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Scott Wilkinson Jul 08, 2011 4 comments
As you probably know, controlling ambient light is one of the most critical factors in creating a high-quality home-theater experience. The darker you can make the room, the more you will be drawn into the story on the screen. Also, a dark room prevents any distracting reflections from a plasma or LCD TV with a shiny screen. And a front-projection system absolutely requires a dark room to look good unless you have a special ambient-light-rejecting screen, and even then, a dark room is better.

Of course, any room can be made dark at night simply by turning off the lights. But if you watch during the day in a room with windows, sliding glass doors, skylights, or other transparent/translucent openings to the outside world, you need black-out shades or other coverings to darken the room, which might or might not be practical for one reason or another.

I'm curious to know if this is a big problem among our readers. How well can you control the ambient daylight in the room you use as a home theater? I'd also love to know how you control ambient daylight. Blackout shades? A windowless room? If you have a front projector, do you use an ambient-light-rejecting screen?

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

How Well Can You Control Ambient Daylight In Your Home Theater?
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HT Staff Feb 19, 2013 5 comments

We all know that traditional radio and CDs are in decline. Even digital downloads are waning in popularity, giving way to music streaming options from an ever-growing roster of online services. All of which makes us wonder if on-demand music streaming is the Next Big Thing in music listening.

Cast your vote in this week’s HT Poll, and if you don’t see your favorite music service in the list below (we were shocked by how many we found) tell us about the one you like most in the Comments section.

HT Poll: What Is Your Favorite Music Streaming Service?
AOL Radio
0% (3 votes)
Grooveshark
1% (13 votes)
Jango Radio
0% (3 votes)
Last.fm
1% (12 votes)
MOG
7% (71 votes)
Music Unlimited
1% (9 votes)
Napster
0% (1 vote)
Pandora
37% (392 votes)
Pure Connect
0% (1 vote)
Rdio
1% (16 votes)
Rhapsody
4% (40 votes)
Slacker Radio
3% (37 votes)
Songza
2% (19 votes)
Spotify
14% (151 votes)
Stereomood
0% (1 vote)
TuneIn Radio Pro
3% (27 votes)
Turntable.fm
0% (1 vote)
Other
4% (41 votes)
None – I don't stream music
21% (229 votes)
Total votes: 1067
Vote
HT Staff Jan 30, 2013 7 comments
Video streaming may be growing in popularity but sales of Blu-ray discs and DVDs still accounted for 61 percent of home-video spending on movies in 2012, according to the latest statistics from market research firm The NPD Group.

Does video streaming play a role in how you experience TV and movies at home? If so, take part in this week's Home Theater Poll and let us know which service you use most.

HT Poll: Which Service Do You Use Most for Streaming Movies and TV?
Netflix
46% (569 votes)
Amazon Instant Video/Amazon Prime
9% (118 votes)
Hulu/Hulu Plus
4% (46 votes)
iTunes
6% (74 votes)
Redbox Instant
0% (3 votes)
Vudu
5% (63 votes)
Cable/Satellite On Demand
6% (71 votes)
Other Service
3% (41 votes)
None - I don't stream video
21% (265 votes)
Total votes: 1250
Vote
Scott Wilkinson Apr 13, 2012 10 comments
As I discuss in my blog this week, I just saw the new 3D conversion of Titanic. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would—and way more than the recent Star Wars Episode I conversion. I suspect this is largely due to the fact that writer/director James Cameron is a 3D fanatic, so he was bound to do it right.

How do you feel about converting existing 2D movies to 3D (assuming it's done well)? Is it worthwhile? If so, what movies would you like to see converted? Or do you think this is an abomination and all existing movies should be left alone?

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

Is 3D Conversion of Existing Movies Worthwhile?
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Scott Wilkinson Apr 08, 2011 12 comments
This is an autostereogram; to see the 3D image, relax and cross your eyes slightly, or shine a small flashlight at the screen and concentrate on the reflection until you see the 3D effect.

