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Home Theater Demo Discs – Volume III

October 1, 2010 By 2 Comments

OH NO NOT THIS AGAIN!!! Yes, that’s right! I’m spending more time trying to get you to watch movies that, either good or bad, will still rock your face off if you have a great viewing room or killer sound system. Once again the categories are Picture Quality (wooo pretty), Surround Sound, and Subwoofer/LFE. Here’s my top 5 picks this time around for great Home Theater Demo Discs.


Title: Iron Man II
Original Theatrical Release Date: 5/7/2010
Audio Format DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Great For: Picture Quality, Surround Sound, Subwoofer/LFE
What to Demo: Stark Expo opening, Race at Monaco, Iron Man & War Machine attack
My Take: You knew this would be on here! I loved the first movie in my original post of movie demo discs and the sequel does not disappoint. From the opening scenes of Ironman flying through the night sky to a rocking track of AC/DC to the finale with Ironman and War Machine laying waste to the Hammer Bots, this is a disc that will stretch the limits of your system all while being entertaining to watch. Oh, and finally we get a great race scene when Tony Stark meets Whiplash at the Monaco F1 race… this should be played at 11.



Title: Baraka
Original Theatrical Release Date: 09/24/1993
Audio Format DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 96k/24bit
Great For: Picture Quality
What to Demo: The Entire Disc
My Take: After a recommendation from damn near everyone that has read this blog I finally picked up Baraka on Blu-Ray for a first viewing. i can honestly say this is the gold standard for high definition video reproduction. Thanks to an 8k resolution analogue to digital scan of the original 70mm footage which was then later down sampled to 1080p, this documentary comes to life literally on the screen. Obscene resolution can be witnessed as this film journeys across 24 different countries showing everything from the busy streets of New York to the Gangees River in India. There is not a single word of dialogue or narration. Just pure clean imagery set to the most moving music I’ve ever heard. You don’t watch this movie, you experience it. The entire disc is a demo disc. Pick any scene.



Title: Kickass
Original Theatrical Release Date: 04/16/2010
Audio Format DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Great For: Surround Sound, Subwoofer/LFE
What to Demo: Strobe gunfight, closing scene starting with Hit Girl walking into building
My Take: Quite possibly the most appropriately named movie of the year. This Spiderman meets Superbad meets Kill Bill ultra-violent action-comedy has some striking visuals thanks to the continually impressive eye from Director Matthew Vaughn (Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch). We get a great use of color balance (and the Director is color blind), even if slightly over exaggerated, and a wonderful display of contrast in the darkest of scenes. Check out the shootout scene where Kickass and Big Daddy are held hostage to be rescued by Hit Girl (I can’t make this up). This movie is a new favorite of mine and is worthy of several viewings.



Title: Pulse
Original Theatrical Release Date: 8/11/2006
Audio Format Dolby TrueHD
Great For: Surround Sound, Subwoofer/LFE
What to Demo: Server room scene at the end of the movie
My Take: If there was ever to be a brown note this is it. The scene towards the end of the movie when Kristen Bell’s character finally gets to the server room, we are greeted with an LFE “pulse” so low and gut wrenching it actually made me a little queazy at reference volumes. The flick is a typical Dimension Films horror movie so don’t expect The Shining here but if you are a subwoofer guy or just need to find rattles in your room/your house/the neighbors house, Pulse is the way to go.

Sometimes it’s easier to see what this is than to talk about it. Check out this video on youtube of Pulse’s effect on a nearby coffee table. Now you can see why this little clip has been called “the subwoofer killer.”



Title: Pearl Harbor
Original Theatrical Release Date: 5/25/2001
Audio Format DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Great For: Surround Sound, Some Subwoofer/LFE
What to Demo: Attack on Pearl Harbor
My Take: I am filing this under “crappy movies that you should only watch parts of.” you guessed it, the attack on Pearl Harbor scene is a gut wrenching 11 minutes of the Japanese attack that took place back in 1941. Explosions, gunfire, torpedoes and WWII-era dive bombing are all there with an emersive surround sound track. It’s difficult for some to watch to due to the harshness and realness of the attack (especially on a big screen/system) but I really believe it’s one of the better demo movies of the 90′s. Just don’t watch the rest of the movie and you’ll be fine!

Did I forget something? Let me know in the comments and I’ll include your picks in the next volume of “Home Theater Demo Discs.”

Note: The greatest compliment you can give me is to share this with a friend, facebook, twitter, or submit to Digg or Reddit. Thanks for reading!

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How to buy a TV… and not look like an idiot.

September 7, 2010 By 6 Comments

That will be enough TV's.

If there is one question I get asked the most from friends, family, readers of this blog, and just people being weird when I’m at the big box electronic store it’s, “Can you recommend me a TV?” The question alone is a double edged sword as it’s sometimes not a request for help or that “I value your opinion” but sometimes more of a “I have something in mind and I want you to confirm it” type of question. Either way, read this and if you still have questions, feel free to comment and I’ll post back with recommendations or additional answers.

There are currently a handful of TV technologies out there so we’ll skim over them quickly:

Plasma Poor plasma… you’ve gotten such a bruised and tattered wrap over the last few years. We still have love for plasma here at the Stuff That Plugs In Blog though so here are a few things to know about plasma. Plasma TV is still the hands down end all be all of TV’s when it comes to picture quality. Even the most expensive LED LCD panels are no match for Plasma’s ability to damn near go total black when needed on the screen (contrast). Image burn-in was a thing of concern but no longer seems to be an issue on modern day plasma televisions. Burn-in was a phenomenon that occurred when an image sat too long in the same spot and left a residual image on the TV. You saw this a lot in airports are the screens hardly cycled so a turned off set or a broken set you could still see an image of what was once displayed. We still have a bit of image retention, meaning the image may stick around for a few minutes after turning off, but I haven’t seen a plasma suffer from image burn-in in quite some time. Plasmas are still not “power hogs” over LCD. The difference in the technologies make that the plasma pulls different wattages depending on what’s being displayed (brighter scenes more power, darker scenes less power) whereas LCD is “always on” and always pulling a constant stream of wattage from the wall.

