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> Driver size doesn't meaningfully limit bass response.

That's incorrect. Why do you think people Sono-Subs ???

First, it is NOT about volume.

Second, using a larger driver provides two key benefits:

* Efficiency -- a larger driver has to work LESS to move the same VOLUME of air as a smaller driver. Which leads to me next point.

* Less Distortion -- a larger driver typically has less distortion then a smaller driver via the fact that it typically has to work less.

> The lack of actual cabinetry to promulgate bass energy is a much bigger problem

Definitely a huge problem. A larger driver requires a larger cabinet -- which is necessary for the lower extension. Maybe you don't care ~20 Hz, but I do -- and so do many movies when they go BELOW 20 Hz. (Yes, you _can't_ hear below 20 Hz, but you most certainly can FEEL it.)

I'd be VERY curious to see the SPL vs Freq. graph for the HomePod and the Hz where it falls off at. I'd be willing to bet it starts to fall off around ~55 Hz.

> Tannoy DC-10 DC-10A. Those are $8-16k speakers

I've haven't listened to those Tannoys -- but a friend of my brother has Tannoy Horns. Wonderful speakers.

But what does this have to do with the price of Tea in China ??? You DON'T need to spend north of 8 grand to have a 10" driver. Have you actually LOOKED at ANY subs in the past 10 years???

Hell, VTF subs are less then a grand each.

* VTF1 MK3 has al 10" driver for $399.
* VTF3 MK3 has a 15" driver for $799.

> Small rooms cant accommodate 10 inch drivers. It's just going to be far too loud.

Again, it ISN'T about volume but about clean, efficient bass.

The HomePod doesn't sound all that great.

Or get the LP version of the album :)

Check out this video of the new Windows 8 Media Center. Just a glimps of whats to come. http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/317018/niveus-shows-of-windows8-media-center-the-mc-of-the-future

Whereby by then, rather than a floating city, we might have an equivalent, yet smaller, flying aircraft carrier which supports the same missions.

Like this?

Here's a picture of the drone!

Both Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich continue to represent their congressional districts.

Kucinich (who I know more about because I'm in his district) has beaten several credible and well-funded challengers easily. Oh, plus he was able to snag a truly gorgeous and intelligent wife (pic). So at least personally, he's making good money as a Congressman and sleeping with a hot redhead. One could do a lot worse.

Politically, he's most recently made headlines for refusing to vote for health care reform that requires all citizens to buy from a government-controlled list of privately owned businesses. He's gotten enough support in the House that he could well stop Obamacare from going through the way that the "centrist" Democrats want it.

So yeah, that stance isn't too bad for 'em.

I think you're spot on with that guess. For example, Red Hot Chili Pepper's cd release of Stadium Arcadium have been especially critisized for being too compressed (a result of the loudness war. Someone at hometheaterforum.com forum created a comparison between the CD and the LP (which had a much better mastering) release of the album, where you can clearly see the difference.

Now, the norm for most music released now is to mangle it in that way. And the audience is used to hear it that way too. So mp3 compression adding more artifacts to it and removing tones, thus mangling the music further, might sound "better" for a lot of the audience, because that's what they're trained to hear.

I think you're spot on with that guess. For example, Red Hot Chili Pepper's cd release of Stadium Arcadium have been especially critisized for being too compressed (a result of the loudness war. Someone at hometheaterforum.com forum created a comparison between the CD and the LP (which had a much better mastering) release of the album, where you can clearly see the difference.

Now, the norm for most music released now is to mangle it in that way. And the audience is used to hear it that way too. So mp3 compression adding more artifacts to it and removing tones, thus mangling the music further, might sound "better" for a lot of the audience, because that's what they're trained to hear.

32 inch tvs have long ago fallen through the $500 floor.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/display-devices-tvs-projectors/63061-32-inch-tv-suggestions-under-500-a.html

Also, too lazy to look for the link, but wasnt there an article on /. a couple days ago about a $430 pocket projector?

If i can capture both, the image and audio stream output from a media playing device, then re-encoding it will pretty definetly loose all the watermarks ... so .... how can you backtrace just about anything ?

You may want to read this for your screen first:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread .php?s=&threadid=224307

Less expensive than buying the screen paint, and from the sounds of it, both more effective and a nicer looking finished solution on your wall.

Well, you will probably want to invest in a good DVD player. The decoding between players can have a big difference on image quality. I am not a videophile, but in my experience it's not so much the quality during slow, colorful scenes, but during very rapid sequences where you might see issues with playback. The Home Theater Forum is always a great start (they have a very nice moderated DIY section), and I am looking into possibly getting an Oppo Digital DVD which has been extremely well rated. As a plus, places like HK Flix sell it with updated firmware (so you can switch regions easily on the fly), although I've seen it for $50 less on Froogle.

