In the olden and golden days (or so they say) what was considered the ultimate ‘theatrum mundi’ was all about the perfect acoustics that accentuated the voices of the actors sans modern day mikes and speakers, usually built outdoors. Skipping a little ahead in time, to the 21stcentury, we bring the home theatre in all its sleek and surround sound glory, HD quality flat-screen TVs that get slimmer by the year, paling in comparison to its fat backed, older generations.
This materialized entertainment adorns the centre stage of our living rooms and gives us a quasi-virtual experience of being seated next to Chandler from Friends.
Whether it’s bringing home the cinema-going experience or wanting to be the exclusive audience of a live-band sans the noise of the other concert goers, here are five different, yet up-and-coming home entertainment systems from sound to sight.
Yamaha Sound Projection (YSP)
image source: http://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/audio-visual/hometheater-systems/digital-sound-projector/ysp-3300_g/?mode=model
The latest Yamahas YSP 3300, is basically two boxes that promise stellar surround sound. Amping up your favourite music or the background effects of your action thriller can be done via a HDMI cable or the Yamaha sub-woofer wireless plug-in, to connect to your television, iPhone, laptop or tablet. Although Bluetooth or Wi-Fi donot come as standard.
Dolby-Marantz Theatre on the Shelf
image source: http://www.gizmag.com/marantz-dolby-atmos-receiver/33400/pictures
Taking that a step further, Marantz SR 7009 in conjunction with Dolbys Atmos, have created the best hardware-software love-child for a home theatre system. Complete with Atmoss various speaker layouts, satellite or overhead speakers and a sub-woofer. Made for a cinematic movie experience, the speakers are said to perfectly align and project the sounds in the direction from which they happen on screen with a depth as though they were happening around you.
Curvy View Samsung Smart LED HDTV
image source: http://www.films2021.com/samsung-un55h8000-curved-55-inch-3d-led-hdtv/
Samsungs UN55 H8000 Curved 55-inch 1080p 240Hz 3D Smart LED TV in HD provides high-class viewing resolution with adjustable dimming provisions for low-lit rooms. It includes connection via Bluetooth connectivity, 4 HDMI connectors and USB plug-ins, Ethernet and audio headphone functionality. It also comes with a built-in camera, allows for 3D viewing options and has a personalizable user interface like that of your smart-phone. Its curved shape screen allows for a panorama like vision of that thrilling action scene or the beautiful scenery of a wildlife documentary.
Google Television
image source: http://www.definitionbam.com/news/tag/hisense/page/2
Similar to that of the in-flight entertainment televisions but on a grander scale, as a comeback to the slow progress of living room entertainment technology, CES displayed some of their latest prototype products. One of these is the Hisense’s Pulse Pro, which is of course, a TV box fuelled by Android or what you can call Google TV. It comes with its own desktop page, the normative TV remote, and an integrated mike complete with gesture and motion based function control. Complete with Google apps and Playstore downloadables, it comes with a cursor on your remote control too. Switching from your Smartphone to smart TV couldn’t be easier.
Projection Section
image source: http://www.projectorreviews.com/comparisons/epson-home-cinema-5030-ub-vs-panasonic-pt-ae8000u/
When the latest TVs seem too bulky to have around, the next best thing would be having a projector to recreate the cinema-going experience anywhere and everywhere. The Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 5030UB projector does the trick by projecting your favourite TV shows in dark-rooms or a backyard movie night onto a maximum of 300-inch screen size. With no compromise to colours, it has customizable set-up features based on the viewing environment, allowing you to automatically save those settings under modes for future use. It also has an auto-adjustable lens shift function and comes with a couple of 3D glasses and three distinctive 3D modes to activate as per setting. Propped best at ceiling level, it covers the lens up with an auto-slide cover when you switch it off.
In other news, IMAX is willing to offer wealthy Chinese fans a chance to build their own personal IMAX cinema rooms at home. In liaison with TCL Multimedia, IMAX home style theatres will cost about 150,000 pounds and be available to wealthy people in the Middle East, Russia and Hong Kong, and may soon also introduce 3D facilities for it.
Varsha Venugopalan
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