LCD (and LED) LCD TV has been out just as long as plasma and is the same technology used in most cell phones and computer monitors. It has an image produced on a Liquid Crystal Display and then lit with a cathode-ray tube alone the edges of the screen. While the image is good, it’s not great as darks just cannot get near as dark as plasma since the bulb is always on and when the LCD is showing “black” we’re really getting “kinda dark grey.”

LCD TV just couldn’t stay on par with the image quality of Plasma so manufacturers started to develop LCD backlight LCD TV’s (lit by tiny little lights instead of a bulb on the edges). There are currently two types of LED TV’s out now: Edge Lit and Local Dimming. You want Local Dimming. This means the LED lights are behind the screen in a grid and can turn on, off, or dim as needed to display the most plasma like image as possible. Local Dimming LED sets are not going to be as paper thin as their Edge Lit LED counterparts but seriously… who needs a 3mm TV set (not you).

Rear Projection One of my personal favs in situations where hanging on the wall is not necessary as well as this particular type of TV heads up the “bang for the buck” department. Rear projection is a technology that uses a DLP (psst… it’s in the mirrors) chip to bounce light off of and into a color wheel which then projects the image from behind the screen. Since this process needs some room (to get a big enough picture) these TV’s typically tend to be anywhere from 9-21 inches deep depending on the make/model/size. Bulbs will need to be replaced (a good thing in my mind since you don’t have to throw it away) every 6,000-10,000 hours unless otherwise noted. Most mid-sized DLP TV’s have been phased out as LCD prices came down for the 50″ range but you’ll still find 65, 70, and 80 inch variants still on sale from Mitsubishi and Samsung for nearly a 1/4 or more of what their similar sized LCD or Plasma counterparts sell for. If you want a big screen go Rear Pro… if you want bigger than that, go front projection (like my theater) but that’s another topic.

Tips for buying a TV

  • DO read reviews on particular sets from popular sources like cnet or consumer reports
  • DO look at your room before looking at TV’s. Rooms with lots of windows or lots of sunshine coming in will be better served with an LCD or a Rear Projection TV instead of plasma due to the glare produced from the screen since plasma screen’s are more reflective. Also look at your room when you’re most likely going to watch TV the most. If it’s relatively dark, look at a Plasma.
  • DO buy your cables online from places like monoprice (cables have a 2100% profit for the retailer so they’re going to lie to you about quality differences with their cables…)
  • DO shop online to get a competitive price on a TV. Retailers like Amazon are now using third party vendors to allow for competition. Most of time you can get prices from a 100 different vendors through amazon and they’ll show the cheapest price available. (You can visit amazon through this link as they’re a site sponsor)
  • DO feel free to return a TV because you don’t like it. A TV should last you easily 7 or more years so this is something you’re going to be living with for quite some time. Do not settle. A bad picture will always be a bad picture.
  • DO hang your flat screen on the wall. It’s a quick and easy process that looks super clean and can be done in less than an hour by a novice. Buying a flatscreen and putting it on a console or a tabletop is like buying a Monet and putting it in a closet.
  • DO NOT look at TV’s and think… “That has a good picture.” You’re not in an ideal environment, like your living room, to make that kind of judgment since the lighting in a retail store is extremely poor or it’s setup to make them all look good. You also need to know that TV’s come shipped in a settings called “Torch Mode” which is unrealistic color reproduction to make them “look” good (or at least better than the one next to it) on the sales room floor by amping up the brightness and certain color hues. There actually is a standard that all TV’s should be set to but if they did that, they’d all look the same. I wonder why manufacturers wouldn’t want to do that… hrmmm… By the way when you get home with your new TV turn it to “Cinema” mode and off of Torch Mode. Watching in Torch Mode would probably give you a migraine after 30 minutes of viewing due to the brightness.
  • DO NOT buy into marketing specs on the TV’s hot sheet. Settings like 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio is impossible (they’re really measuring about 1,200:1 ANSI) to achieve and they’re really using tricks to get to numbers like this just so the consumer sees one set at 500,000:1 and one at 1,000,000:1 and immediately thinks the latter is the better set.
  • DO NOT listen to the monkeys at the big box retail stores and what they have to say. They’re trained to not sell you the best TV but to sell you the most profitable TV (sometimes being a house brand that they make twice to triple the profit)
  • DO NOT let anyone talk you into the false notion that cables make a difference. Digital cables transmit 1′s and 0′s. It either works or it doesn’t. My entire house uses 4 and 6 dollar HDMI cables from monoprice.com. This has been proven time and time and time again.
  • DO NOT buy the biggest TV that you can afford. Buy the TV that fits your room. A TV should be 65″ at 10′ from where you sit according to SMTPE specifications. Any larger and it you’ll be watching a Tennis match every time you turn on the TV as your eyes will scan across the TV. Any smaller and you’ll squint. You can find a calculator here for other distances
  • DO NOT buy into the 3D gimmick that’s out right now. The technology has not been finalized and is due to change making your purchase obsolete. Additional glasses range from 100-150 dollars a piece, are easily breakable, lack true content (currently only 5 movies available in 3D) and cannot be used on different TV brands (you can’t take your Samsung glasses to a friend’s house and watch a Panasonic 3D TV)

Note: The greatest compliment you can give me is to share this with a friend, facebook, twitter, or submit to Digg or Reddit. Thanks for reading!

