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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."
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!!
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.
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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!
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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.
Never bought a house then? Thought not.
Buy a house and you will suddenly find that you end up paying the most ridiculous prices for stuff. It is pretty easy to end up paying $2,000 just to hang wallpaper. And as for curtains. And don't think that you have a choice about it since in matters of this type you will be overulled by she who must be obeyed or you won't get sex for three months.
So when you get to this point you will find yourself buying a $2000 TV because doing so is much cheaper than redecorating. And at the end of the day you are going to look at the TV much more often tha anything else in your house.
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