Volume 6, Issue 24 — December 17, 2009
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Welcome to our last rAVe HomeAV Edition of 2009! Have you heard of CEDIA ROI program? You should definitely be thinking about participating – it is an awesome member benefit. Check out my editorial on it below to find out more. Today we're printing Dr. Ray Soneira's DisplayMate LCD Shoot-out Review. He had some pretty interesting results, and concludes that: "If you stick with the mid to top tier models from the reputable brands, you should ignore Response Time specifications, not worry about LCD motion blur, and don’t spend extra for 120 Hz or higher refresh rates, strobed LED backlighting, or advanced motion blur processing." Check out the article below to get the rest of the details. We also have an article from Linda about products that are in between custom install and DIY, such as Sonos, and how they may be a potential asset for your business rather than a threat. It's been an… interesting year for our industry. But we've made it this far and fortunately, things are starting to look up. We hope you all have the happiest of holidays with your friends and families. Enjoy the issue, and see you in 2010! –Gary Kayye, CTS Back to Top |
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Are DIY Products Are Killing Your Business? (Or Maybe Just Your Ego?)
By Linda Seid Frembes
rAVe Columnist So I seem to have touched a nerve – a really, really raw nerve – when poking around about DIY whole home audio. I’d been hearing lots of good things about the Sonos ZonePlayer S5 system and thought I would investigate further. Little did I know that this would lead to an avalanche of opinions (via Twitter) from custom home integrators and Sonos customers. Sonos, apparently very diligent at searching for themselves on Twitter, contacted me within minutes to see if they could help with my questions.
What initially interested me about the ZonePlayer S5 – it’s wireless, easy to deploy, offers decent quality audio for the price – has been overshadowed by the debate that rages on whether DIY home products help or hurt the custom install market. Guess what? The answer is they do hurt — your pride, your ego — but probably not your business.
There will always be potential customers who opt for DIY rather than paying you or your competitor to install a piece of gear. Jamie Mason, a realtor with Long & Foster Real Estate in Baltimore, Md., didn’t hire anyone to help her and her husband set up the seven ZonePlayers in their house. In fact, they’ve never hired a custom AV installer for anything. “We are definitely whole-house-music people, but our favorite thing about the system is probably the ability to play different things in different zones at the same time,” she says. “Sonos is unbelievably easy to deploy and use this system. Party guests have always figured out how to use the controller within minutes. And I have one friend whose husband is the tech guy, yet she set up their entire system on her own.”
Fact of life: DIY products are becoming more sophisticated and easier to use. This trend will continue indefinitely. Coupled with the vast amount of information from the Internet, a tech-savvy homeowner can deploy lots of gear without any professional help. Now whether they do it well or do it on time is another matter — and here’s where a pro makes all the difference.
As Ricky Williams, a tech with Barad AV of Oceanside, New York, tells me, “AV is a luxury and not a necessity, especially in this economy. Sonos is easy to install, cheap, and there’s no need for rack-mounted components.”
As a custom installer, Williams wasn’t happy when his firm took on Sonos because it was so shoppable and usable right out of the box. He felt like his job as a custom installer was insignificant in comparison. He even pointed out one examples of when a client’s teenage son got it up and running before the team got there, just because the kid wanted music in his room. “But if you open up your mind and get creative with it, you can help your clients use it more complexly than what you can get out of the box,” Williams explains. “For DIY products, it about the way you use it. There are bigger solutions than just music playback or bookshelf speakers. What we do with Sonos doesn’t come from a manual.”
Tom Cullen, co-founder and VP of market development for Sonos, says that the integrator market is the fastest growing sector of their business, up 45 percent in 2009. Why? “Because the home integrator took it in the chin when the housing market crashed; our products are good for going to existing homes to sell more things. People told us we have great retrofit products,” he says.
Cullen estimates that his company is signing up 40+ new integrators per month. “An integrator’s value-add is the magically clean install – no wires, flush-mounted in-wall speakers, and the homeowner sees nothing but controllers around the house,” he says. “And the S5 is the ultimate plus-one product. With an S5, you can add a zone for $400-$500.”
As for custom integrators who feel like DIY products are the enemy, Cullen says, “The ones who survive are the ones who tear it all down and rebuild. The nature of their existence is that everything that’s new will become mainstream. The clean install doesn’t go away but the technology behind it will change again and again.” Linda Seid Frembes is a rAVe columnist who covers AV technology, installs, market trends and industry news. Linda has worked with high profile AV manufacturers, trade organization, systems integrators, rep firms and dealer/distributors in the industry including John Lyons Systems, Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW), Northern Sound & Light (NSL), and InfoComm International, among others. Reach her at linda@ravepubs.com
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Have You Considered Becoming a CEDIA ROI?
By Gary Kayye, CTS What's the ROI? CEDIA's Registered Outreach Instructor program enables CEDIA members to provide continuing education to their local design and build industry partners. CEDIA members who take and pass the ROI “Train the Trainer” class can present CEDIA-developed courseware to industry partners within their geographic regions. This grassroots member benefit will impact the member’s ability to develop new business relationships without the cost of course development or submission for approval through industry partner associations.
And, again, the BEST PART ABOUT THIS is that all the curriculum is written for you and given to you – so you teach it and you become known as the EXPERT in your region/area!
This is a slam-dunk it seems to me.