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An Open Letter to Hollywood (3 Reasons Why You Suck)

August 31, 2010 By 2 Comments


Copyright Fresh Air LAIt’s 4:40am and I can’t sleep. Maybe it was that I just had the worst Monday to ever happen or maybe it was those 5 blueberry waffles that I called “dinner” that seem to be fighting back but either way, I’m up. I’ve had this thought on my mind for a while and well, here we go.

Hollywood, this is why I hate you.

Originality… scare.

I know this gets thrown around a lot but are we really out of good ideas or does it just make financial sense to just keep rehashing the same story over and over with reboots and sequels. Let’s take a look at the top movies of 2010 so far shall we?

2010 Top Grossing Films as of 08/31/2010 per Box Office Mojo:

Rank Title Grossed Sequel/Reboot
1 Toy Story 3  $405m  Yes
2 Alice in Wonderland  $334m  Yes
3 Iron Man 2  $312m  Yes
4 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse  $298m  Yes
5 Inception  $271m  No
6 Shrek Forever After  $238m  Yes
7 Despicable Me  $236m  No
8 How to Train Your Dragon  $217m  No
9 The Karate Kid  $176m  Yes
10 Clash of the Titans  $163m  Yes

Now don’t get me wrong, there are some brilliant movies in the list (looking at you Toy Story 3 & Iron Man 2) that are sequels, but really, Inception (quiet possibly one of the better films in the last 30 years) did worse than Twilight? Oh sweet world, why do I bother? I’m not sure who to be more mad at Hollywood or you fools that keep buying tickets to this crap.

Let’s not forget Hollywood’s most recent trick of the last 12 years. I’m talking about making, no marketing, the same movie and material to us again. Is it because we’re just that stupid to keep buying it? Are people really going to go out and see Avatar again because of 8 additional minutes? (you double dipped us here Cameron… same plot as 14 other movies and you feed it to us twice with a theatrical rerelease and are going to issue 3 versions on Blu-Ray. You asshole.) Am I seriously getting ready to buy Star Wars on Blu-Ray… a movie I’ve bought 4 times already from you, Lucas? (VHS, LD, DVD SE, DVD Original cut) You putz. You won’t even give us the version we want because you know you’ll be out of cards to cash in. Plus you won’t even sell them in trilogy form because you know those prequels can’t stand on their own.

Oh yea, and 3D is a gimmick as it was 50 years ago–We all know it so stop trying to push that technology on us again for the sixth time in over 130 years.

So why do we as consumers continue to reward mediocrity?

Overpromise and underdeliver… consistently.

Trailers- They’re like the starlet sex tapes of soon-to-be released movies. Those tiny nuggets of hope that get the masses antsy enough to go out and spend 10-12 bucks on a movie ticket and overpriced concessions. Whoever edits these things should get a damn medal (or be shot) because if you can build up a piece of crap like ”Paranormal Activity,” or “Grown Ups,” or “Couples’ Retreat” and make it look oscar-bound, well, you’re a better business man than I.

The marketing machine that that fuels this industry is unbelievable to say the least. The trailers with quick smash cuts of the film’s best, if not only, moments with a few catch phrases sprinkled in like “The year’s best >insert genre here<” or “Laugh Out Loud Funny.” Really? The year’s best? I saw this used on a movie in January… a little bold, if not presumtuous, don’t you say?

Then they have thrown in a little viral marketing because all the kids are doing it. It’s a solid way to get people buzzing about something when really, it’s nothing. “Paranormal Activity” and “The Blair Witch Project” did this well when the soon-to-be disappointed fans started sputtering out of control on the interwebs about how these films were real… which further propagated the hype.  It’s like a ball of shit rolling down a snowy hill and we all bought it as a happy plaything, but once we decided to parch our lips on the pretty orb we found the feces-filled center. Agash with our new found experience with human waste, instead of feeling rage, we shrug and accept that we’ve been swindeled… again.

Foolish Movie Delivery… always.

This may seem an outlandish statement and I really do think people are going to call me an idiot, but I expect it, even welcome it. Movie Theaters days are numbered. In a world of hustle and bustle it’s just too difficult to sit in a movie theater let alone sit in a theater that smells of urine, eating food we should have snuck in, and having to listen to the kid 3 rows back talk about god knows what to his girlfriend on a brightly lit cell phone. Then we get to watch what seems like 22 minutes of trailers and advertisements before the feature starts. There will come a day when digital delivery of first run flicks can be watched in the comfort of your own home when and with whomever you want. I wouldn’t mind paying 2-3 times the ticket price to access a current run film if I can watch it from my couch or in my own home theater at 3 in the morning.

Then comes the issue with home delivery. You’ve finally got quality down and honestly, I don’t mind paying for it in the way of Blu-Ray disc. But why, why do I have to watch commercial ABOUT Blu-Ray and how awesome it is ON a Blu-Ray. A little rudundant isn’t it? And why we’re on the subject of discs we own is it not enough that I have to pay you 20-30 dollars for a movie but then you get to shove 4-6 trailers for then-current-but-soon-to-be-out-of-date movies. Step 1: Remove head from ass. This makes perfect sense for a rental disc (which you’ve brilliantly stripped all of the bonus features off of) as I understand you need to recapture every little bit of extra revenue that you can but really, did you not get enough of me when I bought the disc? It’s no wonder people are ripping your movies, even when they own them.

