Apr
4
In my 17 years of involvement with custom audio/video I’ve had a lot of conversations on the subject, a lot of the same conversations as a matter of fact but one subject has never come up, not even once. In all the years of talking with client after client I’ve never heard anyone say, “we pulled too much wire” or “I really wish we’d had you guys run fewer cables”.
I suppose this falls right in-line with (although not nearly as famously as) you can never be too rich or too thin, back to the point. If you’re pre-wiring a new home, remodeling an existing home or just running some cable to your current home theater, run extra cables. Why run extra cables you ask? Because in just about every case I’ve witnessed there’s no such thing as an extra cable. i.e. you’ll eventually find a use for it.
I’ve mentioned this before but networked home theater devices are becoming more and more common, who had the foresight to run Ethernet to their equipment rack 10-15 years ago? It’s almost a given that no matter how many cables you run, eventually, sometime down the road you’re going to find use for another CAT-5, component, HDMI or Ethernet cable. Simply put it cost less to run them now versus later. Or just think of it the way our installation team does, always run a spare.
Apr
3
Buying Used Projectors
Filed Under Home Theater Projectors | Leave a Comment
Projectors are obviously one of the costlier items in a home theater; as such it should come as no surprise to learn a healthy market for used projectors exists. All sorts of projectors can be found used, LCD, DLP, CRT etc. etc. There are of course a few things to consider before investing in a used home theater projector.
First off understand that projectors are more volatile (not the exact word I was looking for but close enough) than direct-view displays, the main reason is heat. Projectors have quite a bit more work to do than direct-view’s starting with not having the luxury of projecting light into a sealed cabinet. Add to that, the screen is in many cases two to three times the size of the average direct-view display and it’s easy to see how projectors are more prone to failure.
I say this not to discourage anyone from buying a projector (we love ours) but to draw attention to the importance of a warranty with a projector. Once you buy used (with minor exception) you’re on your own. This is where it gets tricky, paying 10% off retail for a year old projector clearly isn’t worth the associated risk, paying less than half the retail for a two year old projector on the other hand may well be.
Apr
2
Hanging flat-panel televisions (plasma, LCD, etc.) in multi-dwelling, high-rise buildings can offer some unique challenges versus typical single-family construction. Right off the bat we’re looking at metal stud construction which doesn’t provide the same load capacity as wood studs. More problematic than the actual load capacity however is the nature of metal studs to “twist” under load.
This twisting is due to the fact that metal-studs are used in buildings with concrete and steel load-dispersion and therefore don’t necessarily have to “support” the walls themselves. In essence all a metal-stud wall has to hold up is the sheetrock attached to it, natrually heavey objects mounted on these walls can present a problem. The good news however is the average full-sized sheet of drywall is heavier than the television we’ll be mounting.
Ok back to my point, in order to reduce twisting and to just give the mount a slightly firmer foundation; I like to take a piece of plywood (painted the same color as the wall) and mount it to the wall and then mount the wall-mount to that. This affords us the ability to hit the metal-studs with more screws and by cutting the plywood slightly taller than the mount, you can get even more spread to disperse the load on. By the way, you’ll want to pre-drill (pilot) holes before trying to sink a screw into metal studs.
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Apr
1
Keeping Specifications in Perspective
Filed Under Equipment | Leave a Comment
I’ll try my best to keep this as simple and to the point as possible, although that might be an overly optimistic goal considering the subject matter. I want to talk about specifications and expectations a bit, specifically with regard to displays (LCD, plasma, projectors etc.) but I suppose it applies just as well to any piece of gear.
Firstly manufacturers fib about product specifications all the time. Some manufacturers are worse than others but at one time or another just about every one of them has done it. Still think you can make informed buying decisions based on specifications? If so then that’s fine too, just keep in mind that you’ll get better results doing this comparing manufacturer (a) to manufacturer (a) on specs than (a) to (b). It’s entirely possible (a) and (b) used two completely different methods to arrive at that specification.
This brings me to my next point, sometimes specifications are the last thing someone wants to hear about. I’ll give you an example. Recently I had a client in our showroom and we had just finished looking at two very different projectors, one retailed for about $2k and the other for $5k. While we were wrapping up (in the 2k room) a customer came in and started raving about the $2k projector, adjectives and praise were tumbling out of his mouth a hundred miles an hour.
