has brought its "high end" approach to HTPC which is a bit of a surprise. Integra is known for components like DVD players. The company's highly popular players are generally considered quite worthy in its price category by most reviews.

Integra's NVS-7.7 Integrated Media Center is a slick looking HTPC built on Intel's ViiV chip. The difference with this unit is that it's not a full featured HTPC, it doesn't try to be a PC at all but takes many of the features of HTPC and stuffs it into a home audio component little larger than many DVD players. Integra hopes to avoid many of the usability headaches with its straightforward design, or so Integra's press releases says. But as with any effort to make the PC experience more linear it runs the risk of becoming stripped down.

According to Integra:

"Our goal was to make it as easy to set up and use as any of our other AV components. With the NVS-7.7, Integra tames the convoluted configuration and programming process, giving installers a complete product that delivers the most powerful source and integration features ever available, yet is no more difficult to set-up, install, and maintain than a high end A/V receiver. And with Integra's acclaimed dealer support and training programs behind them, dealers can feel confident about specifying media servers into every job they do."

The high end audio treatment means the NVS-7.7 was treated to Wolfson DACs with its proprietary Vector Linear Shaping Circuitry. It also includes 400 Gigs of storage means you'll have plenty of digital media to throw at Wolfson's DACs.

Integra NVS-7.7 Integrated Media Center Includes

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
2.8 GHz Pentium 4 Dual 820 Processor
1 GB DDR Ram
400 GB HDD
SD/MS, MS_Pro, Smart/Flash memory card reader
4 USB 2.0 ports
Onkyo's NetTune Internet Radio

The system has Ethernet capability but no mention of Wi-Fi. It's available in that uncomfortable time when you think to yourself:

"Do I buy into a mature DVD player technology or try the waters with the new disc formats?" No HD DVD or Blu-ray and no Wi-Fi. With a steep MSRP of $3000 it's just too bad you'll be left behind on emerging Wireless N bandwidth and streaming HD multi-channel content. But that might be asking for too much.

A look at High End Hi-Fi

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 18:22:00 GMT

I had an interesting chat yesterday with my local high end dealer. He has a store in town called Soundstage that specializes in really esoteric high end stuff. His store carries names like Conrad Johnson, Martin Logan, Arcam and a whack of others I've never heard of. Among the listening rooms are severely exotic kits with tube amps and alien looking speakers. Total cost for some of these systems rival a modest home.

I've always had mixed feelings about this price point. I can put my finger on a dollar value of diminishing returns way way below this price point to be sure. But at the same time I highly respect the stuff, it's just cool. But, I hold proudly to my entry level cut-above-the-stuff-from-the-big-box-stores level.

We spoke about the kinds of customers he gets that buys high end. I know he must see all kinds and can accurately profile most people who walk in.

According to him the kind of people who spend $10,000 on a single component are mostly doctors. We live in a high tech area. The small city where I live is stinking rich with software, Blackberry, search, database and Internet money. Not surprisingly it seems that technology and engineering types aren't as taken by the seriously high end audio. He's had one of the RIM's CEOs in his store (there are two of them and I didn't ask which one). Apparently he has some high priced audio gear in his home but strings it all together with low end wires and cables. Apparently he refuses to believe there are any gains to be made from higher end cables. It's a contention with which I would agree in an empirical sense.

However - if I had a $5K DVD player hooked up to my $10K surround processor / pre-amp… something just doesn't feel right sticking Radio Shack cables between them. I know that blind A/B/X testing demonstrates people just can't tell the difference. Maybe that makes me a sucker, but I think I'd buy at least slightly more expensive interconnects and speaker wire anyway, even if it were simply an esthetic.

Psychoacoustics

I know I've heard the term before in talks of objective vs subjective hi-fi. Perhaps some would say it's just another name for psychological, similar to psychosomatic illness suffered by children who don't want to go to school on Monday morning. But in our conversation he made valid points about what makes us like one sound over another. What makes us prefer a given sound quality may have nothing to do with the audible frequency ranges or other quantifiable criteria. I suppose it's the classic subjectivist argument of perception being reality, something I reject philosophically. But I remain open minded enough to take a listen.

And that's what it comes down, something the local hi-fi guy (a subjectivist) and I (a self-styled hi-fi objectivist) unquestionably agree upon. It's all about listening and only your ears should decide what you really like.

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Sony Design AV System TAV-L1/R

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 23:02:00 GMT

Personally, I don't see what the big deal is but … This is a new all in one Home Theater system coming up from Sony this summer. Model TAV-L1/R combines a Bravia 32" LCD screen with some integrated audio components designed for HT. The audio portion includes a DVD player that is compatible with CD and SACD. It's a nice touch to include SACD playback but built in components give me the willies. Oh, waitaminute, what are willies?

The audio components don't stop at a simple DVD player. You could after all, scrape a budget HDTV off the shelf of the local big box store if you wanted second rate DVD player integration. But the TAV-L1/R also includes Sony's S-Force Pro front surround technology. It's a fancy name for yet another DSP - yawn. It's also got an integrated 100Watt subwoofer and stereo speakers.

