Misconceptions

LCD is clearly the more popular choice these days, outselling plasmas by a goodly margin. This is due to how TVs are displayed in stores and some misconceptions about plasma longevity and “burn-in.”

In retail stores, TVs are typically displayed in showrooms with lots of bright lights, and LCDs can pump out more light than plasmas can, which makes them look brighter and more attractive in that environment. But your living room or home theater is nothing like a retail showroom, so this apparent advantage is somewhat deceiving.

Many people are concerned about the longevity of plasmas, having heard rumors that the gas within the screen must be “recharged” periodically. This is completely false—plasma TVs have never required “recharging.” Today’s plasmas and LCDs have about the same expected lifespan—around 60,000 hours, which translates to over 20 years of watching TV eight hours a day, seven days a week.

Then there’s the issue of plasma “burn-in,” which causes ghostly images to remain on the screen after a static picture has been displayed for some period of time. This used to be a problem with early generations of plasmas, but it is almost no concern today. Yes, static images can be retained after a time, especially when the set is new, but it is rarely permanent, and it can be combated using one of several different techniques that most plasma TVs provide.

One thing to be aware of is the set’s power consumption. Plasmas tend to consume more power than comparably sized LCDs, though manufacturers are narrowing that gap in modern designs. Interestingly, plasmas draw more or less power depending on the overall brightness of the image at any given moment.
By contrast, LCDs draw relatively constant power. And if you decrease the brightness of an LCD’s backlight—which is usually advisable in a dark room—you can save even more power.

So, what are the real issues you need to consider in making this important decision? Ask yourself the following questions:

What will I be watching mostly?

If you’re a serious movie watcher, I generally recommend plasma for its lower black level and higher contrast, which makes the picture “pop” more than most LCDs illuminated by a CCFL (cold-cathode fluorescent) backlight. However, more and more LCD TVs today use LEDs (light-emitting diodes) instead of CCFLs for the light source, and these sets can achieve very deep blacks—with a few caveats.

There are two types of LED-illuminated LCD TVs—backlit and edgelit. As these terms imply, LED-backlit sets have LEDs in an array behind the LCD panel itself, while LED-edgelit models have LEDs at the edges of the screen, and their light is diffused and directed through the LCD panel using special optical materials.

Virtually all LED-backlit models provide a feature called local dimming, which brightens the LEDs behind bright areas of the image and dims the ones behind dark areas, essentially forming a very low-resolution, black-and-white version of the image as shown above. This greatly increases the perceived contrast and depth of blacks, but small, bright objects on a dark background—such as stars in outer space—can be surrounded by halos, because the size of the independently dimmable LED “zones” is often much larger than the size of the bright objects.

Just like CCFL sets, LED-edgelit LCD TVs such as the Sony NX810 seen here can brighten and darken the entire screen dynamically, resulting in better blacks and contrast overall. In fact, LEDs can be dimmed farther than CCFLs, and they can be turned off completely if the entire image is solid black, such as the interstitial black screens between the opening shots in Cars or the title screens in Master and Commander. However, you can often see this process in action, which can be distracting.

Another problem with virtually all LED-edgelit LCDs is uneven lighting in dark scenes, which is referred to as poor screen uniformity. Some portions of the screen—especially the corners and sides where the LEDs are located—look lighter than other portions when displaying dark scenes. This is also evident in black letterbox bars when watching widescreen movies.

If you plan to play lots of video games on your new flat panel, LCD is probably the way to go. Video games have many static elements (score boxes, unmoving scenes, etc.) that can leave ghost images on plasmas, especially when they’re new. The same goes for some TV shows, especially news and business channels with a ticker running across the bottom of the screen.

The problem is compounded if you watch a lot of 4:3 TV or 2.35:1 movies—an outline of the 4:3 or 2.35:1 window can appear on the screen after a while. Many plasmas provide a “wipe” function that floods the screen with white to exorcize these ghosts, but the longer they remain on the screen, the harder it is to completely erase them. As I mentioned earlier, new models are much better about this, but it is a concern that LCDs do not share for the most part, though some can exhibit slight image retention.

If you tend to play games and/or watch sports or other fast-motion material and you decide on an LCD, get one that refreshes the screen 120 or 240 times per second (120Hz or 240Hz) instead of the conventional 60Hz, which suffers from “motion blur.” When this higher refresh rate is combined with frame interpolation—new frames are generated by the TV to fill in the gaps between actual frames, as shown above—they can significantly sharpen onscreen motion. (Frame interpolation is also called motion estimation/motion compensation, or MEMC.) On the downside, it can also introduce an artifact called the “soap-opera effect,” which makes movies look like they were shot on video. Many people hate the way this looks, but I can easily tolerate it in favor of less motion blur.

