Boom. Thud. Crash. What would a movie be without low-frequency effects? Even non-macho films like <I>Sense and Sensibility</I> have their share of carriage-wheel rumblings and horse-hoof thuds. Without a serious subwoofer that extends down to a solid 30Hz, and preferably even lower, a home-theater system can hardly be called "high-end."
The past year has been a boom time for the home theater industry, with business exploding at all price points. From January to May of 2002, DVD-based home theater sales grew by 988 percent during the past year, according to a study by NPD Techworld. One huge growth area has been so-called "home-theater-in-a-box" (HTiB) systems, typically a package with disc player, surround sound receiver, five speakers and powered subwoofer---typically priced at under $1000. Such systems are intended for use with Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS films.
Home theater fans and music lovers have been praying for a high-quality single-box disc player that will handle every optical disc format now available. Marantz may have answered their prayers with the introduction of the DV8300.
Live sports broadcasts are one of the driving forces for high definition television. On September 5, Samsung Electronics, Sears Roebuck, and CBS Television announced a partnership that will significantly boost public exposure to the format by expanding HD coverage of college football and basketball.
<I>Victor Sjöström, Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Gertrud Fridh, Max Von Sydow. Directed by Ingmar Bergman. Aspect ratio: 4:3. Dolby Digital mono. 91 minutes. 1957. The Criterion Collection 139. NR. $39.95.</I>
The world is full of millions of DVDs, so <I>SGHT</I>'s editors have sorted through the piles and come up with <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/showarchives.cgi?35">2001: A DVD Odyssey</A>. Over 80 DVD reviews in one place, with ratings for sound, picture, and content.
"Only connect," the novelist E. M. Forster famously urged. But many people suffer from connectophobia - a paralyzing fear that can strike when you take your new Dolby Digital receiver out of the box and first lay eyes on its back panel.
San Francisco, California will open its Golden Gates to welcome the Home Entertainment 2003 Show, June 5-8, 2003. The event will take place at the Westin-St. Francis Hotel in the heart of downtown San Francisco. HE2003 marks the fourth time this event has been held in San Francisco. Previous events were held in 1989, 1993, and in 1997.
Chris Chiarella | Sep 02, 2002 | First Published: Sep 03, 2002
A bigger hard drive, a little time, and you're halfway there. I'm a lucky guy. My wife and I have had only one major squabble since the beginning of the year, and it was about sharing the space on our personal video recorder's rapidly filling hard drive. My problem: I've fallen behind in archiving and deleting my keeper episodes. Hers: She waits too long to watch her recorded Ally McBeal, Buffy, and Friends, and the PVR automatically purges them. Although many possible solutions exist (Ally was cancelled, thankfully), the simplest would be to add a larger hard drive. Compared with the purchase of a newer, higher-capacity PVR, this approach is quite economical, and it's a project that a home theater buff with some electronics/computer expertise can tackle.