Toshiba vs. Blu-Ray: Round 2

Toshiba comes out swinging with a one, two knock out combination in the form of a new red laser DVD player the XD-E500. How would you like a DVD player that upconverts to 720p, 1080i and 1080p for an introductory price of $150.!  In fact I’ve already seen XD-E500 player advertised as low as $99. from big box retailers.  Consumers have spoken loud and clear that Blu-Ray’s offerings are hardly enough to warrant the investment of new players and the higher price of titles.  As I mentioned in my earlier article “Will Blu-Ray ever have it’s day” some industry analyst mistook the introduction of Blu-Ray as the second coming of DVD; when in fact they have very little in common.  DVD offered a huge improvement in home entertainment audio & video quality.  Blu-Ray offers an improvement that a majority of consumers can’t even appreciate even when viewing a 50” or larger 1080p flat panel and listening to a 7.1 channel THX Ultra2 surround system.  Anything smaller than that and the difference is quite frankly trivial to even the most astute viewer.

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Are today's techs not so 'tech'?

In today’s low voltage and/or systems integration industry there are numerous avenues available for technicians and employers to obtain training and education.  I have always been on the fence in regards to who should incur the cost of continuing education.  On one hand I feel as a technician you have chosen a career path and should always work towards improving upon your skills and knowledge which in return makes you a more valuable employee.  On the other hand as an employer you are making an investment in your work force that improves upon and possibly increases the services you can offer your clients.  One very common mistake made by both parties is that experience alone constitutes a more knowledgeable and effective technician.  If you’ve spent fifteen years as a technician being misinformed and learning bad habits that just means your fourteen years worse off than the guy that’s only been working a year.  Experience is vital but the combination of education and experience is a far more successful and lucrative plan for a long term and expansive career path.

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Everyone hide in a corner it's a "SETUP"!

Most people think that subwoofer setup is the easiest of all the speakers to accomplish when actually it’s exactly the opposite. Most full range speakers whether they are L,C,R’s or surrounds, box speakers or in-walls you get what you get. Nothing on the speaker itself is variable with a few exceptions. A few manufacturers offer high frequency attenuation switches with something like +/- 2db and even a smaller number of manufacturers will provide you with various plugs to tune the factory ports on the cabinet allowing you to “tighten” up or “open up” the low frequency response of the speaker. Subwoofers on the other hand, in particular active subs, give you control of the individual volume, crossover frequency, possibly subsonic filter, phase switch or ½ space, ¼ space and 1/8 space switches. Before we discuss how to set up your sub to work with your system there are several things we need to know and questions we need to ask ourselves. Some of the most common questions are listed below.

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 Subwoofers are King!

Low frequency, bass, LF, bottom end, LFE or boom.  Regardless of what you call it bass is bigger than ever.  As subwoofer technology improved through the eighties and exploded in the nineties quality low frequency speakers became more and more available to the general public.  In the years leading up to this to get adequate low frequency energy it required extremely large boxes and lots of power.  Many of today’s full range speakers boast frequency response down to 20Hz but what they don’t show you is the relative sound pressure level at 20Hz compared to say 1khz with the same amount of power applied to the speaker.  Needless to say it will be significantly lower, possibly as much as -9db to -12db lower.

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White Spaces debate becomes blood stained bare fist fight.

Google's Larry Page proclaims wireless mic use is illegal.  Click here for pics of Larry and Sergey gleefully participating in the "illegal" act of wireless microphone use!

The FCC white spaces quandary is really leaving a sour taste in my mouth.  It is astounding how many of our own peers are not in tune and not educating themselves on the very products that either they or we, are installing, specifying or operating on a daily basis.  Therefore they are completely unaware that the future welfare of wireless products in only a mere five months from now is in grave danger.  I can’t stress enough that if anyone doubts the severity of this situation know this.  The FCC has already voted unanimously to prohibit the use of any wireless microphones (licensed or unlicensed) above 700 megahertz starting February 17th, 2009.  Further yet they are contemplating a complete ban of production, sale, import or shipment of these wireless devices.  This decision was made in spite of the failure of all proposed sensing devices, the lack of any new proposed sensing devices to be considered as a result of the repeated failures and some evidence that the very supporters of these devices such as laptops and smart radios have shown to on occasion interfere with DTV transmission and reception. 