Just to be perfectly clear, LED backlighting with local dimming, which is used in the SIM2 HDR47 seen here, and high refresh rates with frame interpolation are designed to address problems that plasmas do not suffer from in the first place. On the other hand, LCD TVs exhibit much less image retention than plasmas.

In what environment will I be watching?
If you have good control of ambient light in the room, or you watch mostly at night and can dim or turn off the room lights, either type of flat panel will work just fine, and as I said earlier, I prefer the look of plasma in this case. However, if you watch during the day without good black-out shades or you need to leave the lights on, LCD is often the better choice.

Plasmas have a shiny, reflective screen, while many LCDs have a matte screen that does not reflect room light nearly as much. (Samsung LCDs are one exception with shiny screens.) So if you watch the TV with lots of room light, you can often see yourself and other objects reflected in a plasma screen, especially during dark scenes. This problem is even worse during the day if there’s a window or glass door directly opposite the screen.

Will it normally be a large or small group watching?
If you often host a large gathering around the electronic hearth, or you often watch from off-center—say, from the kitchen while cooking—plasma is a better bet with its much wider viewing angle. If you mostly fly solo or cozy up to your partner for an evening’s video entertainment directly in front of the TV, either technology will work fine.

In the graphic above, the upper two images show a plasma directly on axis and about 45 degrees off axis; the lower two images show the same views with an LCD TV. Notice that the colors tend to wash out more on the LCD when viewed off axis, and the difference between white and black in the bottom row of squares is diminished, leading to less contrast in the picture.

How much can I afford to spend?
Inch for inch, LCDs have traditionally been more expensive than plasmas, and this is often still true—at least slightly—for screen sizes of 50 inches or more. And LED-backlit LCDs are definitely more expensive than similarly sized plasmas and LED-edgelit LCDs. Of course, features also play an important role: 3D capabilities, online apps, more inputs, even cabinetry all affect the price of both types of displays.

Speaking of cabinetry, all types of flat panels are getting mighty skinny these days; thinnest of all are LED-edgelit LCDs, such as the Vizio Blade seen edge-on in the photo above. If you intend to mount your new flat panel on the wall, pay attention to the cable connections—super-thin panels often have connections oriented sideways, which might require cables with angled connectors. And if the sideways connectors are on the edge of the panel, it might be difficult to hide the cables.

You can spend as little as $400 or even less for a good 32-inch LCD up to $500,000 for Panasonic’s 152-inch plasma. (Sizewise, plasmas start at 42 inches and go up from there, so if you want something smaller, it’ll be an LCD.) Expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $1000 to $2000 for a good flat panel in the 50-inch size range.

Cheetsheet
The following table summarizes the pros and cons of LCD and plasma. Which technology has pros that are important to you and cons you can live with? That’s the answer to the question “LCD or plasma?” for you.

If you don’t understand the pros and cons listed here or why they are good or bad, go back and read this article for a complete explanation. Then, go forth and find the flat panel of your dreams!

http://www.hometheater.com/content/should-you-get-lcd-or-plasma-flat-panel

July 20, 2011
Looking for a very simple all-in-one streaming music player? Sonos just launched the PLAY:3, a wireless music player that can access your iTunes library, NAS drive, 100,000 Internet radio stations plus all the popular music streaming services including Pandora, Last.fm and now even Spotify. It seems to be missing Amazon’s Cloud Drive, so I hope that gets added soon.

The PLAY:3 includes built-in digital amplifiers for a pair of mid-range drivers, one tweeter and one bass radiator.

You can start with one PLAY:3 and then easily expand the system to include PLAY:3s all over the house.

To use the PLAY:3 you first need a Sonos Bridge ($50) connected to your network, but after that you’re free to place the player, or multiple players, anywhere in the house. If you only want one PLAY:3 in a room, the unit will deliver stereo sound, but if you pair it with another one and stand them vertically, they become separate right and left speakers which should deliver an even fuller soundstage for a larger room. I could picture putting a pair in a family room, one in the home office or kitchen and then maybe another on the backyard patio.

Controlling the system is done with a free app for Apple iDevices or Andriod smart phones and tablets. Since the smart phone apps connects to your wireless network, you can change your music or change the volume from anywhere in the house. Since each player can be controlled individually you can play different music in every room.

The PLAY:3 is available now for $299. 

