Home Theater
It’s Getting Even Smarter
Until recently, a home theater was a more or less self-contained system. It consisted of the following elements:
Sources
High-quality video content, usually including a Blu-ray or DVD movie player, plus a TV program source (cable or satellite service).
Receiver
A surround receiver to switch between A/V and audio-only sources, decode the digital soundtrack and convert it to analog surround sound, then amplify the audio signals.
Display
A video projector with a large 16:9 screen, or a large flat-screen TV display.
Speakers
Three front and two or more surround speakers—plus a subwoofer—to re-create the sound.
Video source material was shown on a video display, while the surround sound system and speakers played the soundtrack. Simple!
Today, home theaters have become smart theaters. They can serve as a digital hub for receiving, controlling, and managing conventional audio and video content, as well as movie libraries on massive hard drives, audio and video streaming from a wide range of internet sources, pay-per-view shows from cable and satellite providers, etc. Plus, they can distribute this content for playback in other rooms in the home.
Here are some of the developments that make today’s home theaters smarter:
Video Streaming
Inexpensive streaming devices (from Roku, Apple TV, and others) now make streaming of video content off the internet simple and inexpensive. Some TV manufacturers even build streaming technology into their premium Smart TV models. This trend has dramatically increased consumer access to a vast range of video content. But these streaming products do have limitations. Two things to keep in mind:
- The number of online vendors who stream video content is increasing rapidly, and manufacturers have trouble keeping up (by including apps for all of these sources.) Advice: before you buy a streaming device, make sure that apps are available for all your favorite streaming vendors.
- Most video streaming devices are inexpensive, one-size-fits-all products that are intended for simple systems with minimal automation. Some don’t easily allow customizing their control options, making them difficult to integrate into custom systems. This is changing, as more sophisticated streaming devices are entering the marketplace. But recognize that challenges may still exist in controlling them.
Audio Streaming
There has never been more music available online. And home Wi-Fi now lets you stream the songs from your smartphone or tablet directly to a surround receiver (or other Wi-Fi equipped device), eliminating the need for a docking station or hook-up cable. See Audio Sources.
Multi-Room Music
Most new surround receiver models can decode stereo signals from surround sound formats, permitting music played on the home theater system to be shared—in stereo—throughout the house, without the need for additional sources and amplifiers in each room. See Multi-Room Music.
Multi-Room Video
Most Cable TV and Satellite providers now build DVRs (digital video recorders) into their boxes, which can simultaneously record up to five programs, and then play them back in up in multiple rooms—at the same time.
Several manufacturers (including Kaleidescape and Sony) offer devices that can copy and store hundreds of Blu-ray and DVD discs, plus download Blu-ray quality movies and shows, from their online video stores. Plus, some of these video libraries can play back stored content simultaneously to multiple rooms.
But stay tuned—this is just the beginning of a new era in video content management.