Home Theaters

New on DVD today:

300 (2-Disc Special Edition) (2006)
300 (Full Frame) (2006)
300 (Widescreen) (2006)
Afghan Knights (2007)
Bleach: The Substitute (Vol. 5) (2004)
Bloodlines (2007)
Blue Water, White Death (1971)
Bratz: Kidz Sleep-Over Adventure (2007)
Dallas: The Complete Seventh Season (5-DVD Set) (1983)
The Darwin Awards (2006)
Dead Clowns (2003)
Everything’s Gone Green (2006)
Firehouse Dog (2007)
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Lonely Hearts (2006)
Looking for Langston (1989)
Night Junkies (2007)
Nomad: The Warrior (2005)
Pathfinder (2007)
Pathfinder (Unrated) (2007)
Played (2006)
Rap Sheet: Hip-Hop and the Cops (2006)
Rock the Bells (2006)
Roving Mars (2006)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Second Season (4-DVD Set) (1997)
Starter for 10 (2006)
UFC 68: The Uprising (2007)
Whole New Thing (2005)
Yellow (2006)

Looks like 300 might be the winner here. Maybe Dallas, for those who remember, and care.

It’s truly amazing how much becomes available without making much noise at the box office. Could be some gems in here, though. Possibly time to rent a few [try before you buy].

Later.

In February of 2009, the nation will be forcibly switched to a digital television format. The reasons given are many, from needing bandwidth for national emergency usage to simple bandwidth needs of all services.

Recently, the Congress has worried that the public will be angered by the switch, as many are not ready to make the switch, or, for that matter, aware of the upcoming changes mandated.

It does seem a bit late in the game for Congress to suddenly be showing remorse, or regret that it went along with the current administration’s selling of the airwaves to the highest bidders. It is simply another move in the Bush administration to sell off any public holdings to the corporate customer.

For those who welcome digital television, and look forward to the digital content made available by the change, there are three to five times as many who are not ready to switch, or aware of the move. It has been very poorly orchestrated.

Those who know about the change tend to believe that the 1.5 billion dollars set aside by Congress for public education will be enough. The only visible effect of the campaign thus far seems to be that new televisions that are not carrying digital tuning capability are being marked with a note to the effect that the sets will be rendered useless after the upcoming cutoff, unless additional add-on boxes are used. This is not as useful as one might think, as many consumers will be still using televisions that are otherwise fine, and have occasion to see the signs.

Some in Congress are of the belief that people not ready to switch will flock to the cable and DBS providers, who won’t be affected by the mandated switch, thereby averting some of the wrath others fear.

Over at Dealnews, the following was posted :

New item: Refurbished Sony Grand WEGA 1080p 50″ Widescreen Rear Projection HDTV for $1,200 shipped
SonyStyle.com has the factory-refurbished Sony Grand WEGA SXRD 50″ Widescreen LCoS Rear Projection HD Television, model no. KDS-50A2000, for $1,199.99. With free shipping, that’s the lowest total price we’ve seen by about $150. Sales tax is added where applicable. Features include a native resolution of 1920×1080 (1080p), ATSC, NTSC, and QAM tuners, 2.5ms response time, and dual HDMI, VGA, component, S-Video, and RCA video inputs.

A very long time ago, in this very galaxy, on this very planet, a column of advice on audio equipment was written. It was written by Harry Pearson, then the editor of The Absolute Sound. For those not aware, The Absolute Sound is perhaps the most advanced audio magazine ever made available on the planet.

The reason for this advanced status is that the people involved with the magazine put forth every effort to be honest, fair, and, when biased, tell you what their biases were. They also had the audacity to judge equipment not against other equipment, but against the ABSOLUTE reference - live music.

There is no better advice than what was given in that column for choosing any audio device in your system. When choosing, compare the output to actual musical performance. Listen for the sound balance, listen for timbre of instruments, and listen to things that are not already changed by electronics.

It is impossible to compare one electric guitar to another objectively in regards to sound. There are so many things in the chain to reproduction that it would become impossible to make a valid comparison, or ferret out the differences mentally. So it is with anything amplified.

Listen to live unamplified music. Listen to the weight of the bass, the feel of any drums, the bite of the brass, the gentle trill of a flute or piccolo.

Then listen to the same type of music using several different speakers. Always use the same electronics. There are differences in electronics, but they tend to be much smaller than those in the last part of the chain. Remember that accuracy is what should be the goal, not excitement or exaggeration. Excitement or exaggeration soon produces listening fatigue, which is not something you want after paying for something intended to last for quite some time.

Happy listening. You might find that what you need is actually less money than what you thought you wanted.  