Click here to find out more about the SONOS PLAY:3

Blockbuster has finally found a suitor.

Dish Network announced today that it will be acquiring the movie rental chain for $228 million. The satellite provider participated in a bankruptcy court auction for Blockbuster, making a winning bid of $320 million. With adjustments for cash and inventory, the companies agreed on the final price.

After failing to see the changing times and allowing Netflix’s DVD-By-Mail service to grow under its nose, Blockbuster was met by significant challenges in the rental space. In 2009, a little over a year after it tried to acquire Circuit City for $1 billion, Blockbuster was forced to close nearly 1,000 of its then 7,000 stores. The company hoped that the closures would help it return to profitability, but the efforts failed. Last year, Blockbuster was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because of its low share price.

In September, Blockbuster was finally forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The company said at the time that it hoped to reduce its $1 billion in debt to $100 million. It offered noteholders equity in the company in exchange for relief on its outstanding debt.

Dish’s winning bid for Blockbuster came less than a couple months after the rental company was courted by a “stalking horse” bidder. The rental chain said at the time that Cobalt Video Holdco offered management $290 million for its U.S. and international operations. The companies agreed to an asset-purchase agreement, which is apparently voided now that Dish has won the auction.

Though Dish didn’t say what its plans are for Blockbuster, the company’s executive vice president of sales, marketing and programming, Tom Cullen, was quick to acknowledge in a statement that the rental chain “faces significant challenges.” Dish’s overall goal, he said, is to “re-establish Blockbuster’s brand as a leader in video entertainment.”

Dish Network expects the Blockbuster deal to close in the second quarter, pending bankruptcy court approval.

Dish declined to comment further on the acquisition. Blockbuster has not immediately responded to request for comment.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20051170-17.html#ixzz1Imw15Iba

Hypernet
By Scott Wilkinson • Posted: Apr 1, 2011

Online distribution of video content—especially high-def video—will never float my boat until the bandwidth available to most homes is way faster than it is today. According to Speedtest.net, in 2010, South Korea had the fastest average household bandwidth at 22.46 megabits per second, while the US was 30th in the world at 7.78Mbps—that’s less than Latvia (18.02Mbps), Lithuania (15.81Mbps), and Liechtenstein (7.79Mbps). But even in Korea, streaming high-def—not to mention anything with even higher resolution, like 4K or UltraHD—requires some serious compression, which lowers the picture quality dramatically.
An incredible solution to this problem was quietly demonstrated in a hotel suite at CES this year by a company called R2D2 (“Twice the Research, Twice the Development!”). The company’s Hypernet technology bypasses the Internet completely, offering nearly unlimited bandwidth and instantaneous transmissions using the principles of quantum physics. Inventor Leia Organic Skydancer, love child of two spaced-out hippies, is a video artist and musician as well as a physicist and computer scientist who created Hypernet so she could effectively market her own material, including her first project, Music From the Hearts of Hyperspace.

Hypernet uses quantum computers, which were first conceived when it became clear that electronic miniaturization was going to continue unabated. Physicists have started to consider what would happen if the individual elements within an integrated circuit were single atoms or even photons, which led to the concept of the quantum computer. In such a machine, the principles of quantum physics, especially the idea of parallel universes, would affect the computational process. In particular, this could increase the speed of computation immensely, because it would occur in many parallel universes simultaneously.

These ideas inspired Skydancer to develop a prototype machine she calls a hypercomputer. The processing speed is measured in yottahertz (YHz), which is equal to quadrillions of gigahertz, thanks to the massively parallel processing made possible by quantum computing.

To bypass the bottleneck of the Internet, Skydancer needed a new form of telecommunication, and quantum physics provides an answer here, too. It has been known for some time that the law of energy conservation is violated for brief moments in the intergalactic void, where particle density is quite low. Under these conditions, photons and other subatomic particles wink into and out of existence, creating a momentary, virtual electromagnetic field. Cosmologists call this the zero-point quantum field because it occurs at temperatures near absolute zero, which R2D2 engineers refer to as “luke warm.”

Skydancer discovered that these virtual photons allow instantaneous communication via the “metaverse” from which they come and to which they return, because the speed-of-light limit doesn’t apply there. She then invented a quantum modem that sends data through this metaverse by modulating and demodulating the virtual photons.

Because Hypernet accommodates essentially infinite bandwidth, it can support an almost unlimited number of simultaneous, uncompressed audio and video streams. To hold such vast amounts of data, Skydancer developed the hyperdrive, which uses quantum principles to store yottabytes in a physical package the size of a Star Wars action figure. She also wrote some new real-time graphics and audio software called Jabba Hyper Utilization Transfer Technology (HUTT).