So, why aren't you doing it? You should! The CEDIA ROI not only helps you become a better trainer through their "Train the Trainer" program by giving you the tools you need to teach (e.g., the presentation templates, the course materials, etc), but they also mentor you into becoming a better instructor through expert teaching and mentoring programs. In fact, many of the ROI's who've gone through the CEDIA program have become writers for industry pubs like rAVe and have become the de facto leaders in their communities on HomeAV technology.
Seriously, you need to check this out: http://www.cedia.net/outreach/become_roi.php Back to Top |
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LCD Response Time and Motion Blur
By Dr. Raymond M. Soneira
President, DisplayMate Technologies Corporation Introduction
Every display technology has its own set of unique strengths and weaknesses and limitations. While each technology steadily improves over time, memories of their initial weaknesses and limitations often persist for a long time afterwards, and can turn into demons that plague the technology forever. The best example of this effect are Plasmas, with their so-called “burn-in” (which is actually uneven aging), a problem that was technically overcome many years ago but which lingers like an 800 pound gorilla that still threatens to kill this excellent display technology. Plasma manufacturers bear much of the blame because they have chosen to avoid this issue in their marketing (like an ostrich hoping that the problem will simply go away) rather than confronting this widely held perception.
LCDs have their own 800 pound gorilla: limited Response Time, which causes motion blur. Just like Plasmas, this was a significant problem for LCDs many years ago, and we’ll demonstrate that it too is no longer an issue now. But unlike Plasmas, the LCD manufacturers have turned this into a brilliant marketing strategy, offering ever more sophisticated and enhanced motion processing and ever higher 120 Hz and 240 Hz screen refresh rates to repeatedly over-sell a solution to a problem… that is no longer a problem.
Consumers (especially the technically savvy) have become enthralled with the Response Time specifications and the various proprietary motion enhancement technologies offered by each manufacturer, which all spiral in a vicious cycle of one-upmanship. Unfortunately, none of this stands up to objective scientific testing. As we’ll demonstrate below, while the motion blur performance with moving test patterns was much worse than what’s claimed in the manufacturer’s specifications, the motion blur performance during the extensive viewing tests with a wide range of live video content viewed simultaneously on a large number of HDTVs surprised us by turning out much better than expected. Motion blur proved to be a non-issue for live video in all of the mid to high-end LCDs in our tests. We’ll explore these points one-by-one…
FIGURE 1 Figure 1. The Shoot-Out with the lights turned on.
Photograph by Dieter Michel, Publisher of PROSOUND and Medientechnik & Systemintegration Magazines, Germany. |
LCD Response Time and Motion Blur
Motion blur is a well known issue with LCDs. It arises because the liquid crystal, which is the active element within an LCD, is unable to change its orientation and transmission rapidly enough when the picture changes from one frame to the next. Since the standard video rate is 60 frames per second, a pixel is expected to be able to fully update its light transmission opacity within 16.7 milli-seconds (a 60th of a second). If it takes any longer than that then the image will show some degree of lag, which appears as a trailing smear or blur whenever there is motion. It also affects the visibility of the leading portions of moving objects.
LCD motion blur is generally evaluated with an industry standard specification called Response Time. Unfortunately, it’s not a particularly good indicator for real picture blur because it measures the time that it takes for a pixel to go from black to peak intensity white and then back to black again. However, most picture transitions involve much smaller and more subtle shades of gray-to-gray transitions, which can take considerably longer to complete. On the other hand, blurring is much harder to detect visually when there are subtle gray-to-gray transitions because the initial and final states are so similar. But it’s even more complicated than that because every pixel is actually made up of independent red, green and blue sub-pixels that have their own separate intensities, frame-to-frame transitions and times. So visual blur within a picture that has some motion is a fairly complex and nebulous phenomenon.
The Response Time and motion blur depend on many factors, including the viscosity and thickness of the liquid crystal layer. Many different methods of electronic processing are used to try to speed up the pixel-to-pixel transitions. One common method is to temporarily exaggerate the drive voltage used during a transition, which is called overdriving. It’s sort of like giving the liquid crystal an extra hard kick in the pants to get it moving quickly. The problem is that it’s very hard to give just the right amount of kick for all possible transitions, and that leads to overshoot, inverse ghosting, and image flicker. Another method is edge enhancement using high frequency peaking. And then there is the one that all of the manufacturers are bragging about – updating the screen more frequently by increasing the refresh rate from 60 Hz up to 120 Hz or more. We’ll show photographic evidence for all of these below. Most either introduce objectionable artifacts into the images or are just ineffective marketing gimmicks.
Because the published specifications can have a considerable impact on sales, it is often more important for a manufacturer to reduce the black to peak white to black Response Time value rather than improving the visually more important gray-to-gray transitions or reducing the motion artifacts that result from electronically pushing the Response Time. As a result, the LCD display with the fastest Response Time specification may not have the smallest visual blur. This was the case in our tests.
The Shoot-Out
Figure 1 shows 11 HDTVs in the DisplayMate Technologies Demo Lab. Included are eight LCDs, two Plasmas, and one CRT Sony Professional HD Trinitron Studio Monitor, which was used as the reference standard. This was an in-depth scientific study that included precise calibrations, comprehensive spectroradiometer measurements, and a large number of jury panelists that viewed test patterns, test photos, and lots of high quality High Definition video material. The Shoot-Out was a large operation that was jointly produced by DisplayMate Technologies (www.displaymate.com) in collaboration with Insight Media (www.insightmedia.info), however, all of the technical analysis was done by the author. Part I of this article covered LCD and Plasma picture quality, color and gray-scale accuracy, color gamuts, contrast ratios, and viewing angles.