As far as receivers, I can give you my analysis and feedback as a regular consumer (I wouldn't even call myself a "prosumer") of home theatre electronics. You definitely would do well in investing in a good receiver with as many inputs as possible, and don't get them from Circuit City / Best Buy / Fry's as they are usually $100 more than what you can find online. In reality, you will probably not need more than 3 or 4 component inputs (DVD + HDTV + Console + Other). Depending on the # of inputs on your TV/projector, this should put you in the $300-$500 range for receivers. Look for wattage ratings and buy from a well-known company (say, Harman-Kardon, Denon, Onkyo, Sony, Yamaha).

Once everything is set up, get a calibration DVD like Digital Video Essentials or Avia to tweak your settings. It can make a noticeable difference.

You don't need Monster Cables. If you have a friend at a store who can get you the discount (retailer markup is at least 100%), then they're fine. But you don't need to spend $300 on cables. Spend that money on better equipment.

Just do your research. It's possible that over the next few months older models will be discontinued and be heavily discounted. That can always save you some cash.

Actually, Roger Ebert has lost a lot of weight through diet and cancer treatment.

Oh, and on another note..

> Laserdiscs are basically raw digitized NTSC video so there is obviously a conversion process required before hand.

Laserdisk video is analog, they may (in the last incarnatiomn of the format) contain digital audio. Also, the format was pioneered by Phillips and Magnavox, and while the format has never been very popular in Europe, seeing how Phillips is a Dutch company, I am pretty sure that the first disks around were actually pal disks, at any rate, pal/ntsc/secam are all possible.

It is of course no problem to 'emulate' a movie Laserdisk and player by means of an mpeg-2 file and player (or any other format you desire) if what you mean is providing a functional equivalent based on the same content. The pre-processing required includes a frame by frame capture of the analog video and then compressing it in your format of choise. From there the step to emulating the functionality of an interactive player + disk is not that big, tho I never saw it in practise. Happen to have a link regarding emulating a pc connected interactive player + disk by any chance?

With regards to the Laserdisk format, take a peek here: History of the Laserdisk format

I just went out and bought my Father the XM Delphi SkyFi at Circuit City and the Car Kit (tape adapter (yuck), cigarette plug adapter, and mag mount antenna.

I'm also going to get him an adapter from Blitz Safe which gives you a muchhigher quality sound. Basically it plugs into the proprietary CD changer port on the back of the factory radio and has RCA plugs (or a 1/4" phono iirc) on the other end.

When deciding between XM and Sirius I found this page to be a good comparison between the two.

To some of us following the home theater scene, the Bravo D1 may be old news ;), but I can understand that it may not be common knowledge. In any case, the Home Theater Forum is a great resource in general and it has a couple threads on this player as well. Of note from that second link is that the Bravo is not the only DVI player on the market:

The only DVI-out DVD players on the market at the moment are the V Inc. Bravo D1, the Samsung 931, and the Momitsu DV-880. If you will not be using the DVI-out on these players, all of them are said to give relatively subpar quality via all the analog outputs.

To some of us following the home theater scene, the Bravo D1 may be old news ;), but I can understand that it may not be common knowledge. In any case, the Home Theater Forum is a great resource in general and it has a couple threads on this player as well. Of note from that second link is that the Bravo is not the only DVI player on the market:

The only DVI-out DVD players on the market at the moment are the V Inc. Bravo D1, the Samsung 931, and the Momitsu DV-880. If you will not be using the DVI-out on these players, all of them are said to give relatively subpar quality via all the analog outputs.

To some of us following the home theater scene, the Bravo D1 may be old news ;), but I can understand that it may not be common knowledge. In any case, the Home Theater Forum is a great resource in general and it has a couple threads on this player as well. Of note from that second link is that the Bravo is not the only DVI player on the market:

The only DVI-out DVD players on the market at the moment are the V Inc. Bravo D1, the Samsung 931, and the Momitsu DV-880. If you will not be using the DVI-out on these players, all of them are said to give relatively subpar quality via all the analog outputs.

There is a very intelligent and lengthy discussion of this movie is going on here at hometheaterforum.com. I liked the movie a lot (with some very minor reservations), but the more I participate in discussions, the more I realize just how brilliant it is. This is one very deep and intelligent film.

Yeah, that can be so hard.

