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Home Theater: 3 ugly secrets revealed!
Secret #1: WHAT YOU BUY TODAY WILL BE OBSOLETE TOMORROW, IF IT ISN'T ALREADY.
What you should do about it:
Don't sweat it. Just read what you can before you buy to educate yourself so you don't make a terrible mistake. If you shop wisely, you can get a tremendous leap over what you have come to know as television. The good news is the better stuff coming down the pipe is knocking prices down on the stuff out now.
Plus, consumer surveys SCREAM to the electronics companies that people WANT these new, slim, high resolution Home Theater setups. There are billions of dollars to be made. Those surveys snapped the head of every exec in the biz. They geared up to make more. "Make more" equals "economies of scale" equals "make MORE money," even at lower price points! The first one costs a bazillion dollars: research, tooling up, marketing. Then, with volume, the cost per unit plummets. The guys who want to have very latest get to pay the most. Why be that person?
If you’ve already purchased a particular technology – Plasma, DLP, LCD, front or rear projector, whatever, ENJOY it. It IS important to realize that wide screen aspect ratio does not equal high-definition TV, though. Some think if the picture is wide, they’re there. That might be FAR from there. I hate to say this because I’m a guy and guys hate this – you might want to read the instructions.
Secret #2. And this is really, really big: YOU CAN'T TELL WHAT THE PICTURE LOOKS LIKE FROM WHAT YOU SEE IN THE STORE.
What you should do about it:
What you are doing now. Research. The hard part is cutting through the opinions of weenies who want to see a feather clearly, blowing in the wind at 50 yards. I'll help you there. Read on.
There are three reasons why Home Theater Ugly Secret #2 is true.
1- The sets aren't adjusted right. They are turned way up to dazzle you. The dazzle will bother you when you get home. Worse, it drives the set to what you'd call distortion. The better picture happens when the picture is turned down in brightness, sharpness, contrast, and whatever else has been goosed. Why do they let this happen? It's like a conspiracy that everyone is in on - except you. Because when they are all lined up, 40 sets in a row, the manufacturers know you might think theirs is different and better. But they ALL do it, so it's a wipe. And if a store is a little bit shady, with some hi-def sets to move at a higher profit margin, well, now, those might have been "optimized" to look better than the others.
Yes, most of the hi-def sets CAN be adjusted correctly for you in your home. MAYBE by you.
Did I mention that Bubba the shopper-doofus was there, just before you browsed in, that he found the remote control and screwed up all the settings anyway?
So, you can't trust what you see in most stores. But wait, there's more.
2- Many of the sets are being fed video poorly. A distribution amp or humungous splitter shares the picture among the displays. That hurts the picture. A store might have 40 sets on one distribution, but the ones they really want to move on a purer source, showing a better picture. You'll never know.
3- What you see may or may not be high definition or even good quality. Just as bad, it might be super fidelity you won't likely ever see again. Because, what you watch at home might not be broadcast or cablecast with a good picture. So, you can see misaligned sets fed bad pictures that bear little resemblance to anything you'd see at home. Ready to drop several THOUSAND on that? Didn't think so. But tens of thousands of people do. Probably WILL this weekend. Eager commissioned salespeople will confide that THIS unit is the superior one. No hidden agenda there, do you think, huh?!
Secret #3. THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH EVERYTHING.
What you should do about it:
Relax. Don't obsess. It's more a matter of things being done different ways by different designers. For example, on this set, the colors are spot on, but the resolution is a little off. On that set over there, the resolution is incredible, but the red... You are still going to love the setup you buy - and remember - you just might have it for 10 years or MORE! You'll look at it more than you look at your wife, husband or kids. I'm talking face time. Relax. We'll get you through this.
A personal note to THE OBSESSIVES:
If you haven't already left this article, I want you to think about the fact that there are millions of screen dots to go wrong. Not that they will, but the 317th one from the left and 119th from the bottom IS a little shaky, don't you think? Time to take a deep breath. One, two, three. Exhale. Even though there's something wrong with everything, if you embrace that thought and LET IT GO you'll be able to enjoy the - uh - big picture. The state of the Home Theater art - even if it IS yesterday's art, is very very nice.
Relax.
Why a Home Theater? And what's it MEAN anyway? Good questions. A Home Theater is simply the natural; evolution of the TV experience. Now that we can, we do. It's how it goes. Basically, you get a shorter, wider picture (more like a movie in a... theater) and the picture is much clearer than the TV you sat too close to as a kid – remember Mom yelling?. And you can have better sound too. It can be all around you, or just in the front. You choose. You can have a box that plays the deep notes - fun things like car crashes, earthquakes, whale farts, cannons. You get to experience them like never before. It's not essential, but it's there if you want it.
