Education & Technology

What makes home theater projectors so sexy, so compelling and so different from a regular old TV set with its LCD or plasma screen? The best news is, a ticket to your own home theater is getting to be surprisingly affordable. We’re going to break it down for you, and let you know why it just might be worth it to consider putting together a dedicated home theater room—a temple devoted to the holy projector that makes watching a regular TV show feel just like a trip to a movie theater.

1. You get a really big picture. You get the most bang for your buck with a projector. To get the largest practical LCD display with a 65-inch screen, it’ll cost you at least $7,000. On the other hand, a projector can blast out a 120-inch pic for a mere $3K. Sure, you’ll need to buy a screen, but you could probably just get away with painting some $200 Screen Goo on your wall (we’ve used it, and it works great but is crazy-expensive compared with regular old paint), or cheaper yet, paint your wall a light gray and you’d still probably be satisfied with the picture quality.

2. It feels just like a movie theater. There’s just something about a projected image in a darkened room that elicits mystery, focuses your attention, and makes it feel like you’ve dedicated yourself to the content on the screen. There’s nothing incidental about watching a movie in a darkened room on a projector. And even with a middle-of-the-road projector and average sound system, the end result when you watch a Blu-ray or HD DVD movie looks better than the old-timey analog projector at your local multiplex after that piece of film has gone through it a thousand times. Which leads to our next point…

3. Go for Blu-ray or HD DVD for your home theater. Might we recommend a dual-format player, such as the Samsung or LG models we’ve told you about here on the Giz? The resolution on these HD discs is truly 1080p, and if you’re going to invest in that kind of resolution, you might as well have a playback source that can crank it out.

4. Don’t forget the audio. You might already have a Dolby 5.1 system, but if you don’t, now’s the time to indulge. You can get a home theater in a box (HTIB) system for very little money, but don’t spend less than $500 unless you’re nearly deaf. Lots of the receivers now have HDMI inputs and switchers, letting you control all your components from there.

5. Prices are getting astonishingly low, even for 1080p projectors. Our favorite so far is the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080, and coming in a close second is the Panasonic 1080p projector, both of which cost $3000. And, the next-gen version of both these models will roll out soon, costing even less than that, and have blacker blacks and better color. Beware of cheap projectors, though, such as the Torpedo that costs $179. We haven’t tried that one yet (stay tuned for that), but the $500 BoxTV projector we did review was one of the worst, noisiest and clunkiest contraptions we’ve ever tested.

6. There is a downside to having a projector. It works best in a dedicated room with no windows. Sure, you could just watch movies at night, or install blackout curtains on your windows, but the best idea is to use a windowless basement room, install your speaker and projector cables before you put in the drywall, mount your projector to the ceiling and you’re good to go.

7. If you like to use a TV as background noise, maybe a projector isn’t for you. We know a guy whose home theater is an homage to the multi-use room, that is, he placed an LCD display on the wall for daytime CNN watching and casual use, and has a projector mounted on the ceiling with a screen that lowers itself automagically when he wants to settle in for some serious movie watching.

8. Perhaps make plans for your theater now, but delay them for a bit. While the writers’ strike isn’t going to go on forever, it might last a while, meaning there will be fewer TV shows to watch. But then, there’s always Blu-ray and HD DVD and, ahem, BitTorrent.

9. Get a set of theater chairs for the full effect. Three or four years ago, it was rare to find even one reclining theater chair with cup holders that cost less than $1500. Now you can get a set of three in an arced arrangement for around that same price. They’re basically three recliners lashed together, and they’ll let you watch a movie in blissful comfort.

10. 1080p is not always necessary. But when you’re dealing with a projector, the screen size can get so gigantic that this choice could be crucial. For instance, the difference between 1080p and 720p becomes apparent at 16 feet when you’re talking about a 123-inch screen. In fact, the THX recommended maximum viewing distance for that 123-incher is 13.7 feet. If your screen is going to be smaller than that, say, 60 inches viewed from 10 feet away, you may not be able to tell the difference between 1080p and 720p. See this handy chart by Carlton Bale to determine the specifics for your viewing distance and screen size.

Looking for an HD camcorder? They’re proliferating like bunnies, but is it a good time to buy one yet? Not only are there lots more HDTV camcorders on the market now than there were last year at this time, the variety of HD camcorder recording methods has expanded as well. Sure, you can record on tape, but wouldn’t you really rather record to a hard drive, or better yet, a flash memory card? What about recording to DVDs, or even to Blu-ray discs? All these choices are available at prices that are oftentimes south of $1000. Here are 10 things you need to know before you plunk down your cash.

1. All the HD camcorders’ video looks great. Every one of the latest HD camcorders we’ve seen—seven in all—delivers kick-ass video, almost as good as what you see coming down a lot of cable or satellite systems from the networks. But it doesn’t look as clean and sharp as Blu-ray or HD DVD.

2. Know what do you want to do with the camcorder. Maybe HD is overkill. If you want to upload videos to YouTube, the easiest way to do it is using the video capabilities of a point-n-shoot still camera.

3. The HD camcorders are easiest to use if you plug them directly into an HDTV via HDMI. Almost all the camcorders have HDMI output, so it’s easy to just connect that camcorder to your HDTV and use the supplied remote. In fact, it feels like this is what the camcorder companies would prefer you to do, because the editing software included with every one of the camcorders is almost unusable, which brings us to number 4:

4. Editing AVCHD footage is awkward. Many of the latest camcorders use the highly compressed AVCHD format, a variant of the H.264 used in Blu-ray and HD DVDs. Cutting HDV footage of older camcorders is easy, because it’s a mature HDTV video format that’s been around for three or four years. AVCHD is quite different, newer and more cumbersome. While many editing software packages now support AVCHD, it’s still a rather clumsy process to move the footage from camcorder to PC, albeit a little easier when you’re dealing with a Mac.

