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Motion Simulator for Home Theater
Dalvenjah FoxFire writes "D-Box, a Canadian speaker company, has designed a system called the Odyssee consisting of four motor-driven actuators that go under your couch and a controller box with a CD-ROM drive for the control files. The controller reads the Dolby Digital bitstream from your DVD player, and plays back synchronized motion effects designed by the company. For about $20,000, you too can add motion simulation to your home theater. They have a list on their site of the movies they've encoded, including The Matrix, Drunken Master, Star Wars Episode I, and more, though it also has an 'audio driven' mode which will work with any source."
This would make porn Soooooo much better!!!!!! -Bill
-Bill
So if I'm watching buffy, does it make the springs fly out and stab me in the back when she stakes one of the toothy evil dudes?
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
I have been to amusement park motion rides, and they generate the illusion of motion via many techniques: fans, moving seats, surround sound. But I wonder if home modifications can add some water splashes and pain stimulators?
That would be an awesome movie going experience!
I can't wait until they encode Debbie Does Dallas, and other high quality pr0n flicks. As usual, pr0n will take this technology to the next level!!
Ever try drinking tea in a moving car? It is almost similar to easily getting burned. Now enter the couch. If I just happen to be trying to drink some tea the couch MOOOVEESS *spill* GOT DAMN IT!....
Need I say more?
What we see depends on mainly what we look for. -- John Lubbock Now search for that bug slave!
Imagine P0rn in Motion, the beating of the rods,...
But what happens if somebody hacks this thing? Am I ending with my head sticking in the ceiling?
... whenever a text is transmitted, variation occurs. This is because human beings are careless, fallible, and occasiona
Does Odyssee only work with action movies?
:)
Absolutely not! While there is no question that Odyssee can add dramatic effects to action scenes containing explosions, car chases and aerial dogfights, you'll find the more subtle effects it can create will add even more to your overall viewing experience. Odyssee adds fun, drama and excitement to everything you watch.
Odyssee will also likely make me spill my beer all over my girlfriend and her $1,000 leather. Yup, that'll add drama and excitement to the night...
Satanists get good grades too...suspiciously good grades
It's basically just a giant Rumble Pack?
mund freud.
I see someone else besides me watches Tech TV, they just had a segment on this in Fresh Gear this morning. You can probably catch it some other time this weekend if you want to see some video of this in action.
I have to wonder though if a motion device like this wouldn't make a movie less, rather than more, immersive. Even the motion simulator rides at Disney I find too distractng to really enjoy (and in its own category, the Back to the Future ride at Universal that smashes the heads of tall people into the walls over and over again). I get more of a sense of motion from IMAX than from motion simulators.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Until they invent the full-body virtual masturbation suit (in Minority Report), I'm not interested.
Moving chairs... Click 'make', you switch to your porn movie. An error during the build, the chair shakes. WONDEROUS! U.S. Patent number 6728482! (not really)
What we see depends on mainly what we look for. -- John Lubbock Now search for that bug slave!
Drunken Master? Oh, for shame! They could have at least gone with Drunken Master II.
The sequel is much the better of the two.
I bet this'll be extra sexy when it's combined with those new 3D screens.
Rain falls on everyone... lightning strikes some. -Maria Doria Russel
I can hire the neighbor's kid to stand behind the couch and jump up and down on cue, and still have $19,980 left over.
thats kewl, tho how many wants to buy a system like that? who actually needs a system like that? and how much it makes noise, if it makes too much noise it will be useless...
Kewl that you can get to your home theater system something like that also, but price is high and that isn't very needed, i think their market will be a bit narrow, for the rich kids only...
Pulsed Media Seedboxes
Haven't we had [url=http://www.vrealities.com/bass.html]bass shakers[/url] for years now? I got a couple for $40 and they work pretty well. Granted all they do is shake things, but I'm pretty sure the Odysee doesn't shake you $20,000 better.
Has anyone else noticed that in the English HTML part of the site under how it workd says that it is powered by the computational equivelant of a pentium 5! Someone, please tell me has Intel already started selling another chip? I still have my PIII!
My downstairs neighbors are going to just love this device.
this is a sig.
This technology has the same old problem TONS of extremely cool failed entertainment techs have had.
Force feedback, HDTV, 3d displays, head mounted displays, smell devices, and many others. I suspect the first true V.R. rigs (with wires jacking right in to your nervous system) will suffer it too.