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Can our analog infrastructures handle what DTV is prepared to throw at it?

As you can imagine manufacturers have been ramping up for the upcoming conversion from analog TV to digital TV for years now.  We have all expected a surge of all digital distribution solutions for our future installations without much doubt.  However the fear for contractors has been whether or not the existing analog infrastructure in millions of facilities would still be viable for digital off-air (8VSB) reception or digital CATV (QAM) reception.  Well we can all find comfort in knowing the products to facilitate the transition using the existing analog distribution infrastructures will be available from all the usual players such as Blonder Tongue and Drake and some unlikely new entries as well such as Crestron.  It seems to be a little out of character for Crestron but the product, known as MediaManifold, is actually very impressive.  I won't attempt to even touch on all the new individual products that have become available in the last three months to a year as this article would quicly become a novel.  A large number of manufacturers have issued entire new catalogs just to address their digital product line up. 

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FCC white space detection devices fail at FedEx Field

The August 9th Buffalo Bills vs. Washington Redskins preseason game at FedEx Field was just one of the most recent testing grounds for FCC white space detection devices.  The results were nothing short of disturbing.  The only moderately forgiving headline I’ve seen so far is from CNET, “White space tests get mixed results”.  However one look at CNET’s home page alone is a testament to the abundance of ad revenue they generate from proponents of the white space coalition.

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OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode)

OLED’s are the “flying cars” of the display industry.  Since the fifties people have been predicting the coming of flying cars and they’re in virtually every movie about the future that’s been catalogued.  However they have yet to materialize and we’re still rolling on rubber.  So just how long has OLED technology been taunting us you ask?  Well the first patent was issued in 1987 for what was referred to as SM-OLED or small molecule organic light-emitting diode.

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Online & Retail Sales go Head to Head; Low prices vs. consumer interaction.

In a world of prolific online consumer spending the public has become overly dependant on manufacturer specifications.  The masses are being coached as to what information should be considered important in their decision making process.   If given two different sets of specifications can you realistically tell what component is the superior piece of equipment?  Flat panels being the current hot bed what numbers are the most important and what do they really tell you at the end of the day? 

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Time Alignment® Part I

First things first, the term “time alignment”, is a trademarked term owned by renowned speaker designer Ed Long (E.M. Long & Assoc.).  Sometimes referred to as signal alignment, “time alignment” has stood the test of time as the most commonly associated and accepted term when discussing the topic of alignment as it pertains to speakers (or audio in general).  It’s simply more intuitive as we are contemplating the physical alignment of two or more signals in time.  In part I we will discuss exactly what “time alignment” is and how it applies to system design.  In part II we will explore the many ways in which you achieve proper alignment.

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It’s no argument that the video side of A/V has been the most active the past few years.  But I will go out on a limb here and say that a large portion of it is hype.  Since the huge leap from CRT to flat panels, whether LCD or plasma, or VHS to DVD most improvements have been marginal.  10ms response times to 5ms response times, 60Hz refresh rates to 120Hz refresh rates or even 1080i to 1080p, none of them are truly ground breaking, then came along “4K”.  What is 4K, where did it come from, who, what, when, where and why?  

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Every once in a blue moon politics will surprise us all and prove to be useful in advancing rather than hindering.  The FCC’s office of Engineering Technology (OET) has announced it’s plans to conduct large scale field tests of prototype White Spaces devices.

Much to everyone’s surprise Louis Libin, president of Broad-Comm, Inc. and chairman of POLCOMM 2008, has offered their services in providing test grounds for said white spaces devices.  POLCOMM2008 is responsible for the coordination of wireless microphone traffic at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.  Each event will have hundreds of individual frequencies operating simultaneously and Libin suggest this would be the ideal proving ground for these new devices.

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