The Inside And Out Of A Home Theater

Get to know important features of a home theater. Nice guide to buyers.

Home theater is a home cinema system that tries to reproduce video and audio in home that is of cinema quality and gives a real `cinema experience`. A basic system could comprise of an arrangement of a DVD and CD player, a television and a set of speakers. According to the people in the consumer electronics industry, a home theater is primarily an integration of high quality video and surround sound. A home theater design generally comprises of input devices, processing devices, audio output, video output, and proper ambiance and atmosphere.

Home theater input devices are sources of audio and video. There can be a single or multiple input devices for the same system. HD-DVD (High Density DVD) and blue-ray are one of the most preferred high quality formats that are being used. Often, VHS (Video Home System) and Video game systems are also included. They are available now, also have a home theater PC that acts as a library for video and audio content.

The processing of the input devices is carried out by either an AV amplifier or a Preamplifier and sound processor. These are used for complex surround sound formats. Before forwarding it to the output devices, the user should first select the input device. The audio output system consists a minimum of 2 speakers. The number of speakers can be as high as 11, in addition to the sub-woofer. Sub-woofer is important as it reproduces the bass audio frequencies. Regular floorstanding or bookshelf speakers cannot do this work.

A large HDTV (High Definition Television) forms the video output system. LCD TVs (Liquid Crystal Display Television), Video projectors, plasma TVs, rear-projection TVs, or a traditional CRT TVs are other available options.

Comfortable seats and proper arrangement of all the devices with respect to the seats is also important for that great `cinema experience`. Sound insulation for preventing sound from escaping the room and specialized walls for sound balancing within the room are a part of the higher end systems.

There exist two options for purchasing a home theater system. One can either, purchase and assemble various components, or purchase a home theater box kit. Assembled systems provide the best combination of components for the consumer`s budget. System in box kits includes a set of speakers, an amplifier or tuner for volume adjustment and video source selection, and at times a DVD player.

Few enthusiastic of the lot of home theater lovers take an extra step and build a room in the house, that functions as a home theater. To create a perfect listening environment, sophisticated acoustic design elements, like `room-in-a-room` construction, can be added to the system. Recreation of an ideal cinema experience does not stop here. A projector enclosed in a projection booth, specialized furniture, curtains in front of the projection screen, movie posters, etc make the experience much more real.

It is possible to set up systems in backyards too, provided proper outdoor atmosphere exists. Considering the availability of space, either a temporary or a permanent system could be installed. A temporary system could be a basic arrangement of foldable screen, a projector and a few speakers. On the other hand, an outdoor version could be elaborate with permanent fixtures, large video display components and dedicated audio output components. These backyard home theaters are one of the favorites with outdoor parties.

The rapid development in audio and video technologies has brought down the prices of home theaters. This in turn has enabled a do-it-your-self enthusiast to experience a true digital home theater at his doorsteps.

This article can also be accessed in portuguese language from the Article section of page www.polomercantil.com.br/home-theater.php

Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant forPoloMercantil.

By Roberto Sedycias
Published: 12/20/2007
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HDTV? You Ain’t Seen NOTHING Yet!!! – free article courtesy of …

HDTV? You Ain’t Seen NOTHING Yet!!!
by: Bob Wood

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Remember the Osborn? Or was it the Osborne? Actually, I knew it existed, but didn’t care. This thing was a personal computer. Like we’d ever need one of those? Those new electric typewriters with memory were the rage. THAT was something!

Flash forward and we are upon the reverse engineered UFO goodies. Oh, wait, no, that’s not exactly right.

It’s the dawning of the age of Aquarius, age of Aquarius, Ah QUAR EEEE USSS. Um, no, that was some time ago.

It’s the age of $3 US Gas. Not a good milestone

The age of HDTV!!! Remember when ‘high definition’ included the terms ’stems and seeds?’ You do? You rascal.

No, this is about High Definition TELEVISION. Personally, I feel the word TELEVISON is so…. Fifties. We need a new one there. So did you jump for the Plasma? Or the LCD projector? The DLP? Have you got the home theater with all the tricked out electronics?

Don’t put your ear directly on the high tech train tracks, then, because there’s another train coming, and you’ll hear it down the line.

UHDV is in the pipeline. On the track. In the lab. In the electron wind. Want to guess? Time’s up. ULTRA HIGH DEFINITION.

Remember the movie where they invent this skull cap that would capture your emotions and immediately the bad guy looped someone having how shall we say – some very intense happy times… and turned himself into peak experience broccoli? Is that where all this is headed? Not for a while, if ever. HOWEVER: UHDV is close to the detail of 35mm film. With 7680 x 4320 pixels, this isn’t far from the 4K (4,000 scan line) digital projection systems for big-screen movie theaters.

Donald Trump will be able to see how bad his hair looks like never before.

UHDV features 33 million pixels with a 60 frame-per-second (fps) progressive scan format.

NHK, the Japanese broadcasting giant who had HDTV in the 1980s… is behind the UHDV format, but reassures us it may be a long time before home theater UHDV becomes reality. That’s corporate talk for, ‘Don’t let the competition know how close we really are!’

