Home Theatre Cable Tips: Component Cables
Component cables look similar to RCA or Composite cables; however the signal improvement with component cables is substantial. Home Theater component cables divide the image from the system into three separate colors for the best possible picture, where as composite cables are the yellow (video) and red, white (audio) connections that come standard with game systems these days. Component video improves the picture quality by not only separating the color from the black-and-white portions of the picture but by further splitting the color information into two color-difference signals. When the home theater projector signal is split up in this way, you get an unfiltered, uninterrupted image, with better resolution and greatly improved color saturation. This is why component video is the predominant method of hookup from HDTV set-top decoders to HDTVs.
Plasma Screens: Image Burn
Not only do plasma screens burn out over time, an image can also get burned into a plasma screen. Let's say you are a weather junkie. You wake up in cold sweats because you just can't stop watching The Weather Channel. First of all, you have bigger problems than image burn at this point, but I digress. When watching a station such as this, for advertising purposes, the station will leave a logo in one of the upper or lower corners all of the time. When left on this channel for a few hours, The Weather Channel logo will eventually burn right into the plasma screen. This logo could appear no matter what you watch on the plasma screen.
On the other hand, home theater projectors do not have this problem of image burn. Pause your video and leave the room for a week and the image will not be burned on the projector or the screen.
Home Theatre Projector Cable Tips: S-Video and Y/C Cables
S-Video, which was introduced in the 1980s, solved some of the problems that came with composite video. S-video cables differ from composite video cables in that they split video signal into two different components: luminance and chrominance. The quality of video these produce are a much better and clearer video signal on the screen than the composite video cables. The reason for this fact is due to that with S-Video cables, the video signal is split up into its elementary characteristics of chrominance & luminance. Whereas with the composite video cable, chrominance & luminance values are blended together which results in a little less quality in the video signal. This improvement makes for much better home theater video.
Big Screen TVs: Not True Home Theatre
When you think of home theater, what comes to mind? Sitting on a big comfortable couch with a bowl full of popcorn the size of you head (that didn't cost $9.00 at a concession stand) and watching a movie the size of your entire wall.
Home Theater means BIG images, BIG sound and a HUGE experience. Some people will say that a 50" big screen TV and a good sound system will give the true home theater experience. Truthfully, these people have never watched a movie 8´ tall by 10´ wide, with earth shaking sound.
A home theater projector is your answer to true home theater. Once you watch your first movie projected
from a front projection home theater, your big screen TV will find a new home in the in-law suite. Check out why every home theater should have a home theater projector as its main component. Your friends and neighbors will thank you.
Plasma Screens: Life Expectancy
Plasma screens, just like the lamps in a LCD or DLP projector have a set life to them and will eventually burn out. Most plasma screens have a life of 20,000-30,000 hours. Now this may seem like a lot, but again there are some things you should know. Plasma brightness is identical to the way UHP lamps in projectors work on half-lives. At 10,000 hours you will be at half the brightness you started with, and at the full 20,000 or 30,0000 hours the image will be so dark and distorted, that it is actually no longer watch able.
In comparison, a home theater projector has a 2,000 hour lamp. Changing a lamp is a fraction of the cost of replacing an entire plasma screen.
Plasma Screens: Plasma Size Limitations
If you are looking for a dramatically large movie screen for your home theatre, you need to look beyond plasma screens. Look to home theater projectors. LCD and DLP projectors are capable of turning your home theatre room into a true cinema-like environment. Plasma screens today are topping out at a little over 60 inches diagonal.
With a home theatre projector, you can project twice that large and more! If you have a large enough room that you can put your LCD or DLP projector further back, you can project an image as large as your living room wall!
Home Theatre Projector Screens: Screen Styles
Other things to consider once you have chosen a fabric are styles of screens. You can get a permanent wall mounted screen, a manual pull down screen, or electric screen or even a portable screen that would allow you to have a mobile home theatre (which is great way to keep friends from moving in to your house permanently!). Here is a look at what screens will work with which fabrics:
In order to use a high contrast screen fabric or some of the fabrics that increase gain, you have to have a permanently mounted screen or tab-tensioned electric. The reason for this is these materials are very spongy and need to be pulled taught in every direction to be most effective.
For those of you who are looking to utilize a living room for a home theatre and therefore do not want a screen open on the wall all the time should look at manual and electric screens.
The next step in a retractable screen is the electric. Electric screens hard wire into your home and work on a three position wall switch (up, down, and stop). Tab tensioned electric screens allow a perfectly flat image by having the screen pulled taught, both vertically and horizontally.
Home Theatre Projector Cable Tips: BNC Cables
Producing the sharpest video possible takes more than a good home theatre projector and a quality, progressive scan DVD player. The link between the two devices is also critical. The cables you choose for your home theatre can mean the difference between a spectacular image and a lackluster one.
The BNC cable is one cable that home theatre enthusiasts often rely on. It is simply a more secure RCA cable. This home theatre cable is the same as the RCA home theatre cable, except for the connecting ends. Each end of the BNC cable features a connector that attaches to the projector and locks with a twist. BNC cables are a possible solution in environments where there is considerable interference, or where running new twisted pair wire is not feasible.