5. If you plan to edit HD footage, especially AVCHD, get yourself a mofo PC or Mac. Make that a dual-processor machine with eight cores if you can swing it. You’d better have the most powerful PC you can find, because the huge files and compression chores you’ll be asking your computer to deal with are daunting, and require spectacular amounts of power unless you want to endure long waits for rendering.

6. Where will you distribute the video from your HD camcorder? (in other words, how will Grandma watch your masterpieces?) With HD, gone are the days of ubiquitous playback devices for your videos. After you’re done editing, it won’t be as easy as laying it down on a VHS tape or DVD that even Grandma can play in her living room. HD footage goes well on a Blu-ray disc, but who has those burners or players yet?

7. Decide if you want a camcorder that records on hard disk, flash memory card, DVD, HDV tape or Blu-ray. A hard disk stores more footage but is bulkier and more fragile than flash memory. But a 4GB flash card only stores 40 minutes’ worth of footage. Recording on DVD and Blu-ray both involve spinning removable media which seems anachronistic, but then your footage can be played back immediately on many Blu-ray disc players. Then there’s DV tape recording HDV footage, which gets good results, but it seems so, uh, analog.

8. Prices are reasonable. The best HD camcorder I’ve seen, the Panasonic HDC-SD1, costs around $800. You’d be surprised how prices are plummeting with HDTV camcorders. Since it’s not brand-spanking new, you might be able to find an even better deal on that Panny SD1 on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

9. Most camcorders end up gathering dust on a closet shelf. Be realistic. Are you really going to be shooting lots of video? Accurately assess whether you’ll actually be using a camcorder frequently, or just occasionally. Also think about whether anyone will be eager to watch your HD videos that you may not have the time or patience to edit. If you have a special event coming up, consider borrowing or renting a camcorder rather than blowing all your spare cash on a trinket that will be used once or twice and end up as shelfware.

10. Catch up on some reviews of the latest HD camcorders to get a lay of the land. Camcorder Info picked as its camcorder of the year the Canon HV20, an HD model that uses old-timey DV tapes and records in the HDV format. We found the camcorder’s video spectacular, with very few motion artifacts. It’s also nice to be able to output in good ol’ DV whenever you want with no further rendering.

After using seven of these camcorders, and five of them for about a month in an extended review situation, our fave was the Panasonic HDC-SD1 (pictured above), with its near-perfect video, flash memory recording, tiny size, smooth stabilization and $800ish price. For a look at that, also check out Wired’s roundup of camcorders in its annual Test issue, and coming soon online and now on newsstands, my own roundup of five HD camcorders in Maximum PC magazine.

Eye-Fi Card Uses Wi-Fi to Automatically Upload Photos to Computers and
Online Photo Sharing and Social Networking Sites

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., October 30, 2007 – Eye-Fi Inc., a company dedicated to helping people navigate, nurture and share their digital memories, today unveiled the Eye-Fi Card – the world’s first wireless SD memory card for digital cameras. The Eye-Fi Card uses home Wi-Fi networks to create an effortless and convenient way for users to send photographs from digital cameras to PCs, Macs and online photo and social networking sites.  See release entitled “Eye-Fi Announces Support from Seventeen Online Photo Destinations.”  Priced at $99.99 with 2GB of storage, the Eye-Fi Card is available now from major online retailers.

“Digital cameras have made it extremely easy to take pictures, but the rest of the process is a hassle,” said Jef Holove, chief executive officer of Eye-Fi. “The Eye-Fi Card removes the barriers and lets users get to the fun part of sharing and printing their memories. We’re putting the magic back into photography.”
Eye-Fi uses home wireless networks to eliminate the time-consuming chore of dealing with cables, card readers or software plug-ins associated with uploading photos.  Users simply turn on their digital camera and their pictures are wirelessly uploaded.  The Eye-Fi Card works with existing and new SD-compatible digital cameras and stores photos like a conventional SD memory card.

“We know that a large percent of digital images captured each day are never printed or shared. That adds up to significant lost revenues for photo sharing and printing sites,” said IDC analyst Ron Glaz. “We anticipate wireless cameras will fundamentally change the way people manage their digital photographs in the future and believe that Eye-Fi Card will help drive these changes.”

How the Eye-Fi Card works

During a simple set-up process, users can select from among 17 popular online photo sharing, printing, social networking or blogging sites to share their photographs, and select where on their PC or Mac they want to archive their images.  Once the set-up is complete, users can focus on taking pictures and sharing memories – and not on the process of uploading photos from their camera.

Eye-Fi’s free upload service allows users to transfer an unlimited number of photos.  It handles full-resolution JPEG pictures and intelligently resizes the images if required by the selected online destination.
“We’re thrilled to be among the first to sell the Eye-Fi Card and we expect it to be a big hit for the holidays,” said Aaron Maguire of Buy.com.  “Eye-Fi understands how time-starved our customers are, and this solution matches their needs.”
The 2GB wireless SD memory card, which holds approximately 1,000 images, is available now at major online retailers including Amazon.com, Buy.com and Walmart.com for $99.99 USD. For more information, please visit www.eye.fi.