I really, honestly, and sincerely don't get it. Why go to the trouble to enter a link, and knowingly not have it be direct? How was that less work? Whyyyyy??

There's a little more about service mode for Sony TV's here: http://209.145.176.7/~090/awh/sonyadj.html

It's not really 480p, but it does look much better when your TV concentrates all of it's pixels into the letterboxed area.

It works for all the DVD's I've tried with the exception of my bootleg Star Wars Trilogy set.

It also works for most every Xbox game so long as you enable widescreen via the dashboard. DOA3 looks way better in this mode.

For PS2 the only games I had that were supposed to work in 16:9 mode were GT3 and GTA3. GT3 looked awesome, but I couldn't get GTA3 to work. I think you have to enable it in the game for PS2 games.. that's how I got GT3 to work. If you're using a PS2 as your DVD player, you have to enable 16:9 mode via the DVD menu - the one that you access by hitting select while the movie is paused, NOT the menu when the PS2 starts up.

There's a small list for what game support widescreen mode here

I was really pleased to find this egg for my 1st generation 24" WEGA. The only thing that kind of sucks with this is while it works for most movies, and a lot of video games, many times the rest of the menus, game intros, movie trailers, and other DVD extras are squashed and don't look right.

Ron Epstein, the admin at Home Theater Forum has had a review up for a couple days. Just click on the Reloaded link on the left frame. sorry for no direct link.

Ron Epstein, the admin at Home Theater Forum has had a review up for a couple days. Just click on the Reloaded link on the left frame. sorry for no direct link.

Personally, I expected this kind of response. The Matrix was fluke in that it came out of nowhere and surprised nearly everyone. The hype surrounding the sequels set the bar impossibly high. Especially when the W brothers essentially wrote themselves into a corner with the first movie. And that's not a bad thing, it's a great story. They should have simply recognized that going for more would pollute the waters. I think they would have been better off sticking to things in an "expanded universe" such as demonstrated by the Animatrix. Then they would have been freer to explore without dilluting the impact and mystique of the first him. But to each their own, I certainly plan on seeing Reloaded and Revolutions. But I have set the bar low in terms of my expectations for the same kind of experience I got from The Matrix.

I'm glad Microsoft was smart enough to put in HD and widescreen formats built into the X-Box. Once you go widescreen Halo, there's no going back.

Except that Halo is a 4:3 game, not 16:9. Sure, you can display it in fullscreen mode on a wide TV, but that's just stretching things horizontally. The XBox supports 480p (4:3 and 16:9), 720p, and 1080i (only 16:9 for both of those, IIRC), but only if the developers choose to support them in their game. 480p 4:3 generally comes for free. 480p 16:9 may have some effect on your textures or HUD. 720p and 1080i generally need you to rethink your engine design.

That said, Halo2 is supposed to support 480p 16:9 and 720p, so you will eventually be able to experience a Halo game in widescreen glory. Just not now.

There are a few widescreen games out there, though. Hitman2 (480i 16:9, not 480p), Sega GT 2002, Tony Hawk 4 (and possibly 3? 720p, 480p 16:9), Amped, and more. Check out this thread for an ongoing list.

I doubt any current PC Video cards implement HDCP, however, I doubt any current TVs will REQUIRE it in order to accept a signal. You are much more likely to have problems outputting a resolution that the TV will display than an issue with HDCP.

There are better forums to ask this question, such as The AVS Forum and The Home Theater Forum

Not all that many games out there have 16x9 modes -- for a fairly comprehensive rundown, hop over to this list at the Home Theater Forum. A little over half of my XBox games have 16x9 modes (I use a 4x3 Sony VVega KV-36FS12, which can do the 16x9 squeeze). I took some comparison shots of some of those games in 4x3/16x9 modes, if anyone's bored. The only 1080i game on the market, as far as I know, is "Dragon's Lair 3D". "Tony Hawk Pro-Skater 4", "NBA2K3", "Dragon's Lair 3D", and "Street Hoops" all have 720p modes.

the Home Theater Forum. These guys live for this stuff. Search/Post in the audio/visual or display devices sections.

...Can be seen on Home Theater Forum.

Check out the Home Theater Forum for evidence.

Here is Universal's official response, as found on The Digital Bits:

Thank you for your email. Universal Studios will exchange Back to the Future parts 2 and 3 for copies with the updated framing in late February 2003. You may send the DVDs back now or wait until February. Please send Back to the Future disks 2 and 3, without the case, and a letter with the following information: Name, Full Mailing Address, Daytime Phone Number, Reason for Return and Return Address. Send to:

Back to the Future DVD Returns
PO Box 224468
Dallas, Texas 75260

Thank you,
Universal Studios Customer Service

Those in Canada can call 866-532-2202.