These days, few topics engage—or enrage—home-theater enthusiasts like 3D. This was clearly demonstrated by a recent news story on our sibling website HomeTheater.com3DTV Boom Fails to Materialize. The story cites an online poll conducted by Vision Critical that indicates little support for the fledgling format among consumers in the US, Great Britain, and Canada.

As soon as that story was posted, a flurry of comments followed, some quite lengthy and thoughtful, which I encourage you to read. Meanwhile, I wonder if you think 3D is here to stay? After all, it has come and gone several times over the last few decades in commercial cinemas, so perhaps the current craze is nothing more than another cycle that will soon disappear. On the other hand, perhaps the Vision Critical poll was premature, and improvements in the technology and strong support from TV manufacturers and movie studios will tip the scale toward a permanent presence in the entertainment landscape.

I really look forward to reading your thoughts on this question, which is sure to stir strong sentiments on both sides of the debate. So let 'er rip!

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

Is 3D Here To Stay?
Vote
Scott Wilkinson Dec 31, 2010 9 comments

Anyone who owns a 120 or 240Hz LCD TV has seen frame interpolation at work, though they might not realize it. These TVs create new video frames and display them between the actual frames as depicted above to reduce motion blur. The problem is that this process has an unwanted side effect—it makes movies look like they were shot on video, just like soap operas. Most videophiles hate this "soap-opera effect" so much, they turn it off and live with more motion blur.

If you have a 120 or 240Hz LCD TV and aren't familiar with this effect, go into the TV's picture menu and turn frame interpolation on and off while watching a movie clip with some fast motion. (In most such TVs, it's on by default.) In many cases, this control is in a submenu called something like "Advanced," but don't be scared, you can't damage anything. Also, this control often has several settings like Low, Medium, and High; try them all and look for any differences.

The frame-interpolation function goes by different names in different brands; here are the names used by the biggest manufacturers:

  • LG: TruMotion
  • Samsung: Auto Motion Plus
  • Sony: Motionflow
  • Toshiba: ClearScan
  • Vizio: Smooth Motion

Those who have seen frame interpolation at work usually have a strong opinion about it, so I ask you: Do you think frame interpolation is a godsend for reducing motion blur or the devil's spawn because of the dreaded soap-opera effect?

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice; I look forward to reading your thoughts on this.

Is Frame Interpolation a Godsend or the Devil's Spawn?
3D Technology, Vote
Scott Wilkinson Oct 29, 2010 14 comments

I'm not talking about those awful red-and-blue glasses or cheesy 3D movies from decades ago; I mean the current state of the art, including commercial cinema and 3D TVs and Blu-ray players (which can now be bought for as little as $120, less than a pair of active glasses!). Modern 3D is big news, but is it an important technological leap or merely hype to get consumers to spend more money?

Please leave a comment after you vote.

Is Modern 3D a Leap Forward or Merely Hype?
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Scott Wilkinson Jan 28, 2011 11 comments

With the rise of iTunes, Netflix, and other online sources of streaming and downloadable audio/video content, many now predict that physical media such as CD, DVD, and Blu-ray will soon go the way of the dinosaurs. According to a recent story in the Los Angeles Times, sales of CDs and DVDs are down 57 and 33 percent, respectively, over the last four years, but Blu-ray disc sales have grown by almost 19,000 percent in the same time frame. Still, there are those who see Blu-ray as the last physical medium in the face of the online onslaught.

Others believe that physical media will never disappear altogether, in part because it's human nature to collect physical objects, and the sense of ownership is greater when you have something to hold in your hands. Additional factors in this argument include physical media's permanence—there's no chance of losing the data in a hard-disk crash—and generally superior sound and picture quality.

Which side of this argument are you on? Do you believe that the end of physical media is upon us, or will it survive the rise of online distribution, perhaps with the development of a future technology such as holographic crystals with terabytes of capacity? Or will it become a niche market as vinyl LPs are today?

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice. Is your vote a real prediction or wishful thinking?

Is the End of Physical Media Inevitable?
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Scott Wilkinson Jun 29, 2012 16 comments
Video displays rarely come out of the box looking their best. We always recommend that you select the display's Movie or Cinema picture mode and use a setup disc such as High-Definition Benchmark, Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics, or Disney's World of Wonder (WOW) to set the basic picture controls.

