Tag Archive for 'gadget'

My Projector Based “Home Cinema”

Published
by
John Griffin
on December 12, 2007
in Gaming, Life, Movies and Tech
. 2 Comments

I have had my “home cinema” setup for a few months now but totally forgot to blog about it until I was reminded recently. Right now I have an Optoma HD70 projector sitting atop some cheap IKEA shelves that boost it over the height of the sofa with anyone sitting on it. It’s far enough away from the wall that I can get about an 80″ to 100″ picture depending on how I feel. Luckily the wall in my apartment is very plain and clean and you don’t even notice the texture of the wall. 720p stuff looks amazing while standard def content doesn’t look too shabby either, especially when compared to and LCD TV. The projector has HDMI, component and VGA inputs so I connect my PC via HDMI and the Xbox 360 via component.

I knew I would have to get some new speakers to go with this when I got it so I went for the cheapest THX DTS set around. This turned out to be the Logitech Z-5400 which produces a ton of bass and has coax and optical inputs to connect to the PC and 360 respectively. The remote is a little flaky but nothing a few smacks can’t cure.

Alien

(click for full resolution)

Alien is an awesome demonstration of the system. I have a 1080p version with DTS sound and it just comes alive with the creepy score and crisp visuals. Having this system makes me want to go back and watch the classics all over again and I have definitely found myself watching more movies because of this. Next on the list is Blade Runner Final Cut and Back to the Future (if I can get a decent HD version).

The 360 works nicely too but I did find myself getting slightly motion sick in Halo 3 from the first few hours of play. This is probably due to the sheer size of the screen alone but you do get used to and it only affects FPS games. Oh and playing games like Lumines, Tetris and Bomberman on the thing feels like total overkill!

So my recommendation if you are looking for a nice big screen is to seriously consider a projector. Obviously you need the throw distance, a dark room and a large enough wall but the price per inch of screen size cannot be beaten. Gizmodo put handy list of tips together recently which are worth checking out.

The iPhone. No 16:9, No Deal.

Published
by
John Griffin
on January 19, 2007
in TV and Tech
. 0 Comments

When Steve Jobs proudly proclaimed the iPhone was widescreen we all assumed he meant real widescreen aka 16:9 aka what you get on all TVs. Finally the ability to watch TV shows in their native aspect ratio without letter-boxing or cropping.

As it turns out after a little investigation over at Cnet’s Crave the iPhone actually has an aspect ratio of 1.5:1, putting it firmly in proprietary, non-standard family of screens. Why do we have to keep going through this? Its been hard enough controlling content and displays in the move to 16:9, so why can’t Apple who are overlords of all the content and all the displays on their platform get it right?

It really pisses me off when these manufacturers flaunt the standards and formats in place by just completely ignoring them and doing their own thing. When you say widescreen you better mean it instead of fobbing us off with this half arsed attempt, hell even Sony can do it. Do you really want to become more notorious than Sony for this sort of thing?

Until we get a proper, true, authentic widescreen iPod with decent battery life and a larger storage capacity this is a non starter. No sale Apple!

[via Engadget]