Conclusion

Hollywood, you’re like a husband that batters their wife. You keep punching your consumers in the gut, shouting through your toothless smile about how you’re only doing this out of love, and why we should make you peanut butter pancakes every morning. You ask us to keep your terrible performance in the sack from our friends, but as you strangle us on the kitchen floor you demand we keep coming back for more. Yes, you’re that low. We know you’re a profiteering piece of shit, but we keep seeing glimpses of hope that maybe, just someday, you’ll change to the industry of imagination we once loved and enjoyed spending a few hard-earned bucks on.

Signed,

Your bruised and battered faithful

Note: The greatest compliment you can give me is to share this with a friend, facebook, twitter, or submit to Digg or Reddit. Thanks for reading!

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Home Theater Demo Discs – Volume II

August 2, 2010 By 5 Comments

So thanks to an overwhelming response in our previous volume and via PM on AVS and Facebook I’m going forward with Volume II of movies you should own or use as “Home Theater Demo Discs.” Here are 5 more movies rounding out this week’s selection:


Title: The Dark Knight
Original Theatrical Release Date: 7/18/2008
Audio Format Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Great For: Picture Quality, Surround Sound, Subwoofer/LFE
What to Demo: Opening scene that introduces The Joker, Night chase scene through Downtown Gotham
My Take: This comes to us from Long Nguyen. This disc almost made our last volume but I just hadn’t watched it in a few months so it wasn’t fresh in my mind what scenes to pick. After a quick watch through this weekend, this is definitely a disc that should be a part of your demo collection. The first scene that opens the movie has some GREAT visuals of the Gothem city landscape as well as a few booms in the LFE channel. The next big demo scene (not that this isn’t an entire demo movie) is the chase scene between the armored car, The Joker, and finally Batman in the Tumbler/Batpod. Explosions hit deep, gun fire rings out through the surround field, and the downtown darker scenes are the defination of what black levels should be.


Title: Up
Original Theatrical Release Date: 5/29/2009
Audio Format DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Great For: Picture Quality
What to Demo: Take off of Carl’s House
My Take: A suggestion from an old friend of mine. Thanks Scott for the recomendation! Pixar is one of those studios that flick after flick never disappoints us. 2009′s Up was a visually stunning movie (as are all Pixar movies… by the way, where’s my Incredibles & Finding Nemo on Blu-ray!) My favorite scene is the liftoff of Carl’s house with all of the balloons. The coloring and detail as he leaves his hometown is nothing short of beautiful that will show off the color reproduction of your display. Make sure your screen is calibrated to really get the intended colors out of this movie.


Title: Fight Club
Original Theatrical Release Date: 10/15/1999
Audio Format DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Great For: Surround Sound, Subwoofer/LFE
What to Demo: Mid-Air Airplane Crash
My Take: A movie that I originally didn’t consider a contender for a demo scene but a comment from Scott on our previous Home Theater Demo Disc – Volume I led me to pop in this movie for a second (actually 100th) watch. Fight Club has always been one of my favorite movies (and books) as it details the life of a man’s transition into responsibility and adulthood which I think every guy can relate to on some level. The scene where Ed Norton says “Every time the plane banked too sharply on takeoff or landing, I prayed for a crash or a midair collision” results in a surprising “BOOM” in the Subwoofer/LFE channel with pure chaos ringing out in every audio channel around you. It’s, both audibly and visually, contrasting scene from the mundane life of “The Narrator” (we never learn the character’s name). Extra bonus fact… Fight Club was considered a flop theatrically. This $63 million dollar budgeted film only took in $37 million domestically at the box office. It later become one of the biggest cult movies ever made.


Title: Saving Private Ryan
Original Theatrical Release Date: 7/24/1998
Audio Format DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Great For: Surround Sound, Subwoofer/LFE
What to Demo: Beach of Normandy
My Take: Detailing the Invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” puts you on that beach in what basically became Hell on Earth. As soon as the boats landed “we” were surrounded by a seemingly unstoppable barrage of German gunfire. I remember being emotionally shaken when I originally saw this flick in the movie theater and the Blu-Ray accurately recreates that same emotion and impact in the movie’s most powerful scene.


Title: The Book of Eli
Original Theatrical Release Date: 1/15/2010
Audio Format DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Great For: Surround Sound, Picture Quality
What to Demo: Gatling Gun Scene in Chapter 18
My Take: A recent addition to my collection, The Book of Eli details a man’s journey through a post apocolyptic landscape while trying to hold onto the last copy of The Bible. The Book is the last relic of a society’s past and the future’s possible guide of sensibility. In chapter 18 of the disc we find Eli pinned down in a home while being attacked by a truck mounted, hand-cranked gatling gun. The camera zooms in on the gun as it assults the house while panning both the camera and the gun fire around the room resulting in a very incredible use of the surround sound channels. You can actually track the gun around the room as it fires upon Eli. This is the first time I had heard surround sound used in this way.

I also think this is a great movie for demo’ing picture quailty of your display. The movie is very much sepia toned with tons of shadowing and detail. Optimum black levels are a must to watch this movie or you may miss something!

Did I forget something? Let me know in the comments and I’ll include your picks in the next volume of “Home Theater Demo Discs.”

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So I’ve got this Amazon store…

July 31, 2010 By 1 Comment

Yes that’s right, I’m a capitalist entrepreneur.

I just wanted to announce to everyone that I have an Amazon Store that supports my site. How does this work you ask? If you buy through Amazon it would be awesome of you to go to Amazon through my site (click the little banner in the upper right) and I’ll get a few percentage points of anything you buy. Buy your games, movies, office supplies, software, books, anything you would normally buy at amazon.com. You’ll get the same price you would through the regular site, you just help me out in the meantime.

