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The digital age of home entertainment and what you need to know.
By Adam Rackham
Click on the below links to learn more about home entertainment, if you have any questions please email Adam@intoav.com
  • Using computers for your film and music - Why computers are fast becoming the replacement for high quality DVD and CD players
  • Multi-room Systems - Supply music throughout your home and storing your collection on a central server
  • Creating your home cinema- What you need to know about projectors, screens and sound systems
  • Lighting Control - lighting your cinema room and home with digital lighting control
  • Using computers for film and music

    The Media PC
    The Audio Visual industry is at a stage when watching a film or listening to your favourite music is quicker, easier and in many ways cheaper than ever before.
    Computers have now become so powerful that they can be the heart and soul of your entertainment system. The ability to store High Definition movies and uncompressed music has meant that quality is high enough to impress the most concerning film and music fan.
    Computers built with this use in mind are known as Media Centres.

    Picture quality

    A good quality graphics card with a DVI output is capable of running alongside some of the best DVD players on the market without so much as straining a diode.
    For as little as £299 Pixel Magic make a small unit that networks to your computer and automatically looks for music, film and picture files. Using it's built in navigation software and infra-red remote you can easily find your desired film or music file.
    On top of that the quality is amazing, it is designed and built by the same people who make the video processing for many high end commercial cinema and home projectors. The unit is capable of delivering a full high definition picture and features HDMI, VGA and component outputs.

    Sound Quality
    For under £20 a PCI sound card comes specified with 24bit 44.1Khz digital to analogue converters and a 7.1 digital output, so you can imagine how good a £100 sound card is now.
    I recently spoke to the founder of a large well known British speaker manufacturer who recently tested a number of hi-end CD players to establish what unit they should use to demo their speakers. He was surprised to find that the line output of his new Apple Mac Mini computer outperformed most of them! On top of that its under £600 and will play not one CD but store thousands at a time, as well as doing everything a normal computer can do.

    Pixel Magic Media Box

    Multi-room
    Multi-room is a term used to describe an Audio Visual system that controls music or video in two or more rooms. Each room is classed as a zone and typically features a pair of ceiling speakers and a wall mounted control pad.
    Each zone is wired to a main controller that intern is linked to a music server. Using the control pad the user can search and select music stored on the server and listen to other devices such as DAB radio. More sophisticated systems also control TV and DVD pictures to your plasma, projector or LCD screen.
    Living Control for example is one of the better multi-room systems on the market.
    Its clever design, ease of use and sound quality has made it an increasingly popular and respected system.

    Example of a music based 6 zone Living Control system
    Zones
    Zone 1: Living room
    Zone 2: Dining room
    Zone 3: Kitchen
    Zone 4: Master bedroom
    Zone 5: Master ensuite
    Zone 6: Guest bedroom

    Equipment
    1 x Living Control Room box 6 (powers and controls the six zones)
    1 x Living Control Music box 6 (stores your music collection)
    1 x Pure DAB Radio (to provide digital radio)
    6 x Living Control SL Control pads
    6 x Pairs of Speakercraft ceiling speakers

    Pixel Magic Media Box
    Wireless Multi-room
    A multi-room system does require allot of wiring so is often installed in a new property or during major refurbishment. Wireless Multi-room systems are now available, though sometimes their capabilities are restricted. These systems are becoming very good and are often more economically priced due to ease of installation.
    Sonos Multi Room Audio
    Sonos is currently one of the best systems on the market featuring a full colour LCD remote that wireless links to a zone player. Each zone player powers the speakers and links wirelessly to the next zone player. The last zone player in the line networks to your existing computer and accesses all your music files.
    Home Cinema Systems
    A basic home cinema system typically consists of a projector, projection screen and a surround sound system. Dedicated cinema rooms can also feature intelligent lighting control, acoustically treated walls, cinematic interior design and even genuine cinema seating.
    With the right choice of equipment from specialist manufacturers that is installed correctly a true cinematic experience can be achieved.
    The whole system can be operated by a programmed learning remote, so with a press of a single button a sequence of events can be triggered. The projector will turn on, the screen come down, the curtains close, the lights dim and the DVD play!
    The Projector
    When it comes to getting as close as possible to a real cinema in your own home you cant beat a quality projection system. Digital Projector technology has improved so much in the last few years that the quality of home cinema projectors is now getting very close to the ones used in commercial cinemas.
    The range of projectors available is staggering and very confusing. To narrow down your choice it is advisable to stick with a specialist brand due to their expertise in the field and often superior customer service.
    Three such manufactures are Sim2, Infocus Screenplay and Themescene. All use the latest in DLP (Digital Light Processor) chips and offer superior overall picture quality to most other brands.
    Home Cinema Projectors - Sim2, Themescene, Infocus Screenplay
    Home cinema projectors have specific specifications that make them more suitable for showing high quality video images. The contrast is high, typically 1500:1 and above, while the brightness is low at around 1000 lumens.
    All home cinema projectors are now 16:9 (widescreen) as most DVD`s and produced in this format and feature high quality inputs such as component and HDMI.