A Home Theater is just like going to the movies. Except the screen isn't that big, but you can get a good seat. You don't have to endure advertisements in the ‘pre-show entertainment’ if you don't want to. You can go to the bathroom and touch the door handle on the way out. No paying $5.75 for a bag of stale popcorn. No popcorn bagging zomboid teenagers. No lines. No sticky floors (unless that's the way you live, not that there's anything wrong with that.)
There. Now you know the top 3 Ugly Home Theater secrets.
Movies On The Internet - Good For Us, Bad For Them?
You're watching TV one evening scanning through the reruns thinking it's pathetic how little there is to watch anymore when a fantastic movie trailer comes on. It's everything you love - the right actors, the wit, the action - and your heart beats a little faster in anticipation - if only you could watch it RIGHT NOW!
Well, the film industry has heard you. Along with the speed of the internet, consumers have now come to a new stage of demand. It used to be that we WANTED everything immediately - now we EXPECT it.
This is not the sort of thing that goes unnoticed by industries that cater to public reception. And now it has been announced that we may not be far away from simply walking over to our computer and downloading the newest releases.
During a meeting at the Cannes Film Festival, Culture Ministers from across Europe, film industry representatives and Internet Service Providers were among those who met to discuss the possible policies needed to distribute movies online.
BBC news reports European Union media commissioner Viviane Reding as stating: "In Europe, as in other continents, the opportunities for people to enjoy films online are set to increase tremendously over the next few years".
Naturally there are still many issues to be resolved before movies are readily available to the public online. Piracy and broadband capabilities are still being questioned.
Piracy became the prominent issue when music files were being illegally shared over the internet. While the music industry fought against such services as Napster, they are still far from recovering their market revenue and the film industry is not anxious to join them.
What can't be debated is that there IS a market, and no industry likes to bypass that because of possible problems.
Right now European broadband may not be up to the task of downloading such large files but has plans to proceed with distribution soon.
In America there has already been movie distribution with the inevitable legal proceedings against individuals facilitating unauthorized downloads.
Although the fight against piracy is being taken very seriously by the industry, it is still parents who are at the forefront of setting the example and instructing children on the ethics of downloading such material. Responsibility is learned.
In any event, the next time you see a great movie advertised and you are handy to the internet, perhaps you should stay in, avoid the lines and the traffic and check it out online!
The Best Time To Go To The Movie
Here’s the thing…you can actually enhance your moving-going experience by the time you chose to go. Consider these movie situations:
Kid’s Movies: If you are trying to take a small child to a kid’s movie it may be best to go on a Saturday afternoon. While the reasoning may be self-evident to you it dawned on me one evening when I was trying to take my four year old to the latest Pixar flick. You see, 4-year olds are rather antsy and talkative (especially mine) and when you take them to a kid’s movie where there are predominantly adults in the audience – well the analogy of water and oil is good one.
I don’t wish to spoil someone else’s movie experience but I want my child to have a good time without me constantly having to correct him through a movie. Thus, I have discovered that it is a far better thing to take a small child to the theater on Saturday afternoon. During this time the theater is full of other small children babbling and fidgeting. And the rest of the audience is far more comfortable (and tolerant) with the children in this developmental stage. Conversely, if you are an adult who wants to see a kids movie with a minimum of youthful distractions go to the movie any time but Saturday afternoon – weekday evenings are best.
Date Night Movies: I am a big proponent of continuing to date your spouse after marriage. For the unmarried – lots of time together is a good thing too. So date night movies should be planned with care. That is, if possible schedule a movie around a bundle of activities planned for the date. Are you planning dinner, roller-blading, drinks with friends, other activities? Traditionally, date nights are Friday and Saturday evening but if you can break away, any time is a good time for a date. (Hint: want to see how your date reacts/ interacts with children? Take them to a kid’s movie on Saturday afternoon (above).)
Creature Features: I don’t care what you say horror films just don’t have the same effect when you exit the theater before 10:00 p.m.. If you want the whole experience to be spookier its best to go to that horror flick late-night, mid-week. Rationale: it’s just creepier to leave that late when there aren’t as many people around. Also, its better if it’s a bit cooler out. It leaves a better opportunity to snuggle if it happens to be date night *wink*.