Also, privacy is completely established and respected. I get a report that shows what was bought and how much it was but that’s it. I don’t see who bought it or where it was shipped to.

Thanks again!

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Home Theater Demo Discs – Volume I

July 29, 2010 By 4 Comments

Nothing is more exciting for a full home theater build or even after the purchase of a new TV or 5.1 Surround Sound setup than popping in your favorite movie and queueing up your favorite scene. With the volume cranked up enough to force the wife out of the house and the dog out of the room, you can finally feel that your recent work or purchase was well worth it.

This will be a series of posts really so feel free to bookmark us to find updates as new discs and material are released and found. I’ll posts movies and possibly audio discs highlighting what aspect of your system (picture quality, surround sound, subwoofer/LFE) they show off as well as chapter number. If you like something I posted, please click the disc cover to purchase through my amazon store.

Title: Iron Man
Original Theatrical Release Date: 5/2/2008
Audio Format Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Great For: Picture Quality, Surround Sound
What to Demo: First scene of the Mark I suit in the caves, Ironman vs. US jets
My Take: It’s difficult to find a great movie that also is a great disc for demo material but Iron Man on Blu-Ray does both flawlessly. This is always a favorite disc of mine and I find myself sitting down and watching the whole movie every time it’s in the player.



Title: Transformers
Original Theatrical Release Date: 7/3/2007
Audio Format Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Great For: Surround Sound, Subwoofer/LFE
What to Demo: Attack on Air Force Base, Scorpian Desert Attack Scene
My Take: Oh Michael Bay, how I love to hate you but damn do you make great demo material. If you can get past the lens flair, poor writing, and Shia LaBouf this is a great disc to have in your collection. I think I’ve demo’d the Air Force Base scene a few dozen times already.



Title: Heat
Original Theatrical Release Date: 12/15/1995
Audio Format Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Great For: Surround Sound
What to Demo: Chapter 31 – Bank Escape & Shootout -
My Take: A journey through the streets of a downtown area from a heist gone bad thanks to Al Pacino showing up. Find out what a few dozen fully automatic weapons sounds like in your home theater. I’ve used this disc since it’s original release on DVD and the Blu-Ray sounds absolutely amazing.



Title: War of the Worlds
Original Theatrical Release Date: 6/9/2005
Audio Format DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Great For: Picture Quality, Subwoofer/LFE
What to Demo: Tripod Emergence Scene
My Take: Steven Spielberg really can’t do wrong in my book and his touch comes to life once again in H.G. Wells timeless story of “we’re screwed.” The picture quality is nice and bright in the scene mentioned beforehand but verges in some parts as almost being “washed out.” I’m sure it was intentional but it’s to be noted. My favorite scene is right before the tripod comes out… The street rotates along with the faces of nearby buildings. There is a great shot of a church’s facade that has the sun’s light flood the intersection where he’ll is about to break loose. This is subwoofer/LFE reference material. This will pummel both your subwoofer and your gut in ways you never thought possible. Weak systems need not apply.



Title: Avatar
Original Theatrical Release Date: 12/18/2009
Audio Format DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Great For: Picture Quality
What to Demo: Jake’s awakening scene in his avatar suit… in fact anything past that point works.
My Take: James Cameron’s Avatar really does show what 12 years of writing, imagining, and planning can do for a movie. It’s stunning visuals once Jake gets inside the Avatar world can really show off your system’s visual capabilities. Colors are bold, sometimes overly stated but they’re showcased beautifully in high defination. This blu-ray disc should a “go to” disc for your demo collection.


Did I forget something? Let me know in the comments and I’ll include your picks in the next volume of “Home Theater Demo Discs.”

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Home Theater Build Part XII: Video Calibration

July 20, 2010 By 1 Comment

I heard an interesting podcast over at AVrant a few weeks ago by a gentlemen named Rob H. where he and another listener talked about video calibration. Something Rob said struck me as the idea had never yet materialized as a fact in my head. In audio, “perfect sound” is subjective. Your ears can hear what you think or perceive is great sound but the next person could hear the same thing in the same room with the same speakers and treatment and think the room sounds muddy (unintelligible) or even too bright (too harsh on the higher frequencies). Unlike audio, with video there is perfection, it’s definable and it’s obtainable… or at least you can tweak your equipment as close as possible to the definition of “perfect video.”

So what is “perfect video” and what are we trying to get to. The end game is to get your TV, monitor, or projection system to the same levels of brightness, contrast, and color as the set that the director and production team used when the film was made. Not everyone knows this but the monitors movie studios use are calibrated to specific values and the film is tweaked to represent the intended picture on these monitors. The Dark Knight is saturated with blues, grays and shadows because that’s how Christopher Nolan wanted the picture to look like on the display he used while filming and editing. We’re trying to match the Director’s equipment settings in our home environment to accurately reproduce the Director’s vision.

“Why can’t they just tell us what the settings are and we simply program our TV’s that way.”

An excellent question but a little short sighted. What you have to realize is there are a lot of variables in a viewing environment besides what the TV is putting out. Contrast (blackness) can become washed out if there is a large amount of ambient light in the room. Color can be misrepresented by the light bulb temperature (not hot/cold but color temperature, some bulbs are more yellow, some are more white to blue). What you need to do is calibrate your TV for your environment at the time of day and the conditions that you are most likely to watch a movie in. I’m fortunate enough to have a fully light controlled environment (I can control how much light I have in the room since there are no windows) to watch movies in so I can calibrate my room for pure darkness. My calibration settings would be different from someone calibrating their plasma in a great room with a lot of windows due to the difference in ambient light and the different display technologies.

