Buy the HT Guys a Cup of Coffee

Standard DVD

Transformers HD DVD vs Vudu Std Def vs Vudu Hi Def

Most of us believe that what color you choose to put on the walls is a decision that should be left firmly in the hands of the aesthetics committee.  But according to an article from the online version Electronic House magazine, the home theater enthusiast may want to weigh in on the decision.  It seems there are some very good colors to use in the home theater, and some very bad colors.

 

And yes we went to CES, but no we didn't see everything.  Insight Media just released their "Best Buzz" awards for CES 2008 and they mentioned a few products we either didn't see or didn't talk much about, so we thought it would be good to go over some of them.  The Best Buzz awards are given by Insight Media at CES, and other trade shows each year.  You can't petition to win - you win by showing a product or technology that gets people talking - something that creates buzz because of its uniqueness, innovation, styling, boldness or is just plain cool.

  

Finally a listener put together a A/V room with components that cost less than $5,000. This is something that you would be proud to show in your home. Take a look for yourself. Listener Joe's $5K Theater

 

 

How to Paint Your Home Theater
Most of us believe that what color you choose to put on the walls is a decision that should be left firmly in the hands of the aesthetics committee.  But according to an article from the online version Electronic House magazine, the home theater enthusiast may want to weigh in on the decision.  It seems there are some very good colors to use in the home theater, and some very bad colors.

Since the point of a home theater is to enjoy movies and HDTV, you need an environment that supports that, not one that distracts from it.  Every display device out there works by beaming colored light at your eyeballs.  Whether it's a TV or a projection screen, it becomes one giant lamp in the front of the room.  But the light doesn't just hit your eyes, it shines on every surface in the room.  If the walls in the room are very reflective, that light will bounce right back at the screen and wash out the picture.  For this reason, dark colors are the best for your home theater.  We all know from studying the color spectrum in grade school that black can loosely be thought of as zero light reflection and white represents complete light reflection.  So obviously the darker your walls, the better your theater will perform.

But it isn't just the color of the walls that matters.  Paint manufacturers have created ways for even black paint to be somewhat reflective by introducing a sheen, or gloss, to the finish.  So ideally you'd have a dark color with no gloss at all.  Those with small children or animals know that the truly matte finishes are very difficult to clean, to a semi-gloss or satin finish is probably a good compromise.  The rule to remember is that your walls should be as dark and as muted as possible.  If the aesthetics committee is asking for white or beige high gloss paint, you may need to step in and offer an opinion.

Don't forget about the ceiling.  It can be just as reflective as the walls themselves.  Having painted a few ceilings myself, this is not a job anyone relishes, but sometimes you have to sacrifice for your passions.  some believe that if you decide to paint the ceiling and the walls different colors, the ceiling should always be the darker of the two colors.  In most cases this is the best rule of thumb.  If the ceiling is lighter than the room, it gives the illusion of being a light source when your watching a movie.  It almost feels like there are lights on even when they aren't.

Of course there's more you can do to the walls to help with audio.  You can rough them up a bit by adding textured finishes.  Smooth walls will reflect sound more than a textured wall.  But if you're really concerned about audio reflection, you'll want to add some sort of fabric to the walls.  The fabric will absorb the sound, while the texture wall will just make it bounce off funny, and thus reduce the amount of reflection that hits your ear.  For fabric options you can mount sound panels, hang tapestries or use thick curtains.  You can even use thick curtains where there aren't windows by painting a faux window, or hanging them over a large mirror.  This give the sound absorption you need and even adds depth and size to the room.  You simply close the when your watching something to eliminate light reflecting from your imaginary window.

Read the full Electronic House article here.

Or if you prefer, you can select your own amount