Home Theaters

One thing can be said about the end of HD DVD, everyone has a strong opinion. From those who seem devastated by its passing, to those who thumb their noses and say that the people who bought players and discs should have known better, or at least waited, and all those in between - each hold their own ideas about what might have gone wrong. Strangely, well-known talking head, John C. Dvorak states that he believes the whole thing might have been Microsoft’s attempt to mess with Sony Corporation. Whatever the reasoning, the fallout goes well beyond the DVD market segment.

  gone before the blush wore off!

Anytime something comes in like a lion, and then out like a lamb (and dies), it reminds all how fragile life on this planet is, and that the best laid plans are many times for naught. It is also going to be a reminder to many, along with the depressed economy, that a more passive stance is called for in many things.

My first thoughts about great changes soon coming are in regards to the upcoming switch to digital television broadcasting. I will predict that the number of televisions sold will drop significantly, and the more cautious approach of purchasing the DTV converter boxes will take place. Had HD DVD not tanked after looking like it had great legs, more televisions would sell, with people accepting that the transition must be well thought out, and so spending one or more big chunks of change would pay off in the long run. Now, second and third looks are cast the way of the boxes in each room of the house, and mental math takes place, assigning both an interim and long-range value to the possible purchase of something different. This is not to say people will stop purchasing these newer televisions, but fewer will be sold than might otherwise have been.

planning on one of these soon?

Hopefully the changes to digital television will be smooth, for as little as two months ago there was a large chunk of the public that had no idea of the coming changes, or why the changes were being made. The huge number of commercials on television since, financed by the government, through your tax dollars, is being put up to thwart any large uprising by the public. It is sad that not only do we pay for this, we pay for the government selling off the airwaves, for no bona fide reason, other than commercial greed and public servant pocket-lining.

The reticence to change, spurred by the HD DVD burn, will keep more dollars in pockets than any retailer even tangentially concerned would like. Fewer televisions sold means fewer new antennas sold, fewer new entertainment center purchases, and on the smaller scale, fewer Blu-ray discs and players, interconnecting cables, and any other accessory item they can imagine. The small wave of dissatisfaction with the loss of HD DVD will put ripples in many other ponds, around the world. Every employee of companies from Thomson (RCA, Magnavox, etc) to Noel Lee’s people in San Francisco (Monster Cable) is regretting the loss of HD DVD.

the cables and interconnects will sell in fewer numbers also

 these Monsters aren’t happy about the state of things..

This will have an effect on all technology purchases for a while - how large and how long is anyone’s guess. It is certain that the concurrently poor economy  will have a synergistic effect.

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I am not usually a fan of organized protest, I prefer to do it individually. However, in the case of HD DVD (which I never purchased, and have waited on the sidelines watching), I think an organized form of protest is what is called for.

Whoops, they did it again!

The turnaround this whole story took was ridiculous, and in such a short period of time that one wonders if the ‘fix was in’ well in advance of the pre-holiday blitz last year. I truly feel sorry for the many people who purchased, thinking that the very blitz they participated in was assurance of the survival of the medium. To illustrate further the short time frame here, I know people who received the HD players for Christmas, and are still awaiting their ‘free’ promotional discs!

The real stupidity is the fact that so much R&D was done on the format, and then production ramped up, etc. What a colossal waste! Toshiba should at least continue the standard as a data medium, and give computers a really dense medium for storage. Not one good reason has been given to discontinue the format entirely - it’s just that the ‘big kids’ have taken the ball so the rest can’t play.

LG backed the wrong horse as well!

I have looked at some other sites abroad, and no one seems to be bemoaning the loss. I wonder if the ‘gullible Americans’ were the target of the holiday ‘pump and dump’ alone.

People make the comparison to the demise of Beta format VCRs. The comparison doesn’t hold, however, as Beta was around for years, and even when pre-recorded tapes stopped coming in that format, blank tapes were still available, and so the value of the machine was not lost.

Now Xbox users are getting the flying-fickle-finger-of-fate from Microsoft - Darth Ballmer’s revenge indeed.

Packing all the players on pallets and sending them back to Toshiba Japan would send quite a message, wouldn’t it?

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With the pending death of HD DVD, and the obsolescence of so many Blu-ray disc players, at this point in time there is only one smart choice for any level of home theater system. Sony’s Play Station 3 is the only Blu-ray player at the moment that will be able to be updated to meet all the standards of Blu-ray.

