I've just cut 12 columns on room tuning and system tweaking out of my Home Theater Architect series. I was going to go into some serious detail about how to use analyzers to aim speakers and optimize chair positions, how to position acoustical treatments to get the best bass smoothing and imaging, and how to use things like SPL meters and color analyzers to dial in audio and video performance. But instead, I'm going to quickly wrap up my installation of Jack and Diane's home theater in the next five issues, and start working with new clients (Sam and Janet).
We know that DVD is hot, but few could have predicted that the video format would become the fastest growing in the history of consumer electronics. The latest statistics reveal that, in 2001, consumer spending on DVD purchases and rental combined were $6 billion, 2.4 times more than the previous year. This represents an increase that put DVD purchases ahead of VHS purchases for the first time, despite an installed player base of 25 million DVD households versus a VCR installed player base of 96 million households.
Plasma screens are still one of the hottest commodities in the video marketplace. Sharp Electronics Corporation has added two new models to its new line of High Definition Plasma Televisions: the 43" PZ-43HV2U and the 50" PZ-50HV2U. The larger model was recently honored by an International CES Innovations 2002 Design and Engineering Showcase Award.
When Madrigal Audio Labs decided to get into the video-projector business, it was no surprise that they aimed right for the top. With its Mark Levinson, Proceed, and Revel lines, Madrigal is not exactly known for budget products, and the MP-9 makes an immediate statement that the company is as serious about high-end video as it is about high-end audio. Not so incidentally, the addition of a video line, Madrigal Imaging, now makes Madrigal dealers one-stop shops for state-of-the-art home theater.
When Madrigal Audio Labs decided to get into the video-projector business, it was no surprise that they aimed right for the top. With its Mark Levinson, Proceed, and Revel lines, Madrigal is not exactly known for budget products, and the MP-9 makes an immediate statement that the company is as serious about high-end video as it is about high-end audio. Not so incidentally, the addition of a video line, Madrigal Imaging, now makes Madrigal dealers one-stop shops for state-of-the-art home theater.
Following the successful launch of its DVD-R/RW computer drives, Pioneer has released its first DVD recorder for the US market, the Elite DVR-7000. Camcorder inputs, progressive video output, and instant one-touch recording are among the recorder's attractive features.
<I>Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider, Tony LoBianco, Marcel Bozzuffi. Directed by William Friedkin. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (widescreen anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0. Two discs. 104 minutes. 1971. Fox 2002065. R. $26.98.</I>
Let's suppose you have a nicely installed home theater system and a TV upstairs in your bedroom. Let's further suppose that sometimes you'd like to watch a movie playing on your home theater system's DVD player in your bedroom. Without taking the player upstairs, or snaking a dedicated cable between the two, you can't do it.
Only home theater Neanderthals watch movies with a two-channel audio system, the standard wisdom has it. 5.1, 6.1, 7.1—will surround sound formats ever stop expanding?
<B>On the Kouch</B> <BR> Actually, Dr. Melfi has a chair and a couch. Her expression is noncommittal as I choose between them—the psychoanalysis has already begun. Right away, she suggests a word game: she'll say something, I'll respond with the first thing that pops into my head. I've used the technique myself to out disloyal employees in the, uh, refuse recycling business. I guess that semester and a half of college was money well spent.