Heron Fidelity

I've emerged from yet another Consumer Electronics Show saturated in new display knowledge.  As I predicted two years ago, we can expect premium 2013 HDTVs to feature densely packed pixels, expanded color palettes, and screen sizes that nearly eclipse a queen-sized bed.

While the world patiently awaits OLED's dethroning of LED and plasma as the display technology of choice, 4K resolution (aka Ultra High Definition aka 3840x2160) is available today and will become a standard feature on premium HDTVs 50-inches and larger by year's end.

Color is King
Another trend that was apparent among the premium 2013 televisions on the show floor was a claimed expansion of the available color palette.  The current HDTV video spec that we loving call Rec. 709 is a color-compromise with a restricted palette, compared to average human perception, that almost every HDTV can properly (and sometimes accurately!) display.  Forward-looking video standards like the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) define an expanded color palette that features more richly-colored (saturated) hues of red, green, and cyan compared to Rec. 709.  Samsung and Broadcom unveiled new products at CES that support High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) - another next-generation video compression standard that will support higher resolutions (up to 8K) and "improved" color gamut and dynamic range compared to the now ubiquitous H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard.  The problem with a HDTV color gamut that exceeds Rec. 709 is that there is no commercial content available that properly utilizes this new selection of richly-saturated colors.  So the Catch-22 continues: the display technology awaits a new standard that everyone (the content creators and owners) can agree upon that defines an updated and expanded color system.

Note: I annotated the slideshow pictures in the Gallery View with more product information.

My 4K/UHD highlights in no particular order:

Sony
Sony's 4K OLED prototype was one of those things that made the jaded editorial analyst in me smile - amazing contrast, high resolution, and incredibly saturated colors.  I'm tired of the OLED tease, and there is no indication if or when Sony will release an OLED of its own, but the company certainly knows how to wow the eyes of someone who has seen and tested hundreds if not thousands of HD display systems.  Thinking of a sweet spot between screen size and pixel density (and killer design!), I'm especially interested getting a 65-inch XBR-65X900A into the lab as soon as possible!  Also featured in its premium 2013 offerings is Sony's updated Triluminous display technology that utilizes QD Vision's quantum dot technology that generates very pure and saturated colors that are ideal for an expanded color gamut HDTV.

Sharp
Sharp's most impresive technology at CES was IGZO - Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide!  This new substrate material for OLED and LCD displays offers incredible energy savings by not requiring electricity to maintain a static image - similar to how e-ink technology operates.  In addition, IGZO also enables increased pixel densities - one image in the gallery shows a extreme closeup of a 6.1-inch IGZO display that has a native resolution of 2560x1600...almost 500 pixels-per-inch!  Sharp also unveiled the first THX Certified 4K HDTV - the ICC Purios LC-60HQ10.  The Purios TV demos appeared superbly calibrated, and this is another 4K screen I cannot wait to get in for testing.

Samsung
Samsung's new S9 UHD television brings 85-inchs of Ultra High Definition to select home theaters in 2013 - its easel-like frame integrates a 120W audio system and supports the super-sized TV in elegant style.  I'll be curious to see if the S9 does anything special with its high-resolution, active 3D technology, screen - perhaps a "dual view" option similar to what the company has demonstrated with its upcoming F9500 OLED television.

Toshiba
The very first 4K HDTV I saw in person was from Toshiba, and the company's 2013 lineup features their 84-inch creation as well as plenty of new 1080p models to choose from - all featuring new thin-frame designs with refreshingly minimalist styling touches along the lower bezel.

4K this year - OLED next...
LG, Westinghouse Digital, Vizio, TCL, Haier, HiSense...they all demonstrated 4K resolution displays at CES.  While the major HDTV manufacturers are introducing 4K tech in their premium products, word on the show floor was that 50-inch 4K displays will crack $2000 this year.  So if you are looking for a new 50-inch or larger PC monitor with some 8-million pixels awaiting signal, you should have several options to choose from by the end of this Summer.

See Robert's Favorite Home Theater Gear!

