Home Theater Focus : Editorial

Ian Masters: Answer Man

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 15:55:00 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 15:20:00 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 14:59:00 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?

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 22:42:00 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.

A look at High End Hi-Fi

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 15:22:00 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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Outlaw 7500 and 7700, Still Affordable Despite Price Hikes

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 21:37:00 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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Home Theater Deprivation

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 13:45:00 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

Touch Not This Format War

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 19:04:00 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 18:52:00 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?

HD DVD vs Blu-Ray Round: 1

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 18:32:00 GMT

Now that both formats have their first devices on the table let's see where the format war stands by comparing both feature sets. We'll include Capacity, Interactive Features, Content Protection and everyone's favorite - Managed Copy as our categories. We won't include movie selection because neither has the Star Wars or Lord of the Rings Trilogies.

Capacity

HD DVD: 15 Gigabytes single layer.

Blu-ray: 25 Gigabytes single layer.

Winner: Blu-ray, but not by much. Many people see Blu-ray as the superior choice because of the relatively tiny numeric advantage. But put it into perspective with the capacity of a future storage medium. A possible successor to the new disk media has already been developed, it's called Holographic Versatile Disk developed by InPhase and to being manufactured by Maxell and Hitachi. To give you an idea how unimpressive the storage difference between HD DVD and Blu-ray are: A single HVD will be a 1.6 Terabyte rewritable storage medium.

Interactive features

HD DVD: iHD interactive standards were created by Microsoft in conjunction with Disney and the DVD Forum. iHD will be support interactivity with your Windows PC when Windows Vista is rolled out. It's not exactly clear how or even if it's going to be used in practice.

Blu-ray: The BD-Java standard is a special version of Sun Microsystem's Java. Again, who knows what it'll do exactly but potential for these are vast. But in terms of a straight movie player, do we really want to interact with our Blockbuster rental? Are studios liable to add the expense of interactive features to movies?

Winner: HD DVD in a slight edge here just because more people use Windows. The standard is directly supported by Microsoft so it's likely to have a major inroad to compatibility with Vista. But realy. How much of this interactivity are we really going to see when either medium arrives? When DVD first came out we heard about all the interactive euphoria then too. To us jaded DVD veterans we have little use for animated menu systems when we just want to watch a movie. Many of the promised DVD features are not much more than an annoyance. Studios aren't likely to spend extra money developing substantial interactive features and if they did; would we the unwashed movie watching public be buying?

Content Protection

HD DVD: Will use the AACS (Advanced Access Copyright System) DRM (Digital Rights Management) scheme. This is going to be the complete solution for copy protecting all digital high definition entertainment. Welcome, to the new, real world.

Everyone will get used to AACS, it'll be integrated into any future connection standard (such as HDMI or DisplayPort) computer operating system, video card or anything that wants to transmit, store or playback any entertainment content created by the major studios.

Blu-ray: Will also use AACS. However Blu-ray gets extra points with the studios for being a good little format by making it even harder for hackers. Two added layers of content protection are BD+ and ROM Mark. Forget Blu-ray's greater storage capacity, this is why more movies going to BD than HD DVD.

Managed Copy

HD DVD: First to impose Mandatory Managed Copy (MMC). MMC is one of those tricks of AACS that will fully control any copies you make across your network. HD DVD was the first to support this feature which will allow you to move your HD DVD movie to your home server and other computers or a mobile device. MMC could incorporate a pay-per-copy system or it could arrive on the streets in a system that allows you to buy a "premium" version of a movie with unlimited copies through MMC or the "just one" copy version. How MMC will be used is up to the studio releasing the disk.

Blu-ray: Wasn't going to support MMC until HP drew a line in the sand and demanded both MMC and iHD for its continued support of the Blu-ray standard. That Blu-ray initially didn't support MMC is what gave BD a major push by the recording studios who don't want any part of copying their intellectual property. But with a majority of the studios behind Blu-ray, the Blu-ray specification relented and gave HP MMC. It's still a pay-per-copy system, it's unclear exactly how it will be implemented but it's up to the studio and the disk exactly how MMC will be applied.

Winner: Neither. That's right, neither side wins here because neither Toshiba's HD-A1 nor Samsung's BD-P1000 will support Managed Copy in any form. Your prize for being an early adopter is a device stripped of the full feature set of the format you've chosen. AACS, the content protection DRM (digital rights management) scheme hadn't completed the standard in to time for it to be included in the early players. Instead the first round of next gen disk players will an Interim AACS developed specifically for the early devices.