The HDTVs included models from the top-tier brands of (alphabetically) LG, Samsung, Sharp and Sony – from the mid-line to top-of-the-line models. All of the units were from the 2008 model year. Differences between the 2008 and 2009 models are primarily in their marketing hype. For this article we had three flagship top-of-the line LCD models from Samsung (LN-T5281F), Sharp (LC-52D92U) and Sony (KDL-52XBR4). By studying the top-of-the-line models from the market leaders we were assured of examining the state-of-the-art for each display technology and each manufacturer. The consumer mid-line models included LG (42LG50), Samsung (LN40A550P3F), and Sony (KDL-40V3000). The remaining two LCD units were consumer HDTVs but not commercially available models.
The top-of-the-line Sony XBR and Sharp units had 120 Hz screen refresh, the top-of-the-line Samsung had strobed LED backlighting, and all of the other units had standard 60 Hz screen refresh. The goal was to determine the degree to which this varied advanced technology affected visible motion blur.
Moving Test Patterns
The first step in evaluating motion blur is to use specialized moving test patterns in order to cleanly examine and analyze the blur and related artifacts. After studying these results we’ll graduate to moving photographs and finally to live video. To generate the moving test patterns and photographs we used DisplayMate Multimedia with Motion Bitmaps Edition, which includes 25 proprietary motion test patterns and 35 test photos that can be moved in different directions and speeds on screen. This digital video was fed simultaneously to all of the HDTVs, which were compared side-by-side in a Shoot-Out configuration as shown in Figure 1.
We used a Nikon D90 DSLR camera to photograph the moving test patterns and photographs. The screen shots were taken with a shutter speed of 1/160th second, which is less than the refresh cycle time. These screen shots objectively measure the LCD display's own hardware blur, artifacts, and response time, and are consistent with what a human observer actually sees with these moving images.
The differences in motion blur between the 8 LCD HDTVs was not large. There were only minor differences between all of units. The reason is that the visible blur was considerably longer than the 60 Hz video frame rate, so it didn’t matter whether the screen refresh was 60 Hz or 120 Hz, or whether the LED backlights were strobed off during the frame updating. Similarly, varying the electronic processing enhancements that some models offer, which are supposed to reduce motion blur, only served to introduce objectionable contours, edges and other artifacts onto moving objects without reducing the overall motion blur. In addition, there was no notable difference in motion blur between the top-of-the-line models (which all had 120 Hz refresh or LED strobing) and the mid-line models (which all had standard 60 Hz refresh), and which cost less than half of the high-end models.
To illustrate the motion blur results we took screen shots of the Sony XBR, which was the best performing LCD in Part I of the Shoot-Out in terms of picture quality and accuracy. It also had a trifle less motion blur and artifacts than the other units, but again the differences were not large. The manufacturer’s published Response Time for this model is 8 ms. Since this corresponds to a double transition – from black to peak white and then back to black again – the single transition time (from black to white or from white to black) should therefore be about 4 ms.
For the DisplayMate test patterns shown below a live view by eye clearly detected blurring out to considerably more than 60 ms. The screen shots are not quite as sensitive as the live view by eye. But in all of the screen shots it is possible to make out at least 8 individual refresh cycles, each offset from the other by 1/120th second (which comes to about 65 ms). Since the blur trails decay smoothly over time, any definition of Response Time, whether visual or instrumented, is ad hoc because you have to pick a specific cutoff intensity value. The screen shots are marked with the indicated times. Compare them to the manufacturer’s single transition Response Time specification of 4 ms. In order to show the blur in the screen shot photos as clearly as possible we used motion speeds around 1000 pixels per second. At this speed it takes two seconds to cross the 1920×1080 screen width. Objects frequently move much faster than that in real video.
Figures 2a to 2f are screen shots of several DisplayMate test patterns moving at different speeds and directions. In all of the screen shots it is possible to make out the individual 120 Hz refresh cycles. The white tips seen on edges and fine detail in all of the moving test patterns are artifacts resulting from the electronic processing enhancements used to reduce the Response Time. The dark outer edges seen on the screen shots are due to the response time lag in transitioning from a surrounding black background (not shown) to the gray background. The dark trails appear somewhat more pronounced than the bright trails because, while the LCD’s response is linear, the eye's visual response is based on (nonlinear) brightness ratios, which accentuate the differences in darker content. Note that in the screen shot with the highest motion speed, 1609 pixels per second in Figure 2d, the most recent frames (upper left and right) are clearly still developing and have not reached their final density (rise response time). Most of the other screen shots also show this same effect, although it is not as obvious.
The test patterns in Figure 2 are only a small selection of the complete set of DisplayMate motion test patterns that we examined, which include many different combinations of gray-to-gray and color-to-color transitions.
Moving Photographs
Test patterns are also perfectly valid images, no different in principle from any other image or picture content that is displayed. Absolutely every effect, artifact and defect that you see in any test pattern also appears in every image and picture. The difference is that test patterns are often constructed to maximize the visibility of specific effects, artifacts and defects. That is the definitely the case with the DisplayMate motion test patterns used in the previous section, which were carefully designed and optimized to show the motion blur and artifacts.
