Other Tech

No matter how much time you spend watching TV and DVDs, it's always comforting to know there are still people out there who spend more hours in front of the panel than you. Many, many, more hours.

[Note: After we posted this story, Warner Bros. contacted us to give comment. (As we note in the story, we had made numerous attempts to interview someone from the studio before the story went live.) Skip past the end of the article to read a response from Ned Price, VP Mastering, Warner Bros. Technical Perations.]

The video-tech evolution has been swift and in-your-face. From the square little black-and-white picture tube, we went to "in living color," rear projection, and the flat-ering DLP, plasma, LCD, and OLED. And on these displays we've watched broadcast, cable, VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, Blu-ray, and HD DVD (and the occasional porno - okay, that's neither here nor there).

See if this doesn't sound familiar: You don't just love movies, you love the whole moviegoing experience. When the time comes to check out a film, you drive miles out of your way to go to the best theater around-one with stadium seating, digital surround sound, and that awesome THX trailer that comes on before the movie.

It may be time to start asking the question that's asked of all pastimes with hobbyist roots when their popularity surges: Is home theater a permanent cultural phenomenon or just another fad destined to burn out before its time? Recent evidence certainly shades the former. DVD-Video has been the catalyst for an unprecedented boom in the popularity of home theater and should probably be credited with completing home theater's undeniable transition from novelty act to mainstream entertainment that began with Dolby Surround and the first inexpensive multichannel speaker system. But is home theater a cultural phenomenon the way that the computer is a cultural phenomenon? Do a majority of Americans actively seek to make it a part of their lives day in and day out? Not yet—but home theater's high-water mark is still to come.