Site Meter Home Theaters » News

News

Microsoft Surface: Home Theaters Of The Future?

Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

As if today’s dream home theaters weren’t enough to blow most of our collective minds, Microsoft (and a few other companies) is planning to take things to a whole new level.

Similar to Apple’s new iPhone, only “lifesize”, this touch sensitive 30-inch display can recognize physical objects or tagged devices like phones, cameras and even credit cards, and can transmit data to the device by touching the screen.

Check out Microsoft’s demo video below for some live action:

The applications for this technology are only limited by imagination. While it is being developed as a business tool for now, I can’t help but dream of how it can be used in a home theater.

Think of controlling your whole media room from your “coffee table”, including telling your microwave to cook the popcorn and seeing previews of other movies the actors you are currently watching have starred in. Or perhaps recognizing your guests and sending drink and food orders to the kitchen.

Check out this CNET review to see some more possibilities:

With an initial price tag between $5,000 and $10,000, it is expected to arrive in November in T-Mobile USA stores and properties owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. I doubt many of us are going to run out and add it to our own home theaters anytime soon, but one thing’s for sure though, the future is getting closer and closer, and it definitely looks amazing.

Microsoft expects consumer versions in the next three years or so.

Be sure to check out the Microsoft site for more of what they are planning on doing with this exciting technology. The blogosphere is also ablaze with Surface talk. Read some more great posts here, here and here.

Needless to say, this baby gets three green envy buttons from me and almost demands a 4 GEB category all to itself. Congrats to Microsoft on (finally) making a hit!
greenenvy.jpggreenenvy.jpggreenenvy.jpg

, , , ,

How To Get A $17,000 Home Theater Makeover

Thursday, May 24th, 2007

Ever wanted to “Pimp Your Home Theater”?

Now may be your perfect chance to use your current setups lackluster to get that blockbuster setup you’ve always dreamed of.

Boston Acoustics and Denon Electronics have teamed up and announced “The Ultimate Home Theater Makeover”. The idea is for entrants to make a video showing how badly their “home theater” needs an upgrade and one lucky winner will be chosen to receive a makeover featuring electronics, furniture and installation worth more than $17,000.

If you want to win, you’re going to need a good video. Judging from the competition, some people are willing to go pretty far to win this contest. This guy actually threw some of his equipment off his roof to the death it deserved.

You don’t have to destroy your current components to win, however. All participants automatically receive a $10 Circuit City gift card just for entering. Not a bad deal! Good luck to any of my readers and be sure to share your video and/or prize info with us.

You can enter your video, take a makeover quiz and see prizes and other videos here.

, , , ,

The Best DVD Format For Your Needs

Wednesday, April 18th, 2007

Much like the Beta vs. VHS battle back in the late 70’s, there is much at stake in the HD vs. Blu-Ray battle the DVD format finds itself embroiled in today. Back then, Beta had better picture clarity and came in a smaller size. Unfortunately, they only fit 60 minutes of recorded programming, a major factor of why the 3-hour VHS format eventually emerged victorious.

I would like to write my main Wednesday post covering DVD and CD players for your home theater, but I thought it would be best if I detailed the differences between the two DVD formats first, so you can make a more informed decision about which to purchase. For starters, let’s take a look at the history.

HD DVD is Toshiba’s offering in this new melee, which for all intents and purposes, has been going on since 1969 when Philips developed the LaserDisc. Philip’s partnered with Sony soon after, and from this association, the CD was born in 1979. In the early 1990’s, the two teamed together again in an attempt to create a next generation CD that could play video, as well.

Unfortunately for them, the Toshiba offering had all the major backers behind it. The two groups got together and agreed on a common format, later to be known as the DVD. Toshiba was contractually given the majority of royalties in the deal, and so the Philip’s/Sony partnership soon began work on their next generation DVD, which would come to be known as Blu-Ray. Toshiba followed suit, developing their next generation DVD which would become known as HD DVD.

Despite similarities in size and laser-usage, they are basically incompatible and cannot play on each other’s DVD players, thus forcing consumers to choose which format they are going to adopt. Eventually a winner may emerge, but for now, the two are in the midst of a marketing battle for your minds. To help guide you, here are the major differences:

Capacity -

306px_HD_DVD.svg.pngHD DVD - Single layer, 15gb; Double layer, 30gb; Highest Test, 45gb; Theoretical Limit, 60gb

Blu_ray_Disc.svg.pngBlu-Ray - Single layer, 25gb; Double layer, 50gb; Highest Test, 100gb; Theoretical Limit, 200gb

Format Founders -

HD DVD - Toshiba Corp., Hitachi Corp.
Blu-Ray - Sony Corp., Royal Philips Electronics

Supporting Member Studios -

HD DVD - Buena Vista Home Entertainment, New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, The Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios, Warner Bros.
Blu-Ray - 20th Century Fox, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Electronic Arts, MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, Vivendi Universal Games, Warner Bros.

For the most part, they are similar products with many of the same backers. The main difference is that Blu-Ray discs cost more and have more storage. This differs from the Beta/VHS battle, as Beta cost more to be manufactured, but had less storage. This time, it is up to the marketplace to decide on a winner, if there ever is one.

, , ,

Today’s DVD Releases For Your Home Theater

Tuesday, April 17th, 2007

On Tuesday’s, I will list the week’s DVD releases ready to take home and view in the comfort of your home. In addition, I will list their overall rating on IMDB, how many votes were cast and starring roles.

