By:
In: Home Theater
With: 5 Comments

With the Super Bowl just hours away, I finished mounting my new Mitsubishi LT-46131 Flat Panel LCD TV. I’m only watching off-the-air HD right now as I have yet order a second HD satellite receiver. As is my history for all things related to home theater, I couldn’t simply sit it on the table or even mount it flat against the wall — I went all-out with a Chief PNR articulating arm mount with an in-wall PAC500 housing. Since those model numbers mean nothing to pretty much everyone (including myself a week ago) here are some pictures. Please note: I still have some drywall workRead More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 21 Comments

Just as resolution continues to increase on HDTV sets, so it seems does contrast ratio. I few years ago, digital displays were exclaiming how impressive a 1,000:1 contrast ratio was. Now 10,000:1 is not that uncommon. And since contrast ratio is more important to resolution in the production of a great picture, it sounds like these new displays should be amazingly fantastic. Unfortunately, these extremely high contrast ratios have little to do with real world performance and are, to a great extent, marketing hype. First of all, it’s necessary to understand the difference between the two types of contrast ratio measurements. The one used byRead More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 4 Comments

Earlier this week, Damon Darlin of the New York Times conducted a phone interview with me. The article (It’s O.K. to Fall Behind the Technology Curve) was published today. For those finding my site because of his article, here are links to some relevant pages on my site: 1080p Does Matter – Here’s When (Screen Size vs. Viewing Distance vs. Resolution) Home Theater Seatings Distances: Field-of-View vs. Resolution Visual Acuity Viewing Distance: Test It for YourselfRead More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 1 Comment

Late Saturday night I started noticing a few more comments than usual on my site. On Sunday, I received even more. Wondering what was going on, I logged into my Google Analytis account and found that the largest referrer to my site was engadgethd.com. Hmmm, now that’s something now. I figured I must have written something to warrant a post from them and found out I did. They’ve referenced that same post in a couple of other articles as well. Thanks to EngadgetHD for the link and for sharing info on when high def screen resolutions are important (and when they’re not). Edit: My articleRead More →

By:
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 →

By:
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.

Read More →

By:
In: Automotive, Home Theater
With: 6 Comments

Last night, Nicole and I had several friends over and we wound up watching The Sentinel. The movie was not all that great but what I found even more distracting was the rattles in the room generated by the substantial bass of my subwoofer. I was probably the only one in the room that noticed or was disturbed by it, but so what. So today I’m identifying the offenders in the room. I know the door covering the equipment rack is rattling and there is a light fixture in the ceiling rattling as well. But both rattle at different frequencies and it’s a pain toRead More →

By:
In: Events & Travel, Home Theater
With: 3 Comments

As soon as I walked into the theater and glanced up at the trailers on the screen, I knew that I wasn’t watching film.  I immediately suspected that I was looking at the output from a digital projector. Digital projection was first introduced in many cities a few years earlies, but not in Indianapolis.  I wondered how digital would compare to film and if it really was an enhancement or just a method of lowering distribution costs.  Make no mistake, the image is superior to film. What I immediately noticed was the vivid colors on the screen.  Images were more saturated without being over-saturated.  IRead More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 0 Comments

I finally purchased a new piece of Home Theater Equipment!  I’m the proud owner of a new Sherbourn 7/2100a 200 watts x 7 channel amplifier.  This is the first step in replacing my 8-year old Onkyo receiver.  First the new amplifier, then the 2 new in-wall Sonance Cinema Ultra II SUR surround speakers to go from 5.1 to 7.1 surround, and then finally a new Anthem AVM-50 receiver to give built-in video processing and true 7.1 sound.  (Still don’t know when that one will be available.) I know, I just got something new, and I’m already talking about the next thing.  But it’s a system,Read More →

By:
In: Home Theater
With: 2 Comments

I’ve been wanting to post a photo album on my website for a few years now. I finally got around to doing it. For now, there are just pictures of my 2 home theater projects. The pictures cover the projects from start-to-finish (well, almost finished, I’m not quite done with the latest). My first home theater was in my first house and was more of a media room because it was in a huge basement room with a bar and pool table. Nicole and I moved about a year and a half ago and went with a dedicated home theater for version 2.0. I stillRead More →