Home Theater Guide
INDEXINTRODUCTIONThis document is maintained by Anthony W. HaukapThe current version of this FAQ document can always be found on my Web Site at http://www.cyberspace.org/~awh/ a printed and bound copy of this document can also be obtained, for additional information send email to me at awh@cyberspace.org and place in the subject line which document you are interested in, ie. "HOME THEATER GUIDE". In an attempt to assemble a Home Theater I searched the web and found very little information on what makes something suitable for use in a Home Theater. In doing research I have assembled this collection of my own experiences and current setup, in an attempt to establish some guide lines that will give you an idea of what to look for when selecting equipment, in hopes that it might help you in making a decision of what to purchase. If you would like a review of anything I currently have, or an opinion of what you're considering for your Home Theater email me and I will try and help you make a good decision.
PRIMARY VIDEO SOURCEBasically the heart of a good Home Theater is the video source. If you don't have good clean video to start with the finest television/monitor in the world will look terrible. For Network/Cable programming a TVRO system is the preferred option, however if the size of the big dish is a problem, or you don't have a clear view of the Clarke Belt, then a DBS system can be used. DBS signals area received with a TVRO system at their headend (now you know why TVRO preferred) then compressed and sent to a high-powered satellite via an uplink then received by your small dish. All this extra signal processing adds some noise and compression reduces the video resolution, but the output video will still be better than over-the-air (OTA) or what any cable system can provide. Go here for listing of the channels that are available on satellite television (TVRO) and here for a current list of all the satellites you can receive with your TVRO dish in North America.The only satellite receiver available right now that can offer you the widest choice of channels is General Instrument's (GI) 4DTV. This satellite receiver will allow you to receive, In-The-Clear (ITC), Videocipher-II Plus (VC2+), and Digicipher (digital) channels. What size dish? The important factor in selecting a dish is satellite spacing, which is 2 degrees apart, the pointing accuracy of a 7.5' dish is 2.6 degress, a 10' dish is 1.9 degrees, and a 12' dish is 1.6 degrees, thus a 10' or larger dish is required, anything smaller and you will receive adjacent satellite interference. I just can NOT understand why 7.5' dishes are offered. No amount of electronics, either in the receiver or the LNB can make up for dish size, the larger the dish the more signal you will collect and this will give you an acceptable rain-fade margin as well. The mount on the dish should be Horizon to Horizon, this will allow you to see all the Atlantic (East) and Pacific (West) satellites viewable from your location. An Actuator Arm will cover the domestic satellites but it can not move the dish far enough East or West to see these additional satellites. The LNB (Low Noise Block converter) should be the lowest temperature or decibel with the highest gain currently manufactured, however once you reach the noise temperature of the dish, lower LNB temperatures will have no noticable effect.
PRE-RECORDED VIDEOFor pre-recorded movies Digital Video Disc (DVD) offers greater resolution and cleaner video than Laser Disc (LD), however the selection of movies available on DVD is limited by it's newness and the lack of total support by all the major studios. Laser Disc might be the best choice right now as it has the advantage of having many, many more titles available (12,000+ vs. ~500 as of 10/97), and many titles and special editions that may never be released on DVD.SPECIAL UPDATE:
If you want to record than a good S-VHS (Super-VHS) Video Tape Recorder (VTR) is the only way to go. This will provide you with the ability to record and playback as near to the original signal quality as possible, although the picture is not quite as good as laser disc. Super-VHS VCRs will play standard VHS tapes as well, automatically sensing their presence in the machine (most pre-recored movies are in the standard VHS format). A Super-VHS VCR will have at least one S-Video output & input in the back. Note it is not feasible to encode AC-3 (Dolby Digital) onto VHS tapes. Standard VHS Cassette Records do not offer the resolution or picture quallity necessary for use in a Home Theater and should be avoided. Recordable DVD (Digital Video Disc) should be available by the year 2000 to the consumer market.
