THE MOST COMMON CONSUMER
HOME-THEATER MISTAKES

 

(1) Buying based on numbers
Retail markets would like consumers to shop with the most simple, effortless strategy because their retail stores are in the business of "pushing tin". If they can make consumers believe that importance lies in High Numbers for Low Prices then they push the most tin and make the most profit.

Numbers like 720p and 1080i and 1080p are important, for sure. Have you heard terms like 2K or 4K yet? You will. But, to the unsavvy consumer, these numbers are commonly mistaken to imply "quality".

Consider this, you have two cars: An old Volkswagen Bus and a Ferrari. Both are capable of going 80 mph. But are they the same car? Hardly.

How well does it handle? How fast did you accelerate? What happens when you have to turn at that speed?

Many TVs and projectors are capable of displaying 1080p (or claim they are) but this doesn't really mean much at all. In fact, a properly tuned 720p can actually look better than a 1080p system. How would you feel if someone showed you their 720p system and beat the socks off your higher-resolution system? It happens. In fact, Resolution (640 and 720 and 1080 etc) is actually less important than Brightness and Contrast Range and Color Accuracy anyway. If they were, we at Alpine Home Theater would be pushing clients to buy higher resolution systems instead because we want our clients to have the best home entertainment system they can afford.

Don't let the numbers fool you. Don't buy a family car and think you're buying a sports car. Make wise, educated decisions. If you have a quick question or need some quick advise as to what to buy, you can contact us here and we can try to steer you in a good direction. We're Alpine and we're here to make your system the best it can be. We're in the business of tuning your 'sports car', your high-performance theater, not selling you one... but you need to have a sports car first.

(2) Buying based on buzz-words
So many consumers don't understand the terminology or the numbers. Here at Alpine we can help you understand the basics. This is what you need to know...

High Definition (also referred to as or HD) doesn't mean anything. It is NOT a standard. HD can mean whatever promoters want them to mean and these terms have been used for decades.

Your screen's native resolution is not represented by a term or phrase but by actual numbers, such as: 640x480 or 720x480 or 1280x720 or 1920x1080 and the first number represents the horizontal resolution and the second number represents the vertical resolution. 720 is short for 1280x720 and 1080 is short for 1920x1080. The key word here is "native". You are only getting true 1080p resolution if you are buying a native 1080p system. Watch out for words like "capable" or "conversion" or "up-conversion" because all of these essentially mean you are not getting what you think you are getting.

Consider this: Look at a picture in a newspaper through a magnifying glass. Are you raising the resolution of the picture? No. You're only making it bigger and magnifying everything in that picture, including the imperfections. By up-converting your picture, you are essentially doing the same thing.

Now consider this: If you get a printer which can match the resolution of the original photograph and print it down on paper, then you have actually improved the resolution on the paper.

What about the quality of the ink and the quality of the paper? These are vital as well. Poor ink can make sloppy, inaccurate colors. And if the paper is not correct, the high-resolution printer may not even be able to print a low-quality picture. Now consider the data cable used by the printer, the workmanship of the printer (its longevity), and even the person operating the printer. These are all vital to accurately reproduce the original picture, which is what Alpine ultimately sets out to do: Make your system match the Movie and TV producer and director's vision as accurately as possible.

Digital.

Guess what? We're not digital creatures. If we could look at a limitless series of ones and zeros and decipher them using our brains in real time to appear as sounds and pictures--then we could be digital-ready. Amid all the hype and buzz-word usage, people forget that using digital translation is only as a means of getting back to analog.

Great example of how this was over-hyped: Digital Cable. How many of us saw a drop in broadcast quality as soon as they went digital? Yup. Just like "high definition", "digital" is not synonymous with quality.

What is important is that you get a TV or Projector that can be hooked up via HDMI and that you actually hook it up using these cables, which brings us to the next topic.

(3) Ignoring the weakest link

The weakest link principal can be applied universally, and it certainly applies to entertainment system hookup as well.

This is what you need to know: Your player needs to be hooked up to your projector or TV via quality sound cables and a quality HDMI cable.

Alpine can help you inspect your cables to make sure your system isn't being compromised by one of the least expensive and easily fixable components in proper home theater hookup. If you're in a pinch, we may even be able to provide you with a quality replacement cable on the spot as well and install it up for you.