This and That

S-Master Digital Amplifier
Motorized Audio Unit with DVD/CD/SACD
2 HDMI interface inputs
480i, 480P, 1080i, 720P compatible

Here comes the slick part of this unit that is actually pretty cool, even if only for the first few times you use it. The amp and speaker grille section of the TV slides up and down to hide / reveal the 32" Bravia LCD screen. Touch sensitive automation is definitely slick. But the only real use I could see for this might be if you had an extra room that screamed for a second TV and some music. The audio components appear to have respectable specs. The amp delivers 50 watts RMS through each of its two channels. So, you've got a stereo sound system with decent numbers that can playback SACD and double as an HDTV. I've seen pictures of it in white and the black you see here. Sony says it will have: "Designer color speaker covers available October 2006.

The unit goes on sale from Sony in August for about $4000.

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AMD Buys ATI

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 21:41:00 GMT

Advanced Micro Devices, AMD the world's second largest microprocessor developer and bane of Intel announced that it agreed to buy ATI for $5.4 Billion dollars. ATI Tech is a Canadian graphics processor (GPU) manufacturer who makes many of the world's top rated video cards for PCs. ATI was also awarded the contract from Microsoft to develop the GPU that went into the Xbox360.

AMD has been stealing market share away from Intel for years as the #2 chip maker for PCs. By following Intel and quietly developing its own innovative approach it has recently turned the tables on Intel in the chip making business. Intel behaves lately like a company that's intimidated by its competitor. Intel seems to have stopped innovating and started following AMD. Case in point is the new multi-media processors being developed by Intel and AMD. AMD produced its Live technology and soon after Intel announces its own imitation right down to the name, Viiv.

AMD's processors today can bring more power to your PC with chips that operate with fewer cycles per second than the competing Intel chip. AMD is able to simply do more with less. Intel is still the top chip manufacturer but AMD is now making a power play that could possibly change the shape the business.

By buying ATI, AMD is committing itself to integrating graphics technologies into future CPUs. This could appear in future AMD CPUs in much the same way AMD already integrates memory controller technology into its CPUs.

How will Intel respond? Some already speculate it could go after ATI's competitor Nvidia the top GPU (graphics processor unit) manufacturer. But to what end? Seeking integration of other technologies into its CPUs would be a departure for Intel. Creating outside architectures into its processors has long been AMD's game. But lately it's been proving so successful that Intel will have to reconsider its status quo.

Speculation has already emerged that AMD may not be finished with high profile acquisitions. Some even say that AMD may go ahead and acquire ATI's primary competitor in the GPU arena Nvidia for themselves. This would be a highly controversial move but Jen Hsun Huaang, co-founder of Nvidia corporation was a designer at AMD. Nvidia and AMD have enjoyed a partnership with Nvidia that resulted in the nForce chipsets which have been a major source of revenue for nVidia and critical success for both companies.

What will the implications be if Nvidia and ATI are united under the AMD banner? A flurry of expert speculation has already begun.

Panasonic 103in Maneater Devours Girl: Are You Next?

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 17:59:00 GMT

"The poor girl didn't stand a chance." Witnesses said at the scene.

Panasonic unleashed a monster when it unveiled its world record breaking 103 inch plasma HDTV. Crowds gasped when the monstrosity was first unleashed at a public display. The crowd was horrified when the uncontrollable beast actually devoured the lovely demo model before their very eyes.

Osaka manufacturer of horrors Matsushita, known in North America as Panasonic, now plots to unleash a terrible army of man eaters across the globe. Matsushita will begin taking orders for the TH-103PZ600U in September. The world record breaking carnivore is 1080P capable and has a 4000:1 contrast ratio and 4,096 steps of gradation. It's said to contain over two million razor sharp pixels for a truly lethal 1,920x1080 bite.

Beware! If you attempt to handle the leviathan yourself you'll not only have to face its insatiable appetite but you'll be $70,000 US dollars lighter for the experience.

This new king of beasts stands 1.4 meters across and is said to be bigger than a double sized mattress and almost as heavy as an upright piano. The Japanese monster had its first battle with a similar Korean beast over the Sea of Japan. Locked in an epic struggle with Samsung's own 102 inch Plasma it was Panasonic's monster that prevailed. Now there is nothing standing between the Matsushita's abomination and North America. They are likely to enter the continental United States from both coasts. Expect the reign of terror to begin in New York and California before making its way into the Midwest if it is not stopped.

Remain vigilant and watch out for this High Definition behemoth. It might be coming to your neighborhood sooner than you think.

You can Download - Burn and Watch on TV

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 16:50:00 GMT

Hollywood is slowly coming to grips with new economic opportunities to sell content over the internet. Movie and TV studios are actively seeking out contracts to distribute media files through the web. Both download to burn and media files that are playable in mobile media players are starting to crop at some of the big services such as iTunes and it's rumored Microsoft is getting in the on that game with Urge and the rumored project Zune.

But now for the first time you can legally buy downloadable Hollywood movies to burn to DVD or playback in a mobile media player. Was there was any doubt that mainstream Hollywood would follow closely after the porn industry? CinemaNow has unveiled its download-and-burn movie service that now includes mainstream Hollywood films.

It's a new way that studios can make extra money from older titles. That's all that will fill up CinemaNow's content, for now. The service will only include about 100 older movies like "Charlie's Angels", "Full Throttle" and "Scent of a Woman". So, if you're anxious for newer DVD titles that you just burn yourself you'll still have to wait. But this is an important and encouraging step.

