Clueless in Seattle
10-24-00, 11:58 AM
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I was surfing hometheaterforum.com and ran into this charming little article that appeared recently in the Seattle Times, written by somebody who purports to be a "technology" writer with 15 years experience 
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi...t_id=134240979
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi...t_id=134240979
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10-24-00, 12:50 PM
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It is scary that someone who has been writing about technology for 15 years doesn't even own a stereo television. It is even scarier that she can't understand the benefits of dvd. She seems about as knowledgeable about technology as a new born baby. This is yet another reason I don't put faith into reviews. Always gotta see for myself and talk to people who actually know what they are talking about.
10-25-00, 01:04 AM
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I emailed the writer a "semi-truthful" explanation of why home theater matted to me. I say "semi" because the time line is a little off and the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
I could have slammed her or sent hate mail, but then I thought sometimes I/we take HOME THEATER too seriously. I decided to poke fun at my own experience. She wrote back "Thank you. I didn't understand why so many people were getting worked up."
Here's my (long) email:
From a micro-economic (in severe cases, macro-economic) point of view, I think you did yourself an enormous favor by returning your DVD player. By limiting yourself to mono sound on a rather old TV, you minimized your chances of catching the home theater bug (HTB). It's a good thing for your pocket book that you never got a real taste of what a DVD can do.
I started out like you : VCR, an older 19" TV with a coaxial input, no speakers, wondering if the DVD player was worth my investment. I even considered returning it. HTB was just incubating.
Then I noticed: the movie playback and rentals have been much more reliable. So many times a rental tape would have snow or streaks even after tracking like mad. Sometimes a tape just wouldn't play. Not so w/DVD - crystal clear and flawless. Rentals actually became fun. I subscribed to an unlimited rental service, Netflix, for $20 a month. DVDs are selected on-line and mailed to your home, no late fees or set return dates. Just return by mail in pre-paid envelopes. You can't do that with VCR tapes. I average about 10-15 DVD a month. With so many promotional offers, I could BUY DVD's for less than rental costs.
NEVER again will I pay Blockbuster $4 and change for the priviledge of fighting the masses for a single, chewed-up tape that is due in 24hr, 36hr, or whatever bogus increment they make up. Talk about gouging schemes. Last year, Blockbuster made over $200 million on late fees alone!
The first serious symptom of HTB was a compulsion for audio performance. DVD is native to multi-speaker playback, namely 5.1. Like you, I was only $200 in the hole with a player, and the thought of a full set of speakers was mortifying. So many others were raving about "Home Theater". I just didn't just get it ... until I sat in a properly set-up show room at a high-end store. The DVD was "Fight Club", the airplane scene. You'll notice someone infected with HTB always mentions "the scene" when it happened. Unbelievable! I sat stunned. I heard a roaring 747 swoop from behind me, over my head and then careen off to the right. I played it over and over again. This was not your father's Olds-mono-bile. VCR's, at best, offered pro-logic. That's still not cruising in style.
DVD after DVD - "Elizabeth", "Prince of Egypt", "LA Confidential", "Saving Private Ryan", etc - the audio performance was spell-binding. Even bad movies like "Dragonheart" and "The Haunting" trascended their 2 dimensional limitations (actually 1 dimensional if you are talking about plot, acting, direction ...) and became enveloping, sound-engineering masterpieces. The difference? There was earth-shaking bass. As a Silicon Valley resident, let me assure you I'm quite qualified to say what counts as earth-shaking. Then there's the sonic imaging! Circling, fly bys, echoing chambers - canons to the left of me, canons to the right of me, ... you know the rest.
Well, into the valley of audiophiledom I charged and it wasn't cheap. Five speakers, a subwoofer, a receiver, cables - I thought I was going to go debtor's prison for this. Little did I know. First, it was just enough to try "entry-level" 5.1 - a Home-theater-in-the-box set-up for $500. I was happy for a month.
The second stage of HTB is "upgrade"itis. "Those (previously) untouchable $XXX speakers don't look so bad," you tell yourself. "Maybe if I stretch this once ..." Slowly, the dollars leak out of the wallet. "I need more power for the speakers. That receiver sure looks good." Sssssssssssss... The latest formats - DTS, THX-EX,6.1, 7.1 - all start to look pretty attainable, even essential. You actual consider buying a XXX N.1 processor, even though there aren't ANY movies w/XXX N.1 out yet. At this stage, there's a pretty noticeable loss in cabin pressure.
Soon, you're devouring dedicated home theater magazines and websites, even giving advice to others on how to eek out more improvement. You develop a common language using jargon like dB's, SPL's, brightness, signal to nose ratio, sensitivity , yadah, yadah.
Now, ANY audiophile, borderline-voodoo tip is worth trying : exotic cables, pennies under the speaker, line conditioners, even exacting speaker/furniture placement. It's no longer a room with a TV - it's the showing room with assigned seating.
Now, there's an enormous sucking noise coming from the HT room with dollar bills fluttering in the wake, like the debris from "Fight Club", the airplane scene. It's become a terminal case. Now you have to get others addicted. In fact, you can't even understand how non-addicted types manage.
Consider yourself lucky you didn't catch the bug.
BUT, I can honestly say my set-up is better than any local movie theater. The sonic performance is so much better controlled and directional. It meets THX specifications for performance. Yes, I upgraded the video part to a projection TV. A VCR image on that looks like I didn't clean my contact lens. Plus, no annoying cell phones, over-priced concessions, infuriating ads, cramped seats. It's been a most satisfying experience building a home theater for me and my family.
I have neighbors, friends, colleagues, former skeptics, and random visitors drop in and marvel at my theater. I've even thought about charging admission - have to make up for some of the costs somehow.