TELEVISIONNow that you have a source for great video you need something that will display all you have to offer.I tend to stay away from Rear-Projectors (R/P) the quality although better, still can't compare to a Direct-View (DV) for sharpness, plus the "roller-coaster" effect of scrolling credits, etc just can't be avoided on a R/P. If it's size your after, then look at a Front-Projector (F/P), these have the ability to offer a great looking picture at a large size, especially when used with a line-doubler. With front projection, you can even get a perforated screen and place the front three speakers (left, center, right) out of sight behind it, just like in a movie theatre. The disadvantage here is that the room must be totally dark, as any stray light reaching the screen will compromise the picture quality. Direct-Views (DV) offer great resolution, and an adequate size (32"-40") for most rooms. One thing to look for is a Digital Comb Filter, this will reduce the "rainbow-effect" that occurs when displaying pin-stripe type patterns. Any television or monitor you choose will need to be professionally calibrated or see my do it yourself calibration in order for it to meet true NTSC standards. UPDATE: If you're thinking of purchasing a large screen television, either upgrading or for a home theater set-up, after August 1998 I think you would be better off waiting for HDTV. Currently HDTV television are avaliable in small quanties, however no HDTV video playback/recordable devices are available to the consumer at this time - FYI: DVD is not fully compliant with the HDTV standard. Network and local affiliate stations are currently making preparation for the transition to HDTV transmission and will start HDTV broadcasts in September 1998. Once HDTV broadcasts start, the entire HDTV rollout will snowball. The NTSC televisions available now have a finite lifespan and will cease to receive any broadcasts once the switch is made before January 1, 2007. - See the FCC's HDTV web site for additional information and time table.
A/V RECEIVER & SPEAKERSOkay, now you have the video all taken care of let's look at the sound system.Since sound is 1/2 of the movie experience using the speakers & amplifier in the television, no matter how good they proclaim they are, is NOT an acceptable solution for reproducing the Dolby Digital (AC-3)/Pro-Logic soundtrack. What's more important the speakers or the amplifier? The answer is their both equally important, great speakers can't reproduce true clean sound if the amplifier is delivering distorted signals. What to look for; THX Certified - this is kind of like the "Good-House-Keeping" seal of approval for Home Theater equipment, it means the equipment or speakers have passed the stringent THX testing program. THX-licensed processors use special equalization in all channels, and "decorrelation" of the surround channel to increase its diffusion. THX-licensed speaker systems must meet directivity criteria and other performance requirements. THX-licensed amplifiers are designed so that, in conjunction with THX-licensed speakers, your home theater can achieve virtually the same loudness levels reached in movie theaters.
Left
and Right Speakers Center
Speaker Surround
Speakers Finding the right balance of direct and reflected sound means considering speaker placement, room design, and the acoustic characteristics of both. If you use direct or dipole radiating surround speakers, place them on the side walls alongside the seating position, two or three feet above seated listeners' heads. If the seating area is unusually deep, two surround speakers along each side instead of one may be desirable. In most cases, direct radiating surround speakers should be aimed straight across the room towards each other, not down at the listeners, to create a proper blend of direct and reflected sound. If the room is unusually "live" (with lots of bare sound-reflecting surfaces), it may be advisable to tilt the surround speakers down slightly towards the listeners, to increase the ratio of direct to reflected sound for greater clarity. Conversely, in a particularly "dead" room (thick, sound-absorbing carpeting, heavy drapes, etc.), aiming the speakers toward the rear wall or ceiling can increase reflections for greater diffuseness. There are also many so-called "dipole" designs that radiate most of their sound to the front and rear, placing the listeners in a "null" so that comparatively little direct sound reaches them. These units generally work best when mounted on the side walls as recommended for direct radiating surround speakers. As their soundfield consists mostly of back and front wall reflections, however, dipole designs are more dependent on the room and its acoustics than conventional models. The left and right surround channels, should be capable of reproducing the full frequency range. Subwoofers
SPEAKER CALIBRATION Loudness
and Dynamic Range Time
Delay Time Delay Formula: T = Nd + Df - Ds, where T is the delay setting,Speaker Level Dolby AC-3 & Pro Logic units provide a built-in test signal generator called a noise sequencer that makes it particularly easy to balance all channels. When you activate the sequencer (the switch may be marked "Test" or "Test Tone"), it sends a brief, specially filtered noise signal to each channel in turn. As the test signal "travels" from channel to channel, simply adjust the balance controls until each of the channels individually plays at the same apparent loudness at your listening position. A sound level meter should be used for greater precision.