This typically gets you relatively close to the display's best performance, but to get even closer, you must calibrate the display's grayscale and color gamut if the necessary controls are available in the menu system. You can hire a professional to perform the calibration at a cost of several hundred dollars, or you can do it yourself if you have the required equipment, software, and training, which can cost thousands of dollars. But for those of us who want to wring every last drop of performance from our displays, it's money well spent.

Have you had your display's grayscale and color gamut fully calibrated? If so, did you hire a pro to do it, or did you do it yourself? If not, why not?

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

Is Your Display Fully Calibrated?
Vote
Scott Wilkinson May 18, 2012 13 comments
I'm starting to commission more reviews of soundbars from long-time home-theater writer Lawrence Ullman. Recently, he asked me how many people wall-mount their flat-panel TV and would therefore want to wall-mount a soundbar, which is easier said than done in some cases. The last time I saw any stats on this, the vast majority of flat-panel owners did not wall-mount their set, but rather attached the stand and placed it on top of a sturdy cabinet of some sort.

But I don't really know, so I'm asking you—is your flat-panel TV wall-mounted? If so, is it close to seated eye height, or do you have it mounted higher—say, above the fireplace? Did you do it yourself, or did you hire someone to do it? How did you hide the cables? Let us know in the comments.

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

Is Your Flat Panel Wall-Mounted?
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Scott Wilkinson Jul 27, 2012 15 comments
In this week's episode of the Home Theater Geeks podcast, SurgeX engineer Martin Dornfeld talks about AC power protection in home theaters, thankfully without the voodoo and hype I've heard from others in that field. Our conversation lead me to wonder how many of our readers have taken steps beyond cheap surge-suppressor power strips to protect their precious home-theater gear from power spikes, lightning strikes, voltage sags, and power failures.

How about you? Have you installed a voltage regulator, surge suppressor (other than a cheap power strip), lightning rod, uninterruptible power supply (UPS), or other power protection? What have you done in this regard and why—or why not?

Note: This poll question is not about power optimization—I'll ask about that next week.

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

Is Your Home Theater's AC Power Protected?
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HT Staff Jan 22, 2013 19 comments
Next-generation TV technology was the talk of CES 2013. Here are some highlights…

OLED vs. 4K Ultra HD: Which Technology Do You Prefer?
Vote
Scott Wilkinson Mar 25, 2011 10 comments
In my continuing quest to learn about the audio/video systems our readers have in their homes, I now turn my attention to the A/V electronics—specifically, the components that perform the preamp, source-switching, and power-amp duties. An A/V receiver or integrated amp combines all these functions in one unit, while many systems include a dedicated preamp/processor (pre/pro) and one or more separate power amps.

Last November, I asked if you prefer an A/V receiver or separate components, but now I'm asking which you actually use in your main system. Select the item below that most closely reflects your system, and then please leave a comment with the make(s) and model(s) of your A/V electronics and why you chose them.

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

What A/V Electronics Do You Use?
CEDIA 2011, Vote
Scott Wilkinson Sep 23, 2011 17 comments
CES may be the biggest consumer-electronics trade show of the year, but CEDIA often includes more important product announcements for home theater specifically, and this year was certainly no exception. We saw and heard lots of super-cool toys in Indianapolis earlier this month, as we reported in our extensive coverage.

Now it's your turn to tell us what you found most exciting from CEDIA, whether you were there in person or followed our posts from the show. For this poll, I've listed a few of our favorite items, but of course, there was far more to pique the interest of any home-theater buff, so if your fave isn't here, click on "Other" and let us know what it is in the comments.

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

What Are You Most Excited About from CEDIA?
CES 2012, Vote
Scott Wilkinson Jan 20, 2012 9 comments
As you can see from 15 pages of CES coverage here on HomeTheater.com, there were tons of fascinating announcements and introductions at the annual geekfest in Las Vegas. Now, it's your turn—what are you most excited about from the show? After you make your selection below, I encourage you to be more specific in the comments—is there a particular product or company you're especially interested in?

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

What Are You Most Excited About From CES?
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