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Mar
31
Upconversion
Filed Under Terminology | Leave a Comment
A lot has been said about upconversion and I’m sure a lot remains to be said. Personally I find it to be of little benefit, at least as it’s typically utilized in low-end to mid-range consumer electronics. There are some great examples of pro-broadcast upconverison but that’s of little use to the enthusiast.
Upconversion can be found in several different forms, DVD players can up-convert standard definition DVD’s to output at resolutions of 720p, 1080i, or even 1080p, but just keep in mind that resampled pixels are no substitute for more “real” pixels. Upconversion can also be found (increasingly) in surround receivers. This is a broader catch-all approach and obviously offers you the ability to upconvert video signals that otherwise would be passed on in standard definition.
The third most common form of upconversion is one that anyone with a digital display has the ability to use right now. It’s called turning on the television and watching anything with a different resolution than the displays native rate. Ok sorry for the sarcastic example but it’s true. All digital displays upconvert to some degree or another, if they didn’t you’d see 480i/p and 720p as a (postage stamp) “window” inside 1080p displays. You’ve seen that very thing you say? In all likelihood that was improperly flagged video or double pillar boxed (both vertically and horizontally) by the broadcaster.
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Mar
30
Home Theater Budgets
Filed Under Shopping Tips | Leave a Comment
One of the most frustrating mistakes I see made in home theater is poor budgeting, specifically budgets widely skewed toward the display. Of course the screen is the most noticeable component of a home theater system and it’s literally where the action is while the movie’s playing, but displays that pass 70% or even 80% of the entire budget are counter-productive and rarely give the best bang for the buck.
The simple fact of the matter is audio (especially in the last few years or so) typically doesn’t see the rapid advancements that video does. In other words, it’s unlikely a display will remain “current” anywhere, near as long as a similarly priced audio system.
Yes, surround receivers have changed a bit in the last few years but once you have one capable of HDMI switching you’re pretty well assured not to see any significant advancements on the audio front (at least feature wise), for several years. Displays on the other hand see significant overhauls every 9-12 months. It’s this very reason I recommend not getting display-bitten and throwing an inordinate amount of your overall budget into the display, audio matters too, and probably more than you’ve considered.
Mar
29
HDMI 1.3 Cables: Certified vs. Compatible
Filed Under HDMI | Leave a Comment
You may have seen “1.3 certified” used as a selling point for HDMI cables recently but there are a few things you should know before paying a premium for these certified cables. Yes HDMI 1.3 is a recent revision to the original HDMI specification which adds extended support for deep-color and higher transmission rates. 1.3 also has additional support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio over the original specifications, but unless your source and display are HDMI 1.3 capable, the cable itself won’t add anything to the equation.
What’s more, some cables that haven’t been 1.3 certified (often sold as compatible) may be perfectly capable of delivering all of the HDMI 1.3 features. In other words, the lack of certification doesn’t mean the cable couldn’t pass if tested. This isn’t a new phenomenon in the audio/video world either. Many receivers that haven’t been submitted for THX approval could easily meet or exceed the criteria for THX approval. Often times it just doesn’t make sense to pay to have lower-end models tested.
Likewise, short of buying from a well known manufacturer or reseller, simply stating that a cable is 1.3 certified doesn’t always make it so. Thus far there really hasn’t been a big push for any kind of documentation or third-party verification of test results. None of this was in anyway meant to debunk the benefits of 1.3 or cast doubt on any reseller; I just want you to keep things in perspective when purchasing new cables.
Mar
28
Older Movies in HD
Filed Under HDTV | Leave a Comment
This one has rocketed to the top of the most asked list in the last two weeks, so without further delay: yes older (and just plain old) films can be “HD”. Not only can older films be HD, they can actually surpass the highest resolution HD format (1080p) several times over. In short the actual resolution of film far exceeds any consumer display technology in-use today. Note: I said today because the Japanese are hurriedly working on super HD resolutions as we speak.
Film, being an analog medium isn’t bound by digitals hard limit of x by y resolution, but that’s not to say analog film, or rather the equipment used to capture and project it doesn’t have limitations. A Group of ISO engineers measured the nominal resolution of film at around 800 lines of resolution by going into working theaters and projecting images of a resolution chart, and then measuring the results.
Those 800-900 lines of resolution were increased to well over 1600 lines of comparable resolution with newer projection equipment, but even this doesn’t accurately reflect the amount of resolution film can capture. Using digital scanners (skipping the entire projection process) it’s not unheard of the get over 3500 lines of resolution or more from a single frame of 35mm film. So as you can see “film” isn’t the weak link here, it’s our ability to retrieve the information from the film.