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Updated July 3rd, 2015

It's been about three years since I replaced a cable television DVR (digital video recorder) that I was renting with a custom-built PC (original article archive: part one and part two). It was the introduction of multi-tuner CableCARD host adapters that made it easy to turn a Windows PC into a powerful home theater centerpiece that convinced me to craft my own super-DVR. That initial build using the unlikely union of an Intel Atom processor and Nvidia ION graphics technology resulted in excellent energy efficiency and solid 1080p video playback, but the system's ability to smoothly multitask was constantly challenged.

For version 2.0 of my home theater PC (HTPC), I vowed to maintain excellent energy efficiency while significantly improving its performance.

TV Picture Setup Guide

Cord Cutting Guide

Parts list
The complete parts list for my current HTPC build:

Case: Thermaltake Luxa2 LM100 Mini - discontinued but some refurbished units remain
CPU: Intel Core i3-2100T - an i3 is plenty powerful for HTPC duties
Mobo: Intel DH67CF Mini-ITX - this mobo had consumer IR built-in
Memory: 4GB (2x2GB)
Storage: SSD (boot) + HDD (DVR)
ODD: Slim BD/DVD/CD
Bluetooth Adaper

I've come to appreciate the design of the Thermaltake Luxa2 LM100 Mini case - it's brushed aluminum exterior ages gracefully, masks fingerprints and dust, and provides a perfect home for a Mini-ITX mobo and related components. With the LM100 now discontinued, I'm on the hunt for a successor.

With two years of near-continuous operation to its credit, HTPC v2.0's performance gains over its predecessor are a credit to its Intel Core i3 2100T (Sandy Bridge w/35W Max TDP) processor and solid state drive (SSD) - SSDs make any computer feel twice as fast!

Robert's Favorite Home Theater Gear

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Cooling upgrade
A hot-running tuner card prompted a case cooling upgrade: additional (2) 50x50mm fans to fill the remaining exhaust ports at the rear of the chassis (also preventing backflow). The Thermaltake LM100's air inlets are located on the bottom of the case in the motherboard mount area, and the new fan setup reduced the tuner's operating temperatures from 65-70C to a far cooler 40-45C without an obvious increase in fan noise. 

Hardware and software
My tuner hardware includes the following:

Ceton InfiniTV 6 PCIe - 6-tuner CableCARD host adapter
SiliconDust HDHomeRun EXTEND - 2-tuner over-the-air (OTA)
SiliconDust HDHomeRun PRIME - 3-tuner CableCARD host adapter

All of this hardware needs good software to make it work:

Windows 7 64-bit - Windows 8 with the Media Center Pack option works too
My Movies - how I manage my movie collection
ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater - No longer updated (see note below)
Ceton Companion - my favorite smartphone remote control app
SoundGraph iMON Manager - VFD and IR remote signal management
SlySoft Virtual CloneDrive - a great virtual drive program

Note: ArcSoft has abandoned TotalMedia Theater leaving CyberLink PowerDVD Pro, Ultra, and Live as the remaining recommended options for PC Blu-ray disc playback.

Add to this several terabytes of network attached storage (NAS) for my music, photos, and movies and I'm one happy (couch) camper.

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2015 Vizio E-Series TVs

Control
Control-wise, I'm using the aforementioned Ceton Companion application as well as a Logitech Harmony 650 universal remote control. The Bluetooth adapter also allows me to easily connect a wireless keyboard when the need arises. Also, I've recently added the Logitech Harmony Smart Keyboard that provides Bluetooth and RF control options as well as an updated smartphone control app - it's proven to be a terrific HTPC control option.

Costs and options
The cost of this system at the time including software easily exceeded $1000 - not a trivial expense even if amortized over several years of use. For HTPC v3.0 (hint, hint), I'd consider reducing costs by eliminating the slim optical drive altogether as I find I seldom (never) use it. Use of NAS storage for TV recordings could eliminate an extra HDD from the system further reducing costs and space requirements. At that point, I'd consider an optimized micro-PC like the new Intel Next Unit of Computing (NUC) as it features similar computing power as my current HTPC in a package that is but a fraction of its size.