The old chicken and the egg. This tech is not quite good enough for the early adopters with the big budgets to buy it, and because of that prices will never come down enough so the rest of us can afford it.
Only when a new technology is SO much better than the current available do the earlier adopters buy it and the tech takes off. But there also has to be convincing content for it.
This would be the perfect way to enjoy a piping-hot cup of tea while watching "The Matrix."
The ointment reservoir, and bandage tray are extra.
For $20,000 I will come to your home theater, put the Drunken Master DVD in your player, and punch you in the face in perfect synch with the on-screen fighting. Now that's reality!
"I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq"
-- Paul Wolfowitz, 7/21/2003
Dalvenjah FoxFire writes
:)
:)
Hmm.. does this mean it comes with spambots?
(sure.. its offtopic.. but its not a !@#$@ profit joke.. that has to count for something right?!
'..that kernel panicked like a nun in a crack house!'
I saw a demo of this system at a local A/V megaplex. Basically, the system consists of a control box hooked up to four lifts. The lifts sit under a simple platform that you put your couch on. Each lift has two or three inches of travel and can accelerate at up to 2 Gs. Needless to say, it packs quite a punch.
The dealer played a scene from Jurassic Park 3 where an airplane tries to take off and then subsequently crashes in a jungle. As the plane took off, it felt like the couch had some bass shakers on the bottom. Not a big deal.
Well, when the plane hit a tree and spun around, my friend and I were nearly thrown from the couch. It felt like a Universal theme park ride. The only downside is that you are really involved in the movie, almost too involved -- it's tough to lay on the couch and relax to an action-packed blood-fest while you're being violently tossed around.
The motion system is totally standalone. The video and motion sync up through the A/V connection from your DVD player. To start a movie, hit play on the DVD player and select the movie in the Odysee. It does the rest by iteself. I think the sales guy said they had a couple hundred movies already preprogrammed.
The system costs $20,000 (list) and comes with a year of free updates. After that, if you want more movies, it's $500/year. Not exactly cheap.
If you're near a Soundtrack/Ultimate Electronics store, they probably have a demo room. It's worth the trip.
I'd get behind her!
"I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq"
-- Paul Wolfowitz, 7/21/2003
If this technology is anything like the "rumble packs" in today's joysticks, I'll take a pass.
Anyways, half the time when you would want the sensation of motion (jet plane taking off ? explosions ? car accelerating ?), there's a lot of noise coming out of your speakers, andif you have a half-decent system, your sofa's probably shaking already.
I hope these guys do well! They're just 15 minutes away from me, maybe they're hiring?
This was in an issue of Home Theater Magazine like a year ago. They were unimpressed with the few movies the company had ready at the time.
Don't watch this movie or you might end up like This
They have a list on their site of the movies they've encoded, including The Matrix, Drunken Master, Star Wars Episode I, and more, though it also has an 'audio driven' mode which will work with any source.
Note to self: Do not watch Pi with my Odyssee...
Hell, I can simulate you into motion for free, by kicking your fat ass off the couch for once.
sic transit gloria mundi
Christopher Reeve is trying to raise money for research that could help people walk and breathe on their own again. (If you go to the link, you can send a e-card to Chris Reeve and an anonymous donor will donate a dollar to in your name to Reeve's Foundation, which will, in turn, give that money out as research grants. It's Snopes approved.)
My point isn't to be simplistic and say that every dollar you own should be given away to charitable causes -- obviously, it takes a saint to live that way. But $20 grand for a motion simulator for your HOME theater? Seems like distorted priorities to me.
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
I just can imagine our cats reaction to the system in action (woOoOoF). Eventually, they will give up their landlordship on the couch. Oh heaven: no more f..ing hairs, no more fight for the best place. Now, adding a feature as useful as the "random triggerering of the jumping couch" syndrome to the system will be definitely coOoOo0l.
But Twenty Grands, I can buy a car for that, and obtain very real impressions with it too, though for more $500 of maintenance a year.
Anyway, we have one of those park in montreal where they have a movie theater with 3D glasses and seat motion.