As for me, I'm waiting until February to get a correct version of all three films. The fanboy who reviewed this got a bit carried away.

Who in their right mind spends $2000 on a television?

Now if you don't like TV, or watching movies, or playing video games, then complaining about how people can spend $2000 on a TV is a moot point since you're not an enthusiast to begin with.

If you want to wonder about people with too much money, go see the Prada store in NYC and find someone who is casually spending $3,500.00 on a jacket. Now that's scary.

The DIY section on avsforum also has some info.

DIY subwoofers is another place to start.

In fact a google search yields about 16,000 results with the words "DIY" and "subwoofer".

Which brings me to...

Is this really news?

-S

forget DesignTechnica -- look, if you *really* want to know what the hardcore insiders are doing, you go to AVS Forum's HTPC forum.

The other "insider" resource to check is Home Theater Forum.

DesignTechnica or other "PC Enthusiasts" sites can't even scratch the surface of what a true HTPC needs to have, and the varied solutions, etc. that go along with it. Not flaming, just telling the truth.

Ron Epstein, owner of the Home Theater Forum has a good review online.

A choice quote:
I won't waste any time in saying that Attack Of The Clones is the most remarkable Star Wars film to date. It not only breathes new life into the series, but it brings us back to the original magic that made Star Wars a cultural phenomenon. It is ultimately the Empire Strikes Back of this new saga, that takes us to the darkest corners of the Star Wars universe, as we come face-to-face with the master plan of Darth Sidious.

Ron Epstein, owner of the Home Theater Forum has a good review online.

A choice quote:
I won't waste any time in saying that Attack Of The Clones is the most remarkable Star Wars film to date. It not only breathes new life into the series, but it brings us back to the original magic that made Star Wars a cultural phenomenon. It is ultimately the Empire Strikes Back of this new saga, that takes us to the darkest corners of the Star Wars universe, as we come face-to-face with the master plan of Darth Sidious.

Let me explain: normal TVs are in one format (NTSC), and movies are in a different, but all of the movies are wider than the TV, right?

I'll let you explain if you do it right. First off, NTSC is a video standard. Based on 30fps, 60Hz and 525 lines of resolution. On the other hand there is PAL, 50Hz (EU AC) 625 lines and 25fps. I'm guessing PAL TVs aren't normal? Anyways, Pan and scan and 'widescreen' refer to aspect ratio not broadcast standards.

"So, Pan & Scan movies aren't cropping, or zooming, or anything: all they're doing is displaying only a "portion" of the screen, and another remaining portion is left offscreen..."
OK. sounds like cropping. Apart from that "All they're doing" is using equipment to select a 4:3 area of a 16:9 frame. Whatever is outside the area is dropped (ie. CROP) and what was inside is transfered to medium which can be a broadcast (to either a normal NTSC TV or a freakish PAL TV), or a VHS tape (or Beta!) and even DVD. They don't magically put the dropped off ends somewhere on the DVD as an extra feature, they're gone.

"After all, it's not like it's a different movie, or anything..."
Yes, they are two different movies. There is the original wide screen which is how the director intended the audience to see it, and then there's the pan & scan which drops off meaningful information so Joe Six Pack's screen will be full of picture. refer to This wonderful site for some examples of the butchery pan and scan does to a wide aspect movie, and why they support original aspect ratio for movies.

"it's not the black bars - it's the fact that you're tossing resolution in one direction to gain information (which may be meaningless) in another." Look into Anamorphic displays or a technique called the Anamorphic Squeeze on Google. As far as "which may be meaningless" goes... If I were to edit your post so that it would fit in one paragraph, and dropped what I felt was least important... well, your rant would look a whole lot different than what you intended it to. That's why alot of people don't like pan and scan.

Look, it's not a bad idea that you had. But it's years too late. By the time the standards got changed, the machines built and the movies remastered, it would be 2006, and guess what the aspect ratio of the Normal TVs will look like then?

If you'd like a review with some actual depth, check out DVDFile's, which goes into much greater detail as to the picture & sound quality as well as what the extras are all about. This thread at Home Theater Forum also has more useful feedback about the disc.

IMHO, it's a pretty nice disc. The picture quality is good, the sound is sweet and the extras really show you in great detail how it was all done.

I should have gone into greater depth. There are two major methods of flipping the standard 3:2 35mm frame to a wide aspect ratio.

The first is called a matte whereby the top and bottom of the film are simply not used.