For more information about my HTPC setup, please read this follow up article exploring a brief experiment with Windows 8.

Updated January 17, 2015: edited for clarity

We are often distracted by shiny objects, and in the world of home theater, it's the display system that garners the majority of people's attention. For home theater at any budget, audio quality is just as, if not more, important than the visual experience. A decent sound system draws the viewer into the content through the sounds that are heard and felt, and it should be no secret that the speakers build into most HDTVs cannot come close to the sound quality of even a modest external speaker setup.

Better than built-in
Not everyone has the budget or desire to upgrade their home theater audio with an audio/video receiver (AVR) and separate speakers, but that should be the eventual goal! Until then, there are a terrific class of affordable amplified speakers known as soundbars that will please your ears while keeping the up-front investment reasonable.

Robert's Favorite Home Theater Gear!

A soundbar I tested recently is the Vizio 40" 2.1 Home Theater Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer - aka the SB4021M. Vizio has since released an updated version of this soundbar package.

Input selection
The SB4021M is designed for people who may have a newer HDTV but older gear connected to it, or they are mostly using a TV's built-in features such as an over-the-air digital tuner or apps like Netflix, Pandora, or Amazon Instant Video. The first thing I'd point out about the SB4021M is its lack of HDMI ports - input options include optical and coaxial digital audio ports and an 1/8-inch jack that can be used with an included stereo adapter cable. There is also a USB port that supports MP3 playback from a connected storage device.

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Easy setup
Setup is simple! Plug in your gear to the available inputs, plug in the power to the soundbar, find an outlet for the wireless subwoofer...done! Included wall-mount brackets provide an additional installation option. Most HDTVs feature an optical audio output that would feed directly into the SB4021M, and a 6-foot optical cable costs about $6. The Vizio SB4021's digital inputs are compatible with Dolby Digital and PCM signals - feeding the bar a DTS-encoded signal resulted in an error as this format is not supported.

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Wireless sub
The 40-inch soundbar features 2.75-inch full-range stereo drivers, and the sub’s 6.5-inch driver helped fill in the low notes but it provided no level adjustments  of its own save for a wireless link button. The soundbar's widely-spaced removable feet proved ideal for straddling a HDTV table stand allowing the bar to blend in below the screen. Placing the soundbar on a flat surface also added a bit of resonance that warmed up the default sound quality. Full-range signal tests revealed a consistent, hiccup-free, performance from the SB4021M. The sub's output was on the weak-side, but bumping up the bass level on the soundbar's menu helped - this is a neighbor-friendly subwoofer for sure!

SRS-enabled sound processing options include TruVolume and TruSurroundHD - the former could prove useful to hard of hearing listeners as it helps keep various programs and content at a constant volume level.

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The bottom line
Everyone should own and enjoy speakers beyond those built into the TV they are watching. The Vizio SB4021 is a good fit for someone on a budget who has older AV devices or who are utilizing a TV's integrated features such as a digital tuner or steaming apps.

I continue to strongly encourage everyone to eventually make the investment in a decent AV receiver (AVR) and set of quality loudspeakers. The immersive quality of lossless audio tracks like DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD that are featured on Blu-ray movies is best appreciated with the capable decoders and amplifiers found in today’s AVRs.

My adventures with the Windows 8 operating system (OS) have led me to finally upgrade my main work notebook, that was running Windows 7, with Microsoft's latest and greatest. Prior to the OS upgrade, I backed up my data (I love Dropbox), updated my SSD's firmware, and secure wiped the drive for the heck of it.

My notebook isn't exactly cutting edge gear anymore at just over three years old and equipped as such:

• Intel Core 2 Duo T6500
• 4GB DDR2 RAM
• 120GB SSD (an upgrade I did last year)
• AMD Radeon HD 4500 Series Graphics

The solid-state drive (SSD), in particular, was key to speeding the install process on this not-so-older notebook.  Post OS install, the few finishing touches included a couple of driver updates, a visit to Windows Update, and the addition of Windows Media Center - still a free addon for a limited time!