CinemaNow and its primary rival Movielink have lacked the download and burn business model thus far. Studios are still concerned that by distributing burnable files they'll widen the doors on piracy as they'll invite users to burn multiple disks when they've only paid for one.

CinemaNow Chief Exec Curt Marvis said of the new product release:

"This is probably the most important product release we've had since we started in 1999. Customers have been asking for a long time to be able to burn disks, and they want to play them on their DVD players."

It was only April that studios started the download to own business that gave new life to services like CinemaNow and Movielink. But back in April they could only sell movies that played back on the computer only. The burn to DVD is a tremendous step even though selection is limited to so few movies.

The DVD downloads will be the film's DVD release in a file you can burn yourself. The download will cost $8.99 and will include extra programming that was part of the DVD such as interviews etc. For most of the movies included in the selection you can probably find the actual DVD in a bargain bin somewhere for less and a lot less effort.

Despite my own reservations about this particular step, it's surprising how fast this area is moving. But it's still going to be a long haul before we're downloading movies you can burn to HD DVD, Blu-ray or Holographic Disks from the Internet. There is still just too much money to be made selling pre-packaged shiny disks.

Outlaw 7500 and 7700, Still Affordable Despite Price Hikes

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 00:37:00 GMT

Outlaw announced that it has had to roll with the times and increase prices on some of its most popular offerings. The 7500 and 7700 multi-channel amps are still the most affordable products in their class despite the modest price increase.

Effective July 1st '06 Outlaw had to bend to market forces that increases the cost of certain raw materials used high quality power amps. Material like minerals used in heat syncs and transformers and the fuel to move them to manufacturing have been rising with cost of everything these days. Outlaw, the top Home Theater direct-to-consumer manufacturer had to raise prices on a couple of its best products.

Model 7700 is a seven channel at 200 Watts RMS power amplifier that will now sell for $2,498. The 7500 is a five channel at 200 Watt RMS power amplifier that will now sell for 1,599, that's a slight $100 increase. The two power amps will deliver 200 Watts into 8-Ohms with 20 Hz - 20 kHz with all channels driven with a total harmonic distortion of under .03%. These amps employ what Outlaws calls its differential design, a common-mode rejection technology that will reduce crosstalk to greater than -100dB.

The two power amps have power supplies capable of holding up under tremendous current. They use custom designed dual toroidal transformers that feature multiple windings for each channel. When the action in the soundtrack really heats up and each channel is being driven to high volume, that's when a good power supply will shine. The toroidal style transformers really hold up well. The amplifiers provide possibly the cleanest pure power for their price on the market.

Outlaw products are highly regarded by audiophiles everywhere with a eye for value in. Being that Outlaw an Internet direct retailer it only sell through its website www.outlawaudio.com and saves on overhead that other companies incur through marketing and retail. Outlaw's most potent marketing is through word of mouth of its customers.

Despite the modest price hikes Outlaw still represents a great value. Does this post sound too much like an ad for the company? There are brands you find at the big box stores, and there are those brands you buy at the exotic hi-fi boutiques. Outlaw gives you the rare opportunity to buy boutique quality at big box store prices.

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Circuit City Goes hi-fi with D&M Holdings

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 23:47:00 GMT

D&M Holdings is the hi-fi collective that owns names like Denon, Marantz and Boston Acoustics. Their products by Denon and Boston Acoustics have been picked up by Circuit City. D&M Holdings is originally a Japanese corporation that formed with the merger of Denon and Marantz and has since picked up several audio / video technology firms. Most notably it owns Boston Acoustics, Replay TV (the hi-fi answer to TiVo) and Rio, makers of fine digital media players.

For every winner there must be a loser. D&M Holdings is making a major push into the retail mainstream with the release of Denon and Boston Acoustics to Circuit City. The shift to D&M Holding's products by Circuit City will displace products already on shelves by Harmon Kardon and Infinity. By September's end Circuit City will have dedicated home entertainment areas of their big boxes in about 500 stores.

As expected Circuit City says it's the result of their commitment to improved home entertainment offerings…excited to add Denon and Boston Acoustics … blah … blah … blah.

A notable quote from all this was that Paul Bente the President of Harman Consumer Group's speaker division says: Harman's parting with Circuit City was very much mutual… “Our take on the situation is that the year long plus R&D sabbatical Harman Kardon took while the industry exploded into HDMI and iPod functionality may have taken a toll on the manufacturer - driving down sales and causing Circuit City to look elsewhere for market leadership.“ - Audioholics.

That's interesting. Once upon a time a company like HK taking an R&D Sabbatical wasn't a bad thing. On the contrary, hi-fi manufacturers who made high-end gear will (and still do) take lots of time off from developing new products. New products lines every year is a sign of a market driven mass production. But that's the game Circuit City is playing. Swim their pools - you gotta' play by their rules.

Denon will be releasing a dedicated line of products to Circuit City stores. So, those of you looking at Denon products at hi-fi shops won't see the same gear at Circuit City. Yamaha apparently does this already with an HTR-line of receivers. In other words, get ready for budget Denon gear. Does this mean the once prestigious Denon line has sold out?

Clint from Audioholics asks: Is this a sign that Harmon Kardon is on their way to becoming the next Sansui?

Xbox Live Retro Summer Games

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 19:15:00 GMT

Well, tie my mullet with a bandana! Xbox Live is throwing an 80s Arcade game revival.