Home Theatre Projector Cable Tips: DVI Cables
Today you are capable of the purest video using Digital Video Interface (DVI) cables. However, DVI home theater cables are still in development and there is no universal standard for the DVI cable. Under ideal circumstances, the DVI home theater cable creates a digital to digital' connection between video or data source and the home theater projector. There are, however, only limited situations when this ideal circumstance occurs.
The general rule with DVI cables is that 5m (16ft) is the maximum length for trouble-free operation. Some have been able to use inexpensive cables for slightly longer runs, but they are the exception -- not the rule.
HDCP over DVI is a recent development in the world of consumer electronics. The new HDCP content protection standard has expanded the use of DVI in high definition DVD players and HDTV set top boxes.
Want to find out which cable is best for your home theater projector?
CRT Projectors: Less bright than LCD and DLP Projectors
The true downside to CRT projectors is the level of brightness and range of maintenance involved. In terms of brightness, even the top of the line CRT projectors top out at about 500 lumens.
Now in comparison with something like the NEC LT265 DLP projector, which has 2500 lumens of brightness and a much stronger contrast ratio, it begs the question of how important is having no pixels when you can gain so much more from another technology?
Fortunately, today's home theater projectors offer a vast choice of both LCD and DLP projectors that feature enough brightness than you can watch a movie with the lights on!
Discover the difference in DLP projectors and LCD projectors with brightness, great video quality and affordability.
CRT Projectors: More work than LCD and DLP Projectors
There is a lot that a CRT projector user must know. CRT projectors have three tubes in them, also known as guns. One tube is for red, one for blue and one for green. When one of these tubes dies, you have to replace all three, which tends to get very expensive, not to mention tedious. The next thing to look at is convergence. With a CRT projector there is a lot of work that goes into making sure the image is set right between the three tubes and that they are all firing with the same intensity. Also arranging the horizontal and vertical syncs and calibrating the machine overall, can make for a fun filled Sunday afternoon.
CRT's are not really available new any longer because the call for the technology just isn't there any more since the advent of the newer LCD projectors and DLP projectors. The advantages of
LCD projectors and DLP projectors for home theater are numerous. But for starters, all you need to do to start watching a movie, is turn on the DVD Player and turn on the home theater projector. And maybe make a bowl of popcorn.
Plasma Screens: Cost more than home theater projectors
Plasma screens are a fantastic technology both for video and data. It allows very bright true images and takes up very little space since it hangs from your wall.
So what are the drawbacks? There are actually a few drawbacks to this technology that might make you want to consider a home theater projector over a plasma screen. First, they are incredibly expensive. A 60" diagonal plasma will run over $8,000.00 and can weigh over 100 lbs. This means you must have a special plasma mount hung on a reinforced beam for it to not come crashing down on your floor and turning into the most expensive paperweight ever made.
Want to compare plasma screens to home theater projectors? Home theater projectors are becoming increasingly affordable. Ranging in price from less than a thousand dollars to $6000 for a phenomenal home theater projector, you'll still have enough money to buy a premium sound system with the money you save over buying a plasma screen.
Home Theatre Projector Screens: Screen Gain
Screen gain is how much light the screen will reflect back to the viewer. Home theater screens with higher screen gain will actually give the appearance of a brighter image.
For example: a High Power Screen with a 2.3 gain will take an 800 lumen projector and make it appear as if it is actually 1,840 lumens. Sounds perfect, right? Don't get too excited yet.
It is important to know that when you increase the gain of the screen, you also decrease the viewing angle. This means that the more you cross a 45 degree angle, the darker the image will get. Depending on how your home theater projector and home theater seating area is arranged, you could get a brilliant video image or lackluster one.
There are some screens on the market that actually have a screen gain less than 1.0. A screen that has a gain of less than 1.0 is called a High Contrast Fabric screen. These screens are great for darkening up the contrast ratio (or black levels) to give a more cinematic effect.
CRT Projectors: Much larger than DLP and LCD Projectors
CRT Projectors are big. No even bigger. You may have read about CRT projectors or spoken to a friend that recommends the image quality because there are no visible pixels. What you may not know is that this projector is a beast and can be as large as a coffee table and weigh 150-200 pounds. Do you want a 200 lb object hanging over your head as you watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Too large to move, a nightmare to ceiling mounts and imagine if you need to take it down to be repaired. The CRT projector is a relic of a projector that produces a good image at a huge price and huge size.
On the other end of the spectrum, DLP projectors and LCD projectors offer all of the benefits of great home theater video quality, and weighing in at a mere fraction of the CRT projectors. Ranging from 3-15 pounds, most DLP and LCD home theater projectors give you the option of setting them on a table, taking them with you to a friend's house, or doubling as your workplace presentation projector.
Big Screen TVs: Viewing angle no match for home theatre projectors
Also, with rear projection big screen TVs, the image will become darker the more you break a 45-degree angle from the screen. This smaller viewing angle may not be a factor if you have a limited space. However, if your home theatre or living room is set-up with seats at all angles, a home theatre projector are best. You can view a projected image from a front projection home theatre most any angle and the image will not darken or degrade. If viewing angle is a factor in choosing which home theatre technology to use, front projection home theatre is your best choice.
