Plasma TV vsLCD

When choosing between LCD and plasma TVs, you're actually selecting between two competing technologies, both of which achieve similar features as bright, crystal-clear images, super color saturated pictures and come in similar packages .To complicate the decision-making process further, price and size are two previous considerations that are rapidly becoming non-issues as LCDs are now being made in larger sizes and at competing prices with plasma TVs.

Despite all these similarities, these technologies differ in how they process and display incoming video/computer signals. Plasma flat screen technology consists of hundreds of thousands of individual pixel cells, which allow electric pulses (stemming from electrodes) to excite rare natural gases-usually xenon and neon-causing them to glow and produce light. This light illuminates the proper balance of red, green, or blue phosphors contained in each cell to display the proper color sequence from the light. Each pixel cell is essentially an individual microscopic florescent light bulb, receiving instruction from software contained on the rear electrostatic silicon board. Look very closely at a plasma TV and you can actually see the individual pixel cell coloration of red, green, and blue bars. You can also see the black ribs which separate each.

Whether spread across a flat-panel screen or placed in the heart of a projector, all LCD displays come from the same technological background. A matrix of thin-film transistors (TFTs) supplies voltage to liquid-crystal-filled cells sandwiched between two sheets of glass. When hit with an electrical charge, the crystals untwist to an exact degree to filter white light generated by a lamp behind the screen (for flat-panel TVs) or one projecting through a small LCD chip (for projection TVs). LCD monitors reproduce colors through a process of subtraction: They block out particular color wavelengths from the spectrum of white light until they're left with just the right color. And, it's the intensity of light permitted to pass through this liquid-crystal matrix that enables LCD televisions to display images chock-full of colors-or gradations of them.

Dolby VS DTS

Perhaps the most controversial question asked in the context of DVDs is: does DTS sound better than Dolby Digital? As in so many debates, there is the strong position and the weak one. The strong position is that, yes, of course DTS sounds better. The weak one comes from those who have listened to both and, often shamefacedly, admit that they can't tell any difference.

Naturally, DTS advocates are in the winning position because they can say that they have heard a difference. The poor old Dolby Digital defenders look like they have cloth ears. But before we delve too deeply into the debate, let's look at what the two formats are, and where they came from.

Neither was developed for DVD. Both were intended to provide 5.1 discrete channels of digital sound in cinemas on 35mm film while remaining fully compatible with standard equipment. Dolby placed its digital sound track as optical marking on the edge of the film, between the sprocket holes. This left Dolby with a bandwidth of around 400 kilobits per second. Six channels of uncompressed CD-quality digital audio requires ten times this capacity, so Dolby developed AC-3, an MPEG-type 'lossy' audio compression system.

Turtle Beach ?

Wireless Xbox 360 Headphones with Improved Xbox Live Chat and Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound
The Ear Force® X4 wireless headphones push your Xbox 360™ gaming experience to a whole new level with the thrill and realism of Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel surround sound. Pump up the volume without disturbing friends, family, or neighbors. Freely move around as you play. Hear every nuance of the game—from an opponent sneaking up behind you to your teammate's voice right next to you. Trash-talk online. Block out distractions. Feel the game expand all around you and become a better player.

Features

• Enjoy Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound with your favorite games and DVD movies
• Dolby Pro Logic® II provides surround sound from Pro Logic II encoded audio and also enhances stereo
• Hear Xbox Live® Chat plus stereo game sound
• Heart-thumping bass boost adds sonic realism
• Dynamic Talkback lets you hear chat even when the game gets louder
• Separate controls for game and chat volumes
• Eliminates game sounds picked up by chat mic
• Mic Monitor lets you hear what you're saying
  

Dolby Pro Logic

Dolby Pro Logic is a surround sound processing technology designed to decode soundtracks encoded with Dolby Surround. Dolby Surround Stereo was originally developed by Dolby Laboratories in 1976 for analog cinema sound systems. The format was adapted for home use in 1982 as Dolby Surround when HiFi capable consumer VCRs were earlier introduced and was then replaced by the newer and improved Pro Logic system in 1987. However, the term "Dolby Surround" is still used to describe the encoding technology or matrix-encoded soundtrack, whereas Pro Logic refers to the decoding technology/processor. It is the domestic equivalent of the theatrical Dolby Stereo technology used in movie cinemas in the 1970s and '80s. The two technologies are mostly identical but a change in marketing was needed so as not to confuse cinema stereo which is at least four channels of audio with home stereo which is only two. Thus Dolby Pro-Logic is the consumer version of theatrical Dolby stereo.

Dolby Surround/Pro Logic is based on basic matrix technology. When a Dolby Surround soundtrack is created, four channels of sound are matrix-encoded into an ordinary stereo (two channel) sound track by using phase shift techniques. A Pro Logic decoder/processor "unfolds" the sound into the original 4.0 surround—left and right, center, and a single limited frequency-range mono rear channel—while systems lacking the decoder play back the audio as standard Stereo.

Although Dolby Surround was introduced as an analog format, all Dolby Digital decoders incorporate a digitally implemented Dolby Surround Pro Logic decoder for digital stereo signals that carry matrix-encoded Dolby Surround.

Latest Home Theater

Klipsch and Circuit City have made a deal that would bring the Klipsch and Energy brands to 700 stores across the country. It would also make many of those selections available online.
For the Klipsch brand, the store will feature the Synergy Series, which includes floorstanding and bookshelf speaker models, as well as center-channel, surrounds, and subwoofers. Pricing ranges from $250 to $900 per pair. The company says that a five-speaker home theater set will also be available.

Don’t expect many Energy speakers; the store will only carry the six-piece Take Classic system, which will run for $600.

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in a home theater, a picture can only be as good as it sounds,” said Philip J. Schoonover, chairman, president and CEO of Circuit City. “With the Klipsch and Energy brands, our customers will truly be investing in world-class audio to match their world-class home entertainment system,”