I don't know about where you are right now but it's very hot and humid outside over here in HomeTheaterFocus land. Generally sitting around indoors playing video games is the last thing I'm thinking of when summer arrives. After a long winter it's nice to get outside. But by mid July the sunshine that only a week ago felt warm now feels like a fiery blast from a damp furnace. After more than my share of yard work in the sun I'm ready to cool off in a dark rec room with a cold brew. Apparently Microsoft thinks that's the perfect time for some 80s retro gaming.

Microsoft and Xbox Live has started a new feature specifically for this summer called Arcade Wednesdays. Xbox Live will release a new Arcade game on Wednesday for much of the summer, they have a total of five lined up for release. So, if you remember the old days of going to the arcade and playing hits like Frogger, Galaga and Street Fighter you could be in for a treat if you're an Xbox Live gamer. The final installment of Arcade Wednesday will be the legendary Pac Man on August 9th. Personally I never liked that one very much but I will definitely have to give Galaga and Street Fighter II a look. Some of the games like Frogger that was released last Wednesday will have updated graphics you can choose to play. The graphics shouldn't interfere with game play and might make Frogger a bit more appealing on an HDTV with new illustrated back drops on which you can cross the road with your froggy avatar. Sounds thrilling. Or you can play it in 100% classic mode for you purists. Are there really purists for a game where you have to cross the road without getting squished and eat flies?

Arcade Wednesdays Schedule

July 12 – Frogger
July 19 – Cloning Clyde
July 26 – Galaga
August 2 – Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting
August 9 – Pac-Man

Microsoft has been criticized a bit for not putting up enough content on Xbox Live. It's been decent but not exactly the groundswell of downloads Microsoft had originally promised. Apparently the powers that be at Microsoft has been trying to tie up some content to distribute over its Live service and it seems this is the result. Arcade Wednesday. Oh, and don't expect these thrilling classics to be free as they'll cost from $5 to $10 bucks a shot. It's no different than the other retro games already available on Xbox Live.

I know I'm old enough to remember the classics, I already have Gauntlet and Joust downloaded from Live. I look forward to adding Street Fighter and Galaga to my collection and then I'll do some 80s style party gaming. Kick out that Van Hagar and Ozzy, dudes! Let's see if we can find buyer for some jumbos of malt liquor so we can hang out at the arcade - just like old times.

DRM: The Business end of Digital Media

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 18:30:00 GMT

In our last look at digital media we covered some of the oldest formats including the ever present MP3 and Apple's AAC. The AAC file is Apple's codec based on the audio/video compression used by MPEG or the Moving Picture Experts Group - version 4. Another style of codec that emerged to compete with Apples AAC was from - you guessed it Microsoft who went in a different direction than borrowing from the MPEG. Delving into the competition between WMA and AAC brings us smack into the middle of a market war and the highly volatile DRM issue.

WMA: Windows Media Audio was brought to you by those wild and crazy guys from Seattle. This is Microsoft's proprietary audio file format initially developed to compete with the MP3 but has wound up a competitor to Apple's AAC. In the digital music business right now iTunes is king and Microsoft would like nothing better to jump in and knock Apple of its perch. WMA is supported by Windows Media Player software that is used on Microsoft Windows operating system. But the technology has been licensed out to a wide range of devices like DVD players, MP3 and any other kind of portable media players you can imagine including cell phones. Apple's iPod does not support WMA - go figure!

WMA doesn't include DRM (digital rights management) which is a layer of software that prevents you from copying media files (like songs) from one device to another. However, WMA streamed through the latest version of the Advanced Systems Format (ASF) container does have a DRM called PlaysForSure, codenamed Janus also called DRM10. This is Microsoft's answer to Apple's DRM which is called FairPlay.

DRM: Digital Rights Management is a sad fact of digital media today. It's designed to protect the artists and record companies from endless duplicates of their intellectual property from being distributed freely. Two of the most common places you'll confront DRM in digital music is from in online digital music sales.

iTunes: Apple's iTunes is tops in the industry. One estimate puts its share of total internet music downloads at about 72%. Individual songs downloaded from iTunes cost .99 cents and each song you download is encoded with Apple's FairPlay DRM. There is a list of restrictions over the song that you download. What it all means is that even though you own the music you purchased from iTunes, there are rules. This has ticked off a lot of people and lends itself to the question, do you really own it? The answer according to the RIAA is no.

Subscription Services: To compete with iTunes a clever new business paradigm has emerged called subscriber music services. Using this scheme you agree to a monthly fee and during that time you have unlimited access to the services library of typically one million songs. These songs are encoded with Microsoft's DRM called PlaysForSure or DRM 10. You can play these songs back on Windows Media Player 10 or copy them to any portable device that is PlaysForSure compatible. More and more devices are jumping on board all the time, names like Archos and Creative make portable media players that will playback your subscribed music. Some of the first included Napster, Yahoo Music and MSN Music. Today there are many more one is even exclusive to a piece of hardware called the MusicGremlin.

So far, the Apple camp dominates with iTunes but the Microsoft DRM10 / Windows Media Player camp are a distant second with the subscriber paradigm. The failure of subscriber music to overtake significant ground on iTunes is often cited as proof of a truism in today's digital media. People are willing to subscribe to their TV and movie programming, but they want to buy and own their music.

