Personal Home Theater
With all of the attention on full blown home theater setups, bear in mind that with a little planning, a desktop computer can be ideally suited for use as a personal home theater. While some larger notebooks claim to be “multimedia,” and can be used as such, they still will not be as good as a well configured desktop for the reasons I’ll explain.
In terms of the computer, most any late model computer should be able to get the task done. In order to be able to view a DVD, of course you need to have the proper drive, but almost all computers come with the proper optical drive anyway. One thing to take into account though is that a quieter drive, like a Samsung, is the way to go here so that the playback doesn’t interfere with the soundtrack. Also, consider setting the drive to spin at a slower speed than the maximum to put the hush on it as well.
A decent monitor is also important. Larger is definitely better here. I watch on a 19” LCD, but an even larger widescreen model will be better suited to DVD playback. With the faster pixel response times, the recent LCD’s avoid the smearing that was common a few years ago and caused folks serious about video to stick with their CRT’s. If you haven’t jumped on board yet, this is a great time to upgrade to an LCD as the prices on the larger models are still quite affordable.
Now that we’ve got our video experience squared away, we need to consider our audio. In fact, a great audio experience can make an otherwise lackluster video presentation feel larger, and better than it really is. The ideal audio comes from a dedicated sound card feeding a THX certified speaker system, preferably through a 5.1 audio setup. While that may be the best, there are plenty of other options, including smaller speaker setups, or even a set of high quality headphones (wireless ones are great for extended listening sessions). These days, I’ve been listening through Logitech Z-10 speakers and been satisfied as they’re much better than anything found in any television set.
The final ingredient is the software. I use Cyberlink’s PowerDVD as they bundle it with every drive I purchase. With optical drive prices so low these days, it’s cheaper to buy a new drive to get the software, than to just buy the program. There are a few features that make the experience better than with a dedicated set top DVD player. One is that I can playback the movie at a faster speed, like 1.5x, or even 2x, and still have usable audio. This is great for getting through scenes that drag on without much action. This can be accessed with the scroll wheel of the mouse so it’s simple to adjust back and forth as needed. The other feature is that with so many DVD’s in the widescreen format these days, you end up with those black bars top and bottom. On my DVD player I’m stuck with them, but on the computer, I can adjust the setting so that the video fully fills the screen. Yes, it does get slightly distorted, but it’s not really noticeable, and it’s better than looking at those omnipresent black bars at the top and bottom (I’m sure the purists will disagree on this point, but feel free to adjust to your preference…).
While this personal cinema experience can be approximated with a larger notebook, the screen will still be smaller, and the built in speakers are consistently lackluster and bass deficient. Of course, an external monitor and speakers can remedy these defects, but then you’re really using the notebook as a desktop anyway when you have so much externally attached to it.
So, next time you go to watch a DVD, consider watching it on your desktop computer instead, and enjoy your own personal home theater experience. After you give it a try, you’ll be hooked on it too.
--Jonas
dvd viewing, prsonal home theater, personal home cinema, desktop configuration
In terms of the computer, most any late model computer should be able to get the task done. In order to be able to view a DVD, of course you need to have the proper drive, but almost all computers come with the proper optical drive anyway. One thing to take into account though is that a quieter drive, like a Samsung, is the way to go here so that the playback doesn’t interfere with the soundtrack. Also, consider setting the drive to spin at a slower speed than the maximum to put the hush on it as well.
A decent monitor is also important. Larger is definitely better here. I watch on a 19” LCD, but an even larger widescreen model will be better suited to DVD playback. With the faster pixel response times, the recent LCD’s avoid the smearing that was common a few years ago and caused folks serious about video to stick with their CRT’s. If you haven’t jumped on board yet, this is a great time to upgrade to an LCD as the prices on the larger models are still quite affordable.
Now that we’ve got our video experience squared away, we need to consider our audio. In fact, a great audio experience can make an otherwise lackluster video presentation feel larger, and better than it really is. The ideal audio comes from a dedicated sound card feeding a THX certified speaker system, preferably through a 5.1 audio setup. While that may be the best, there are plenty of other options, including smaller speaker setups, or even a set of high quality headphones (wireless ones are great for extended listening sessions). These days, I’ve been listening through Logitech Z-10 speakers and been satisfied as they’re much better than anything found in any television set.
The final ingredient is the software. I use Cyberlink’s PowerDVD as they bundle it with every drive I purchase. With optical drive prices so low these days, it’s cheaper to buy a new drive to get the software, than to just buy the program. There are a few features that make the experience better than with a dedicated set top DVD player. One is that I can playback the movie at a faster speed, like 1.5x, or even 2x, and still have usable audio. This is great for getting through scenes that drag on without much action. This can be accessed with the scroll wheel of the mouse so it’s simple to adjust back and forth as needed. The other feature is that with so many DVD’s in the widescreen format these days, you end up with those black bars top and bottom. On my DVD player I’m stuck with them, but on the computer, I can adjust the setting so that the video fully fills the screen. Yes, it does get slightly distorted, but it’s not really noticeable, and it’s better than looking at those omnipresent black bars at the top and bottom (I’m sure the purists will disagree on this point, but feel free to adjust to your preference…).
While this personal cinema experience can be approximated with a larger notebook, the screen will still be smaller, and the built in speakers are consistently lackluster and bass deficient. Of course, an external monitor and speakers can remedy these defects, but then you’re really using the notebook as a desktop anyway when you have so much externally attached to it.
So, next time you go to watch a DVD, consider watching it on your desktop computer instead, and enjoy your own personal home theater experience. After you give it a try, you’ll be hooked on it too.
--Jonas
dvd viewing, prsonal home theater, personal home cinema, desktop configuration
posted by digitaldoc at 12:44 PM
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