Photographic images, on the other hand, typically consist of a very complex and varied admixture of blended picture elements. With so much going on in an image, motion blur is easily obscured and lost within the complex variegated imagery of a typical photograph. In particular, the photographs lack the uniform backgrounds used in the test patterns, which make it easier to see the motion blur trails. Still, from what we learned with the test patterns we expect to be able to see the effects of motion blur most easily when there are sharp bright to dark or black to dim transitions or strong to weak color saturation transitions.
Figures 3b and 4b are screen shots of two moving photographs and Figures 3a and 4a are identical screen shots without any motion. Notice how much less noticeable the blurring appears because of the complexity of the image content and the uneven backgrounds. It’s important to note that we picked the two photos out of the 35 within DisplayMate Multimedia with Motion that showed the strongest visual motion blur. Most of the other photographs had less visually noticeable blur. FIGURE 3 | | | Figure 3. NASA Photograph of Astronaut Barbara Morgan.
A: Left Photo: No motion. B: Right Photo: Measured motion is 1009 pixels per second right to left. |
FIGURE 4 | | | Figure 3. NASA Photograph of Astronaut Barbara Morgan.
A: Left Photo: No motion. B: Right Photo: Measured motion is 1009 pixels per second right to left. |
In Figure 3 there are 4 strong refresh cycle images that are visible (33 ms) and a total of 8 refresh cycles can be seen in portions of the picture (67 ms). In Figure 4 there are 3 strong refresh cycle images that are visible (25 ms) and a total of 6 refresh cycles can be seen in portions of the picture (50 ms). Their visibility depends on the nature of the intensity and color transitions and the textures of adjacent content that overlap as the image moves.
The speed of these images is 1000 pixels per second, which corresponds to a screen crossing time of 2 seconds. At slower speeds the length of the blur is proportionally smaller. So for these photographs the blur is unlikely to be noticeable for speeds under 500 pixels per second, which corresponds to screen crossing time of 4 seconds, a relatively slow speed. On the other hand, most of the other photographs had less noticeable blur, so visible blur is very image content dependent.
Moving photographs are none-the-less moving static images, which are quite different from live video, where the images are part of a complex and varied mixture of continually blending picture components that are themselves constantly changing in both time and position. The closest thing to moving photographs are the news and stock tickers on some television stations, and the vertical title rolls at the end of most movies. Television stations fine-tune their tickers to minimize the appearance of motion blur and artifacts in consumer TVs, a high percentage of which are now LCDs.
Live Video
While moving test patterns and photographs are very interesting and enlightening for studying motion blur and artifacts, live video is what consumers actually watch on their HDTVs. With even more screen activity going on we expect to visually detect much less motion blur in live video than with either the moving static photographs or test patterns. The first issue to consider is that there is no such thing as typical live video because of the incredible variety and diversity of content. Fortunately, we know from the moving test patterns and photographs what kinds of picture content are most likely to produce visible motion blur. And of course there needs to be lots of on-screen motion.
Most of the live video sources that we chose were sports based because they have lots of motion and most have brightly colored uniforms and background content. We recorded them on an all-digital High Definition Tivo from full bandwidth over-the-air ATSC broadcast television. It directly records the original broadcast mpeg data stream without any processing or degradation. Note that satellite and cable video sources have reduced signal bandwidth that introduces additional motion artifacts because of the extra compression needed whenever there is motion in the picture. We also didn’t use any film based content, because it’s shot at 24 frames per second and requires considerably more interpolation and motion processing than video cameras with 60 fields per second.
Included were hours of recorded football, basketball, hockey, skiing, and golf. Most of these are daytime or brightly lit events. For darker content we used nighttime NASCAR racing, indoor gymnastics and ice skating, the television show Dancing with the Stars, and Over America, which is a Blu-ray HD video that is shot entirely from a fast moving helicopter. It has 90 minutes of continuous full screen motion, with both daytime and nighttime scenery. It includes lots of very challenging high speed motion content. With these choices of videos we were using very aggressive content for detecting motion blur.
Live Video Motion Shoot-Out
One important issue for live video, as opposed to the previous precision computer generated moving photographs and test patterns, is that they are all shot from video cameras under varying conditions and may have unknown degrees of video processing. That can result in source video that is blurred with varied artifacts. We certainly didn’t want to blame an LCD for a blurred or defective picture when the cause was in the source. In order to carefully monitor the quality of the source video we used a Sony Trinitron Professional HD Broadcast Studio Monitor, which is a CRT and did not have any visible motion blur or artifacts (except for barely visible tiny phosphor trails seen only in fast moving test patterns). So, whenever there was questionable content we carefully evaluated it on the CRT monitor.
The Shoot-Out was fully operational for several months, so we had lots of time to study and compare all of the effects, and over that period of time we had several dozen people come by to see it running and evaluate the effects themselves, including industry experts, manufacturers, engineers, reviewers, journalists, and ISF instructors, all of which are trained observers.
All of the HDTVs were fed identical simultaneous digital video from the content list above using the digital Tivo or Blu-ray player. They were all compared side-by-side in a Shoot-Out configuration as shown in Figure 1. If any viewer thought they detected motion blur on any HDTV we would repeatedly press the 8-second Tivo backup button and watch the sequence over and over again on all of the units (including the CRT monitor) until we fully understood exactly what was happening on each HDTV. We did the same thing with the Blu-ray player and its content.