But bear in mind that the subscriber music business is still relatively new and many just don't understand it yet. If you're a typical listener who likes popular music and use a mobile media device it should be a good fit. Would you rather pay $12 bucks to get 12 songs from iTunes, or pay $12 bucks for access to a million songs on Yahoo Music for one month? There is an alternative - a Russian music service known as www.AllofMP3.com, one of the webs best kept secrets. AllofMP3 blows away any of the others in price and quality. You can choose the bitrate of MP3 you desire and can even buy your media in lossless formats.

So, which online music service do you like?

Envisioneering Pronounces CableCard Dead

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 23:37:00 GMT

A story about CableCard technology ran in the New York Times this month that quotes Richard Doherty of the market research firm Envisioneering Group saying:

"The CableCard is essentially dead, It will go down in history like the Edsel."

Heralded as successor to the Digital Cable TV set top box CableCard is a special plug-in card provided by the local Cable TV Company roughly the size of a thick credit card. The card plugs into a compatible TV slot so you can tune in subscribed Digital Cable TV programming. CableCard currently exists in the standard 1.0 and 2.0 formats but a future version could be on the horizon (if it survives) called OpenCard. CableCard should be one of those no-brainer success stories in new technology, offering convenience to users and making more devices Digital Cable ready should hasten the conversion to HDTV.

According to the New York Times the technology has failed to capture the market and is experiencing a steady decline. Some six million CableCard equiped digital TV sets have been sold but only 170,000 (less than 3%) are actually using the feature. The rest of us are using the trusty old set top box. TV manufacturers have even begun to reduce the numbers of CableCard ready sets they sell. According to Envisioneering 80% fewer models will be released in '06 that include CableCard slots than were released in '05.

The reason for the decline seems to be the lack of a clear beneficiary besides us, the customer. Television manufacturers are only seeing it as an increased cost to producing a TV which reflects upon the price on store shelves. The cable TV companies have little incentive to adopt CableCard because they have a revenue stream in rental fees for the set top boxes they provide. Don't expect the set top box to go away anytime soon. Cable Companies are looking for ways to expand its role. Through it Cable TV has an added presence in the living room can sell services like On-Demand, PVR and the Interactive menu system. Matt Haughey from the PVR Blog says that he and many Comcast subscribers are even discouraged from using CableCard feature in their TVs when they've called to have the service activated.

Matt goes on to say the eulogy for the CableCard standard is premature and that the best of CableCard is yet to come. TiVo Series3 and Windows Vista Media Center PCs will be examples of CableCard ready devices that can record HDTV. There's little incentive for Cable TV nor TV manufacturers to bother with CableCard. But CableCard slots in a third party PVR and HTPC will benefit consumers who want to be free from the box. The success of the standard can only benefit the consumer by adding flexibility to their Cable TV subscription and ability to tune in on any CableCard ready device.

Understanding Digital Media Formats

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:33:00 GMT

Have you ever tried to make sense of all the different types of digital audio and video? Ever thought of creating a digital media library of your own but feel a little overwhelmed by all the formats? Welcome to the first installment of a series that looks at digital audio and what it all means to you. Who can deny the convenience of storing your entire library of music in something size of a cigarette pack? But some digital audio formats can backup CDs in audio quality that rivals (or duplicates) that of the original, while others are about as pleasant as cat piss under the couch. The first step in understanding digital media is to know your codecs.

Digital audio formats are actually codecs. Codec is a portmanteau word or a word originally made up of other words - like brunch. Codec comes from Code - Decode which is what's happening when someone rips (encodes) a CD into another digital format and then listens to it later (decode). Here's a quick outline of many of the most popular codecs.

Real Audio: RealPlayer has been around a long time. You may have clicked an audio or video stream that prompted you to install the Real Player codec on your computer. It's used mainly for streaming media from a website or internet radio. It’s a low bandwidth encoding method so it won't sound very good, not a problem for a student wanting to hear a recording a famous speech by JFK. Its strength is that it can stream music through the web even under adverse conditions such as dial-up. But if you care about sound quality there are better codecs.
WAV: Short for wave. This format was created by IBM and Microsoft years ago and has annoyed Windows users with bleeps and blurps ever since. It's not suitable for encoding digital music because WAV files are too large. WAV is sometimes worthwhile as a temporary step when transcoding. When you want to convert a digital audio file to another format but the codec won't recognize the format your digital music is in, you must first convert it to something your codec can see. WAV is so ubiquitous when using Windows that many codec tools will read it and can encode to it.
AIFF: This is the Apple equivalent to a WAV file. It has the same disadvantage as WAV in that it produces very large files.
MPEG: Pronounced M-Peg, an acronym for Moving Pictures Experts Group. The MPEG produced a family of codecs that ushered in the golden age of digital media compression we now enjoy. The groups' codecs are used on DVDs, digital radio, satellite and cable TV and through the internet. MPEG consists of a coalition of companies interested in high quality compressed audio visual media including: Dolby Labs, Fraunhofer (FhG), AT&T, Nokia and Sony.

Mpeg Details

MPEG developed the first widely adopted lossy audio video compression, MPEG version 1. Lossy compression simply means that after the audio or video is encoded the result is a relatively small file with minimal loss of quality. When we're dealing with something like an MP3 (or AAC) the loss of fidelity is proportionate to the amount of compression applied and measured in bits per second, the more bits per second the more data in the file hence higher quality. Smaller files result in greater loss of fidelity and therein lay the rub in dealing with digital media.

