Home Theater

There’s three basic components to a good cheap home theater setup:

1. The TV
2. The Sound
3. The content player

This time I’ve chosen to focus on HD-DVD as the basis for the home theater. It’s not as good as BluRay, but noone can afford BluRay right now anyway, and HD-DVD is getting cheaper and cheaper. IT’s worth knowing that they aren’t making HD-DVDs anymore, so the only high-def you will have to choose from is already out there. On the other hand, an HD-DVD player will cost you about $90 shipped.

The TV

There are three key things to look at when looking for a TV:

1. Response time - anywhere from 2 to 8 milliseconds
2. Contrast ratio - anything above 1300:1, generally the higher the better
3. Resolution - 1920 x 1080 is full high-def
4. HD Tuner built in

Keen readers will notice I have omitted a key variable: brand. The reason for this is that many TV manufacturers source those large LCDs form the same place. Did you even notice TV’s really only come in a few sizes? This is both because certain pixel counts just lend well to certain sizes, and because they all get the same parts from the same place. The different resides between manufacture of the actual LCD and the shipment of the TV, where (much like Petrol) additives and tweaks make the difference. I am going out on a limb by saying this, but the average viewer will see little difference between a Westinghouse HDTV and a Bang and Olufson TV of the same specs.

You’ll also notice I don’t mention Plasma TVs here. Plasma TVs are better the LCDs in many ways (better blacks, more vivid colors), but have three major drawbacks:

1. They’re extremely heavy, meaning wall mounting is a little scary
2. They are fragile, and need servicing annually
3. They are way more expensive

For the time being I will recommend LCD TVs for anyone but the wealthiest pickiest customer. 99.99% of people will see no difference, and when LED selective backlighting comes into play, it will become basically negligible. If a salesman ever ties to push a plasma TV on you (higher margins) ask him why they use LCDs in cars instead of plasmas. He’ll have to tell you that plasmas are overpriced, heavy and fragile, or he’s a liar (or an idiot).

Now, what size TV do you need? That depends on your viewing distance. If you go out and get a 60″ TV for your studio apartment, you’ll have the same effect as sitting in the front row of the movie theater. You’ll look cool, but noone will actually want to watch movies with you. The following is a basic recommendation of viewing distance from DTV City:

• If you will sit 8 feet away, you’ll need a 32-37 inch screen
• If you will sit 12 feet away, you’ll need a 42 inch screen.
• If you will sit 15 feet away, you’ll need a 50 inch screen.
• If you will sit 18+ feet away, you’ll need a 60+ inch screen

It’s worth noting that you can sit farther away from a small screen than is recommended, but you’ll obviously lose detail. If you hang it on a wall or set it on a stand, make sure the middle of the screen is no higher than level with your eyes, unless your seat reclines. I personally prefer to have the top 1/3 line at eye level, but everyone will be different.

You’re going to want to wall-mount your TV, because that’s basically the coolest thing ever. Ever since the Jetsons, we’ve all wanted to have a TV on the wall, and now you can have it. Here’s a few nuggets of wisdom:

1. If you’re going to wall-mount, be ready to rip up the wall. Period. This is not for renters unless you have an awesome landlord.
2. Mount the TV to studs. Most wall mount kits wil come with drywall anchor systems. This is a conspiracy with TV makers to drop your $1,200 TV on the ground and break it. JK.
3. Get a small mount. You probably don’t need 60 degree angle adjustments, or articulating arms. This is a nice mount, it’s small and doesn’t stick out too far.

When you install your TV, you will want to use a circle-cutter on your drywall to drop the cables down to your components. Don’t een think of doing what I did and just drop the cables out in the open to your receiver. Even painting wire covers and mounting them to the wall looks dumb. You’re going to spend a G on this, you might as well go all out on this part.

If you’re building a media room however, don’t cut into the wall until AFTER the inspection, if you put cables in the wall before inspection, you’re going to have to use all sorts of crazy specialty stuff (not fun).

