Home Theater

Does Power Consumption Influence Which TV You Buy?

Filed Under: Vote

By: Scott Wilkinson • Posted: Dec 02, 2011 • Published: Dec 31, 1969 • 14 comments

Yesterday, Tom Norton posted a blog about how much power is consumed by plasmas and LED LCD TVs, and the difference is staggering. With TVs of similar size, the plasmas he measured consumed more power on average than the LED LCDs by roughly a factor of 5!

In general, plasmas carry a lower price tag than LED LCDs of comparable size. But if plasmas consume five times as much power, they cost five times as much to operate, so those initial savings can easily be wiped out and then some over years of use. Then there's the whole "green" argument, which I won't get into here.

Is power consumption of concern to you? Does it factor into your TV buying decision?

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Which is More Important at Home, 3D or 4K?

Filed Under: Vote

By: Scott Wilkinson • Posted: Dec 16, 2011 • Published: Dec 31, 1969 • 15 comments

Like it or not, 3D capabilities are now included in many home-theater displays, where it is just another feature along with online streaming. It is clear, however, that not everyone enjoys 3D, which is fine—they can simply not use it. For those who do, there is a growing amount of 3D content, though the rate of that growth seems pretty slow to me.

On the other hand, everyone I talk with is eager to see 4K home-theater displays, which have four times the resolution of "ordinary" high-def. Now that we've reviewed the first such display—the Sony VPL-VW1000ES projector—I wonder how important 4K really is, especially given that commercial 4K content for home use is not likely to be available for years to come, leaving owners of these displays with only upscaled 1080p and their own high-resolution still photos.

So I ask you—which do you think is more important for home theaters, 3D or 4K? Perhaps you believe both are equally significant or that neither one is important. In any event, your fellow home-theater geeks want to know what you think!

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Do You Prefer Streaming or Downloading?

Filed Under: Vote

By: Scott Wilkinson • Posted: Dec 23, 2011 • Published: Dec 31, 1969 • 2 comments

As consumers access more online content, they must contend with two very different distribution methods—streaming and downloading. With streaming from services such as Netflix and Hulu, you select what you want to watch or listen to, and the provider sends it over the Internet in real time. The content is not stored at your end, except perhaps for buffering a few minutes worth to guard against short interruptions. As a result, the receiving device can be simple and relatively inexpensive, but the quality depends greatly on the available bandwidth to the device.

By contrast, downloading from services such as iTunes pulls a copy of the content from the provider—not in real time, but at whatever speed your connection allows—and stores it on a hard disk or other high-capacity memory to play once the download is complete. In this case, quality is independent of your online bandwidth, since the download can take as long as it needs to. However, devices with lots of storage capacity are generally more expensive, and there are copy-protection issues to deal with.

Which type of distribution do you prefer, streaming or downloading? Or do you avoid online content altogether?

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Where Do You Put Your Subwoofer(s)?

Filed Under: Vote

By: Scott Wilkinson • Posted: Dec 30, 2011 • Published: Dec 31, 1969 • 6 comments

Today's post in Steve Guttenberg's Audiophiliac blog is entitled, "How much bass is too much bass?" In it, Steve asks his readers to reveal how much bass they prefer. This inspired me to ask HomeTheater.com readers a related question: Where do you put your subwoofer(s)? After all, a sub's placement has a big impact on the amount of bass you hear—putting it in a corner (illustrated above) boosts the bass more than putting it against a wall, which in turn provides more bass boost than placing it away from the walls.

Aside from sheer bass level, optimum subwoofer placement depends as much or more on the room's resonant modes and how well they can be controlled. Another factor is domestic tranquility—most partners of home-theater buffs don't want a huge sub sitting in the middle of the room.

So where do you put your subwoofer(s)? Why did you make that choice? Was it for bass boost, room modes, the spouse-acceptance factor, or some combination thereof?

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

What Are You Most Excited About From CES?

Filed Under: CES 2012, Vote

By: Scott Wilkinson • Posted: Jan 20, 2012 • Published: Dec 31, 1969 • 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?