Types of Calibration and the associated costs:

User Settings 1 – Cost: Free Time: 20 Seconds

Everyone should check do this because, well, it’s free and really only takes a few clicks through your menu to complete. Understand that all TVs should look the same since there is a definable specification that can achieved. Unfortunately, this is hardly the case. Since the manufacturers of TV sets want to capture the eye of the potential buyer they’ve created what the industry called “Torch Mode.” This is a setting that TV’s come shipped with turned on since they is no way of knowing which TV’s are going to end up on the display shelf or on your bedroom wall. Torch Mode has the brightness turned WAY up and the color is completely misrepresented usually with the red being entirely oversaturated… remember they’re trying to sell you a TV. If you watched this setting in your home you would more than likely have a headache after a few extending sessions. TURN THIS SETTING OFF OR TO THE CORRECT VALUE. There should be a “picture mode” in your video menu and it should be turned to “cinema” or a like setting. This is the same place you’ll typically see “Video Game” or “Sports” in the menu. Always use “cinema.” You’re now 50% calibrated. For most people this will be enough.

User Settings 2 – Cost: Free to $5.00 Time: 10 – 15 Minutes

We’re fortunate enough to have this low cost option. I put in “free” because chances are you already have one of these discs and if you don’t you can rent one, hence the $5.00. On THX certified DVD discs (I haven’t seen a Blu-Ray yet with this feature) (thank you Long Nguyen for the update! Long reports that the Blu-Ray Edition of Terminator 2 has the THX optimizer on the disc) you’ll find a section in the setup menu called the “THX optimizer”. This will run through some very basic audio/video tests and allow you to properly set your brightness and contrast controls with no additional equipment. There is a section that allows you to set the tint and the color but you’ll need a pair of THX glasses in order to do that. I wouldn’t bother because by the time you put in shipping you can just purchase the next option below.

User Settings 3 – Cost: $20.00 – $30.00 Time: 1 Hour

There are discs available that are called “Calibration Discs.” The most popular ones are Digital Video Essentials (my fav), AVIA II, Spears & Munsil and a disc put out by Monster Cable (yes the same evil people that try to sell you overpriced cables) that the guys at Best Buy or Frys will try to sell you with your new TV. The only disc I WOULD NOT recommend is the Monster disc as it really doesn’t go much further than the THX optimizer disc. I use the Digital Video Essentials disc as it’s put out by what some consider the grandfather of calibration, Joe Kane. This disc also includes the Red/Green/Blue filter that is needed in the previous THX optimizer method above.

This is the method that I have taken so far in my home theater. With the Digital Video Essentials I was able to calibrate my Mitsubishi HC6500 Projector in about an hour. I may revisit the other methods of calibration as the projector matures.

Professional Calibration - Cost: $250.00 – $450.00 per display Time: 2-3 Hours Typically

This is one of the most costly options out there but yields the best results. You hire a professional calibrator (same kind of person that calibrates the monitors for the movie studios) to come in and calibrate your TV or Projector. This will typically take a few hours and is best done at the time when you’d most likely watch movies to accommodate the conditions that you’re most likely going to use your system. The calibrator should be either THX or ISF certified (the two big educators in this field… yes that THX). They will come in with a tripod or similar apparatus to affix a colorimeter and take measurements at several points on your screen using various test patterns and signals. Using this data for brightness, darkness, and color representation the calibrator will tweak the settings in your set by using a service menu that is typically not available to the end user resulting in the most accurate picture possible.

DIY Calibration - Cost: $500.00 – “how much do you have?” Time: You’ll probably die before you understand all of it fully

Same as before… but you become the calibrator. There are numerous forums online that discuss the how-to’s of this niche of a niche hobby but due to the high entry fee (equipment as a good colorimeter can cost upwards of 1,500 bucks) and the time consideration to learn the processes and techniques, most people steer clear of this area. The attraction in getting involved in DIY calibration is that after spending a few hundred dollars for a professional to calibrate your particular setup your bulb can dim with age changing the brightness. Some people that are really anal about perfection in their video signal want to be able to calibrate their systems every few hundred hours to compensate for the degradation in their TV or projector. Another selling point of DIY calibration is that you can calibrate all the sets in your house (we have 4 and a projector) allowing you to spend that money on the equipment. It also seems that some of the people out there end up calibrating their friend’s and family’s TV sets for a extra cash.

I hope this helps anyone that is considering calibration for their own setup. As always I would appreciate anything you can add to the blog (even a “thanks!”) as the more information we can get out on calibration the better it helps everyone achieve the movie perfect environment.

Filed Under: Home Theater, My DIY Home Theater Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

iPhone 4… One Week Later Thoughts

July 3, 2010 By 1 Comment

It’s been a little over a week since my initial blog post about getting my iPhone 4 32GB (a day early no less). So after a week’s worth of use… what are my thoughts? Is still the killer device I thought it was a week ago or has it “lost its shiny?” Would I recommend it to friends and family? What do I love, what am I not so crazy about? Let’s find out.

The funny thing about this phone and typical of Apple devices is the buzz that gets created when someone sees one for the first time. I was an early owner getting one before any of the rest of the public. Part of this was because the way I did my pre-order through AT&T Small Business Services… the other part I think was a marketing effort from Apple behind closed doors to create even more online press about the phone with initial user videos and blogs. At any rate, I ran into the local Apple Store at Willowbend mall to find a case. The store was bursting at the seams with activity, a true calm before the store. I literally almost started a riot when I pulled the 2 hours old device out of my pocket and said, “can I get a case for this?” Even the Apple employees and store manager had never seen one. It’s also been the hit of the office, completely transformed a business meeting with a new prospect, and I have had people ask me to roll down my window at a light to ask me questions on it.