    The projector is installed on the ceiling towards the back of the room at a distance from the screen determined by the lens of the projector and the screen size.
    Video cables are run from the projector to the connecting equipment such as a DVD player, SKY or surround amplifier.

    The Projection Screen

    Projection screens are available in a number of different types such as manual pull down, electric and fixed frame designs. Most dedicated cinema rooms use a fixed frame screen as these offer a very flat projection surface and look similar to the screens used in commercial cinemas. When installing a system in a used room such as the lounge electric screens are better suited as they roll up into a discrete ceiling mounted case. For an even more discrete system, a recessed in ceiling screen can be used, which hides the case completely. Cinema screens should have a low gain (low reflection) in order to keep the contrast high and an even amount of brightness across the screen. A good screen will have thick material, often consisting of two or more layers.
    The biggest mistake that people make is buying a screen that is smiply to large, this results in motion blur and neck strain. The width of the screen should be approximately half the size of the distance from the screen to the audiance. ie If the audiance is 14ft away, the screen should be 7ft wide.

    For more information on Projector screens and what to look for click here

    Projection Screens - Screenline, Grandview (Pull down screens, electric screens, fixed frame screens)
    The Surround Sound System
    Surround sound typically consists of five or more wall mounted or floor standing speakers and a subwoofer. The most common setup being "5.1" uses a centre, left front, right front, left rear and right rear speaker and a subwoofer for the lower frequencies. The Speakers are powered be an AV surround amplifier that also decodes the digital sound signal from the DVD or other source.
    Ceiling Speakers - Canton, Speakercraft, Tannoy
    Speakers are often the most imposing part of the system but are available in a number of different designs to suit the room. Ceiling speakers that can aim the sound to the listener such as the Speaker Craft Aim series are a good way of keeping the speakers as discrete as possible while retaining sound quality. In-wall speakers are another way of producing quality audio with the minimum of intrusion to the décor of the room. Small wall mounted satellite speakers such as the models produced by specialist speaker manufacturer Canton are also very effective.

    Dedicated cinema rooms often make more of a feature of the speakers and cinema sound quality is the priority. Speaker systems that are THX certified are becoming increasing popular due to their high specification and no compromise sound quality. THX was developed by Director George Lucas and his colleges and his renowned Sky Walker Studios. For a system to achieve the THX mark the speakers have to meet strict specifications and design parameters. This means the sound produced will be as close as possible to what the film makers intended for you to hear.

    THX Sound Systems - Jamo
    Lighting Control and Design
    Lighting control is becoming a popular addition to the home automation market.
    There are some major advantages to using electronic lighting control ,including being able to save and recall settings as well as using less energy when the lights are dimmed.
    Rako is one manufacturer that leading the way in lighting control with its unique wireless control system. Normal light switches are replaced with radio control key pads and a wireless dimmer module is fitted to each lighting circuit.
    A single keypad stores 4 lighting settings as well as total dimming and all off.
    Fifteen dimmers can be used in each room and over 250 rooms can be catered for.

    A typical application would include controlling the lights in a home cinema.
    Bellow is an example of a normal setup.

    Circuit 1: 6 x Ceiling 12v halogen down-lights
    Circuit 2: 2 x Ceiling 12v halogen down-lights above projection screen
    Circuit 3: 4 x Wall mounted up-lighters
    Circuit 4: 8 x Floor LED`s

    Rako Equipment
    4 x RDL-500C 500w dimmer modules
    1 x RCPO7 seven button key pad

    The Rako system can also be controlled by any LCD learning remote. .

    Rako - Intelligent Lighting

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