A 128 kilobit per second (kbps) MP3 is a nominal amount of compression and average for what you'll find online at sources like iTunes. 128 bit MP3s fit nicely through the internet and has an audio quality that sounds acceptable through most earbuds played back through the average portable player. But to the discerning ear played back on a home theater audio system a 128 bit MP3 is the acoustic equivalent of unwrapping a Little Debbie snack cake at a fine dining establishment.

MP3: The MP3 was derived from the first version of its codec Mpeg1. MP3 is by far the most popular format of digitally encoded music. The .mp3 file is the most widely used digital audio format on the internet. Nearly all portable digital media players can playback an MP3 as it's the first real breakthrough in lossy audio encoding, MP3 is also known as MPEG-1, layer 3.
AAC: Advanced Audio Coding is the audio core of the Mpeg-4. This is a more advanced audio codec than the MP3 which is derived from Mpeg-1 and its most commonly used by Apple in its iPod which can read AAC files. As a more advanced codec you'll get slightly higher fidelity at a slightly lower bit rate.

Next we'll delve into more Digital Audio codecs and explore of great interest to audiophiles there are a few that are lossless.

Microsoft Media Player, DRM10 Goes WiFi

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 17:44:00 GMT

The NY Times put out a convincing rumor yesterday about Microsoft's plans to get into the MP3 player business.

The Times says they received information about a Microsoft digital media player that would be launched by Christmas from:

“…entertainment industry executives briefed on the company's plans ... who did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the device.”

Microsoft is no stranger to manufacturing small PC hardware peripheral items like mice, keyboards and the odd network card. Microsoft really stepped into the hardware biz when it muscled its way into the console game war and went toe to toe with Sony. With confidence in its hardware manufacturing prowess Microsoft now wants to take it to an old adversary that has long owned digital media online sales and the media player markets. It's a fight that one can sense Microsoft has been itching to get into but thus far has had to sit it out on the sidelines while names like Sony, Creative and Samsung dueled against Apple. Each of these iPod competitors has agreed to use Microsoft's media player and compatibility to Microsoft's DRM10 aka PlaysForSure. DRM10 makes devices by Samsung, Creative and many others compatible with the subscription based online music services like Napster, MSN Music and Yahoo Music. But despite the best efforts of the competition 72% of all legally downloaded music is from Apple's iTunes and Apple also holds 77% of the MP3 player market. A popular music service that can take over a chunk of iTunes share is where real profits are to be made and since "entertainment industry execs" are on board with Microsoft you can be sure they're looking at not just music but also TV shows and movies.

So, what's Microsoft going to do differently? Each of Apple's competitors seems content to build iPod clones, add an FM radio and call it a day. Sony has carved some innovation out of the portable digital music player with its Walkman branded players using a unique screen and interface that doesn't try to copy the iPod as close as possible. But so far Sony's Walkman is proving far more successful as a phone than a dedicated digital media player.

According to the execs, Microsoft is going to sock it to Apple's market share with real innovations. They say an "advanced video screen" and wi-fi capabilities will give the upcoming Microsoft Media players an edge. Exactly what constitutes the "advanced video screen" is unclear. Perhaps a higher resolution or larger screen than the iPod Video is what Microsoft has planned. But wi-fi is definitely a plus. The leaked information suggests Microsoft's MP3 players will be able to download music wirelessly from the Internet - no computer, USB or Firewire cables. Hopefully the Microsoft wi-fi MP3 player will include WEP/WAP security compatibility. Without it the actual networks you'll be connecting to using Microsoft's new MP3 players will be severely limited. Most people who want to use a wireless handheld will likely want to use it in a variety of hotspots for a hassle free connection. Hassle free connections discounts the local Starbucks that charges for its wi-fi bandwidth, unless Microsoft can include a browser that will let you enter an access code.

There is a wireless MP3 player already on the market that's certainly worth a look. It's called the MusicGremlin and has its own online music service from which you can download via wi-fi. It also lets you interact with other MusicGremlin subscribers over the Internet letting you beam a song to any other wi-fi connected subscriber. There are many wi-fi possibilities in a handheld digital media player. If Microsoft can keep the costs down and integrate with its existing services like MSN it'll could potentially let you message and then share playlists with subscribers on your friends list. Apple hasn't even touched this area yet. Conventional wisdom in the digital media business has been that people don't like to subscribe to music, we subscribe to TV but buy music and that's why people like iTunes but shy away from the subscription music services. Perhaps people's minds will change if wireless possibilities open new a relationship with music and connectedness with your friends. Many already have an MSN account, add music to that, add wireless compatible hardware that connects you from any wi-fi hotspot (so much cheaper than the cell phone wireless network) now throw in the possibility of an MSN / Xbox Live connection and the mind boggles.

It's been long speculated that a bridge between MSN Music services and Xbox Live's marketplace is a future possibility. A portable media player with its connections to the "entertainment industry execs" that provide the media - might just close that gap between MSN and Live. How many Live members would jump at the chance to download music and movies using the Xbox 360's remote control? Or just synchronize with the Xbox Live Marketplace when the latest episode of your favorite TV show is available, then stored on your Xbox 360 or through Managed Copy to your Vista PC and if you like - synched wirelessly to your Microsoft MP3 player.

