Hello all.

It’s been fun working on this blog, but I’ve decided that I just can’t keep it up anymore.

Thanks for reading.

I’ve been waiting for news like this for a long time. Denon is going to be bringing HDMI 1.3 capable receivers to the market in the form of their 2007 lineup, due in mid 2007. These receivers will accept and switch 1080p signals. They will also support 36-bit deep colour, and some will include video processing by Silicon Optix, Faroudja, and Analog Devices.

And the coolest thing of all? High-end models will finally be able to decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master soundtracks from your beloved HD DVD or BD discs! Yay! This is the first such announcement I’ve seen.

If you’re a big Denon fan, though, you might be disappointed to hear that they still have no plans for to release a BD or HD DVD player anytime soon.

HDMI 1.3 comes to 1080p audio products in 2007

A friend of mine has a laserdisc player. He also has the original Star Wars Trilogy (yes, I capitalized the “T”) on laserdisc. Recently he supersampled the laserdisc output, digitized it, and created and MPEG4 version of the movies for his own personal use. (I’m sure he’ll correct me if I got any of that wrong.)

I wonder how that compares to Fox’s versions, where they had to do something similar? Yup, Fox released the original Star Wars movies on DVD, finally, and they came from laserdisc sources. How do they look? Not bad, but not really all that great either. Nor is the sound anything to write home about - it’s not even 5.1 (just like the original!).

Home Theater Magazine had a look, at this is what they had to say:

“The video is listed as 2.35:1, but is not anamorphic, so be sure to set your DVD player and display accordingly. The movies do vary slightly, and they all actually measure out a bit narrower than the full Panavision aspect ratio. As the resources at Fox and Lucasfilm are behind these releases, I can honestly say that they look better than any of the bootlegs I have ever seen—which were generated from the laserdiscs, the best-ever renditions of the original films. The colors are truer to the theatrical presentations, and the discs have an overall more filmic look than the reinvented 2004 special editions, even if they are a bit soft, dirty, grainy, and artifacty. The Dolby Surround audio is a hybrid mix of different soundtracks from over the years, with respectable fidelity and directionality. Extras are simply an Xbox-playable demo and a trailer for the fun Lego Star Wars II video game from Lucasarts.”

Home Theater: The First Star Wars Trilogy Limited Editions

Audioholics lists the ten biggest mistakes of speaker and home theater shopping as:

1. You went for an all-inclusive surround sound speaker package from a big brand name manufacturer noted for electronics and TV sets.
2. You bought speakers in a rush, without listening to them with your favourite recordings, and now you’re disappointed because they sound boomy or harsh.
3. You were knocked out by the deep bass from the subwoofer and didn’t concentrate on the center channel and main left and right speakers.
4. You went for those attractive little cube speakers because they’re so tiny and unobtrusive, but when things get loud with home theatre, the sound gets strained or muddy.
5. You saved money by getting two compact speakers you thought would be just fine to fill your 25- x 20-foot cathedral-ceiling living room with high-level sound. But they sound strained and edgy when you turn up the volume.
6. You set up your subwoofer at the side of the room and you’re disappointed at the lack of deep, low bass.
7. You bought a receiver or amplifier advertised as having “200 watts total power output” and now it seems to be underpowered.
8. Two really nice guys sold you two impressively large speakers at an amazing price from the back of their truck in a supermarket parking lot. Somehow, the sound seems to be lacking something. . .
9. You bought good speakers with excellent reputations and let your spousal unit or companion persuade you to put them out of sight inside an antique armoire or entertainment unit.
10. You went for the package speaker system from the famous-name manufacturer that runs the slick advertisements everywhere you look, and spends millions on promotion and little on research and design. The sound is a disappointment.

Of course I agree with this list totally (though I thought #8 was obvious to everyone with any synapses firing). I’d just like to add a few things.

While #10 may be true, it may also just be the case that the owner of such a system just doesn’t realize what he is missing. He might set up the system and think it sounds just fine, not realizing there’s a whole world of better sound out there that he’s been curtained off from.

While it is good to audition speakers or electronics with your material of choice, it’s even better to listen to them in your home environment. Of course, you can only do this with higher-end speakers at a retailer that knows and trusts you, so that’s a rarity. But if the retailer has a listening room that’s similar in size to your room, ask to audition the speakers there. And preferably with electronics that are as close to yours as possible.