...And I HATE it, because you cannot both look at the movie, hold on to your glasses and avoid to puke at the same time.[Pruneau
Well, I think it's neat. I would pay up to 300 dollars for the controller unit, and 85 dollars per lift, if it can do 4 couches total (16 lifts). And I would buy 4, not 16. But my living room is in a better setup than theirs. I think I even have a jpeg... *looks* oh look at that, yes i do. http://digitalsushi.com/konton/livingroom/ You know whats funny is that I am not an audiophile. If you swapped those crap Bose 301s and Boston whatevers (a further tribute that I dont know what models they are) with some 20k dollar rig, I wouldnt even notice. Anyhoo, I figured I'd post that link since it was already there. I like seeing other people's personal LAN/office setups, and living room setups. It's too bad I dont have a camera that can get the wide tight shot that is my LAN, cause its cooler than my living room- I never spend time in there. Maybe thats why I've been here 4 months and the nintendo is still unplugged. Thing that ticks me off is that I get a 99/100 signal rating to DirectTV, and I average about 20 minutes of television daily (so like 2 or 3 shows a week)- DirectTV made me sign a one year contract where I can't bust out. Lame huh. Sorry for the wild rambling- hey anyone else have pics of their setups? (the theme of mine is that I have the coolest speaker stand on slashdot (little lights on a dimmer run under all the cloth- it diffuses!) and that I have no idea what my equipment is.. heck I dont even have a sub in that room!)
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
Well, knowing how they make sound-fx for hong-kong karate movies, do we really need all of these fancy equipment to hear the sound of a towel hitting a chair?:) for the 'drunken master' something much better would be a *taste* simulation :)
I was cruising through this months Widescreen Review Magazine few weeks ago and read a detailed review of this system. My first impression was that it was gimmicky bull$hit, further reading changed my mind and I am now looking to demo one of these units in person. I will not be buying it though, just want a test drive.
e v5 .html
You can read part of the article by going to
http://www.widescreenreview.com/attractions/eqr
Pick up this months Widescreen Review for the full article and a whole lot more.
Thats what this is! Man, first 3d lcd displays, motion driven couches, next thing up is a smell-o-vision! I'm sure that would be color driven, for movies that don't have their smells preprogrammed in.
Even if I say something insightfull or inteligent, it doens't matter cause I'm an ass.
It's better to improve recording technology rather than producting expensive speaker systems to improve 'natural sound'. As long as people have two ears, two signals are enough to recreate 3D sound in our brains. As long as I'm sitting on a couch while listening to the soundtrack of a movie while watching the screen, I don't want to move my head to listen to the superfluous speakers.
:wq!
Lemme get this straight, for 20 grand I can have my couch vibrate when things make noise on my TV?
...
Hmmm... idea:
1. Dissect sound-activated "Dancing Coke Cans"
2. Buy female sex toys in bulk
3.
4. Profit!
Letsee for $20,000 you can do what? Make the couch vibrate gently. Methinks that the system you are after is gonna cost a whole lot more.
In comparison for roughly $200 you can go get the real thing in a legalized establishment in Nevada. So for the price of your automated bonk-o-matic you can have a bonk a week for over two years.
In Europe of course your capital investment will go a lot further. Invested in an interest bearing account you could engage the Euro 50 services of a window girl 32 times a year - about once every 10 days from the interest alone.
At least that is what a cursory search of the Internet implies.
Of course you may say that it is a real sad type who goes to visit prostitutes, but what does that make the folk using the bonk-o-matic???
Of course life being unfair it turns out that the female anatomy is considerably more compatible with artificial coitus. Examples may be found on the Web. Unfortunately it appears that these guys are rather more interested in the subject from the male point of view. For example one would think that from the pure engineering point of view, solenoids would provide a more effective basic technology for their purposes than rotory motors with sun and planet drives.
Also rather than have the device synchronized to a video track one would think that biometric feedback to determine what types of stimulation are being best received.
Sorry but I don't think I want to put any part of my anatomy into a device of that kind (or for that matter have it inserted into me).
But they are a little bit more interesting than yet another case mod hack.
Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
damn, that's exactly what i thought of at first, too!
20.000$!!!! For this budget, I prefer a YBA Line 1
... one would want to check the box to make sure it wasn't an MS bonk-o-matic which might give a whole new meaning to "blue screen of death".
-- Mal: "Well they tell you: never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious."
I myself have access to a unit with full 360 motion and big screen TV....
Draw back is you have to strap yourself to the seat. No drinks or popcorn...
Most slashdot geeks, could build one for a few hundred dollars with some spare parts and a used computer.