INTERCONNECTSNow that you have all the equipment you need to connect it together somehow, right?.Interconnects are the last place in your system you can make a difference, but don't get carried away with all the hype you hear about Super-Monsterous-Plus-Cable making all the difference in the world. However, good cables do make a difference. When you get down to it wire is wire is wire, but there are some small differences when it comes to construction of the cables. You should always use good quality interconnects (the interconnects that come with the equipment, if any, should usually be tossed out), look for gold plated RCA/BNC/S-VIDEO connectors (gold plating stops corrosion), spring strain reliefs at the connector ends will help protect the wire, speaker wire should be 10 or 12 gauge copper with gold plated connections, connectors should be marked on both ends so they are easily identified, usually yellow=video, black=left, red=right. Various insulators are used in good quality cables and the type of insulator has a direct effect on the capacitance of the wire (the lower, the better) - polypropylene is good, and Teflon is the best. Another factor called the "skin effect" can degrade sound quality, this term refers to the fact that signals travels differently at the surface (skin) of the conductor than it does near the center. If the conductor is thick, the skin effect can degrade the sound quality. Thus, many thin conductors (small diameter strands of conductor, each isolated from the others) is the desired alternative. The whole problem of cables and high fidelity can be quite complex. However, the best way to begin choosing cables is by testing models/designs that have low resistance, capacitance, & inductance and let your ears be the judge.
LEARNING REMOTEEach piece of equipment has it's own remote and the basic idea here is to have one remote to control everything... almost. What you actually want is a remote to handle the everyday items, stuff you do all the time ie. channel up/down, volume, switching video inputs, etc. Keep you original remote on the shelf to do the things you only do once-in-a-while ie. Dolby speaker level test, configuring the equipment, etc.A pre-programmed remote can only handle the equipment they were designed for, and nothing else. A learning remote will learn the signals to duplicate any command or sequence of commands you want, the disadvantage is you have to spend the time to initially set them up, but in the long run it will be well worth the effort. The Marantz RC-2000 Learning Remote (now RC-2000-Plus with twice the storage memory) is by far the best solution to this problem. It has the capability to learn just about any infrared command from any remote control. The RC-2000 is not your every-day learning remote, with 56 automatically back-lit buttons it's more of a computer processor with functions such as MACRO programming and a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD).
UPS - POWER FILTERINGWith all this high-tech electronic equipment it's essential to provide it with good clean power. A small Unintrutable Power Supply (UPS) will do this as well as provide you with a means to safely turn off the equipment in the event of a power failure. A UPS should protect you from spikes, surges, & brown-outs.
VIDEO DISTRIBUTIONNow let's distribute the signals to all the other televisions in the house, so you can watch simultaneously a Laser Disc in the main room, have a TVRO channel on in the bedroom, a VCR tape in the kitchen and an over-the-air (OTA) channel in the den.There is only one solution to this problem "Channel Plus", ask for it by name, accept no substitutes. Channel Plus offers a whole line of video/audio distribution units that will take a variety of input signals (RF, Composite, S-Video), modulate them on any channel you want (VHF/UHF), combine the signal with your local OTA over-the-air channels and/or cable service and send them on one coax cable (min. RG-6) to all the televisions in the house. You will probably need several Channel Plus units chained together if you want to distribute everything from the main room to the rest of the house. Other manufactures offer similar type products, but the Channel Plus units are by far the very best available. Most of the others don't use a Quarts Phase-lock-loop and the output channels will constantly drift as the ambient temperature changes. Also the amplifiers used in lesser units add quite a bit of noise to the video, which quickly becomes unaceptable when you try to chain a few of them together. Adjacent channel interference is also a concern with these inferior units if you are trying to place your channel next to an existing channel you will get a lot of crosstalk betwen the two channels.
MANUFACTURESThis is a list of manufacturers mentioned above, they can provide you with detailed information, and additional specifications for your perusal. Since product lines change often it's best to check with the manufacture before purchasing anything to make sure you're getting the current model, and there's nothing coming along with additional features/improvements that will replace it any time soon.
MOVIE COLLECTIONI have include some of the titles that I currently have in my Laser Disc (LD) collection here. Also this is my current Digital Video Disc (DVD) collection. If you would like a review of any title email me. I review the discs for quality of the video and audio transfer, supplemental material, etc. If you want a critical review of the movie's content (story, acting) then go to Roger Ebert's Homepage, or Movie Review Query Engine, also The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is a great resource for all kinds of movie information.
HIGH DEFINITION TV (HDTV)In December of 1996 the FCC approved the U.S. DTV standard. By the January 1, 2007 all US television stations will be required to abandon NTSC and transmit in the HDTV format only.High
Definition Television (HDTV) represents the largest change in television
technology since the conversion from black & white to color in
1957. Roll-out Schedule: Sony joins digital TV - available at news.com. HDTV clicks - available at news.com. Future DVD products - available at news.com. Networks Ready HDTV - available at abcnews.com. Digital TV Debuts - available at abcnews.com. FCC gives license to HDTV - available at news.com. |