So what do I love…

Speed
This phone is fast… REALLY fast. It is much faster than my old iPhone 3g and slightly edges out my wife’s android (a new mytouch slide). Opening and closing apps happens almost instantly and I find myself getting ahead of what I’m trying to do since it’s so quick. Hit the screen and you’re there, no more few second delay that I was getting after the iOS4 update that I had done on my 3G.

Screen
Being an AV guy the first thing that I noticed upon getting the new iPhone 4 was the new “retina display.” The phones insanely vivid 640×960 resolution display is truly awesome creating a bright, sharp picture that just looks like a HDTV… techies, I said look. Pixels just seem to melt away on the new display compared to the old ones making “jaggies” impossible to see. In fact, individual pixels are indistinguishable… you literally cannot see them as the pixel pitch has been reduced significantly. No more “screen door” effect. You can see a comparison of the displays as well as a description of the retina display over at PC World.

Camera
The camera has been significantly upgraded over previous 3G and even last year’s 3G S. The iPhone 4 finally gets a “camera” worthy of taking shots that may get you to think twice about bringing your point and shoot camera with you. I would still have a D-SLR camera on me for important family moments but the casual shot is perfect for this phone. The LED flash is a great addition bringing up some much needed light in any dark environments. It also doubles as a flashlight since you can turn it to “always on” in video mode. Speaking of video we finally get HD video with the iPhone 4. The 720p capable camera does a great job at capturing video (just make sure you’re holding the phone horizontally so you don’t end up with a funky aspect ratio). I love the fact that I can upload videos directly to YouTube from the new iPhone even over AT&T’s 3G network… I just wish they didn’t down sample them so much but I understand that YouTube isn’t about quality, it’s about convenience. A 720p HD video clip would probably take 10-15 minutes to upload on a good Wi-Fi connection let alone the 3G network. Here are some videos from my original blog last week showing the difference in an uploaded clip from the phone vs. a transfer and upload via my laptop:

The new iPhone 4 does include a front facing camera located near the phone’s ear speaker for taking those goofy “self-portraits” with your friends (we just need to get people to cut down on the duckface). The front facing camera allows for a new app called “Face Time” exclusive to the iPhone 4. Yes, we iPhone users finally get that feature that has been in every sci-fi movie since the 1950′s… video chat on a mobile device (now can we work on that whole “beaming up” thing). I know some of the android systems, the Evo 4 as of this writing, offers this capability but I haven’t had a chance to check out their feature. This really is “the killer app” on the iPhone. Image quality is decent, audio quality is phone-like, and it’s easy to use by launching it from the contact book or while already in a call. It should be noted that both phones have to be iPhone 4′s and need to be in a Wi-Fi zone to use the feature.

iOS 4
Not specific to the new iPhone 4 but to all 3G and up iPhone’s is the new Apple iOS 4 Operating System. Previous generations (3G and 3G S) can and should upgrade to the new iOS 4 to take use of some of the new features (3G S gets a few more than the 3G due to the better processor). Folders for apps, multi-tasking (3g and 4 models only), wallpapers, and iBooks are just a few of the new features that Apple iPhone users have been asking about for years.

What I’m Not Crazy About…

“Missing” Features We Were Hoping For
It’s no secret that iPhone users the world over have been vocal about features that are missing from their phones. Even with the updates to both the OS and the hardware, there are still some things missing that I was hoping for:

  • FM Radio Receiver
  • FM Radio Transmitter… allow your device to modulate to a radio station like other phones (Nokia N900) and in car DVD players
  • Expandable Memory
  • Replaceable Battery
  • Yes I love the 5MP camera, but 8-10MP would have been great
  • 4G
  • Tethering without the fee from AT&T (carriers abroad offer this on their iPhone for free)
  • A different network. AT&T is ok and all but we were looking for another carrier to come on board to offer the iPhone. Not only would this have introduced the phone to a whole new customer base but would also relieve the already overcrowded AT&T 3G network. We keep hearing Verizon but have yet heard confirmation Verizon or Apple of the January 2011 alleged release.

We Get a Flash… But Still No Flash
It’s ironic that the camera gets a flash but we’re still left with the remnants of the feud between Apple and Adobe with a total lack of Adobe Flash support. Our favorite little ? box is still present in over half the webpages we visit. A lot of websites are converting to HTML5 which bypasses flash completely so hopefully this is a non-issue as video and heavy flash sites convert over to HTML5.

Limited Data Plans for New Signups
I’m not sure I would have upgraded if I had been put on the limited data plan that AT&T recently announced. I’m a HEAVY data user sometimes getting up 20GB per month or 10x the allowed amount without overage fees from AT&T’s new plan. All current subscribers were grandfathered in and will retain their unlimited plan.

The Elephant in the Room… Reception Issues
Something has to be said about the reception issue that has been reported on the new iPhone. For those of you living in a cave and don’t know what I’m talking about, there is a way to hold the phone that will eventually get you disconnected from the network. The latest news is that it’s a software issue since previous generation iPhone 3G and 3G S devices that didn’t exhibit this behavior now do. Let’s hope it gets fixed in a software update but this is something that Apple does need to take care of. My take… I have yet to have a dropped call on this device (something I couldn’t say about my previous 3G) and I can get the phone to lower reception but I have to put my left thumb across the outer metal band of the phone and the volume up buttons and the rest of my fingers across the other side towards the side/bottom. I have never been able to get it to “drop reception” but can get it to go from 5 bars to 3 bars within 20-30 seconds. Like said before, it’s never happened in a call that I’m aware of or noticed.