 PS3 is the one to have to avoid obsolescence…

So there it is. Either you buy a standard definition DVD player, and use the upconvert feature, you purchase an HD DVD player (at a deep discount) and use its upconverting features for SD DVDs, or or you purchase a PS3 and threaten your children with dismemberment if the unit gets touched by them. I will be choosing the first, as I think that too much change is happening right now, and those standard definition DVDs we’ve been buying for years have a lot of life left in them.

The uncertain economy (which is a fact, despite what the President wishes for us to think) not only impedes our abilities to purchase things, it also sends a signal to those developing new standards and formats that a lot of attention must be placed on longevity for the next format chosen. If it is Blu-ray, then all major manufacturers better get on the stick quickly, as the time to unceremonious death for a format these days is measured in weeks, not years. I have been reading in several trade magazines that development of players has slowed to a crawl due to the HD DVD debacle. The lead time and cost for these things is not trivial, and while we may think that companies like Toshiba are made of nothing but unbounded sums of money, it is just not true. companies, have to perform for their shareholders, no matter how large.

On a happier note, the uncertainty about formats is a signal to start concentrating on other parts of the home theater. The television screen is not going to change anytime soon, so perhaps a new LCD or plasma is in your future.

Maybe you have 2 or 3 discs where your amplifier gets taxed a bit much, and you’d like a better sound quality, with less distortion, or more headroom for peaks. Here it can be a larger amplifier, or … more efficient speakers could do the trick.

. Wouldn’t one of these babies provide both better sound, and something to spark conversation - about your great taste in sound reproduction!

Sometimes, things are slow after the expenses of the holidays, and cash is tighter than normal. Small things can make easily perceived differences, so look at things like better speaker cables, better interconnects, and possibly changes to the room itself! I know of one person who changed the room around, got better sound for his theater, and some credit from his wife for his good taste! Remember, it only takes some small changes to make things sound considerably different. Look for some large throw pillows to put in hard areas of the room to reduce echo effects or high end harshness. Have the significant other help choose the look of them and you’ll both be happy!

this might make a great deal of difference in convenience for you - adding lots to your enjoyment!

Thinking about small changes, and spring cleanings works for home theaters too. Be creative. Put efforts into what will not cost huge amounts, yet reap large rewards.

That may seem like a strange question. Think about it momentarily, however. We all know that everyone doesn’t have the same taste and needs, and that all who desire don’t have the same amount of dollars at their disposal.

The thing is,,,it can clearly be shown that many who wish to own home theater or stereo equipment, and have the means to purchase the ne plus ultra, simply don’t. So it can be inferred that these people are happy with a certain level of quality - and no more quality is necessary to satisfy their desires.

If you are reading this, and come here often, your desires probably exceed your capabilities of purchase by several fold. I know mine do. But there are many who think about things in a very analytical sense. Purchase decisions are weighted as much on bang for the buck as total performance. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I have always thought that one must know the very limits to be able to judge where they can draw that line on the graph of performance vs. dollars spent.

For many the performance can be scaled back if the performance is best for the size of the scale. To clarify, not everyone will have room for a 73 inch display in the viewing area, many will convince themselves that is so because the money just isn’t there to purchase. Either way, if a careful choice is made, happiness can be found at a respectable 50 inch display size.

73" is nice, but not all rooms are equal, and not all wallets either!

The same occurs with audio choices. Most audiophiles know that the very best performance is had with tube amplification. The problem with tubes is three-fold. First, buying tube amplifiers is expensive. Second, tubes wear out fairly quickly, and due to tubes decline in usage elsewhere, cost for replacement has skyrocketed. Third, lots of power is required, which goes to heating your house, not necessarily making gorgeous sound. Because of this, many who have the budget for tubes, choose instead, the very best transistor amplification. Amplifiers from Electron Kinetics, Krell, and Threshold will give sound that, while distinguishable from that of tube sound, is very, very close. At a fraction of the cost over the unit’s lifetime, solid-state amplification is a great choice.

beauty of form, beauty of sound, and a beast that will drive the most demanding speakers! Threshold is one of the very best.

Although a late start for this year, I am going to endeavor to have 3 levels of system defined.  Entry level, a modest system for those of modest income or needs. Mid level, which will be an incremental step towards audio-video nirvana. At the top will be the no-holds-barred  system of the very best of everything. This will be very hard to achieve for 999 of us out of a test-case 1000, but will give us a baseline for comparison - the very best performance. With the modest and mid levels, I will try to give ways to make the most difference toward lifting the home theater to the next level.