Wise men speak because they have something to say, Fools because they have to say something!!!!
I have a hard time sometimes with a dark room and my 55 inch Mitsubishi.
Throw in active movement and it'd be rough.
No screwdrivers with that puppy, OJ makes me get extra motion sickness.
The side effects might even include a guest appearance on "Cops!" as "Male Corpse #2".
-- Mal: "Well they tell you: never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious."
OK so the company that makes this programs certain movies to be optimized for the effects, while there is a direct sound input option which would likely offer much less precision to the experiance. I wonder when individual movie studios will be making deals with them for exclusive vibrations or something? Like how TiVo did that thing where it forced people to tape a TV show because they bent to corporate pressure, maybe these guys will send people through the roof with Matrix Reloaded bu sort of... jiggle with Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Hmmmm....
Yup...
I can see it now:
The Perfect Storm: Comes with a bucket.
Airplane: Comes with a barf bag.
Opening credits to Gilligans Island: Comes with a barf bag, and a traction kit.
Fight Club: Comes with a paramedic.
Top Gun: Comes with a box of pampers.
Debbie does Dallas: Comes with...Hey! Stop that!
We have natural motion simulation here in California. We call the technology "earthquakes".
The only hard part is synching them to the picture. But there are plenty of unemployed Silli Valley techies here to help figure that part out.
Table-ized A.I.
This machine is a joke. The real machine is here.
You can pretend you already have it, but the only movie you can watch is My Dinner With Andre.
We actually did something like that "back in the day" using an old recliner while playing Doom.. The effect was there but the recliner only lasted about a week before the arms fell off :)
PR
Just bury $5,000 worth of subwoofers under your couch, same thing.
Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
What's next? Smell-a-vision so we can smell the burning carnage in the next action flick?
Bah, $20,000???
:)
I got one of these things + amp for $30 from my local electronics shop [Jaycar electronics]
Works great too, but might not be too good for the structual integrity of the house
"Buy a house and you will suddenly find that you end up paying the most ridiculous prices for stuff."
: //www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_20 /b3732172.htmr ticles/0,10109, 195652_197976,00.htmlh ttp://stout.mybravenet. com/public_html/h/pbb-9.htm9 .htm
If you have a particular skill, or just lots of desirable stuff you don't want. You can use the barter system to comfortably outfit your house.
http://www.barterconsultants.com/abc.html
http
http://www.ivillage.com/work/wfh/a
http://stout.mybravenet.co
m/public_html/h/pbb-
subject says it all folks...
I had a chance to experience this at this summer's Street of Dreams in Portland, OR ($750K-$2M+ spec homes open to the public for a few weeks). They were showing part of the Quidditch match from Harry Potter. After sitting through about as much time of ads as they showed of the clip, it actually did a respectable job, but I don't think I'd actually like to watch an entire movie being bounced around --- it's much better technology for a few minute ride than a 2-hr movie.
Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
WEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
dang, there goes my homework
Urgo: "I want to live. I want to experience the universe and I want to eat pie!"
Jack: "Who doesn't??"
And, coming soon..... the real experience. A lousy back seat, or one really close to the screen. Annoying 7 year-olds-screaming and laughing at all the wrong parts, and your token 16year old, throwing popcorn at his mates. On the other side of you. Repeatedly. Would anyone really pay for an 'enhanced' experience? Or is watching the film on DVD, surround sound and features not enough, you need to spill your drinks and popcorn as well, during the high speed car chase?
Gee..i got 20 grand...what shall i do..:
get an escort girl over every weekend for..20000/200=1000 weeks...get layed every weekend for three years!
Or i could buy a second hand 911...nice..talk about an immersing experience. have you ever had the backside break out and had to correct with the throttle?
buy a windglider and take lessons flying..
20000 will even get met around the world..
NO Wait! I know...I will buy a 20.000 device which makes all the CRAP from hollywood feel more real by moving the couch..yeah...now there's a life-improving investment. forget about the escort, i'll watch porn..forget about the porsche..i'll watch the Fast and the furious! and the windglider? I can always...watch another movie..?
whatever. Ofcourse if you allready have a porsche, and an incredible wife and you already know how to fly..
This is surely the thing you've been waiting for..the one thing that will make your life complete.
* This is complicated. Has to do with interrupts. Thus, I am :-P
* scared witless. Therefore I refuse to write this function.
-- From the maclinux patch
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