Conclusion

So is it the perfect phone… hardly! But then again I don’t think any phone is perfect. It is near-perfect for what I use it for… streaming podcast, pictures, video, email, calendar, contacts, audio via the iPod link in my Infinity G. There are still features that we’re missing from this phone and other phones. I really do wish I could mold a Nokia N900, an EVO 4, and the new iPhone 4 together to make the a Super Device that would be the feature rich (data hot spotting, FM receiver/transmitter, amazon mp3 apps, expandable memory, etc.) device that would take phones to a whole new place.

Filed Under: Apple, iPhone Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Yes, we still go to the movies.

June 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I get weird looks from people when I tell them we went to the movie theater to see a movie. It’s almost as if I have 2 heads. Maybe it’s a hint to a bigger question of why we do this whole home theater thing if you’re still going to watch an overpriced movie and eat overpriced concessions. It’s not like this is a hobby or an addition to your home that you can do on the cheap. This is some serious money and time to recreate the cinema in your house. So why do it?

A few reasons:

  • We get passes and I’m cheap. Can’t beat free and when we get passes or gift cards, we use them.
  • There is a movie out that we’re both dying to see and can’t wait for it to come out on Blu-Ray. This is something that is becoming less of an issue but I will still go see a “AAA title” at the theater. Something like Scorsese, Iron Man 2 or Toy Story 3 would get me into a theater seat.
  • Regardless of your setup at home… sometimes you just have to get out of the house!

…and a few reasons why I hate going to the theater:

  • 7.50 for matinee is highway robbery let alone 10 bucks for a night ticket.
  • 20.00 for cokes and candy… no thanks. That’s two months subscription to netflix blu-ray!
  • Yes, that’s urine in the seat next to me and god knows what’s on the floor that just stuck to my shoe.
  • That damp, pungent smell of sweat and sneakers. Yum.
  • If the 14 year old behind us puts his foot on my chair one more time I will possibly kill everyone here.
  • You, 11 rows ahead of us… send your text messages outside or get the hell out of here! That blinding light from your dad’s old blackberry is pulling me out of the movie.
  • Movies just aren’t as good as they used to be… no compelling story, bad editing, bad acting. It’s all smash cuts, poor editing, and choppy CGI (I’m actually a fan of CGI too!)… I’m l looking at you Michael Bay. >shakes fists<
  • I nitpick the theater we’re in. “Our seats suck,” “we’re sitting in the wrong position in the theater,” “their projector needs calibrating,” “it’s too quiet,” “it’s too loud,” “the exit sign is distracting…” it just keeps going.

So there are some reasons, but more importantly, I have to say that we go to the movies a lot less (which the money you save can go towards gear or discs). Where we used to go see 2 movies a week (for almost 3 years straight) we now only go every4 months or so and we usually try to see two back to back.

Filed Under: Home Theater, Random Thoughts Tagged With: , ,

Home Theater Build Part XI: Rack ‘em Up, Rack ‘em Up – Installing a Middle Atlantic SRSR Rack

June 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

My “room in an attic” made it difficult to access the back of any of the racks I was looking at so I ended up going with a Middle Atlantic SRSR rack in a MDF casement.

Here’s the plan I drew on how to support what could be 500# fully built and fully extended (didn’t want to fall into the room or fall into the attic)


Started out building an encasement for the rack to live in. This would be pinned to the sides with double studs, on the bottom with a cripple stud footer and new 2×6 rafter spanning between two columns on the first floor.


The rack assembled. Front section is the sliding section, back section is the rack. The back attaches to the rail section with 4 wingnuts. Whole thing was probably 50-60 lbs completed with no gear loaded.


Hole cut… FINALLY some actually work gets done in this room. I’ve added the double studs on each side, header, footer, and rafter.


Why you should always wear work gloves or use a “screw sleeve” on your drill. My drill slipped off of a screw and went into my left index finger. I just taped it up with some electrical tape and kept working. A doctor visit a week later confirmed some nerve damage. We’re waiting to see what happens over the next month or so to see how it heals up. 3 weeks later it’s still sore, tight, and “asleep” feeling. It’s better, but far from 100%.


Casement put into the wall and the sliding portion of the rack is installed. As part of the testing of both the rack and my carpentry (lack of skills are self-admitted) I stood on the end of the rack. No creaking, buckling, or movement was noticed as all 210 lbs of me stood on the fully extended rack.


Top portion affixed to sliding rack for alignment purposes before painting.


Inside painted with flat black enamel.


Wiring pulled and terminated. Speaker wire was scraped for CL2 12AWG wire. The network wire was punched down to a 4 keystone jack plate.


Looking good… I’m just using some MA vented faceplates in between equipment to fill up the rack and passively cool everything. As I add more gear and replaced the vented plates, I will add an active cooling system. Now let’s wire.


Rack extended and rotated to make sure there was enough wire slack to fully extend and rotate both ways.


As much wire was field terminated and zip tied to lacing bars. By no means am I an expert at this and this was my first attempt at a “clean” job. Still not happy with the result but it’s 10x better than what I was doing before.


Fully loaded and trimmed with just some generic casing that we have through the rest of the house. We’re not big fans of stain so I just painted to match the walls.

In rack temps are staying 5-8*F above ambient with all gear on and running pretty loud. The xbox by far and away is the biggest contributor of heat. As I add more equipment (crestron control and whole house amps) I will go with an active solution.

Filed Under: Home Theater, My DIY Home Theater Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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