With 32 times the bandwidth demands of HDTV, UHDV would be prohibitive for today’s broadcast, cable and satellite technology. NHK’s demo required a data rate of 24 Gbps. That was a few years back in Amsterdam where some people were close to hurling lunch because the moving car video hi-jinx was that real.

How real?

NHK cobbled together a custom camera of four CCD image sensors; then to show the output built a LCoS projector combining four eight-megapixel panels. Data storage, using 16 synchronized HDTV recorders, provided roughly 18 minutes of recording time, using 3.5 terabytes of total capacity and a screen about 12 feet high and 22 feet wide. NHK researchers called this ‘the sensation of reality saturation point,’ in the hopes of providing a completely immersive experience: 100 degrees of visual field angle, viewing from a distance of three-quarters of the height of the screen (about nine feet) with at least 60 pixels required for each one degree of visual field angle.

And speakers? UHDV offers 24-channel sound, or 22.2, containing vertically arrayed surround sound speakers: nine above ear level, 10 at ear level, three below ear level and two low-frequency subwoofer channels.

The format, according to NHK, is not so much intended for home use as for museums, public spaces and theaters. You tell The Donald.

Once upon a time there was SHOWSCAN. Special effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull had his demo unit in a suburb of Dallas, behind a Chucky Cheese, if memory serves. I saw the demo.

The equipment and the Showscan Film Process of producing and projecting Showscan films are justifiably proprietary and patented. At the time, Showscan’s discovery was hailed as the most significant advancement in film technology since the introduction of sound in the 1929 film ‘The Jazz Singer’. (Not the one with Neil Diamond.) However, it remained as little more than a technological curiosity until the company developed new camera, high speed projectors, and built special theaters to showcase the revolutionary Showscan images. There was a catch-22 at work. Theaters weren’t equipped for this state of the art projection so they couldn’t convince investors to make films in that format. Solution: do it all in house.

I can’t remember the specs but it was scarily real, 3-D, multi channel and way ahead of multi channel… or HDTV. I do remember it ran film through the gate much faster than normal projection speeds.

Today the company’s simulation and specialty theatres are open or under construction in 24 countries around the world, located in theme parks, motion picture multiplexes, expos, world’s fairs, resorts, shopping centers, casinos, museums, and other tourist destinations where somebody wants a rush.

If NHK can even come close, well…

Enjoy your puny HDTV now while you can, citizen.

About The Author

Bob Wood’s website, http://www.GreatHomeTheater.com, covers the video and audio fields as they apply to home theater and home entertainment. Bob spent many years in the US and Canada at popular radio stations and recording studios as programmer, producer, and talent.

This article was posted on October 07, 2005

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How Hdtv Works

How Hdtv Works

Understanding How does HDTV work Will Show You How HDTV Works Better Than Standard Televisions

People in the more advanced countries in the world such as the US, Japan and Australia are more and more turning to using only High Definition Televisions (HDTV) for their viewing pleasure and thus it has become necessary to understand just how does HDTV work in order to make informed decisions. It is also necessary to learn about how does HDTV work differently from standard televisions if we are to get the most suitable make and model, especially as the television market today is flooded with numerous such makes, models and types of televisions.

Higher Quality Of Resolution

First off, a high definition television is different from standard televisions in the quality of its resolution which needless to say is much better in the high definition televisions and in addition, the HDTV also boasts of having multi-channel audio as well as an aspect ratio of 16:9 and it also comes with a wide screen. Thus, you can be sure that the HDTV works in a manner that allows it to provide clearer quality pictures as well as more detailed and better sound quality.

In fact, after understanding how does HDTV works, you can immediately come to understand that images that are provided in the HDTV models are about six times sharper as compared to what a standard television can output. In fact, on closer scrutiny of just how does HDTV work, we will also come to realize that the images on the screens are actually horizontal lines that are scanned without discontinuity and thus they end up forming the image that you see, which when it is compared to the 480 lines in standard televisions, is much higher in the HDTV, being no fewer than 1080 lines thereby ensuring better quality images.

Another notable feature that you should know when learning about how does HDTV work is that unlike standard televisions, the HDTV does not scan one line at a go and in fact can deliver entire images at a time, which results in clearer and more realistic colors and images too are also more detailed.

Another aspect to how does HDTV work is that it differs from standard televisions in that HDTVs have greater aspect ratio which is generally about 16:9, and only 4:3 in the case of standard televisions, thus forming a wider screen in HDTVs that is due to their having higher aspect ratio. In fact, because of the increasing popularity of home theater systems, it is now very usual for the latest HDTVs to use identical aspect ratios as those found in a movie theater, and this means that you get not only the whole picture, but also a picture that does not need to be cut off to make it fit into a narrow screen.

Finally, one other notable feature of how does HDTV work is that the HDTV provides sound in Dolby Digital Standard which means that there are no electronic tricks used to create better sound such as found in surround sound and so you are ensured a very thrilling audio experience.

By: Roberto Bell

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