The conclusions from everyone that participated in the Shoot-Out were consistent across the board and will likely surprise most consumers: there was essentially no visually detectable motion blur on any of the LCD HDTVs in all of the extensive live video content that we assembled. When people thought they saw motion blur, with only a handful of minor exceptions, the blur was either in the source video or a temporary visual illusion that disappeared when the segments in question were reviewed. Unlike the moving test patterns and moving photographs, the eye is unable to detect the blur in live video because the images are much more dynamic and complex, and undoubtedly because of the way the brain processes and extracts essential information from visual images. The results were identical for all of the LCD HDTVs, regardless of whether they had 60 or 120 Hz refresh rates, strobed LED backlighting, or advanced motion enhancement processing.
Summary and Recommendations
Response Time specifications are not a scientifically accurate or meaningful indicator of picture blur, which is what we have found with most of the HDTV specifications in our Display Technology Shoot-Out article series. In fact, in our tests the LCD with the shortest Response Time had the greatest motion blur. You’ll see published values down to as little as 2 ms, but the motion blur we measured with moving test patterns on the top-of-the-line HDTVs was over 40 ms, which is more than a factor of 10 greater than the manufacturer’s specifications.
We also found that the proprietary motion enhancement processing technologies provided in most HDTVs actually just introduce ugly motion artifacts into the image rather than reducing the overall visual motion blur. The best picture quality was obtained with the motion enhancement processing minimized or turned off.
After extensive side-by-side objective testing with moving test patterns, moving photographs and live video we found that there was no visually detectable difference in motion blur performance for current mid to top-of-the-line LCD HDTVs, regardless of their Response Time, 60 or 120 Hz refresh rates, strobed LED backlighting, or motion enhancement processing. While there was considerable motion blur in the moving test patterns, motion blur was simply not visually detectable in real live video content during our extensive side-by-side testing. With only a handful of minor exceptions, whenever blur was seen in live video we always found it to be in the source content or a temporary visual illusion that disappeared when the segments in question were reviewed. This is undoubtedly due to the way the brain processes and extracts essential information from dynamic and complex moving images.
These results and conclusions will surprise many technically savvy consumers and videophiles because there has been so much talk about Response Time and motion blur. Like Plasma “burn-in” some of this is just old information and memories. A lot of the current “knowledge base” on this topic are simply the echoes from all of the marketing brouhaha. It’s also very easy to think that you see blur when you’re looking at lots of fast action on a single TV, and a lot of it undoubtedly has its origins in the human visual system. It just doesn’t stand up to the extensive scientific side-by-side testing that we’ve described here.
Our most important and significant result is that the LCD manufacturers have finally beaten the motion blur problem. So it's time for both consumers and manufacturers to forget about this tamed 800 pound Response Time gorilla and focus on much more productive and fascinating display technology and marketing issues, such as the upcoming generations of 3D displays.
As a result our bottom line recommendations are… If you stick with the mid to top tier models from the reputable brands, you should ignore Response Time specifications, not worry about LCD motion blur, and don’t spend extra for 120 Hz or higher refresh rates, strobed LED backlighting, or advanced motion blur processing.
About the Author
Dr. Raymond Soneira is President of DisplayMate Technologies Corporation of Amherst, New Hampshire, which produces video calibration, evaluation, and diagnostic products for consumers, technicians, and manufacturers. See www.displaymate.com. He is a research scientist with a career that spans physics, computer science, and television system design. Dr. Soneira obtained his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Princeton University, spent 5 years as a Long-Term Member of the world famous Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, another 5 years as a Principal Investigator in the Computer Systems Research Laboratory at AT&T Bell Laboratories, and has also designed, tested, and installed color television broadcast equipment for the CBS Television Network Engineering and Development Department. He has authored over 35 research articles in scientific journals in physics and computer science, including Scientific American. If you have any comments or questions about the article, you can contact him at dtso@displaymate.com |
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5 Ways CEDIA Management Conference Will Help You in 2010! If you’re seeking out new and effective ways to bring success and prosperity to your business in 2010, CEDIA Management Conference is the first place you should look. At this business event, taking place March 3-6 in New Orleans, LA, owners and managers will learn key principles that will help them build successful and profitable businesses in even this difficult economy.
CEDIA Management Conference will… - help you understand the changing business game and put you in the right mindset to change with it
- refocus you on what's important – people, strategy, execution, and profit
- teach you how getting the right people and doing the right work will make your business thrive
- give you the best tools to immediately implement new ideas into your business
- foster new relationships with peers and manufacturers that will elevate your business within the industry
Speakers and instructors will guide attendees through the Rockefeller Habits, a set of principles used by John D. Rockefeller to create one of the most profitable business empires of the 20th century.
Along with the exceptional education available at CEDIA Management Conference 2010, attendees will have the option of taking CEDIA’s popular Registered Outreach Instructor (ROI) “Train the Trainer” course, which will allow them to administer education to design and build professionals in their area. ROIs can provide education, offer continuing education credits, and most importantly gain mutually-beneficial relationships with design and build professionals after successfully completing the “Train the Trainer” course.
CEDIA Management Conference 2010 gives business owners and operators the tools to build strong and profitable businesses. Register today to become one of the lucky few to gain the education needed to make that happen.
Register now and receive early-bird discounts, only available until February 1st.
