[ Frequently Asked Questions ]
1. What is a home theater?
2. What is the difference
between 4:3 and 16:9 TV sets?
3. How can I get high-definition TV (HDTV) signals?
4. How big a screen can I get?
5. What is a flat-screen TV?
1. What is a home theater?
At its most basic level, it’s a combination of a video and audio
system. It can be as simple as your current TV set with the audio fed
through your stereo system so you get improved sound quality and a right
and left channel. That would be fine for most TV shows because they’re
broadcast in stereo. The next step up from that would be surround sound
with a right and left front, a center channel, a left and right rear,
and a subwoofer. The center channel is important because it carries most
of the dialogue. Without it, background sound effects can overwhelm the
dialogue. The rear speakers are designed for movement and off-camera action.
It gives the idea that more is happening around you. The sub-woofer handles
very low frequencies that let you feel some of the louder sounds and give
you real-life excitement. These speakers are hooked into a surround-sound
receiver with amplifiers dedicated to each speaker, and a processor that
takes the signal from the source and directs it to the appropriate speaker.
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2. What is the difference
between 4:3 and 16:9 TV sets?
Both of these are aspect ratios, or a relationship between width and height
for a TV screen. 4:3 has been the standard until now. 16:9 is the new
wide-screen standard commonly used for DVD pictures and high-definition
TV. It gives more of a theater presentation.
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3. How can I get high-definition
TV (HDTV) signals?
In this area at the present time, HDTV is not available by cable—though
it is in other parts of the country. But there are still 2 ways to get
it. Stations broadcast secondary HDTV channels a UHF bandwidth. You can
pull in the UHF signal with a rooftop antenna. The second way is to have
an updated satellite. You also have to have a TV capable of displaying
the higher bandwidth pictures and a tuner that’s capable of receiving
the signal and transmitting. The tuner can be part of the TV, built in
to the satellite system, or separate.
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4. How big a screen can I get?
40 inches is the biggest picture tube available today. 73 inches is the
largest rear-screen projector TV on the market. For projector TVs, the
size should be determined by the room and how far away the projector is
from the screen. It can go as large as you want. The rule of thumb is
that you should view the screen from a distance of 1.5 times the width
of the screen. So, if you sit 10 feet away from it, you would want a screen
no more than 7 feet in size. This gives you a good picture without lines,
and enables you to see the whole screen without turning your head.
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5. What is a flat-screen TV?
Some advertisers are using the term to describe the new flat-glass TV
screens, as opposed to the curved front we’re used to. These screens
offer a nice sharp picture. However, these are still traditional picture
tubes and a 27-inch TV will be 23 or 24 inches deep. What most people
are referring to when they talk about flat screens are the new plasma
or LCD panels. These are 3.5 to 5 inches thick and available in different
sizes. They also offer different benefits such as better off-axis viewing
from plasma and no picture burn-in with LCD.