Richard Doherty, spokesperson of the AACS Licensing Association says: "We expected the first early players to be basic players and we didn't want to slow down the roll out of those devices."

HTFocus Blog Writer Eats Circuit City Crow

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 15:15:00 GMT

Break out a slice of that humble pie, I'm ready to take a bite. Last Friday I reported on a story about Circuit City forums being hacked. In that news item I made an offhand quote:

"It's a good excuse to have better taste in forums."

Comments by members of the HomeTheaterShack suggested I was being an elitist snob. So, I created an account on that forum (GarbgeDog, named after my own dog who just loves the garbage) and put forth an argument.

My contention was that a forum hosted by a retail outlet cannot possibly give you what other forums can, namely an unbiased viewpoint. Part of me felt the shack forum had the opinion of kids wearing MTV T-Shirts with AT&T baseball caps who were going to go home and watch Bowflex infomercials recorded on their PVR.

When advertising becomes a substitute for communication it erodes community.

I've also been aware of a movement where corporations use the web as a tool for organic outreach. Companies are trying to put on a human face with measures like the CEO blogging. Noted author, blogger and PR guru Seth Godin says when companies choose to "walk the talk" they better be ready to "talk the talk" too.

Certain that Circuit City was choosing to merely "walk the talk" through a moderated community I created an account to test it. Using my GarbageDog alias I dispensed morsels of advice to a (potential) Circuit City customer named Wes. I included a few telltale barbs at Circuit City without being nasty or crossing the flame line.

When Dave Romero, Circuit City forums Admin challenged some of my anti-big box assertions I thought, okay, here we go. This is where I get banned and will write a blog post crooning about the Circuit City forum Gestapo ready to squelch the truth.

To my surprise the opposite was true. Dave and I exchanged a few PMs and he actually said he appreciates my opinions. While the CC forums don't exist to host pure anti-Circuit City posts from disgruntled customers (no forum wants flame baiting) he welcomed any opinion to the forum even if it's pro mom and pop shop and less big box. Dave's contention seemed to be that any criticism I cite toward the Circuit City customer experience lets them know how they can get better. It seems Dave sincerely wants to help people with questions (and surely CC sees it as win/win sales opportunity) about new Home Theater technologies.

So, I was wrong! Especially if I'm trolling the CC forums you're likely to get balanced opinions and there is no forum Gestapo ready to pounce on a post that doesn't use the correct corporate newspeak.

Home Theater vs Movie Theater

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 18:25:00 GMT

Home Theater vs Movie Theater

I've never been one to promote the rivalry between the two as I think they both have their place. HD Beat ran its own "Why Home Theaters Rock" feature which is an interesting read. It's an interesting comparison to this list found on Cinemefusion which makes the mistake of not being content to simply promote movie theater but has to add that Home Theater sucks which won't win over much of the movie loving population. HD Beat plays on some of the reasons for Movie Theater rocking but applies it to HT.

Well, all this rocking has me dizzy. Here is my own play on these lists because it's probably best not to choose sides. You can enjoy both equally.

1/ The sound of Music

My Home Theater is simply an extension of the sound system I've had for decades. I've always loved movies but I once loved music more. Although music isn't the socially defining force in my life it used to be, I still love to listen to music and that means no video. I bet it's common that many of you can trace audio components back through the years. Recalling where you got it, what it replaced and what long gone components you've sold to finance the new one. For me, Home Theater was just what hi-fi morphed into. If there was no Home Theater I'd still have a sound system. Video and multi-channel audio is just an extra feature in my music system.

Strike this one up to Home Theater

2/ Coming Attractions / Hype

I used to love trailers. But too many have crossed the line, giving away too many significant plot details and spoiling the movie. I think it's called the Island with Ewan McGregor is an example. I haven't even seen the movie. I don't have to as I already saw the trailer which gave it away.

What Cinefusion calls "Catch the Hype" in reason #7 is just plain sick. I can live without marketing of movies and product tie-ins. Commercials that aren’t trailers before movies are an annoyance that garners nothing but my hostility. McDonalds ads, car commercials etc are a reason I have half a mind to completely boycott theaters.