Welcome to the world of end to end Microsoft DRM compatibility. Soon a user should be able to download media to their home entertainment system and then offload it to Microsoft's own mobile device. As cool as it all is, does all this DRM and Managed Copy give anyone else the feeling that big brother is watching just over our shoulder?

Home Theater Deprivation

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 16:45:00 GMT

This is the weekend that most of North America is united in sitting outside on lawn chairs drinking cold beverages and maybe catching some fireworks (well, not literally catching but - you know what I mean). The US celebrates its hard fought independence from the UK through the spilling of blood and tea into the Boston harbor. Canada meanwhile celebrates having to do neither while still receiving a certain amount of legal autonomy from the crown. Okay, Canadian history is far less interesting.

It's going to be late next week before the HomeTheaterFocus blog gets another update. I'll be at a cottage deep in the woods of northern Ontario with no running water or electricity. There will be no sounds of hi-fi or home theater where I'm going, only the sounds of crickets, bullfrogs and if I'm lucky a chorus-line of wolves calling from the distance. Periods of deprivation are an opportunity to temper ones appreciation of fine audio reproduction.

Have a great weekend!

Wayde

Fatman iTube iPod Dock

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 02:38:00 GMT

The acoustic quality of digital audio players is a controversial topic on the best of days, but so are the merits of tube amplifiers. Some old school audiophiles swear by them claiming tubes provide warmer, richer sounds than a transistorized amplifier. But many hi-fi fans simply swear at tube amps damning them for higher power consumption and distortion levels than transistors.

But of you're of the group that might consider a tube amp with your digital audio player this new iPod accessory might interest you. A UK based audio company has come up with a product that docked the most popular digital player of all with the warm amber glow of tube amplifiers with its new iTube iPod Dock. Yeah, yeah, I too am getting sick of iPod accessories, but this one has the greatest potential of any I've seen come along in awhile. I'd love the looks of something like this on my desk at the office.

Many claim the best sound quality of all iPods can be achieved from its fourth generation. These were being sold only about a year ago just before the iPods Nano and Video were released. The reason for the 4th generation's preference is its Wolfson WM8975 DACs only used in that particular model. Wolfson is a respectable brand of Digital Analogue Converter chip, a key component in reproducing sound from any digital source. Wolfson's DACs can be found in many respected names in consumer electronics including Arcam whose DVD players are among the highest rated in the Secrets of Home Theater's Benchmark. Using Apple's lossless codec through a docked 4th gen iPod connected to a high end amplifier surprised many of the most jaded golden ears at a demo by Wilson Audio at CES 2004.

Many have gone to extremes in the quest for better sound quality from the iPod. RedWineAudio provides mods for your iPod, for a fee of course. Their website details all the modificiations they'll make to squeeze every last drop of acoustic bliss from your Wolfson WM8975 by eliminating key "offending" components in the signal path. What you'll get back from RedWineAudio may arguably provide the best audio sound an MP3 player can provide, but it'll look like something crawled out of the Borg Collective.

Fatman's iTube iPod Dock is the stylish way to bridge the gap between digital and analogue audio technology with the coolest looking iPod accessory to come along in awhile. The iTube is compatible with every iPod except the shuffle, it'll even let you control sound and video through its included remote control.

Features

  iTube Vacuum Tube Amplifier
  iTube Docking Station
  Brush / Glove for cleaning
  Power cable
  Audio cable to connect Docking Station and Amplifier
  Banana Plug speaker cables
  Aux source audio cable for connecting CD player etc
  Video cable to connect from docking station to TV

Specifications

  Power Output 13Wx2
  Frequency Response 20Hz – 20KHz (±1.5Db)
  Harmonic Distortion 0.5%
  Signal-To-Noise Ratio 86Db
  Input Impedance 100K
  Output Impedance 4ohm, 8ohm
  Valve Type 2x6N1(ECC85) 1x6E2(EM87)
  Power Supply AC100~120V/50~60Hz AC220~240V/50~60Hz

Dimensions

  Amp (LxWxH) 260x145x130mm
  Dock (WxDxH) 155x130x123mm
  Weight 4.3KGs

No word yet on exactly how good the iTube sounds until I can find a hands-on review. But at about $550 the Fatman isn't cheap so you may want to hold out for Jake's yet to be announced iPod dock.

Touch Not This Format War

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 22:04:00 GMT

I think the BD and HD DVD format war can be retired as a topic of lightweight discussion, at least by me. It's become a very politically charged matter.

I submitted an editorial piece to Audioholics the other day, posted by Clint. It got a lot of attention from readers wanting my blood for everything from not telling the "whole" story (IE leaving out some technical details in my rundown of factors to consider if deciding between the two) to not actually making a decision about which one to buy. The website itself also got blasted for supposedly taking an anti-hi-def stance. That's a bewildering accusation.

The editorial itself was written to point up a few things that I didn't think were so well publicized. I didn't think it would be too much of stretch to recount that a majority of the reviews have said the early HD DVD movies have a better picture quality and that the BD movies might be suffering at the hands of Mpeg2 compression. I guess that's not a unanimous opinion and that I'm spreading a misconception.