Mar
27
From time to time I encounter customers who want to use their subwoofers passively, i.e. to run their front left and front right speaker leads through the subwoofer to power it passively. While this isn’t something I generally recommend (due to the delicate nature of analog signals) there are preferred methods to improve the overall sound quality of passive subwoofers.
Every extra foot of cable and additional break in the signal path attenuates the signal slightly and eventually enough attenuation leads to audible distortion. Now this is an extreme illustration but it does happen. If you can’t run a low-level signal cable to the subwoofer (for whatever reason) try to make the leads from the receiver to the subwoofer as sport as possible.
Also try and use banana clips, spades, soldered on connections etc. over raw wire, raw wire can oxidize easily and enough oxidation can reduce the sound quality of the signal. Soldered connections obviously reduce oxidation to a great degree than twist on speaker leads but in this case anything is preferable to raw speaker cable.
Mar
26
We’ve discussed the proper seating distance from your display but what about the proper mounting height? It’s no secret that one of my biggest pet peeves is displays mounted so high on a wall that you have to crane your neck backwards to see them. While I’ll obviously never be able to talk everyone out of this mistake, I do have some tips for those who are more interested in the most enjoyable viewing experience; than seeing how high on the way you can mount your television.
Firstly keep in mind that the following guidelines are intended for your normal seating position, don’t decide where to place your display based on sitting at a barstool unless you do all your viewing from barstool etc, this goes for standing, laying down etc. You want to mount your television so that the center of the screen is roughly at eye level seated, you can go slightly higher than that but once you reach the bottom of the screen at eye level or higher you really should consider dropping it back down.
I know it’s easy to imagine the display higher and to want it higher but if you find yourself rubbing at a sore neck after viewing a whole movie or ball-game what’s the point? Sure these are just guidelines and every scenario is different but think about ergonomics more than aesthetics when deciding where to place your wall-mounted TV, your neck will thank me.
Mar
25
Identifying Ground Loops
Filed Under Surround Sound | Leave a Comment
Some call them ground loops, some a 60 cycle hums while others use the term mains hum. Whatever term you use to describe the annoyance, knowing how to trouble-shoot them is half (more really) the battle of eliminating them. A ground loop is a hum associated with audible oscillation at the frequency of the mains alternating current, i.e. your homes electrical service. In nine out of ten cases I run across group loops (hum) in audio systems that usually originate from the cable feed and or the satellite television lead from the dish.
Ground loops are typically (oddly enough) a grounding issue. Often times it’s either a broken ground that results in a hum or an intact ground that introduces the hum directly. The quickest way to eliminate the satellite or cable is just to remove the satellite or cable connection from the system and listen for the hum. If the hum remains with the cable removed you’ll need to keep looking at other pieces of gear and or connections.
If removing the satellite or cable TV feed makes the hum go away you’ll want to try one of two things, first trace your cable tv (or satellite) line back to its entry point into the house. If the feed has a splitter check to see if its grounded, if so lift the ground and then go back inside and listen again. If the hums gone you’ll want to look into alternate ways to protect you A/V system than the ground provided by the cable company. On the other hand if you see that the cable (or sat) isn’t grounded before it comes into the house that may be the culprit. All in all troubleshooting these problems is a process of elimination and a bit of experimentation afterwards.
Mar
24
Soundproofing Home Theaters
Filed Under Room Acoustics | Leave a Comment
Interest in soundproofing home theaters seems intrinsically tied to the price of the theater itself. In other words soundproofing a five thousand dollar home theater may involve shutting the door, but expectations obviously rise along with the bottom line. In general I recommend not even considering soundproofing until a few other criteria have been satisfied.
Firstly, is there even a need to soundproof? One client in particular inquired about soundproofing his home theater but didn’t seem to know who he was soundproofing it from; his kids were away at college and he and his wife always watch movies together. Secondly, are we even producing enough decibels to worry about soundproofing? It’s possible but every home is different and that has to be taken into consideration.
Also don’t confuse soundproofing with acoustical (sound) treatment, the former is meant to keep sound in (or out) while the latter is meant to improve the quality of the sound inside the room. One of the cheapest and easiest ways to “sound proof” a room is to use double drywall during construction. I know that may not sound cheap or easy, but it is compared to any solution once the room is completed.
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