Chalk this one up to Home Theater again

3/ Big Sound

Although I appreciate the sound system of the local Cineplex, sometimes they can be well tuned. I still like the sound at home better. If I find the voices are a bit muted I can turn up the center, if I'm not getting enough rumble I can turn up my subs. This might not be so common if the local theater is the benchmark for acoustic performance often I find the center way too loud, but maybe that's because I like to sit very close to the screen.

This one's 50/50

4/ Big Picture

Normally I would say hands down this is a huge advantage of the movie theater. But sometimes the Movies have a problem with brightness in the images. They often look like they need a new light bulb in the projectors. It's annoying when a scene takes place in darkness and images are lost in murky shadows. But fortunately this doesn't happen that often. The local Galaxy theater chain where I usually go consistently gives me good images quality. You can't beat the HUGE screen at the theater when you're sitting in the middle of the first 1/3 of the theater. But at home my 50" display is always rock solid with uniform brightness with every feature. But still, this one has to go to the Movie Theater but if my local Cineplex had the old bulb problem more often I'd have to give it another 50/50.

Movie Theater

5/ Social Factor / Lone Factor

This is one of the most controversial reasons for the theater. Some people like to watch movies in a crowd, some like it at home alone. I like both. When the crowd doesn't consist of commentary from Bob the expert-in-all-things sitting behind me, I like to watch in a crowd. But I also love to watch a movie alone at home.

But home and alone are two separate concepts, I do no, cannot go home to be alone. My Home Theater anytime my kid is not at daycare is kiddie theater. So, even if my kid was capable of being quiet and perfectly still for 2 hours (yeah right) I'd still have to be mindful of the kind of material I'm screening. I may get to watch a movie in peace in my Home Theater sometime in about 2010 when my child is old enough that maybe he'll have friends and sleep over at their house from time to time. The HT fan/parent is a contingent I rarely hear from in the online press. When my wife and I get the kid to bed and settled on a weeknight, sitting on the couch at home causes more sleepiness than yearning for a good movie. I can barely get through an episode of 24 without nodding off most weeknights forget about a movie. It's only special occasions when my HT really gets to rock out and facilitate a good movie.

Movie Theater wins here.

Getting out of the house

This one probably falls under social/lone factor so it's where I'll stop. I don't know if I'm the only HT fan that feels this way but sometimes it's nice to just get out of the house. My wife and I used to like to go to movies together but nowadays we forego the movies. Leaving the wife and kid at home and go to a movie alone is a great way for me to spend some time. I get better immersion at the theater. There is no telephone, no wife, no kids, no pager with impending server issues (that goes along with having a wife in IT who carries the pager, not me) that I get to hear all about.

Well, that's my list of thoughts on HT vs MT. I like 'em both, think they both have their place. Probably if I didn't have a young child living in my house I would have less reason to go out to the theater. But then it might become part of a night out for my wife and I again like it used to be before the baby.

Leave the iPod at home

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 17:16:00 GMT

Less is more

Spring has returned. Waking to the sounds of ever more species of birds as the frost-line makes its seasonal ascends up northerly parallels I am reminded again of my love of acoustics. The world has a natural soundtrack that through mobile electronics is in jeopardy of being forgotten. With spring come ads for outdoor speakers and ever more things that want to hook up to your iPod. Products like iFusion make a convenient way to carry around a complete portable speaker system to let others hear your music when you're outdoors.

Music has become completely ubiquitous but that's not necessarily such a good thing. Almost everywhere we go we can have music, restaurants and cafés even outdoor patios have others people's selections or we can simply nullify the music of others with familiar white ear-buds. Now that wireless outdoor speakers and products like iFusion are becoming cheaper and more popular the suburban backyard can have a permanent soundtrack.

I found the problem with music's new found ubiquity extreme is it cheapens the experience of music listening. When taking a walk with the iPod is a little too close to sitting in the living-room and really listening. It becomes a cheap imitation of something we should take pleasure in.

To illustrate the problem with music's ubiquity I point to another medium of art, film. One thing I lament in Hollywood fare is the lack of simple real-life moments that seem more common in foreign film. Take for instance the many scenes in "Schultze Gets the Blues", the film about the accordion playing German retiree that takes up Cajun Zydeco. The music would lose its charm without its indulgence in pauses while nothing but natural and mundane sounds fill the air. Sergio Leone is a film director that knew how to use natural, mundane sounds for dramatic enhancement. Early in the film Once Upon A Time in the West we're treated to a cacophony of sounds produced by the wind, they portrait a sense of boredom which builds slowly into tension.