The CES demo included full-motion, real-time, UltraHD video of several musicians at different physical locations jamming together. Each one was in a separate window on the screen with none of the herky-jerky effect that we’ve come to expect from current technology. (When one of the musicians began improvising on an unfamiliar instrument, our host explained that it was a han solo.) Then, Skydancer logged onto a prototype hypersite, selected a 100GB movie clip, and downloaded it in under a second. With capabilities like this, Hypernet is bound to replace the old, clunky Internet as quantum computers and modems become widely available. Until then, may the farce be with you!

Price: $399 At A Glance: Single-box solution • Easy setup and operation • Perfect for smaller rooms, garage, and outdoors • Integrates with existing Sonos systems
All-in-One Streaming Solution

Sonos, a leader in low-cost, wholehouse audio, has made it possible to inexpensively stream audio from a computer to multiple A/V systems using one or more of its ZonePlayers. The $399 Sonos S5, the newest ZonePlayer, is completely self-contained. It incorporates its own power supply, amplification, and internal speakers, which allows audio streaming from a wide variety of sources without a dedicated sound system. It can serve as your main (or only) ZonePlayer or as an extension of an existing Sonos system.

Description
When I opened the packing, I immediately thought of Apple. The packaging is compact and well thought out, though not as sleek. The ZonePlayer S5 is super easy to set up and highly intuitive to use. All good criteria to emulate.

Out of the box, the ZonePlayer S5 is a single-molded enclosure with a fixed grille, available in black or white. It’s a sturdy and rugged-looking piece of gear, yet it will fit comfortably and unobtrusively into any décor. Inside the ZonePlayer S5 are two tweeters, two 3-inch midrange drivers, and one 3.5-inch woofer. Each of the five drivers is powered by its own Class D amplifier. The back panel is sparse, with a connection for the supplied AC cable, an Ethernet port, and two 3.5mm jacks for both an external source device input (cable provided) and headphones.

The S5 is the only ZonePlayer that’s portable and can provide music in different parts of the house. I currently have the ZonePlayer S5 in my garage, where I recently built a photography studio. This is the perfect and easiest way to get music in there when I’m shooting. However, if I want to take it outside or in another room, it’s easy to move. The molded enclosure even has a built-in handle that doubles as a bass-reflex port.

Setup
If you already have a working home network, it’s extremely simple to add in a Sonos S5 (or any ZonePlayer). If this is the only Sonos device on the network, you’ll need to hook it up via a wired LAN connection using the Ethernet port on the rear panel. If you already have a Sonos system, like I do, the ZonePlayer S5 only needs AC. It will communicate with the other ZonePlayers through the proprietary SonosNet 2.0 wireless mesh network. This allows synchronization between all zones for simultaneous playback. Each zone can play its own music stream, so you can have as many music streams as you have ZonePlayers.

For a ZonePlayer to be installed into your home network, you’ll need to load the Desktop Controller onto your Mac or PC. From here, you set up all your ZonePlayers. This procedure required the most physical work of the setup. My office computer is upstairs, while the ZonePlayer S5 is downstairs in the garage where I have my studio. To recognize the ZonePlayer S5, the software gives me two minutes to press two buttons on the top of the S5. Just a brisk sprint downstairs, and in seconds, the S5 was communicating with my Sonos network.

A 3.5mm jack on the rear of the ZonePlayer S5 lets you connect external sources such as an iPod, iPhone, or portable CD player. In fact, you can hear music from these devices not only in the connected ZonePlayer S5 but on all of your ZonePlayers. Want to listen in solitude or crank it up and not disturb the rest of the family? Sonos also provides a headphone jack (3.5mm), which mutes the internal speakers when headphones are connected.

Control
The Desktop Controller integrates all the music (as referenced files) from your computer and supported hard drives into the Sonos library. You can import playlists from a variety of programs, such as iTunes, Rhapsody, Winamp, Windows Media Player, and Musicmatch.

From the Desktop Controller, you can link zones and create a new music queue. You can do that with external controllers, too. The Sonos Controller 200 works with all ZonePlayers, including the S5. However, I’ve been using Sonos’ iPhone app. For this review of the ZonePlayer S5, I downloaded the new Sonos iPad app and used it to control my Sonos system. The apps are free, while the Controller 200 retails for an additional $299.

The main advantage of the iPad app is that there’s more real estate for you to scroll through your music and create playlists on the fly. While you can certainly do that on the iPhone app, it means moving back and forth between screens.