Many people would like to have that very latest piece of home theater hardware, but the budget, or the CFO [read W-I-F-E] puts the nix to that idea.

Let’s face it, for many, the hardware is almost as much of what we lust after as the experience in front of the screen.

For those who are a little short of cash, but long on time and desire, there is a great article from CRN, a magazine and website dedicated to resellers of computer equipment. Convergence and synchronicity together at last!

Full article here.

All the steps involved in assembling a really nice PVR are there, and since you’re building it yourself, feel free to name it accordingly. The mini-ITX format makes for a very good base, with much variation available, so those who wish a feature not in commercial products can be added.

Pint Sized Powerhouse - Mini ITX form factor!

The list for the fourth week of July 2007:

The Big Bad Swim (2006)
Cashback (2006)
The Chambermaid (2004)
Confessions of a Call Girl (2006)
The Contract (2006)
Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating (2004)
The Crow: Stairway to Heaven - The Complete Series (4-DVD Set) (1999)
The Decoy (2006)
Eloise Goes to School (2007)
The Host (2006)
The Host (Collector’s Edition) (2006)
Invasion of the Pod People (2007)
Ivan’s Childhood (Criterion Collection) (1962)
Les Enfants Terribles (Criterion Collection) (1950)
Live Free or Die (2006)
The Long Weekend (2005)
Nicotina (2003)
Novel Romance (2006)
The Number 23 (2006)
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
The Rainmaker (Collector’s Edition) (1997)
Renaissance (2006)
Shadow Puppets (2007)
Slow Burn (2007)
Stargate SG-1: The Complete Tenth Season (5-DVD Set) (2006)
Sugar Creek (2007)
Suzuka (Vol. 2) (2005)
Tan Lines (2006)
Thomas & Friends: James Goes Buzz Buzz (1993)
Thomas & Friends: Thomas Gets Tricked (1990)
Wages of Sin (2006)
Zodiac (Full Frame) (2007)
Zodiac (Widescreen) (2007)

Quite a few new titles, although none I’d consider a real blockbuster.

One possible exception is the Collector’s Edition of ‘The Rainmaker’, a truly great older film, which was not an audio/video blockbuster, but was enjoyable. with great camera work.

    Lately it has been a real problem to find a speaker that is both affordable, yet sounds good with a wide variety of material.

    For many, the loudest, most sparkling [not in the good way] is what people look for with a home theater system. They are looking for the same sort of sound quality that they get in a THX theater setup. I don’t wish to step on anyone’s toes here, but anyone who has the idea that THX theater sound equals accuracy is seriously mistaken.

    I have had the displeasure of attending showings in theaters that have had the THX certification, and it was no joy for many reasons. Also I must state that in a number of cases I refer to, the certification had been obtained very recently, removing the idea that somehow things were right but were changed later.

    In every showing, the bass was overemphasized, which many consider the hallmark of good sound, and the amplifiers were clipping [subjectively] 30% of the time when the volume was loud.

    So where does a person, on a limited [either enforced or decided] budget obtain speakers which will transport them into the quality theater experience, without breaking the budget, or sounding hideous at various times during the listening?

    One of the possible choices, if a person is somewhat handy, and wants to maximize their dollar, is the build-it-yourself choice. During the 80’s, and into the early 90’s, there were many choices for the serious builder. Most of the places have dried up and blown away, along with the neighborhood audio-video store. There are a few places in the really large population centers where a showroom for builders can be found, but that leaves out much of the country.

    A really good choice for parts, ideas, and general help, is Madisound Speaker Components. This is a company with a long resume, having been around for over 25 years, and they have fully integrated into the information age. By going to their website, it is possible to read about, compare, and purchase all things needed to build a really superb set of speakers. If you subscribe to the theory that the same drivers for as many of the main channels as possible will yield the most coherent sound quality, you can build a system with tweeters and mids identical, and bass extension changing with choice of woofer and enclosure size.

For those who wish to not fret about details and calculations, Madisound offers many fine kits, which make building speakers of great quality only slightly more difficult than putting Legos together.

Speakers and kits may seem expensive at first blush, but remembering that these speakers are used in some of the most expensive designs available, then making a comparison, both aurally and economically, it becomes easy to see why this company has survived, and thrived.

Nope, not talking about the people who once populated ‘Forbidden Planet’. Krell is the highest of the high end of transistor electronics, and deservedly so.

As a company who builds things that look, as well as sound, beautiful, the amplifiers feature highest quality parts, put together so as to deliver the utmost in sound quality, no matter what the impedance, or difficult the load.

