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In: Home Theater
With: 11 Comments

There are two different factors to determine how close a viewer should sit to the screen of their home theater (field-of-view and picture resolution). To choose a proper distance, it is necessary to understand the impacts of both, and understand when trade-offs occur. There are multiple ideal seating distances depending on the equipment and the preferences of the viewer. Here the details of these two separate factors: Field-of-View based viewing distances: The THX and SMPTE specifications are based on a field-of-view being a certain width or wider, meaning that all seats must be closer than a certain distance to the screen. In general, the widerRead More →

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In: Tech
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I decided to post this for anyone shopping for a technology geek. Also, I figured it might be interesting to see what was on my 2006 list several years from now. I should be clear that don’t need one single thing on this list, but it would be kinda neat to have. Here is the ordered list, with “highest-desirability” items first. Garmin 010-00467-00 Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver with Heart Rate Monitor (Amazon link) $270 – I try to make myself go running 3 times a week. It would be great to know how far, how fast, and my current heart-rate, so I can better trackRead More →

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In: Home Theater
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Overview: ReplayGain [Add explanation of lossless ReplayGain, how it does not modify the original music data, only writes a metadata tag, usually uses Ogg Vorbis tags instead of mp3 tags, etc.] WaveGain is an application of gain algorithms to standard PCM wave files. Where it differs from the other applications of this principle is that the gain adjustments are applied directly to adjusting the scaling of the samples. In other words, the option to write tags that can be read by other applications to apply the gain adjustment does not exist, so the adjustments are made directly to the data on-file. Therefore, in the strictestRead More →

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In: Life Reflections
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It was Warren Buffett that summed it up best: The odds for me to have been born in the US were 1 in 50. I won the ovarian lottery. If I had been born in Bangladesh, the chances are that I would not have had such great opportunity. If you don’t believe him, visit GlobalRichList.com.  Spoiler Alert: if you earn $850/year, you are more wealthy than half of the worlds population. The idea of the site seemed a bit snobbish at first, but the purpose of it is to show people that they earn much more than they think they do, to encourage charity.Read More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 863 Comments

Recommended Seating Distances and Resolution benefits (small)I’ve read various articles debating the importance of the 1080p. I want to set the record straight once and for all: if you are serious about properly setting-up your viewing room, you will definitely benefit from 1080p (and even 1440p.) Why? Because the 1080p resolution is the first to deliver enough detail to your eyeball when you are seated at the proper distance from the screen. But don’t just take my word for it, read on for the proof.

There are a few obvious factors to being able to detect resolution differences: the resolution of the screen, the size of the screen, and the viewing distance. To be able to detect differences between resolutions, the screen must be large enough and you must sit close enough. So the question becomes “How do I know if need a higher resolution or not?”. Here is your answer.

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In: Home Theater
With: 1 Comment

I just read the The case against 1080p article on cnet by David Carnoy. I think the article offers pretty decent commentary on side-by-side viewing comparisons of 720p and 1080p flat panels. However, the article states that it “isn’t the most scientific test” and that “At larger screen sizes, the differences might become somewhat more apparent, especially if you sit close to the screen.” Kudos to the author for pointing these out; I’ve addressed these issues in this post, which explains when and why 1080p (and 1440p) are important. I’m particularly impressed that the cnet article references the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF), stating the theRead More →

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In: Web
With: 5 Comments

This is an update of my previous list of Firefox 1.5 Extensions. I’m a long-time user of the Mozilla and Firefox browsers. The base feature set is amazing but the extensions are what really make this browser a requirement. Here are my favorite extensions: Required (I use constantly): Tab Mix Plus: If I had to choose only one extension, this would be it. It makes the tabs behave any way you want them to behave. I use it to make child tabs open beside their parent, for the title text to be blue when the tab is unread, to show page download status in theRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 16 Comments

Disclaimers: First of all, this project discusses extracting the audio from DVD Video discs, not DVD-A / DVD Audio discs. DVD-Audio discs use an advanced form of encryption than cannot be digitally extracted / ripped. Extracting / ripping may be a violation of local laws. These instructions should only be used for content you own and it should only be used for personal use only. Overview: You think to yourself “why purchase both the CD and DVD of a concert when the DVD contains all the audio you need?” Since you purchased the audio on the DVD, it makes sense that you would copy audioRead More →

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In: Entertainment
With: 6 Comments

Nicole is helping her sister recover from an ear infection tonight and I’m home alone drinking Woodford Reserve and Island Fruit 7-up, watching Tivo shows she doesn’t care if she misses. Right now, I’m watching a 2-week-old episode of Veronica Mars. I’ve heard and noticed enough clever aspects of this this show that I feel the need to comment on it. First of all, I started watching the show after the first season was already finished. CBS did something very un-CBS of them and played an underrated shows from their sister network (UPN) during the summer. I watched one episode and the the show immediatelyRead More →