It’s worth noting that THX recommends identical speakers across the front of your home theater. It’s a worthwhile ambition, and will make for a much better sound experience. Once I get a projector and screen, I plan to do exactly that.

What are some of the mistakes I made? Hmmm. I think that my speaker array is not matched well enough. I have Linn 5140 and 5120 speakers across the front, and my surrounds are a mixture of Linn 5110 speakers and some Paradigms I had left over from my last system. That’s always been a source of annoyance for me, but I have no way of mounting more Linn 5110 speakers at the Paradigms’ location, because they require special mounting brackets.

My biggest mistake is my room. Actually, it’s not a mistake - I knew full well that what I was doing was wrong even as I did it. I just didn’t have any choice. My house is an open concept home, with the main floor being a big open space, of which the family room is a small part. That does not make for the best sound, a problem I hope to correct when I finish my basement.

What mistakes have you made in your home theater?

Ten Biggest Mistakes of Speaker and Home Theater Shopping

Following the likes of Sony and Apple, who do well with their own stores, and Gateway, who did not, Pioneer is nonetheless endeavouring to bring you an in-store experience that’s totally Pioneer. They’re building in Costa Mesa, California, a store that’ll give 3200 square feet of shopping space. It’ll carry the full line of Pioneer and Pioneer Elite home A/V products. All you plasma shoppers out there, take note, because Pioneer is especially famous for its good plasma displays. The store will open in early August, and will be a proving ground for Pioneer, as they also plan to test new merchandise and sell products otherwise not available in the US. Cool, huh?

Pioneer To Open First Company Store

Owning a home theater is a very expensive proposition. Just ask my wife every time I propose a new addition (or substitution, as the case may be). So when father’s day comes around, a list for HT nuts is really only handy if you’re a little bit financially endowed. But that didn’t stop Robert Silva over at About.com from putting together such a list. It’s full of items like DVD players and subwoofers.

Which got me thinking. If Warren Buffet were my father and he asked me what one HT gift I would like for father’s day, what would it be?

It was a tough choice. I waffled between Anthem’s D2 pre/pro, and Sony’s Ruby SXRD projector. But since this was theoretical waffling anyway, it didn’t cause me too much stress. But I finally decided on the projector. I have a 57″ HDTV already, but I’ve been missing a world-class display ever since I moved my 35″ CRT out of my family room to make room for an HDTV.

What would your choice be? I guess you can reply even if you’re not a father!

Home Theater Gifts For Dad

HD Beat has a great article talking about how great it is to watch movies at home versus at the theater. And I have to agree totally. I’ve been forced to curtail my outings to the local cineplex by the fact that I now have three kids aged 5, 2, and 1/2. That really puts a damper into your going-out plans, but I have to say I haven’t missed the theater that much.

Every once in a while I’ll go check out a major flick like Star Wars III or somesuch. But my 57″ HDTV, Paradigm subwoofer, Linn speakers, and sundry electronics keep me quite happy at home.

HD Beat - Home theater vs. movie theater

Fred Manteghian has an interesting dilema. What to do with the two laser disc players and one hundred laser disc movies that are taking up space in his home.

Two laser disc players, buried in a closet, waiting to play the near one hundred movies that I collected at prices I’m too embarrassed to admit to now. Back then, you’d think nothing of paying $40 for the privilege of owning a double disc that had you swapping discs in the dark at usually the most inappropriate points during a movie. But there was no choice if you owned a CRT projector. On my Dwin CRT projector, Laserdiscs were the only thing that looked good on the big screen until DVDs and HiDef came along.

My friend Steve has a laser disc player and I fondly remember going over to his place for a Star Wars movie marathon to see all three movies on his system. This was, of course, in the days before Episodes I to III and before DVD. Laser discs, at the time, were the best in picture quality. And if I remember correctly, Steve was skeptical of DVD’s picture quality given the disc size and digital compression. But he was soon swayed over to the dark side, and now has a DVD player like the rest of us.

So what old equipment do you have lying around? I recently got my S-VHS VCR out of the basement so that I could tape F1 races for my cousin’s kid, because they don’t have cable. I still have my old ghetto blaster that I bought when I was eleven. I have a dual-tape deck that rarely gets used, though it’s hooked up to the stereo I’m listening to now. Come to think of it, I just played a tape of Crumbacher the other day. But before that, it hadn’t been used in ages. Maybe I’m just not old enough to have too much stuff lying around.