Register today at http://www.cedia.org/mc
Back to Top CEDIA University in 2010 – Closer and More Cost Effective Then Ever! CEDIA University has scheduled a year filled with exceptional education and training. Set the foundation for a successful 2010 by taking part in CEDIA education. From business owners to installers, CEDIA has the right course or education event to meet your needs. CEDIA has set the standard for affordable training excellence and with a multitude of course offerings and events throughout the US, the possibilities are endless. For more information on educational events and certification opportunities in your area, please visit http://www.cedia.org/calendar
Events to Watch for in 2010:
• February 2 – Survival of the Fittest Webinar
• March 3-6 – Management Conference 2010
• March 24-26 – CEDIA University on the Road at EH EXPO
• September 22-26 – CEDIA EXPO 2010 Back to Top Let a CEDIA Membership Help Your Business in 2010 Let’s face it, businesses and individuals alike can use all the help they can get right now. That is why it is so important to research and invest in things that will reap the biggest return on initial investment. CEDIA membership is the right investment for you in 2010, and will reap the most return on your dollar.
In 2010, CEDIA Members have countless opportunities to save money and gain new skills with CEDIA education and programming. Here are some of the benefits CEDIA Members will see in 2010: - Expanded e-Learning offerings for greater access to education, anytime and anywhere
- A newly revamped career center with expanded options for job-seekers and those looking to hire. Postings run for 60 days and cost $275, but in 2010 members can post an unlimited amount of jobs for FREE
- Management Conference 2010 discounts to help business owners and managers find and keep success
- FREE education at CEDIA EXPO 2010
- Discounts on tools and education resources like the new Electronic Systems Technical Reference Guide
- CEDIAwire for publicity opportunities
- FREE Survival of the Fittest Monthly Webinar series
For further details on the benefits of CEDIA membership and ways to become more involved, visit http://www.cedia.org/membership
Join CEDIA at http://www.cedia.org/join or renew your membership at http://www.cedia.org/renew
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CEDIA To Leave Atlanta after 2010 Show, Will Return to Indianapolis Earlier this month, CEDIA’s Board made a decision that we can all agree was in the best interest of everyone’s safety and for the well being of the show!
“After listening to members’ feedback and closely monitoring the trend of exhibitors’ booths, CEDIA leadership performed extensive research on the viability of bringing EXPO back to a city that not only is cost-effective for our exhibitors but accommodates the needs of our attendees and members across the globe,” said Ken Erdmann, CEDIA chairman. “Our members are very fond of Indianapolis. With the expansion of the Indiana Convention Center and new hotels, Indianapolis is once again able to provide CEDIA EXPO with a platform to grow.”
While CEDIA is based in Indianapolis, the association operates internationally, and its annual tradeshow draws tens of thousands of attendees from dozens of countries. Indianapolis hosted CEDIA EXPO from 1999-2001 and again from 2003-2005. The expansion of the Indiana Convention Center includes the addition of more than 250,000 square feet of exhibit/meeting space and a brand new Marriott Place hotel complex with more than 1,300 rooms. Indianapolis isn't Denver, which seems like it'd be everyone's preference, but it's a definite improvement over Atlanta.
Registration for CEDIA EXPO 2010 in Atlanta will open June 1. More information may be found at http://www.cedia.org/expo Back to Top HDMI Updates Trademark and Logo Guidelines, Confuses Us Further HDMI Licensing, LLC released updated Adopted Trademark and Logo Guidelines this month that are aimed to simplify trade marking, but remind us of the ever-perplexing color-coding “terror alert” system we see at airports.
The so-called HDMI Guidelines include specific new requirements for manufacturers, distributors, retailers (that’s some of you!), and installers (that’s the rest of you!!). There are significant changes regarding the use of version numbers and marketing for HDMI cables.
Ed. Note: Dear HDMI Police — We hope we decoded the guideline for using this logo we’ve printed here – but, if we didn’t, please don’t sue us as we’re just trying to get this info out for you…
You need to at least glance at this, but you’ll need a secret-decoder ring or a PhD in ethics to understand it: http://www.hdmi.org/download/guidelines/2009_11_18_RevisedTradeLogo_Guidelines_FINAL_a.pdf
Back to Top WHDI Finalizes Spec For Multi-Room HD Streaming The Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) consortium finalizes its WHDI 1.0 standard for streaming uncompressed 1080p video. It's based on Amimon technology — other competing wireless technologies also offer multi-room capability but almost all use compression.
The 5GHz-band technology will be demonstrated at CES in January. The finalized standard would ensure interoperability among different-branded devices that license the technology and bear a WHDI logo (but watch out for interoperability of devices with pre-standard WHDI technology).
With WHDI 1.0, a video source could transmit a 1080p/60Hz Deep Color video stream more than 100 feet through walls to multiple TVs without running cables.
To read it, go to: http://www.whdi.org/ Back to Top New Audio Preamplifier by Einstein Audio Components Einstein Audio Components, a German designer of self-designated “premium audio components,” will launch the Tube MKII Balanced Audio Preamplifier at CES next month. Einstein says the Tube MKII represents a new concept employing proprietary new ideas and circuitry that help it stand apart from other preamplifiers. Basically, fully balanced, it features dual-differential, dual-mono design.
Einstein claims the Tube is an exceptionally quiet (no spec though) and neutral-sounding preamplifier capable of “ultra-quiet operation, explosive dynamics and fast transients.” They say their secret is an unusually large complement of tubes — 18 E88CC/6922 dual triode tubes and one ECC82 dual triode. Ingeniously, only 10 of the 6922 tubes operate at any given time, eight for power and two for whichever audio source happens to be playing. And, the Tube MKII boasts a volume control outside the signal path, an ultra-low 50-ohm output impedance, short signal paths with point-to-point wiring, wide bandwidth circuitry, an S/N ratio under 95dB, a total harmonic distortion (THD) less than 0.05 percent at 1.5 Volts RMS, and a 98 db channel separation.
