While many home entertainment systems are confined to one room, some of the latest technologies in the world of audio/video home entertainment can expand these systems from the central viewing room to everywhere in the home, turning entertainment into a whole-home experience.

Viewing Angle

Tuning in at home has gone big time. Aiming to replace the venerable Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) television are Digital Light Processing (DLP) rear projection screens, skinny LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) desktop units, and plasma display picture (PDP) TV technology. Combined with widescreen 16:9 width-to-height ratios, these new formats guarantee a movie theater-like viewing experience home. New TV models are slimmer, lighter, easily assimilated into the viewing room, and display stunning images. For example, high-end 50-inch plasma flat-screen TVs can measure less than 2-inches thick, and can be placed virtually anywhere in the room, and are light enough to be safely mounted on the wall. Available High Definition Television (HDTV) compatibility features in new sets offer the option for an even greater viewing experience with a subscription to HDTV satellite service.

The definitive factor in choosing a television is still the price. The biggest and best units using the latest technologies can carry price tags well above $10,000—and higher. Small compromises on screen size and picture quality bring more affordable pricing. Consider that in a properly arranged room, viewers should be seated over 10 feet away from screens larger than 40-inches, meaning that in many rooms bigger is not necessarily better.

Sound Advice

The new standard in home entertainment audio systems is multi-speaker packages. An audio system designed to reproduce the movie theater sound in the home usually consists of at least a Dolby Pro Logic surround sound receiver, left and right front speakers, a center channel speaker, and at least one surround sound speaker. An optional subwoofer, additional surround speaker, and the ability to utilize more advanced digital recording formats such as Dolby Digital (DD) and/or Digital Theater System (DTS) can improve the viewing experience by bringing the movie theater sound experience home (or embolden the tunes from a favorite band). Sharing music throughout the home has also become more commonplace. With the installation of multiple speakers throughout the rooms of the home the music from a central entertainment system can be heard and controlled in nearly every room.

Saved at Home

As digital video discs (DVDs) attack the VHS videotape in the rental store, hard disk recorders are making inroads on the VCRs turf at home. Hard disk systems are capable of recording up to 60 hours of television and come equipped with handy recording features that cater to the television program viewer. Options vary from system to system, but a standard selling feature is that live broadcast shows can be paused and restarted. When a live show is “paused,” the device begins recording the broadcast. It can be then played back in a few minutes or a few hours. Hit “play” and the show picks up where it left off, to resume broadcast in its entirety. Recording programs is as easy as browsing the TV listing of upcoming shows and hitting “record” once the desired program is selected. Or simply tell the system the name of your favorite show and it will record each episode, every week, automatically adjusting for time changes and extra-length specials; once the hard disk is full the system will record only over the oldest episode. Save-to-VCR interfaces make it easy to transfer recorded shows onto the VHS tapes for long-term storage.

Music on the Go

Is the compact disc dead? Not quite, but new digital music formats and storage devices are changing the way music is recorded and stored. The CD’s original appeal was that it stored music digitally, taking home music listening into the digital age. The MP3 format, popularized in part by the now infamous Napster online music sharing service, has become a preferred method for storing and listening to music.

Moving music off a computer’s hard drive and onto a home or car audio system can be accomplished several ways. Memory cards, which mimic a computer hard disk drive and can be almost as small as a postage stamp, make storing and transporting large volumes of music easy. Many devices can directly connect to a computer’s hard drive to transfer files. Portability, either in Walkman-like personal devices or car stereo systems, has dramatically increased. Consider that a daylong drive’s soundtrack can be stored on a single disc or memory card. Security, too, is being addressed. Built-in technology on Panasonic’s SD (Secure Digital) memory cards, for example, restricts unwanted access to files, and limits the ability to copy files from one computer to another.