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?
Such an system sounds remarkable, with smoother pans to the sides and a much more hemispherical soundstage that gives new meaning to the term "surround sound." But during the show, I heard one question asked over and over—will consumers be willing to expand their home theaters to include 11 main speakers? Obviously, this requires a greater financial investment, and very few non-enthusiast spouses would be willing to accept a room crammed with speakers.
Of course, one could even go beyond 11.1—I've heard systems with as many as 45 speakers in the walls and ceiling, and the Iosono system (profiled here) places literally hundreds of speakers around the periphery of a theater. So at what point does this game go too far? How many speakers are too many for a home surround system?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
Unfortunately, there are some impediments to the immediate widespread availability of 4K. For example, it costs much more to make a 4K display, which must be very large to take full advantage of the extra resolution, so such products would be a lot more expensive in an era of rapidly falling prices and a weak economy. And even if 4K displays were available and affordable, what about content? Studios routinely scan and archive their movies at 4K or higher, and some now shoot with 4K digital cameras, but there's no delivery system for that much data to the home. A physical medium would need much more capacity and much higher bitrate than Blu-ray currently offers, and online streaming is impossible without a major upgrade to consumer broadband services.
The big question is how long will it take to resolve these issues so consumers can watch 4K content on 4K displays in their homes? When do you think this will happen?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
In addition, multichannel recordings offer more options than 2-channel—in particular, a choice of perspectives. Mixing engineers can put you in the audience with ambience (room reverb, audience noises during live shows, etc.) in the surround channels, or they can put you in the middle of the ensemble, what AIX calls the "stage perspective." On the other hand, the sweet spot for multichannel is much smaller than for 2-channel—a point in the middle of the speaker array instead of a line perpendicular to the plane of two speakers.
Which leads me to ask: When you sit down to listen to music, do you prefer 2-channel or multichannel recordings? If multichannel, do you prefer the audience or stage perspective?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
I sure as hell hope we'll still be watching TV at home in 10 years—I know I will be if I'm still around—but I also recognize that this activity is becoming more mobile, especially among younger viewers. Still, I expect both forms of TV consumption to remain viable for a long time—at home for the big-screen, high-quality experience and on a mobile device to pass the commute time (assuming you don't drive to and from work!).
Guttenberg's question got me wondering about the time our readers spend watching TV at home versus on the go—what is that ratio for you? When you cast your vote, select the ratio that most closely reflects your viewing habits. It will be very interesting to see the distribution of responses, and perhaps I'll run this question again in a year or two—or 10—to see how that distribution changes.
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
This week, I'm asking the same question about music—how much do you listen at home versus on the go? Of course, the same issues arise in this case—the audio quality of your home system is likely far better than your iPod or other portable music player, but the portable player is far more convenient. On the other hand, portable music players have been around a lot longer than portable video players, and you can be doing other things while listening to music as opposed to watching video. So I suspect the distribution of answers might be somewhat different, with more people listening to music on the go more of the time. But I could be wrong…
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice. Select the ratio that most closely reflects your listening habits.
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
At the other end of the spectrum are systems that include only two speakers with or without a sub (2.1 or 2.0, respectively) or maybe three front speakers (left, center, right) and a sub, which is designated as 3.1. Finally, many folks, especially those with their main system in a small room, opt for a soundbar—a long, thin cabinet with several speaker drivers that, in some cases, simulates the sound of a surround system and might or might not include a separate subwoofer.
So I ask you—what is the speaker configuration in your main system? Some elaborate systems might have more than one subwoofer, in which case, select the option that reflects the number of main speakers. Then, I really hope you'll leave a comment describing your speaker system, including brand, models, and placement.
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
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.
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
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