To see all the specs (if you read German) of the $18,000 MKII, go to: http://www.einstein-audio.de/produkte/TheTube.html Back to Top Audio-Technica Goes Retro with New Turntable Audiophiles are still audiophiles! And, quality audio is still analog. Audio-Technica’s new AT-LP60 is a fully automatic turntable system that includes a built-in phono preamp, phono cartridge, cables and accessories.
Featuring the most contemporary design we’ve seen in a turntable, the AT-LP60 comes with a pre-installed phono cartridge, connecting cables, a hinged removable dustcover and a 45-RPM adapter. The AT-LP60 offers fully automatic operation – one touch activates the cueing mechanism and the pickup arm automatically lifts off the record at the end of a side, to keep records scratch-free. The turntable has a 33-1/3 and 45-RPM speed selector to play vinyl formats from LP albums to 12-inch and 7-inch singles.
The Audio-Technica AT-LP60 is shipping this month with a list of $149.00. To learn more, go to: http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/turntables/9a7f42b88ee1e14b/index.html
Back to Top Pass Labs Introduces New X260.5 Power Amplifier At CES, Pass Laboratories will show their new X260.5 Power Amplifier, spec’d as a 260-watt mono-block amplifier aimed at improving performance by matching characteristics of the two halves of a balanced amplifier. To the extent that distortion and noise can be made to appear identical at the two output connections, the X260.5's balanced output will not detect them. Very interesting!
In conventional amplifiers, under ideal conditions, ordinary matching techniques can achieve improvements by a factor of about 10. According to Pass, the X260.5 lowers distortion and noise by an additional order of magnitude. The X260.5's thick aluminum front panel includes an analog meter as well as buttons and blue LED indicators for Power On, Off and Standby (blue is the new green). The rear panel includes an IEC 320 AC power cord receptacle, a main power switch, two pairs of output connectors, a pair of binding post connectors for remote turn-on, one RCA input connector, and one XLR balanced input connector.
As it’s not actually “officially” launched yet, it’s not on their website. But, when it is, it will be here: http://www.passlabs.com/products.htm
Back to Top JVC Debuts Wireless Soundbars JVC debuted a soundbar home theater system (wireless) that features a wireless subwoofer and wireless surround speakers.
JVC’s new TH-BA3, is a 280-watt, 5.1-channel surround sound system that includes a sound bar, wireless subwoofer and wireless rear speaker kit comprised of wireless left and right surround speakers and a wireless receiver. The sound bar contains four speakers – one each for the left and right main channels and two for the center channel. Also built into the sound bar is the power amplifier, surround decoding, system controls and the transmitter for the wireless surround speakers. It offers one analog and two optical digital inputs and decodes Dolby Digital, DTS and Dolby ProLogic II surround signals.
To read all the specs on the $549 TH-BA3, you’ll have to wait as it’s not on JVC’s site yet, but you can read their press release here: http://www.jvc.com/press/index.jsp?item=729&pageID=1
Back to Top Barco Debuts "The Most Silent Projector" According to Barco RLM-W6 offers the saturated image quality of three-chip DLP for a budget-friendly price. What's more, they say it consumes 33 percent less power than “competing” solutions, and is ten times as silent (although they don’t ID who, specifically, they are calling out as loud – however, we agree DLP is ridiculously loud in home theater applications for sure!).
The WUXGA resolution (1920×1200) makes it compatible with virtually any HD application, is spec’d at 6000 ANSI lumens and a 2000:1 contrast ratio – it’s bright enough for ANY home theater set-up.
So, how quiet? They have specified it at 32db – almost as quiet as a 3LCD projector.
It’s got all the inputs you can imagine including HDMI, Component, RGBHV and Ethernet and includes mechanical lens shift – but it weighs in at 57 pounds. So, maybe home cinema.
Check it out at: http://www.barco.com/themostsilentprojector Back to Top Back to Top A $1000 HDMI Cable! Huh? Wireworld just debuted a $1000 HDMI cable. There’s no better way to describe this other than simply letting you read the superlatives they used to describe this $1K wire: "The Platinum Starlight HDMI cable features molded carbon fiber connectors, the company's unique new 24-conductor DNA Helix design with solid silver conductors, and high-speed/high-bandwidth capabilities to meet even the most stringent system requirements – including the new HDMI v1.4 High Speed with Ethernet specification.”
Wireworld says the Platinum Starlight HDMI cables will be available in February of 2010 in lengths ranging from 0.3 meter to 30 meters. Retail pricing for a 1.0-meter cable is $1,000.
Back to Top Chief Ships Fusion Pull-Out Mount Integrated with Chief’s ControlZone leveling system, their ClickConnect mounting system and built-in cable stand, the new Chief Fusion Pull-Out mount is shipping. At only 3.7” in depth, this mount is cool as it pulls straight out rather than simultaneously tilting. The Pull-Out mounts extend 7” (178 mm) for easy cable access and servicing in hard-to-reach installations. They’re ideal for TVs up to 47” for the M-series, and 63” screens for the L-series.