There are three panels on the iPad app. The right panel shows all your zones and lets you link or separate them. The center panel is your queue. It shows what’s playing and what’s coming up. You can change the order of the songs in the queue or delete them. The third panel lists all of your music sources. From a linked music library, you can pick individual songs to create a playlist on the fly, then save it as a Sonos Playlist. As I mentioned before, you can also import playlists from other programs.

Music Sources
There are a zillion Internet Radio stations to stream, and you can save any number of them as your favorites for faster access. Sonos will also stream several popular music services, including Pandora, Rhapsody, Sirius, Napster, iheartradio, last.fm, Wolfgang’s Vault, and more. Many of the subscription services offer a free trial, and if you already have an account from one or more of these services, just log in.

Like all other ZonePlayers, the S5 will stream pretty much any audio format, including uncompressed FLAC, Apple Lossless, WAV, and AIFF files. The company makes one notation with respect to music formats, disclosing the fact it does not support Apple Fairplay, AAC-Enhanced, or WMA Lossless formats. Apple Fairplay DRM-protected songs must be upgraded.

Sonos periodically provides free software updates with new features and additional music services. Remember to register your system, and Sonos will automatically notify you when software updates are available. With the press of one button, your system updates itself.

Performance
So how does it sound? It’s darn impressive for a single unit that delivers a stereo signal, although you can pair two ZonePlayer S5s for a wider, more robust stereo image. Audio quality is crisp, clear, and highly intelligible. The ability to tweak the EQ from the iPad app made it a cinch to get a good balance between bass and treble in my 500-square-foot studio. Moreover, it didn’t take a good deal of volume to fill the room, and that’s partially due to the live acoustics in the garage.

While there is a detectable stereo image, I feel the unit best functions as a background music source. I don’t see myself doing any critical music listening with the ZonePlayer S5, but then I don’t believe that’s what it was designed for. Still, I found the music to be engaging, with a clean, clear treble and midrange response. Bass response was exceptionally good for something so small. It was robust and devoid of obvious distortion at higher volumes. Of course, the bit rate of your files will have an effect on audio quality. For MP3 files, I never rip at less than 192 kilobits per second.

The streaming network that Sonos creates is reliable and constant. Not once did I experience dropouts or a freeze in the network. I have only one criticism: To stream, you must not turn off your computer or let it go to sleep. Since I don’t stream music all day long, I just change the computer settings when I’m using any of the ZonePlayers, including the S5. If you play music all day long, that means additional energy costs to keep your computer running all day.

There really is very little to operating the ZonePlayer S5, and once you have it set up, you don’t really have to do anything with the actual unit again (although there is a volume control on the top of the enclosure). You can perform all control and music queueing on one of three external controllers (Controller 200, iPhone, or iPad).

Conclusions
I like the ZonePlayer S5 and saw its potential immediately. Most rooms in a home don’t have a dedicated sound system, and that’s where the ZonePlayer S5 really comes in handy. To have a wholehouse audio system usually means running Cat-5 cable all over the house, installing ceiling speakers in every room, adding expensive distribution amps, and placing control panels in the wall.

If this is your first foray into wholehouse audio and you don’t have dedicated sound systems throughout the house—or the desire or cash to get into a complex and expensive system—the ZonePlayer S5 is a terrific way to start. It’s user-friendly, simple to integrate into an existing home network (I required no assistance), and operable from a variety of devices (some you may already have). I don’t see how you could go wrong with the ZonePlayer S5, or any Sonos ZonePlayer, for its sheer simplicity, performance quality, stability, and cost effectiveness.

Extended surround sound is nothing new. The staple surround sound configuration for movie theaters and home theaters is digitally delivered, discrete 5.1-channel surround sound. But in both arenas there have also been numerous pushes to move beyond that paradigm. In the DVD era we were given a number of options for expanding our surround sound experience toward the back of the room, from the base 5.1-channel paradigm to 6.1- and 7.1-channels. Although only select DVD titles were encoded with extended surround, within a few years virtually every AV receiver and surround processor in existence offered tool sets that would decode these soundtracks- or any 5.1-channel soundtrack- to 6.1- or 7.1-channels on playback. And just about any AVR you look at today will include seven channels of amplification.

October 12, 2010 | by Rachel CericolaBack in May, Google announced Google TV, a new platform that combines the goodness of your TV with the web—all of it. Before you try to scoop up what could be the couch potato’s best buddy, there are a few things you should know about Google TV.