Today, the following movies will be released for rent or sale:

spidey2.1.jpg*Spider-Man 2.1 - Unrated, Extended Cut (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) - DVD - 7.8/10 with 72,571 votes cast; starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco

Plot Synopsis: Peter Parker is beset with troubles in his failing personal life as he battles Doctor Octavius, a brilliant scientist with mechanical tentacles to do his bidding.

freedomwriters.jpg*Freedom Writers (Widescreen Edition) - DVD - 7.3/10 with 2,362 votes cast; starring Hilary Swank, Patrick Dempsey and Scott Glenn

Plot Synopsis: A young teacher (Swank) inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.

scandal.jpg*Notes on a Scandal - DVD - 7.5/10 with 5,375 votes cast; starring Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett and Tom Georgeson

Plot Synopsis: A pottery teacher (Blanchett) enters into an affair with one of her students, causing upheaval in her personal and professional lives.

kingofscotland.jpg*The Last King of Scotland (Widescreen Edition) - DVD - 7.8/10 with 11,161 votes cast; starring Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy and Gillian Anderson

Plot Synopsis: Based on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin’s regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970’s.

historyboys.jpg*The History Boys - DVD - 6.8/10 with 1,780 votes cast; starring Samuel Anderson, James Corden and Stephen Campbell Moore

Plot Synopsis: An unruly class of gifted and charming teenage boys pursue sex, sports and higher education.

, , , , ,

About Home Theaters

With the new and intermediate home theatrician in mind, Talking Home Theaters takes you on a tour of what's hot, what's affordable and what's not. If you've ever been envious of the endless home entertainment options available or are looking to build your first home theater without eliminating your children's education funds, you've come to the right place. We focus on scouring the internet for excellent entry-level ideas, incredible deals for newbies and home theater tips and tricks, so you don't have to.

Home Theaters Author(s)
    » marc-klink

Technology Channel Posts

  • What Has Happened to Audio?
    Part of the answer to that question is readily apparent to anyone who is reading this column on a regular basis. The population has become enamored of the ‘total experience’ of the home theater. [...]
  • And We’re Back!
    Hi everyone! Phew! We are back in action (as you can see). Did you miss me? I missed you! Group hug! Too much? Okay. I’ll behave. I am very glad to be back in action and posting here on [...]
  • Sometimes Old Is New (to You)
    While looking for something else, I came upon an older article about a copy of a well respected subwoofer by Hsu Research. The project is very straightforward, using sound building techniques, and [...]
  • Technical Difficulties
    Hello everyone. As you likely already know, many of the sites on the 451press network are down and have been down for some time (what seems like forever!). I would like to apologize on behalf [...]
  • ATi Brings Back A Winner
    For the last couple of years, there has been a huge hole in the video card market. It was 2006 when the last ATi All-in-Wonder was produced, and nVidia had discontinued their similar offering before [...]
  • The Search for Truth… (continued)
    On the other side are aligned a much smaller number of scientists, some dedicated amateurs, very little money (the grants get taken away as soon as it’s clear the research is leading away from AGW) [...]
  • Introduction to Forums – A Warning
    While getting on to a forum and posting (especially for the first time) can be a lot of fun and exhilarating, there is a sobering note that comes along with joining forums (and with communicating [...]
  • Home Theater On The Cheap Rides Again
    Now and then, a choice comes up which makes sense right away, yet allows expansion capability and growth potential. It is not often that a Home Theater in a Box will be acceptable to any serious [...]
  • The Search for Truth…
    In Using the Net and Finding the Truth I used the search for information about Anthropogenetic Global Warming (AGW – Human-caused Global Warming) to talk about Internet use. Here is an example [...]
  • From Time Window to Time Portal
    DCM Time Windows were one of the speakers that defined the ‘cheapskate’ high end of the late ‘70s. Looking at the speaker was anything but awe inspiring. It was a small two-way tower, with [...]

Hot Off The Press

  • Reaction Post: Doctor Who 4.13 - Journey's End
    The is the for the final episode of series four - . Before I finish this write up, I'll probably have to go watch it again. This may explain why this post was a bit delayed. Before you ask, [...]
  • Bones without Booth?
    Bones without Booth? What kind of show would that be? Well, that's the show we almost got, if it hadn't been for the chemistry between Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz. Turns out that originally, [...]
  • Give Your Eyes This Do-It-Yourself Spa Treatment
    Your eyes work nonstop for you. They help you admire everything from movie trailers to Monet. Now it’s payback time. Thank your eyes for all they do by following the three peeper-protecting [...]
  • Love Question Ten
    Happy Sunday! Or something like that, right? It’s the end of a long weekend. I hope you all had fun. Here is the other Love Question from Short Sweet Love Poems that I missed while my site was [...]
  • The beginning of the end of Prohibition drink testing
    Today, I got drunk. The rest of the committee got more or less drunk, depending on how many were driving and whether they had to pick up children after the meeting. In fact, only two of us made [...]
  • Comments from the testing table
    Continuing from the last post.... These are not the carefully annotated thoughts on balances of flavour and etc: they're the funny stuff. They would have been even funnier if I had worked [...]
  • Name-calling and drinks menu
    At last, the end is near… We tasted twelve drinks. I have to remind myself of this because it all seems rather fuzzy now. After all, I have been home five hours. All of the drinks [...]
  • Garden Art Fair, more than 40 Midwest artists d...
    More than 40 Midwest artists displaying and selling garden- and nature-inspired art for home and garden, through 4 p.m., live music, food available for purchasefree for all guests 294-2710 [...]
  • Will someone call 911 for Mark Ronson?!
    With a blog like Celebrity Fashion Watch, posts that feature mostly women celebs are something that goes without saying. I guess it’s a given that women are more fashion freaks than men. [...]
  • Kim Kardashian makes a statement
    While her frienemy, Paris Hilton will grab every opportunity to be talked about and seen in public, it seems like Kim Kardashian has gotten herself too much exposure already. Yep, [...]