I do look back to the days of the VCR played through a single bad speaker, but without nostalgia. Even my first attempt at home theater with a modest all-in one set-up was more than enough to make me jump ship, errr ... I mean change to aisle seating for a better viewing of "Fight Club", the plane scene.
[This message has been edited by DearDVD (edited October 24, 2000).]
I could have slammed her or sent hate mail, but then I thought sometimes I/we take HOME THEATER too seriously. I decided to poke fun at my own experience. She wrote back "Thank you. I didn't understand why so many people were getting worked up."
Here's my (long) email:
From a micro-economic (in severe cases, macro-economic) point of view, I think you did yourself an enormous favor by returning your DVD player. By limiting yourself to mono sound on a rather old TV, you minimized your chances of catching the home theater bug (HTB). It's a good thing for your pocket book that you never got a real taste of what a DVD can do.
I started out like you : VCR, an older 19" TV with a coaxial input, no speakers, wondering if the DVD player was worth my investment. I even considered returning it. HTB was just incubating.
Then I noticed: the movie playback and rentals have been much more reliable. So many times a rental tape would have snow or streaks even after tracking like mad. Sometimes a tape just wouldn't play. Not so w/DVD - crystal clear and flawless. Rentals actually became fun. I subscribed to an unlimited rental service, Netflix, for $20 a month. DVDs are selected on-line and mailed to your home, no late fees or set return dates. Just return by mail in pre-paid envelopes. You can't do that with VCR tapes. I average about 10-15 DVD a month. With so many promotional offers, I could BUY DVD's for less than rental costs.
NEVER again will I pay Blockbuster $4 and change for the priviledge of fighting the masses for a single, chewed-up tape that is due in 24hr, 36hr, or whatever bogus increment they make up. Talk about gouging schemes. Last year, Blockbuster made over $200 million on late fees alone!
The first serious symptom of HTB was a compulsion for audio performance. DVD is native to multi-speaker playback, namely 5.1. Like you, I was only $200 in the hole with a player, and the thought of a full set of speakers was mortifying. So many others were raving about "Home Theater". I just didn't just get it ... until I sat in a properly set-up show room at a high-end store. The DVD was "Fight Club", the airplane scene. You'll notice someone infected with HTB always mentions "the scene" when it happened. Unbelievable! I sat stunned. I heard a roaring 747 swoop from behind me, over my head and then careen off to the right. I played it over and over again. This was not your father's Olds-mono-bile. VCR's, at best, offered pro-logic. That's still not cruising in style.
DVD after DVD - "Elizabeth", "Prince of Egypt", "LA Confidential", "Saving Private Ryan", etc - the audio performance was spell-binding. Even bad movies like "Dragonheart" and "The Haunting" trascended their 2 dimensional limitations (actually 1 dimensional if you are talking about plot, acting, direction ...) and became enveloping, sound-engineering masterpieces. The difference? There was earth-shaking bass. As a Silicon Valley resident, let me assure you I'm quite qualified to say what counts as earth-shaking. Then there's the sonic imaging! Circling, fly bys, echoing chambers - canons to the left of me, canons to the right of me, ... you know the rest.
Well, into the valley of audiophiledom I charged and it wasn't cheap. Five speakers, a subwoofer, a receiver, cables - I thought I was going to go debtor's prison for this. Little did I know. First, it was just enough to try "entry-level" 5.1 - a Home-theater-in-the-box set-up for $500. I was happy for a month.
The second stage of HTB is "upgrade"itis. "Those (previously) untouchable $XXX speakers don't look so bad," you tell yourself. "Maybe if I stretch this once ..." Slowly, the dollars leak out of the wallet. "I need more power for the speakers. That receiver sure looks good." Sssssssssssss... The latest formats - DTS, THX-EX,6.1, 7.1 - all start to look pretty attainable, even essential. You actual consider buying a XXX N.1 processor, even though there aren't ANY movies w/XXX N.1 out yet. At this stage, there's a pretty noticeable loss in cabin pressure.
Soon, you're devouring dedicated home theater magazines and websites, even giving advice to others on how to eek out more improvement. You develop a common language using jargon like dB's, SPL's, brightness, signal to nose ratio, sensitivity , yadah, yadah.
Now, ANY audiophile, borderline-voodoo tip is worth trying : exotic cables, pennies under the speaker, line conditioners, even exacting speaker/furniture placement. It's no longer a room with a TV - it's the showing room with assigned seating.
Now, there's an enormous sucking noise coming from the HT room with dollar bills fluttering in the wake, like the debris from "Fight Club", the airplane scene. It's become a terminal case. Now you have to get others addicted. In fact, you can't even understand how non-addicted types manage.
Consider yourself lucky you didn't catch the bug.
BUT, I can honestly say my set-up is better than any local movie theater. The sonic performance is so much better controlled and directional. It meets THX specifications for performance. Yes, I upgraded the video part to a projection TV. A VCR image on that looks like I didn't clean my contact lens. Plus, no annoying cell phones, over-priced concessions, infuriating ads, cramped seats. It's been a most satisfying experience building a home theater for me and my family.
I have neighbors, friends, colleagues, former skeptics, and random visitors drop in and marvel at my theater. I've even thought about charging admission - have to make up for some of the costs somehow.
I do look back to the days of the VCR played through a single bad speaker, but without nostalgia. Even my first attempt at home theater with a modest all-in one set-up was more than enough to make me jump ship, errr ... I mean change to aisle seating for a better viewing of "Fight Club", the plane scene.
[This message has been edited by DearDVD (edited October 24, 2000).]