The second method involves using an anamorphic lens which stretches the image vertically to fill the full frame. In the theaters, another lense is used to do the reverse.

There is actually a third method which is used by a few high profile directors involving a lens which projects onto the sound strip area of the frame in conjunction with a matte, but I won't go into that.

Anyhow, a great site which explains most of this stuff is http://www.hometheaterforum.com/home/wsfaq.html.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/
I use a Yamaha RXV-595 but it doesn't have SVideo switching :-(. The 795 and above do and support DTS too. It's got a very nice DSP effects processor builtin (Hall, Rock, Disco (!) ). For speakers, I recommend Paradigm, they're Canadian eh...
---

2 - think speakers first. Go listen to them. Find a good Brick and Mortar store. Take your time. Buy there and you'll benefit a lot in long term (upgrades, demos, etc.)

3 - room acoustics is a BIG factor.

I have a Denon receiver (2800) and Paradigm speakers (being canadian, i could get them cheap).

http://www.audiogon.com
These guys will have you buying tube equipment before long, but they know their stuff.
http://www.avsforum.com
Home Theater buffs with a tremendous amount of knowledge.
http://www.hometheaterforum.com
Similar to the above, but it's a slightly different crowd. It's hard to explain.

I've learned a wealth of information from these sites. You'll find that these guys are all talking about spending a lot more than your budget on their hardware, but they are the guys you want to ask about a $1500 system, because they're the ones critical enough to sift the wheat from the chaff, even though they might not buy the system themselves. (Obviously I'm stereotyping here. Many of the people on the forums are as strapped for cash as the next guy.) For equipment reviews, www.audioreview.com is good, and so is www.etown.com. Audioreview seems to have a good quantity of reviews and etown has good quality reviews. For buying equipment, if you are looking for used stuff, look at audioreview and audiogon before going to ebay, and you'll like what you find. I prefer dealing with people who know what they're selling when possible.

Anyway, good luck, and welcome to the "club"!

David Fay

P.S. FYI, my current setup:

Sony 1272 CRT projector (92" x 52" 16:9 home-made screen)
PC with DVD-ROM drive, SBLive! (SPDIF out), and PowerDVD 2.55
Pioneer Elite receiver (older one, no DTS)
B&W Nautilus 804 mains
Dual SVS 20-39 subwoofers with the Fidek 600W amp

I need to get surrounds and a center, but so far things are sounding and looking good! HTPC (home theater PC) is definitely the way to go if you can. There's nothing like watching a DVD in 1280x720@72Hz resolution on a projector.

The home theater forum has all kinds of info on Home theater type stuff. It's at http://www.hometheaterforum.com

I chose the Energy Take 5's as my speaker setup because of their clear, full sound, their size, and their price.

Take 5 Info:
Home Theatre Forum Take 5 Info
Audio Review Take 5 Information

I chose the DB 940 because many of my coworkers love the 930, and the 940 is the newer model.

Sony DB 940 Info:
Audio Review DB 940 Info

I'm very happy with my setup. It sounds better than a Denon/Paradigm setup that cost over $1000 more (college buddy tried to outdo my setup but failed).

I also have the 36" Sony WEGA. Pretty phat.

Don't forget the need for quality cables. They don't come cheap.

Bottom line, just read the reviews at web sites. You'll quickly get an idea of what's good and what's overpriced crap. Bose, for instance...
-LB

Bose may sound good to the average listener (they tend to bump up the treble and bass which sounds good at initial impression, but tires later) but especially their lower end systems (especially the small cubes) are lacking in the mid-bass/mid region.

Do your research! Here's a couple links to some good Home Theater boards which should get you going:

www.hometheatertalk.com
www.hometheaterforum.com

The single best advise I can give when looking for speakers is to go and listen to a bunch of them, and bring your own listening material! It's hard enough trying to judge speakers when they're playing off different equipment and in different rooms, so stick with one CD/DVD that you're familiar with.

Am I the only one who thinks it's unreasonable to use Ask Slashdot to help you pick a DVD player?

Come on, look around. Try Consumer Review, or Home Theater Forum. Or use your favorite search engine.

There are plenty of sites to help you evaluate electronics equipment, and they're all more appropriate places for this discussion than Slashdot.

Check out Home Theater Forum. They are going more apeshit that /. is over this. They are loving it :)

BTW, the current theory is that the Divx contracts have a "escape" clause on the death of Divx and allow companies to revert to Open-DVD.

Wait a minute, there is only DVD's now! Don't have to use "Open-" :)

This rocks!

SP