Incorrect hookup using the wrong cables is one of the most common errors we have found. Imagine going to a fancy restaurant and they served you a splendid prime-rib dinner but only provided you with cheap, plastic silverware. The food can still get to your mouth, right? It's just not quite the same. Now what if you dumped a bunch of flour and water all over your plate and then began eating. You're still eating, right? Sure, it's just not the same. Now, what if you were only allowed to eat certain ingredients off of the plate... say you separated it all out, left off the sauce, could not touch the side dishes, and could only consume the bare basics? You're still eating prime rib, right? You get the point.

This is exactly what you're doing to your source material (your DVD movie, for example) when you hookup with incorrect or bad cables.

Cheap cables, such as the ones pre-packaged with your system, can introduce noise into your picture. This is not up to par with Alpine standards. "Noise" referres to anything about your picture that is something other than the exact picture. (Like dumping flour and water over your finely prepared meal, if you will) Common examples of noise can include ghosting or lines around subjects in your images, static, or computer "glitch" type images. Proper cables are designed to eliminate noise.

Incorrect hookup may, in fact, get you a picture but you could easily be using 1970's, 1980's, or 1990's technology to try to reproduce an image created for and by today's technology. You will automatically lose much, if not most, of the information originally provided. (Think of removing half of the ingredients from your plate, wiping off the sauce, and eating the bare minimum components of your meal--a plain hamburger, so to speak, with nothing on it)

Incorrect hookup is one of the most common mistakes we encounter. One of the reasons it continues to happen is because people are so accustomed to "plain hamburgers", if you will, that they don't realize what they are missing... all the rest of the ingredients. The same goes for uncalibrated theatres ... if you aren't viewing a calibrating system, you probably don't realize what you're missing, which is the rest of the sound and color and resolution information that has been provided by the Movie and TV studios for today's world that your system is not reproducing.

Call Alpine Home Theater out to your home and we will inspect your cables for proper operation and proper hookup during our signature I.S.F. or H.A.A. calibration and tuning service. Our goal is to get you the best theater experience possible!

(4) Sound is everything
Hollywood moviemakers know it, and you should too. Don't make the mistake of improving your picture quality without first ensuring your sound system is the best it can be. The most significant improvement you can make to a theater system is to upgrade the quality of its audio components and properly calibrate the system. These go hand in hand.

(5) By all means, get your system calibrated
This is the final and most important step! All the money and time you've invested in an impressive home theatre system is for nothing if your system is not hooked up and adjusted correctly for your room.

A great many people out there have High-Def (HD) compatible systems but are not even watching a High Definition signal... they aren't even aware of what they're missing! Federal law requires that electronic devices include "legacy" hookup ports to be compatible with older technology. So what happens? People hook up their systems using these "familiar" ports and they completely miss out on the benefits their new system has to offer. Hookup doesn't have to be complicated but it has to be done right.

For starters, you MUST use a HDMI cable. But it doesn't end there. If your menu settings are not correct, the signal may not even be passing through this required cable. You may still be watching a standard definition picture -or- you may be watching a HD signal that's still only HALF the resolution that it could be.

It doesn't end there either. If you system is not calibrated correctly, your new system could easily be giving you more eye and ear strain than your old system. Why? Because higher standards absolutely require proper setup and maintenance. In fact, with proper tuning and calibration, a 720p system can actually be more pleasing than a brand new 1080p system. It's that significant.

You wouldn't install an air-conditioner in your home without adjusting the thermostat for the proper temperature. You wouldn't drive your high-performance car without ever looking under the hood or giving it a tune-up. If you invest in one of today's high-definition home-theater systems without ensuring it is setup correctly for your viewing/listening environment you are most likely missing out on the experience you paid for and you may be making this costly mistake as well...

Projectors and televisions are shipped with the WRONG settings for home viewing. This is done on purpose. Why? Because they are meant to be sold in stores. These vastly modified store modes blast the TV or projector to its full capacity in order to compete with all the other models on the showroom floor. These modes are so damaging to the device and to your eyes that technicians commonly refer to it as "torch mode". It's akin to racing a new car's engine, severely reducing the useable life of the engine and not tuning it properly for proper, yet alone peak, performance.

Granted, it may be hard for some people to believe that projectors and televisions are sold this way, in the same way some people don't believe that most advertising is false. All we can say is, those of us who really care about quality know that it takes more effort than making a purchase, putting a projector or TV and some speakers in a room, and tuning it on. The difference of tuning your system properly can range from pleasing to staggering. We have never met anyone who wasn't happier with their system after it was properly tuned. It's critical to get your theater hooked up, set up, and tweaked right to achieve proper performance. Call us today to get it right.