It has been a long time since my ears have been treated to the musicality these designs are capable of producing. The last time I listened to Krell amplifiers, the speakers were the incredible Scintillas by Apogee. These were known as being a difficult speaker, because the impedance in the bass range was very low. Krell amplifiers have had no trouble with these, producing some of the most astonishing sound I have ever witnessed.

The buyer of Krell amplifiers is assured that his purchase will not be something made obsolete by the next fad in audio reproduction.

A couple of new designs, that I’m looking forward to auditioning are below…

These are components that, although not many can, or will want to afford, should be auditioned as a reference to the capabilities of quality amplification. 

A trip to many of the semi-local haunts that were once Krell dealers has produced no results, as not many dealers these days are willing to invest in products of this quality.

The search continues, and a report will come soon after. If you are aware of a dealer for Krell, you would do yourself a favor to check the entire line out.

In another clear move to help the consumer decide which format should win the format wars, the backers of Blu-ray format are offering rebates for 5 movies, making them effectively free with the purchase of a Blu-ray player between July 1 and September 30.

Although the titles are limited at this time to 22, something should be available to stoke the fire for blu-ray adoption in your household.

Full details at Bluraysavings.com !

For those inclined to playing video games, a similar offer is in place for buyers of the PS3, and if you hurry, you might get a reduced price on one of the 60GB models being phased out!

    As someone who predates home theater, I tend to like my visuals to follow the lead of the audio. By that, I mean in my house, audio is king, and theater is the crown prince. When reviewing, or deciding upon a piece of equipment, audio qualities come first, and video while important is secondary.

    I am aware of the fact that for many, audio is simply a way to complete the visual experience, and for those people, the bombastic qualities of a reproducer of sound are what is most important. For these people, another factor is ultimate convenience.

    This is why the media edition of Microsoft Windows XP was made, and why media center PCs are available. The ability to have such ease of control over content is truly appealing.

    Microsoft, in case you have not heard, is trying to further help the home theater or music addict get their ‘fix’ with the Windows Home Server product. This is designed to be a central repository of content, and information storage, for the entire household. The idea of a streaming media server may be anathema to the purists among us [I am one, but see the other side, too] but it certainly makes sense in monetary terms, and for a busy family, the safety of centralized backup is mandatory.

    The folks at Microsoft announced yesterday, that the product cycle was nearly complete, as they released the code to manufacturing. This move to RTM means that in about 90 days, possibly a bit less, the public will start seeing the appearance of the newest Microsoft home device, the Windows Media and Data Server.

I have been busy with other projects, but downloaded the ISO of the product during the beta test, and I’m waiting the FedEx man’s arrival today, as he holds my new motherboard, which will see Home Server Beta 2 as soon as possible. I will be doing this as a family project, mostly at the insistence of my children, who are dragging me into the ‘land of convergence’.

Stay tuned.

     Recently, EMI Music announced that the complete musical catalog would be available on iTunes without any Digital Rights Management nastiness.

    Since the catalog is so extensive, including over 300,000 tracks, at last inventory, it could be easy to lose track of time and forget about things like work, wives, husbands, children, pets, etc. Please don’t forget to breathe. 

    Also, bring lots of change, as each download costs $1.29. The tracks use 256kbps AAC encoding which EMI claims is indistinguishable from the original recording. Keeping in mind that the original is many times, a digital tape, this is probably true.

    This is another great move toward the freedom we all seek, not to pirate the materials that are out there, but to have the freedom to do as we wish with what we have purchased. A kind note to the good people at EMI would not be out of the question here, as small gestures often garner big rewards. If other content holders see the benefit, and hear from the concerned public, they will listen.

Happy downloading!

    Before getting to the good stuff, I feel I need to take a few moments to open a page of my life, so that you, the readers, can see where I’m coming from, and where I’ve been. With some knowledge of that, it will be easier to see some of the choices I make, and recommendations for others.

    I have been involved in a love affair with music and movies since before I was a teenager, and certainly before there was anything known as ‘home theater’. I love the music and the films, but I also love the stuff that allows us to get the full experience intended by the director and possibly, the author.

    During various parts of my life I have sold audio and video reproduction equipment, both from small, boutique shops and from my own home. Most of the equipment sold was what used to be known as high end, prices frequently went to stratospheric levels. Knowing that not everyone has the means, or desire, to purchase the ‘ne plus ultra’ of what is out there, I will recommend and talk about all levels of price and performance.

    Because I view this as an interactive experience, I truly hope that many of those reading this will find the time and desire to interact here. It doesn’t have to be anything of earthshaking importance, so it doesn’t require lots of preparation. Just a word [doesn’t even have to be a kind one, just civil], an impression, or passing thought as to what you see here, or would like to see. 

    With that said, let the journey begin!

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Thank you

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