These choices will not be mine alone, as I don’t claim to have opinions of the majority - so, I will be referring to the reviews of the major publications I respect for input and confirmation. Stereophile, The Absolute Sound, and The Perfect Vision will all be regularly consulted, as well as online reviews, and most importantly, auditions of the equipment chosen.

Once again, I will be moving back to DVD releases, reviews, and of course, ways to save - looking for stuff on sale. I will also take note of the fact that we all have less to spend, with the weakening dollar, and impending recession.

Questions? Comments?

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As I was thinking about what has happened in the last four months in technology, I realized that the HD DVD format has been pushed hard, heralded as the best choice for a high definition format for discs, and pronounced dead - all in that same 4 months.

here and gone in such a short span of time - the next time you see one of these, it may be in the Smithsonian Institute.

In my lifetime, I have never seen anything come and go so quickly. Sure, HD DVD is not totally dead, but it is on life support without much prospect of rejuvenation. All the major studios have moved or made plans to move to Blu-ray, the rental agencies, like Netflix, have all committed to Blu-ray, and brick-and-mortar purveyors, like Blockbuster have switched totally to the Blu-ray format. All of this has happened while people were still waiting for the delivery of their free discs that were one of the enticements to purchase an HD DVD player.

I must admit that for a space of 2 months, it looked as though HD DVD would crush the majority of Blu-ray sales, with  only one player on the Blu-ray side thriving, the Sony PS3, as much for the game capability as the player of movies. HD DVD sales were much more than brisk during the holiday season, and it looked as though Sony had once again backed a format that was superior (Beta), but neglected due to the largest market influence - price.

a good purchase, but many will not want one, as it is perceived that if $399 can buy this, a perfectly respectable player can be had for less - it isn’t happening yet.

It remains to be seen how long the crippled patient will be kept alive, as there were enough units sold in that short life to make some smaller studios still release discs in that format. Again, the reasoning is price, as the mastering of HD DVD is also less expensive than that of Blu-ray.

Now, I wonder if the public at large will rise up and hold their purchases of the Blu-ray format, as the older players are being made useless with each iteration of the software. While this should be an indictment of digital copy protection, it is going to be, I believe, a general dissatisfaction with hardware purveyors in general. Many people I know feel ripped off by the HD DVD ’scam’, and the news of Blu-ray incompatibilities has the more forgiving wondering why they have been so disposed.

Many will cite download services as ‘the next wave’ but a digital download has little of the ‘feel’ of a real purchase, and can be wiped out with an errant program or head crash. Not exactly what most people want to invest in. (This is exactly why computer software downloads have not been the big lift to that industry that was expected. People want to be able to touch something. It is part of the idea of ownership. Random bits on an easily damaged hard drive is hard to handle [in both senses]) The worsening economy will make many think twice about the disposition of their shrinking extra income.

While Blu-ray will continue for awhile, I remain suspect, as many will shy away from the purchase, until presented with evidence that obsolescence has been (at least partially) removed. 

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If you do, you just might be able to get some help for the shortcomings of it. A class action lawsuit has been filed, as the problems found when advanced features and DRM were added were significant.

Apparently, the consumers who are filing have been upset by the reports of those Blu-ray representatives at the Consumer Electronics Show. The representatives very coolly stated that the early adopters of the technology ‘knew what they were getting into’ and so should not be surprised that changes were made.

Samsung usually makes better products….with lots more thought before manufacturer

The case accuses Samsung of consumer fraud, as the company is presumed to have had clear knowledge of the changes coming well ahead of the release date of those first players. The addition of BD+ copy protection has caused many people’s players to refuse to play discs, only play portions of discs, or offer other unexplained behavior. Specific playback issues including freezing were reported in October when playing "Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer" and "The Day After Tomorrow." Samsung promised a firmware fix, but according to the lawsuit, it never materialized, leaving owners of these early machines out in the cold.

Since the standards are changing as time goes on, the Blu-ray Disc Association expects to introduce Profile 2.0 Blu-ray players later on this year, adding a mandatory Internet connection, along with updates to BD-J, Blu-ray’s interactivity layer.

got one of these? You’re golden as far as upgrades go!

Sony PS3 owners have really made a good choice with this, as they own the only players of Blu-ray discs that will be upgradeable to the next standard. (Lots of children are wagging their fingers at their parents right now, in certainty that they knew best from the start!)

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