Ultimate AV - Things To Do with Your Laser Disc Player When You’re Dead

One day I plan to finish my basement and have a room that is devoted to my home theater and my computer station. However, I’m still not sure how theater-ish I want it to look. I still want to use the room for playing video games, watching TV, and playing with my kids. I’m still leaning towards a look that says “I’m a really nice rec room, and guess what, I have a great home theater here too.”

But if I ever do decide to go more theater-looking, then this is one of the sites I’ll definitely inspect for inspiration. Lots of the shown home theaters don’t look multipurpose enough. But others like this one look more to my taste (except for that honkin big projector hanging from the ceiling).

Good inspiration, either way.

[via MatrixRevolutions]

Home Theatres - A Selection of Impressive & Interesting Setups

How would you like to send and receive video over Bluetooth? Could happen. Wouldn’t need any cables at all between components. Wouldn’t that be nice? Get a new BD or HD DVD player, bring it home, plug in the power cord, pop in a disc, and voila! Beautiful picture. Nice….

The Bluetooth special interest group (SIG) said it hopes to develop a new Bluetooth specification that will allow wireless video streaming from one device to another, via ultra-wideband (UWB), to be in consumer products by early 2008.

The new version of Bluetooth would allow users to wirelessly transfer large amounts of data as well as high-quality video and audio for portable devices, multimedia projectors and television sets. At the same time, it will continue to allow the wireless connections of low power devices such as mice, keyboards and mono headsets, “thereby offering the best of both worlds,” said the group.

The Bluetooth SIG estimates that a specification will be finalized in 2007, with prototype samples ready towards the end of 2007 and the first products offering the new Bluetooth bandwidth in early 2008.

TWICE - Bluetooth May Enable Video By 2008

Last night I drove over to Mike’s place in my new car. (I’m still enjoying my new Mazda3, though I still haven’t gotten the hang of quick starts from a stop with a manual transmission.)

Anyway, Mike has some equipment that his brother-in-law is lending him, so I helped set it up. The DVD player wasn’t hooked up, and the cable box was connected straight to the TV.

First I had to fix a problem he was having with hiss, which was simple enough. I set the cable box’s audio output to fixed. Then I turned the receiver’s volume way down. The problem was that he was amplifiing a really weak signal.

Then we routed the component video outputs on the DVD player and HD cable box through the receiver. The receiver did the switching of both video and sound.

Now that the DVD player was hooked up, we calibrated brightness, contrast, and sharpness using a test disc.

Digital sound was a problem, because the Yamaha receiver’s coaxial digital input was assigned to CD, not cable. So it actually took some time to figure out how to fix that, because for some reason we didn’t have an on screen display. Mike fiddled with the remote and looking at the receiver’s little display while I read the instruction manual. “Yeah I/O input! That’s the one. 1A. Change that. Yeah. No. Uh. Sorry.”

Then we fixed the audio mode, which also wasn’t very intuitive. For some reason the Yamaha was saying “6 Channel Stereo”, or something like that, when we were listening to DTS surround. So I fiddled with the remote until I got that fixed. The key was the DD/DTS button.

We watched some DVD and noticed that the brightness was off. So much for calibration! The problem with these calibration discs is that they say something like “increase brightness until you see X”. Well, what should you do if you never see X? So we adjusted the brightness to make the picture look nicer.

Lastly, there was a problem with the cable box and HD channels. I didn’t think of it until I was driving home (in my Mazda3), but now I think that the box wasn’t even putting out HD at all! I think something needs to be fixed in its configuration.

Anyway. I’ll have to go back to Mike’s place sometime, and we’ll fix the HD problems and calibrate the audio.

Hello everyone and welcome to my new site about home theater. I’ve long been interested in home theater, and have had one for quite some time. But it’s only now that I’ve begun a website on the topic and I’m excited about it. This site will cover all aspects of home theater except for the actual display. That is covered by my other site, HDBlog.net. Unfortunately, because I am still looking for writing help on HDBlog.net, this site will be slow in getting updates for a while. If you (or someone you know) is interested in writing for HTBlog or HDBlog, please contact me.

So welcome, and if you have any suggestions or would like to become a contributor, please contact me.