Home Theater Ugly Secrets Revealed - Secrets #8, 9 and 10
Secret 8: YOU MAY NOT SEE A PICTURE AT ITS BEST.
What you should do about it:
Depends on how deeply you want to crawl into this.
Warning!
This is technical but I'll simplify. Each piece of electronics -
a display device (Hi-Def, digital television) has its own way of
showing the picture, involving a fixed number of pixels (picture
pieces). This isn't the same for all sets. It isn't the
necessarily same for DVD players, converters, or whatever else
you plug in to see a picture. So somewhere the data is
converted. ALL CONVERSION SCHEMES ARE NOT EQUAL. THERE MAY BE
LOSSES of resolution, or clarity. There may be what they call
artifacts.
And here's a thrill: The TV stations don't have to use
all their new digital bandwidth to broadcast in full
high-definition. For example, rather than being limited to
providing one analog programming channel, a broadcaster will be
able to provide a super sharp "high definition" (HDTV) program
or multiple "standard definition" DTV programs simultaneously.
Providing several program streams on one broadcast channel is
called "multicasting." The number of programs a station can send
on one digital channel depends on the level of picture detail,
also known as "resolution," desired in each programming stream.
DTV can provide interactive video and data services that are not
possible with "analog" technology. They may use some of it for
something else that makes them more money. They - or the
satellite channels - can in effect send a degraded picture
alongside another new channel of degraded picture. There's
nothing you can do about this. Nice.
Secret #9: ARTIFACTS.
Important background on nasty artifacts:
Warning:
Like a pimple on a teen, after they see it, that's ALL they see.
If you want to live in denial, skip ahead to Number 10. And
these aren't REALLY secrets, because you can see them, but you
might not notice right away.
What you should do about it:
Decide which you can live with and which you can't. It will
drive you crazy if you let it. Or spend a fortune to get the
latest technology that might have it fixed. Or just ignore it.
Life isn't perfect. Be VERY CLEAR on what the warranty covers or
doesn't.
Mosquito noise.
Not buzzing. It's a swirling that looks like tiny bugs flying
around. You'll see it - if you do - in saturated colors.
Screen Door Effect.
It looks like looking through a screen door into your picture.
(Especially - to my eye - on Plasma sets.) It's because of how
the set is built (you are actually seeing the holes or spaces
between picture elements). Manufacturers are aware of this and
doing all they can to fix or mitigate it.
Blocking.
The picture breaks up into little (or bigger!) blocks. This is
horrible to see unless you love modern art. It'll be seen in
moving pictures of detail. This is the worst sin.
Rainbows.
Certain people see a rainbow effect in certain DLP (Digital
Light Projector) sets. You might notice it if you look slightly
away from the screen. It's caused by the way the DLPs work. Some
are better at this than others. There's no pot of gold at the
end, either.
Pixel failure.
Since there are so many elements (pixels) to a picture, one or
more can fail. THE WARRANTY MIGHT STATE that a certain number of
failures is okay with them and may even be expected. IF you saw
it you'd only notice it up close (see section on where to sit in
relation to screen - you shouldn't BE that close. One or more
might also stay lit permanently. That'll be more obvious, a
tiny, tiny red in a black scene, for example. There may be
millions of these dots on your screen, to give you a sense of
scale. This isn't the end of the world.
Secret #10: SPEAKERS NEVER SOUND THE WAY THEY DO IN THE
STORE.
What you should do about it:
Just know it. There's little you can do. (But in the audio
section I'll tell you all about how to get the best out of your
sound.) Why? It has to do with the acoustics of the room in
which you listen. Each room makes the same speakers sound
differently. Sometimes better, sometimes worse. You could buy a
subwoofer and bring it home and HEAR NO BASS where you sit. But
this will be covered in the audio section. Along with what you
can do about it.
There. Now you know 3 more Ugly Home Theater secrets. But, it
isn't quite that simple. At
www.GreatHomeTheater.com there are more secrets revealed. I
promise you won't get neurotic or your hands dirty, and I won't
talk you out of what can be a tremendous and highly enjoyable
leap forward in home entertainment.