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How Many Oscar-Nominated Movies Have You Seen?

Filed Under: Vote

By: Scott Wilkinson • Posted: Jan 27, 2012 • Published: Dec 31, 1969 • 7 comments

The 2012 Academy Award nominations have just been announced, and you can see them all here. Hugo snagged 11 nominations, which is no surprise—it's a marvelous movie in every way. But I'm bummed that The Adventures of Tintin didn't make it into the Best Animated Feature category—it has some amazing animation and a great story in my opinion.

How many of the Oscar-nominated movies have you seen so far? Do you intend to see more before Billy Crystal returns to host the 84th annual extravaganza on Sunday, February 26? Which are your favorites? Please let us know in the comments.

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How Often Do You Go Out To The Movies?

Filed Under: Vote

By: Scott Wilkinson • Posted: Feb 03, 2012 • Published: Dec 31, 1969 • 14 comments

Last week, I asked about how many Oscar-nominated movies you've seen, and I was surprised that the most popular response was "none" followed by "a few." This led me to wonder how often our readers actually go out to the movies. Of course, many of you have a good home theater, which is generally quieter, more controllable, and less expensive (that is, not counting the purchase price!) than a commercial cinema. And some home theaters even provide a better audio/video experience than lesser commercial venues.

On the other hand, if you stay home to watch movies, you don't get to see the latest titles until they are released on Blu-ray or other media. Also, there are many commercial cinemas that surpass all but the most elaborate home theaters in performance. Then there's the social aspect—maybe I'm weird (okay, maybe there's no "maybe" about it!), but I actually enjoy sharing the movie experience with my fellow humans, as long as they don't talk or text during the show and the kid behind me doesn't kick my chair.

So how often do you go out to the movies? Why do you go—or not—in lieu of your home theater?

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Do You Wear Earplugs in Loud Environments?

Filed Under: Vote

By: Scott Wilkinson • Posted: Feb 10, 2012 • Published: Dec 31, 1969 • 5 comments

Today's "Ask Home Theater" question regards hearing protection and earplugs. Which leads me to ask, do you wear earplugs in loud environments, such as rock concerts and loud movies? If so, do you wear custom-molded or universal plugs? If not, why not? Let us know in the comments.

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Do You Prefer an Anamorphic Lens or Lens Memories?

Filed Under: Vote

By: Scott Wilkinson • Posted: Feb 17, 2012 • Published: Dec 31, 1969 • 5 comments

As I explain in today's "Ask Home Theater" blog, there are two ways to project a 2.35:1 movie onto a 2.35:1 screen without black letterbox bars. One way is to place an anamorphic lens in front of the projector's primary lens to stretch the image horizontally and use electronic processing to upscale the image vertically. The other way is to use a projector with motorized zoom, focus, and lens shift and several less memories to store and recall the settings for different aspect ratios. As with most things in life, each approach has its pros and cons.

If you have a 2.35:1 projection system—or you only dream about having one—which approach do you prefer? An anamorphic lens with its increased brightness and vertical resolution but potential scaling artifacts and optical distortion, or lens memories that avoid these problems at the expense of lower brightness and vertical resolution? Or are you happy with a 16:9 screen and black letterbox bars framing movies?

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How Often Have You Replaced Your TV In The Last 10 Years?

Filed Under: Vote

By: Scott Wilkinson • Posted: Feb 24, 2012 • Published: Dec 31, 1969 • 16 comments

Throughout my childhood, I remember visiting my grandparents and watching their Zenith TV (which used a Space Command ultrasonic remote, the source of the term "clicker"). Back then, most folks kept their TV for 15 or 20 years before replacing it, usually when the old one finally gave up the ghost. And there was little need to—TV technology didn't evolve much in those days. Once color television was well established, TVs were much the same from one year to the next.

Now, of course, the replacement rate for TVs is much faster, because performance improves, screens get bigger, and cool new features are added while prices drop every year. This leads me to ask, how often have you replaced your main TV in the last 10 years? Has your pace of replacement increased over that time?

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