With this consumer's guide, buyers of home theatre systems will be taken through the technology and components of home entertainment and learn how they suit their individual needs. Consumers will discover the best components for their needs, how to be a savvy shopper, how to avoid buying the wrong technology, and how to set up and fine tune a system. In addition, all the technologies behind home theatre are explained. These technologies include DVD players, audio/video receivers, multichannel speaker systems, high-definition television (HDTV), and digital satellite systems.
It might be the long lines at the theater, the $4.00 for a small bag of popcorn, or the cutting-edge technology that's now so readily available to the home market. Whatever the reason, the home theater market today is booming like the soundtrack to Star Wars! Want proof? A Google search for home theater reveals over three million results. Yikes! It's simply undeniable: More and more people prefer watching their favorite movies, television shows, and videos from the comfort of their own sofas and couches. What's also undeniable is the inexperience of most people who choose to install or upgrade their home theaters. Until now, the knowledge, technique, and experiences of those who've encountered similar conditions to yours could only be accessed through laborious web searches, stacks of magazines, and water cooler conversations. Home Theater Hacks from O'Reilly is the perfect remedy for this group. A smart collection of insider tips and tricks, Home Theater Hacks covers home theater installation from start to finish, purchase to experience. Just imagine: no frustrating trial-and-error process and better yet, no expensive appointments with installation experts. Home Theater Hacks prevents both by imparting down-and-dirty technique not found anywhere else. The book begins with a quick glossary of terms so you can speak the lingo when you go shopping, and then dives right into hush-hush, insider tricks. It's all covered where to find the right audio and video components, how to deal with speakers and wiring, understanding cable connectivity, mastering remote controls, how to fully grasp TiVo, and so much more. And to top it off, each of these insider tips is presented in a concise yet delightfully entertaining style. Bringing the Jurassic Park dinosaurs into your living room has never been so easy! A seasoned veteran with numerous O'Reilly titles under his belt, author Brett McLaughlin leaves no stone unturned in helping you customize your home theater experience to your own personal environment.
In 12 fact-filled chapters--covering everything from stereo to multichannel music to home theater--discover how to choose the best components for the money, how to match components fore the best sound, and how to set up and fine-tune a system for maximum performance.
Fully updated throughout this best selling title on surround sound offers you a wealth of practical information, now considered the 'go to' book for those requiring a working knowledge. Concentrating specifically on surround audio, Holman provides clear comprehensive explanations of complex concepts, making this a must have book for all those in the field.
Home theater is the union of big-screen television and surround sound. But how can an average person navigate the maze of audio/video technologies that go into a home theater system? For answers, turn to Mark Fleischmann's Practical Home Theater: A Guide to Video and Audio Systems, now in its fourth edition, thoroughly revised and updated for 2005. The book weighs the pros and cons of new HDTV technologies including DLP, LCD, plasma, and tube-based sets. It explains the differences between Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES, and other surround formats. And it covers all formats under the sun including DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, SACD, HDCD, MP3 -- and the thorny subject of copy protection. The book also explores often ignored topics such as buying a DTV antenna, power-line accessories, and cables. A richly detailed connections chapter tells how to hook up every component and how to solve common problems. By knowledgably guiding readers through the briar patch of video and audio technology, Practical Home Theater has become the standard reference work for home theater buffs. Future annual editions will continue to track changes in home theater technology.
Explores the principles and practical considerations of spatial sound recording and reproduction. Particular emphasis is given to the increasing importance of multichannel surround sound and 3D audio, including binaural approaches, without ignoring conventional stereo. The enhancement of spatial quality is arguably the only remaining hurdle to be overcome in pursuit of high quality sound reproduction. The rise of increasingly sophisticated spatial sound systems presents an enormous challenge to audio engineers, many of whom are confused by the possibilities and unfamiliar with standards, formats, track allocations, monitoring configurations and recording techniques. The author provides a comprehensive study of the current state of the art in spatial audio, concentrating on the most widely used approaches and configurations. Anyone wishing to expand their understanding of these cutting-edge technologies will want to own this book.
Overwhelmed with big screen TV and home theater audio options? What do you need to build the perfect home theater experience? Home Theater For Dummies, 3rd Edition shows you how to plan a home theater system and choose components that fit your budget and your room. Beginning with the most basic information, this guide helps you choose what you need and put it all together. It explains DLP, 3LCD, HDMI, DTV, and HDTV so you can talk intelligently with salespeople at the electronics store. You’ll find out about Blu-ray, explore HD and satellite radio options, and see how to incorporate a Wii, Xbox, or Playstation 3 into your set-up. Learn to: Choose among plasma, LCD, and projection TVs Know the difference between digital TV and HDTV Assess and choose an LCD TV, a new 3D TV, or an HD radio Set up your audio system and TV for maximum performance Use a Media Center or Home Theater PC Fine-tune your system and add cool touches such as accessing home theater content from your cell phone Explore HD and satellite radio options, CD players, DVD-Audio disks, and options for old cassettes and vinyl Set up your system with the proper cables for each component, or learn what it takes to go wireless Calibrate your video with a calibration disk, an optical comparator, or a DVD containing THX Optimizer Get the perfect home theater experience by following the expert tips and techniques presented in Home Theater For Dummies, 3rd Edition. You’ll be watching movies and listening to audio in no time!
Robert Harley, Editor-in-Chief of The Absolute Sound and The Perfect Vision magazines, tells you everything you need to know to become a better listener and better buyer of quality high-fidelity components. With this book you will discover how to get the best sound for your money; how to identify the weak links in your system and upgrade where it will do the most good; how to setup and tweak your system to get maximum performance from equipment you already own; and, most of all, how to become a more perceptive and appreciative listener. This book makes hi-fi more fun! Widely acknowledged as the reference on high-quality music reproduction with more than 100,000 copies sold in four languages, The Complete Guide to High-End Audio has been newly expanded, revised, and updated to cover the latest developments in high-end audio. New sections include: high-resolution digital audio; SACD and DVD-Audio; multichannel audio; how to integrate home theater into a high-performance music system; more system setup secrets; the latest developments in audio technology -- and more! Book jacket.
Nearly all residents of England and its colonies between 1860 and 1914 were active theatergoers, and many participated in the amateur theatricals that defined late Victorian life. The Victorian theater was not an abstract figuration of the world as a stage, but a media system enmeshed in mass lived experience that fulfilled in actuality the concept of a theatergoing nation. Everyone’s Theater turns to local history, the words of everyday Victorians found in their diaries and production records, to recover this lost chapter of theater history in which amateur drama domesticates the stage. Professional actors and playwrights struggled to make their productions compatible with ideas and techniques that could be safely reproduced in the home—and in amateur performances from Canada to India. This became the first true English national theater: a society whose myriad classes found common ground in theatrical display. Everyone’s Theater provides new ways to extend Victorian literature into the dimension of voice, sound, and embodiment, and to appreciate the pleasures of Victorian theatricality.
In the 21st century, more and more people go out'' to the movies at home. Theo Kalomirakis reigns supreme the world over as the leading creator of custom-designed theaters and one-of-a-kind entertainment environments. In this book are preserved fifteen of these incredible spaces with superb colour photographs and descriptions of the technology that make this revolution in entertainment and design possible. While Kalomirakis' extravagant creations are for wealthy clients, they also serve as inspiration for home owners who want to integrate cinema quality with home comfort on a more modest budget.