To sharpen your appreciate music listening, be sure and take pauses. Leave the iPod at home and indulge in the natural sounds all around you.

LG for Nobel Peace prize

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 19:01:00 GMT

LG should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray, or at least making it irrelevant. Last Tuesday the Korean electronics manufacturer made it official, they will try to begin manufacturing a combination player late in the year. We can only say “try“ because it's been tried before by Samsung who came to the conclusion that it couldn't be done. But LG seems a little more determined with the most recent

announcement.

Originally LG had sided with Blu-ray and had some players slated for release this spring. The BD199 was demonstrated at CES ’06 and was going to be LG’s early Blu-ray player available this spring. But LG has decided not to release it at all. Instead LG will no longer back Blu-ray exclusively but had decided to add HD DVD support to its line up of next gen DVD players.

When or rather if LG can pull off a combo player by the end of the year, no matter what else happens in the format war we have to give LG full credit for ending it. It’s still likely one or the other will whither and die and at this point it doesn’t seem likely to be Blu-ray, but that’s not an official prediction by any means. The presence of a combo player means it doesn’t matter which one dies, or if both continue for years. How can sales of the first Blu-ray players (retailing for around $1K) not be affected by the coming of the LG combo players? Who will knowingly go ahead and drop $1K on a player that might theoretically only be able to play half the films available.

Hollywood Begs For Theater Attendance

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 15:09:00 GMT

I don’t watch the Oscars. I love movies but I don’t care for the elitism and fanfare so the whole Oscars thing makes me want to gag. I would enjoy movies far less if I fully realized what pompous twits most people involved in movies are, so I spare myself the spectacle.

I love movies but I don’t consider movie stars important people to society. If any of them do anything of note staring in a movie is low on the list. If they’ve raised a child with sound moral values, that’s noteworthy. If they’ve been able to use their wealth to help society in some way, that’s noteworthy. But I don’t want to hear about it, it should be done with humility and without fanfare. I don’t care about a movie star’s politics or personal life. So, there you have my populist ideas of stardom. Accomplishments are a good thing. Stardom is rancid.

Lately Hollywood is in trouble and it's not too proud to beg. I read that during the awards there were several pleas for people to attend movie theaters.

Well, Hollywood should be scared. Theater attendance has been dropping year after year. The National Association of Theater Owners says that in 2002 attendance had its best year since they’ve been recording it for the past 25 years. From 2002’s 1.63 billion movie ticket sales it fell to 1.57 in ’03. Then to 1.52 billion in ’04 and finally by June of ’05 it was scraping rock bottom at only 654 million movie tickets.

This is a Home Theater website and I am a huge fan and proponent of the Home Theater hobby. No, this won’t be where I croon about how HT will eventually take over the movies because it’s natural evolution and clear human preference. Although it’s true, if people want to watch at home they will. The Hollywood business paradigm will just have to adapt. But I must digress, Home Theater is more about Theater than it is Home. As much as I enjoy Home Theater I still like going to the movies. There is nothing like seeing certain kinds of film on the big screen. I simply enjoy the experience of going to and watching a movie with a crowd of people. People are annoying sometimes, but not usually. My pet peeve is people kicking the back of my chair or putting their feet up on the chair next to me. Nothing threats of bodily harm won’t cure. Simply stand up and turn the kids behind you and threaten them.

“If you don’t keep your feet off my seat I’m going to jump back there and tear your heart through your nostrils.” Usually does it. A more polite approach would probably work too but they get enough of that at school these days.

The other annoyance at the theater is the cell phone. Ahh, yes. That’s a great excuse to use this little missive.

“I see that cell phone has a built in digital camera.” They all do nowadays. “That’s great because where I’m going to shove it you can call it a colonoscopy.”

There is no excuse for letting your phone ring, let alone talking on the phone during a movie. It's really a twisted plea for help. They're really informing people around them they have deep seated issues. Foruntately there is a known cure. It's an called old school medieval whoopin. Where are the Spanish inquisitors when you need them. The real heresey is cell phones in movie theaters.

But honestly, I’m annoyed by people a minority of the time I attend the movies. Usually I have a great time, enjoy the film, hear nice sound. There is an added touch to getting immediate responses of a crowd to the film. If you live in a city you have access to some world class theaters in these new multi-plexes. They’re cheaper to get into than they’ve been in a long time too.

So, give the movies a try. Support the good ones. It’s good for the movies and it’s good for Home Theater.