To see all the specs, go to: http://downloads.chiefmfg.com/MARKETING/Flyers-Brochures/FLY_Fusion_Pull-Out_Mounts.pdf Back to Top Extra Vegetables Launches (Or Should It Be Lunches?) AppleTV/Control4 App A full two-way Control4 driver for AppleTV is now available from little known firm Extra Vegetables. iTunes is the leading computer-based music server client and by providing a two-way interface with an Apple TV connected to an iTunes account (via Control4), this is now possible. Music stored in iTunes can now be selected directly on the Control4 touch-panels and remote controls – no need to turn on the TV or computer.
To see all the specs, go to: http://www.extravegetables.com/ Back to Top Movie "Avatar" to Add to 3D Gold Rush It's the most expensive production Fox Films has ever made. Director James Cameron probably spent more than $300 million, the cost of the last "most expensive film ever made," Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Fox teamed up with Cameron for Titanic (1997), which at the time cost a record-breaking $200 million but earned more than $1.8 billion worldwide.
Now Fox is investing heavily to promote Cameron's Avatar as a technically advanced epic that's a game-changer for the movie industry, heralding a new era of 3D movies. Cameron has had the film in his mind for more than a decade, waiting for technology to catch up with his vision. Cameron has even created a new film camera that combines computer-generated imagery with live action so he could simultaneously watch the virtual world as he shot the live scenes.
And another innovation from Cameron: he substantially reduced the size of 3D cameras used. Fox says more and more live-action films will be done in 3D as the technology expands further.
Fox already credits Avatar for encouraging theatre owners to make the change over both to digital and to 3D capability. They predict audiences will soon come to expect 3D movies and 3D will become the most dominant film form.
To see the latest trailer (in 2D – but all sorts of resolutions) go to: http://www.avatarmovie.com/ Back to Top World's First 3D FIFA World Cup Sony Corporation and FIFA have announced an agreement: FIFA will produce the world's first FIFA World Cup in 3D (up to 25 of the 2010 matches) using Sony's 3D professional cameras.
"Global sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup are very important drivers of new technology, particularly in the TV market", explains Tom Morrod, Senior Analyst, TV Technology at Screen Digest.
"The news that the FIFA World Cup will be filmed in 3D for the first time will certainly increase the uptake rate of 3D TVs… As a result of this news, and an increasingly bullish industry outlook on 3D, Screen Digest has increased its forecast, and now estimates that 13.6m 3D TV sets will be installed in Europe by 2013."
This is interesting as soccer fans (outside North America at least) are obsessed enough with the World Cup to actually go out and buy 3D HDTVs just to watch this…
Here’s Sony’s official announcement and details on where you can go watch a World Cup game in 3D: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/200912/09-137E/index.html
Back to Top News from Imerge, ESPA, Crestron… THIEL Audio has appointed Specialty Sound & Vision as the independent sales representatives covering the New York metro region… Imerge has appointed Sound Developments as its exclusive distribution partner in Canada… Electronic Systems Professional Alliance (ESPA) has launched a new website that is focused on increasing awareness of education and certification programs in the electronics systems contracting industry… Leon Speakers has added five new independent sales representatives in the U.S., along with one new rep for Canada and one for the U.K.: Innovative Consulting and Marketing for Arizona and northern Nevada, N&S Marketing and Sales for the pacific northwest, Orion Integrated Systems for Florida, PSG, Inc. for the southeast, Pride of Hawaii for Hawaii, the Genesis Technologies UK for the U.K., and Sound Developments for Canada… Sonos has appointed Mark Crandall to the AMPAC sales team as U.S. director of sales… Crestron has announced a partnership with Simply Reliable Software to develop a solution to enable dealers to design and program systems quickly and easily. Back to Top For all you REGULAR readers of rAVe HomeAV Edition out there, hopefully you enjoyed another opinion-packed issue!
For those of you NEW to rAVe, you just read how we are — we are 100% opinionated. We not only report the news and new product stories of the high-end HomeAV industry, but we stuff the articles full of our opinions. That may include (but is not limited to) whether or not the product is even worth looking at, challenging the manufacturers on their specifications, calling a marketing-spec bluff and suggesting ways integrators market their products better. But, one thing is for sure, we are NOT a trade publication that gets paid for running editorial or product stories. Traditional trade publications get paid to run product stories — that’s why you see what you see in most of the pubs out there. We are different: we run what we want to run and NO ONE is going to pay us to write anything good (or bad).
Don’t like us, then go away — unsubscribe! Just use the link below.
To send me feedback, don't reply to this newsletter – instead, write directly to me at gary@ravepubs.com or for editorial ideas: Editor-in-Chief Sara Abrons at sara@ravepubs.com
A little about me: I graduated from Journalism School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (where I am adjunct faculty). I’ve been in the AV-industry since 1987 where I started with Extron and eventually moved to AMX. So, I guess I am an industry veteran (although I don’t think I am that old). I have been an opinionated columnist for a number of industry publications and in the late 1990s I started the widely read KNews eNewsletter (the first in the AV market) and also created the model for and was co-founder of AV Avenue – which is now known as InfoComm IQ. rAVe Publications has been around since 2003, when we launched our original newsletter, rAVe ProAV Edition.
rAVe HomeAV Edition, co-published with CEDIA, launched in February, 2004.
To read more about my background, our team, and what we do, go to https://www.ravepubs.com Back to Top Copyright 2009 – rAVe [Publications] – All rights reserved. For reprint policies, contact rAVe [Publications], 510 Meadowmont Village Circle, Suite 376 – Chapel Hill, NC 27517 – 919/969-7501. Email: sara@ravepubs.com
rAVe HomeAV Edition contains the opinions of the author only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of other persons or companies or its sponsors.
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