I then visited the SiliconDust website and download their awesomely easy-to-use 1-file installer that detected and guided me through the initial configuration of the HDHomeRun PRIME (CableCARD) and DUAL (ATSC; over-the-air) tuners that I have linked to my home network via this sweet powerline networking product.

It took only minutes to setup and configure the tuners...5 tuners in total that my notebook can access and use anytime its connected to my home network.

Also, I cannot stress enough how much faster it is to install Windows using a USB flash drive compared to a DVD - it took less than 10 minutes (9:54 on the stopwatch) from the click of the mouse to selecting a desktop color scheme in the presented Personalize setup menu.  I'm growing fond of these 8GB SanDisk flash drives!

Updated October 7, 2014 to note that Windows 8 support has improved

Today, I made the decision to transition my home theater PC (HTPC) back to Windows 7. Microsoft's new operating system has been terrific in terms of stability and ease of use, but a few nagging issues prevented me from using my HTPC the way I could under Windows 7.

For the curious, here was the final straw...

I'm going going back back to Windows 7...That lovely message appeared after adding the SiliconDust HDHomeRun PRIME CableCARD tuner to my setup...inducing a mix of fast-fading rage with some sadface. By the way, I absolutely love how there is just one file on the SlilconDust software page that installs and updates the entire lineup of HDHomeRun tuners! Seriously, it's a bit of programming magic that I've come to appreciate!

Note: Ceton has since added Windows 8 support for most of its InfiniTV CableCARD tuner products.

See Robert's Favorite Home Theater Gear!

ISO issues
One other major issue that I've had with Windows 8 since the beginning of testing is that the OS crashes/reboots whenever a large ISO file is mounted to a virtual drive. My ISOs are stored on a local NAS, and I've experienced this issue using virtual drive programs such as SlySoft's (otherwise) excellent Virtual CloneDrive program.

I could forsake the luxury of a 9-tuner HTPC (7 CableCARD + 2 OTA) and make the sacrifice to the Win8 gods. Sigh. Never. I'd rather have my lossless video library (powered by MyMovies) working properly and the choice of having a bajillion CableCARD tuners all recording at the same time - if my HTPC's Core i3 can handle it! Oh for the love of Mini-ITX and ultra low-power CPUs!

The SliconDust HDHomeRun tuners were ready to go from day one with official Windows 8 support, and I'm still waiting for a similar update from the good folks at Ceton.

Heron Fidelity's Cord Cutting Guide

Update - November 3, 2012: The ISO-crashing issues that I experienced appear to be related to Virtual CloneDrive and not Windows 8's integrated image file support. I tested the playback of several successfully mounted Blu-ray movie image files and ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater v5.3.1.172 gave me this error each time:

Playback of the main .m2ts file from the mounted images using TotalMedia Theater or VLC worked, and playback of mounted DVD image files in TotalMedia Theater functioned just as if a physical disc were present. The version of TotalMedia Theater that I'm running in Windows 8 is newer than the version I ran with my Windows 7 setup. I was planning on rebuilding my HTPC from a clean Windows 7 install, and I'l be checking ISO file playback first thing upon reinstall.

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Update - October 7, 2014: The now abandoned ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater (and likely all remaining consumer Blu-ray player software) added Cinavia anti-piracy technology to all versions after v5.3.1.146. ISO files created from Cinavia-enabled discs will eventually cease playback and display a related message. Software such as SlySoft's AnyDVD HD and DVD-Ranger's CinEX HD utility offer a work-around for dealing with Cinavia-enabled content. Also, SlySoft has since updated its excellent Virtual CloneDrive (virtual optical drive) program to improve compatibility with Window 8.

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I remain convinced that that Microsoft's latest OS offers an efficient, well-implemented, customizable, Windows environment infused with touch interaction. I'm also finding few limitations for the OS in more traditional computing environments - my workstation and notebook PC configurations could easily be mistaken for Windows 7-based systems at first glance.

Thankfully, installing Window 7 or Windows 8 via USB flash drive to a SSD boot drive takes only minutes...please stay tuned.