The message of the editorial was that the smart money is on waiting to see what happens in the market. Neither player is worth your hard earned money at this point. I stand behind that claim. I would be remiss if I didn't include that I harbor ill feelings toward both Sony and Toshiba for making what should be a natural progression of technology into a format war. Although it has been an interesting topic and it certainly gets people riled up to talk and post about it.

Want to see some venom flowing back and forth? Check out the HD DVD / Blu-ray boards on AVSforum. I don't think we'll see the situation degenerate to that level at the HomeTheaterShack

I'm disappointed that we the minority of hi-fi, home theater and audio/video fans out there are at each other's throats over something as indifferent toward us as Sony and Toshiba's market place fisticuffs. There are sports fans and political pundits less single-minded in their views than some of the side-takers in this format war.

The format war was designed to take advantage of us, the early adopters and A/V fans who read blogs and forum posts about our hobby. It's because we understand the difference between 480i and 1080P that we're also inevitably the ones who will have any opinion at all. Most of the average Joe consumers are still trying to master HD over air broadcasts and progressive scan DVD video.

I think we need to relax. Too many people feel personally involved in one format or the other like a rabid football dad who thinks his kid is one shift away from a scholarship. Even if you've bought a disk player, enjoy it! If the format you chose "loses the war"; who cares? Enjoy the movies you have, it won't stop working for them. It's an old rule in computers, you buy hardware for the software that's currently available, "future proofing" is a fools game. Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt were built be future proof. Consumer electronics technology is transient, designed to last until manufacturers can no longer milk it for profit.

How Low Will Lucasfilm THX Go?

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 21:52:00 GMT

THX began life as a series of specifications for movie theaters back in the early 1980s when George Lucas was appalled by the varying audio/video quality that movie goers had to suffer. The first THX showroom opened in 1983 when the THX division of Lucasfilm opened. In 1990 the standard was applied to home sound systems, a sweet spot that has proved lucrative for the specification. The THX logo had long been considered a mark of excellence on home theater equipment. In its early days the logo was limited to relatively high end equipment that few could afford. Never a necessary mark of high end quality but many manufacturers chose to pay for testing at THX labs where it either passes or fails a series of explicit quality assurance tests.

I am probably of a generation that benefited most from this revolution of quality assurance standards in movie theaters. Ridley Scott's Blade Runner is surely seared into the DNA of a generation of movie goers as the specification for fine SF cinema. Unfortunately about the time Blade Runner was making its rounds the quality of the theater experience was horribly inconsistent. I saw the movie many times in theaters when it made it short rouds including in a few very bad conditions. Nobody appreciates the bigger picture, what Lucasfilm and the THX project has done for movies in general, more than those who remember how bad they were. In its time THX did a great job of illuminating those shortcomings. In recent history THX has done a remarkable job of producing a standard, any standard that unifies some measure of quality in audio and video reproduction.

Since the time of high end THX gear it has split into two groups, THX Select and THX Ultra and some would say this is where THX began a downward slide. THX was still a series of specifications requiring stringent testing at THX labs (paid for by the manufacturer), but the logo started appearing on surprisingly mainstream equipment. Lucasfilm would tell you that it was opening up the specification to more mainstream applications. The THX Selectcertification was applied as a reference at levels for rooms with around 2000 cubic feet of space. THX still retained the THX Ultra certification for its truly high end equipment designed to work with multi-channel music in rooms 3000 cubic feet or larger. The certification ostensibly guarantees your home theater equipment will play back high volume levels at low distortion and disperse sound in specific ways.

The THX logo has been tarnished in the eyes of many serious audiophiles. But with more and more different products coming out sporting THX logos, like 2.1 channel computer speakers, it's getting difficult to keep up with myriad of THX compromises and applications. What exactly are THX certified cables and interconnects supposed to do?

THX Integrated HT Spec

In June THX launched its Integrated Home Theater Specification. In this collaboration with Onkyo THX has helped create the first certified system of its kind, Onkyo's new HT-S990THX. What is an Integrated Home Theater system? Some call it Home Theater in a Box. Of course with Onkyo and THX branding behind the new product they're describing it as … "a space currently filled by home theater-in-a-box (HTiB) products"

Retailing at $1099 a fully THX certified home theater audio system has never been so accessible to the mainstream. And that's exactly the message from Robert Hewitt, vice president of sales at THX when he says:

“The THX Certified Integrated Home Theater specification provides CE manufacturers a means to bring more affordable, high quality audio to the masses. For years, THX has defined quality and performance in high-end home entertainment. Now, with the THX Integrated System specification and the Onkyo HT-S990THX, we are introducing a new category of home theater systems, one that bridges the gap between lower-priced HTiB products and premium home theater systems.”

So, it's not really HTiB like Zest is not really soap.

To Onkyo's credit, if you were looking for a budget home theater solution in one package you could do a lot worse than one of its HTiB systems that have received praise from reviews and users alike. The HT - S990THX is a feature rich system that includes:

32-bit DSP
XM-Ready
Onkyo's RI control
Can decode Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES & DTS 96/24
Includes processing for Dolby Digital ProLogic IIx, DTS Neo:6, THX Cinema2, THX Music & THX Games
Speakers include a 1-inch soft-dome tweeter and dual 5-inch woofers
12-inch subwoofer with 230-watt power amplification module

But let's face it - does anyone take the THX logo seriously as a quality standard anymore?