The sound

There’s the sound your TV speakers makes, then there’s full-on surround sound. Comparing these two is foolishness, like comparing Marisa Tomei to Heidi Klum. Ok fine, so I just wanted an excuse for those links. The thing is, Tv sound will be good on most nice sets, but not THAT good, for serious beauty you’ve gotta step it up a bit and jump to surround sound.

Alot has changed since you set 4 speakers up in your bedroom and called it surround sound. For one, you have to have at least 6 speakers (5.1 surround sound), but most people will say that 8 is best (7.1 surround sound). In a basic surround sound setup (I’ll use 7.1 as an example) you will always have a center speaker. 60% of your sound in a movie comes through the center channel, so this speaker has to be really good. Then you add two front speakers, two side speakers, and two rear speakers, this gives you complete stereo imaging in 3 directions, with the richest sound coming from the front. For those of you good with math, this is where the 7 in 7.1 comes from: the 7 main speakers. A 5.1 system omits the side speakers, and only gives you two stereo fields (how OLD SCHOOL!). The 1 in both 7.1 and 5.1 is the subwoofer. You will want to place this in front of you, since forward bass is super-bad.

There’s a few important things to look for when purchasing a sound system:

1. Optical (TOSLINK) in
2. HDMI 1.3 Switching
3. 7.1 sound

I have once again omitted brand. Man, I’m crazy. Unlike TVs, sound can very greatly brand from brand. What you end up buying will depend heavilly on your budget. There are definately some things NOT to consider when purchasing an audio system:

1. Wattage
2. Dubious certifications (THX, I’m looking at you)
3. Expensive wiring

I recommend you watch sites like Ben’s Bargains or Deal News for inexpensive receivers.

One cool new feature in surround-sound systems today is wireless rear speakers. If you’re going to put 4 speakers anywhere besides the front of the room next to the TV, this is a nice option. It’s usually pricy, but every once in a while they go on sale. Also, you can buy a normal system and add speakers one-by-one.

Just to add to the confusion, there’s another player in the surround-sound game: virtual surround sound. This stuff is crazy, and usually cheaper than a nice 7.1 system. Basically this consists of 4 speakers (3.1): two front, one center, and the sub. The two front speakers have lots of little speakers in them pointed different directions. They use their crazy-directional speakers (presumable made of shrunken monkey heads sprinkled in powdered bat toes) to make it SOULD like there’s speakers behind you. This usually works pretty well, especially if you have a smallish room or are lazy and don’t want wires everywhere.

The content player

Ok, so here’s the deal: HD-DVD lost the high-def format war, but not before slashing prices on their players and making a total mess at retail. Consumer FTW, right? Well, yes, if you’re buying it now. Sucks for those of us who adopted early. But hey, that’s what you get with an essentially beta product.

All bitterness aside, HD-DVD is still the right choice for most consumers:

• It’s cheap, players are in the $70 range right now
• It’s good quality, it’s hard to tell a difference between HD-DVD and BluRay
• They are the best upscalers around.

Sp plan on getting one of those cheap Toshiba HD-DVD players. There’s really only two to consider: the HD-A3 (the one I got) which is around $70 right now, and flagship model HD-XA2, which is a little pricier. Keep in mind that with both these players, you’ll get 5 free HD-DVDs from Microsoft and Toshiba. Check the XA2 prices before you buy an A3, but the A3’s a solid player with great performance.

Haters will tell you it take a long time for these players to start up. That depends on what you’re comparing it to: first, compared to your $39 DVD player, this is just as fast. Second, compared to the amount of time you’re about to spend with your jaw on the floor watching 2001: A Space Odyssey in a whole new way, it’s no time at all. Basically those people hate you and don’t want you to enjoy HD (or they’re biter that they bought an $800 BluRay player and your setup looks just as good as theirs.

The End

That’s all for now, but before I leave you, here’s the recipe:

• One LCD TV (2-6ms response time, 1300:1 contract ration (or higher), 1920 x 1080 resolution, HDMI input)
• One HD-DVD player (Toshiba HD-A3 or XA2 if it’s cheap enough)
• One surround sound system (5.1/7.1 sound, wireless rear speakers, TOSLINK, HDMI Switching)

Mix components until cables hidden away, serve with Batman Begins, amaze everyone.