Home Theatre Engineering. For 20 years dedicated to the science of extracting every drop of performance from our clients Home Theatre Systems. Plan, Design, Build, Test, and Calibrate. The Cornerstones of great performance. Don't miss out on all of the capability you paid for in your equipment, put the Science of AV to work and love the result!
What is your view on correction EQs like SoundID Sonarworks for headphones? Should they be used with caution because they might affect phase and transients, or is the difference on headphones not significant enough to cause disadvantages?
I’ve always been an advocate of the futility of automated room EQ. It’s nice to hear the thoughts of a like minded person. Often with hi-fi, I believe costly solutions are created to solve minor issues. For every action, there are consequences. You have to weigh up whether the benefits of your actions outweigh the caveats. If I had the time, money and resources, I’d like to take 2 identical rooms. Have a “,professional acoustician”?? treat ome room and leave the other room untreated. Apply automated room EQ to both rooms using multiple solutions, then compare the graphs.
@HomeTheatreEngineering --- So is there an audio processor that's for home theater surround sound that's the equivalent of this or are all the best audio processors for Hi-Fi stereo?
Thanks for sharing I can’t believe we buy one of these then have to trawl RU-vid to find how to use it! Apple 😕maybe one day we will buy something and it’ll work right out of the box wouldn’t that be something 🎉
Great review, thanks! I'd personally love to see a CEA2010 2meter groundplane RMS (for all Krix subwoofers, even the huge ones, just that people can compare using actual numbers -dB's- for each frequency)
Ok Joe Kane is not from ISF. Joel Silver is. Second of all CRT displays are calibrated to REC709 which is still the standard today for SD and a standard many if not most studios still use. and is the foundation for calibration you see at most cinemas. Would you care to explain your comment in more detail?
@@HomeTheatreEngineering Um you must have been a kid when Joe Kane produced the first reference disc in the industry A Video Standard followed by the Digital Video Essentials (DVE). The same material you got your gray scale gradients and color bars. He resigned from the Image Science Foundation (ISF) in 1999. For all I know there could have been a dispute between the Joel and Joe. My biggest issue with ISF calibration over the last 2 decades is that the projectors and CRT(s) were just too dim for the reference gray scale "director" intent now called filmmaker mode. I actually think the new Sony 2024 XR 4K NITs Mini LED the ISF dialed back calibration might work for the first time. It just did not look good with the Sony Bravia 4k 900 class from 2016 to 2023. I just think people crave the Samsung pop even if it is the furthest thing from the directors intent and I get that. Sony 4 to 5 K NITs Mini LED could be a game changer and usher back in the ISF calibrator into our living rooms again.
@@chebrubinI am a bit baffled about your comments. So I am 62 and know of Joe Kane very well and have discussed several issues with him over the years and have used his DVE tools a great deal. I have been a full time calibrator for well over 20 years now and have not seen a drop off in work in act the opposite. I am not sure you can say "your main problem with ISF is the low light output of CRT or (older) projectors. That's not exactly their fault and again REC709 which as mentioned is still the foundation today worked perfectly well on these. I also disagree with your comments on TV's and have successfully calibrated multiple modes at varying luminance levels to suit the ambient light for clients. Reference greyscale has not changed, and this is not the nuts and bolts of filmmaker mode (which in SDR recommends a max NIT level of 100 - twice that of a commercial cinema btw) it still uses REC709 for SDR. Filmaker mode is more focussed on frame rate aspect ratio (turning of motion smoothing) but yes is does impact max light output/contrast as well and ideally should be viewed in a dark room. I have successfully calibrated many flat panels at levels less than this to comply with REC709 and would match the light output of a CRT which were capable of 14.7 Ft lamberts plus... In dark room with good content they could look amazing. Maybe I am misunderstanding what you are trying to say but overall, I have found most displays can be calibrated to produced great REC709 images. HDR is a different ballgame, but the high light output capability does not mean that images are always brighter. This was developed to introduce specular highlights and to increase dynamic range, but much content can look "duller: than REC709 but just with more detail due to that dynamic range (game of thrones notorious last episode springs to mind). Anyhow I am not sure this is the best forum for long winded debates, but I am glad that you are commenting, it would be great to meet and chat about this more in detail someday so I can better understand.
@@HomeTheatreEngineering Thank you for sharing with me. I just think in the era of the HDR video game and peoples perceptual and cognitive mindset people want that HDR pop and many times we walk away from a REC709 ISF standard calibration feeling the Sony just does not look as bright or colorful as it did with the out of the box settings. Scary but true I think we are addicted to that HDR pop now.
It's unfortunate MadVR is so expensive. I am budgeting for a projector for my 2.35 screen but unless every movie in the world has changing aspect ratio, MadVR just does not seem worth it. There are probably 80-90 movies that do this and the ROI isn't there. Regardless of how amazing the tech is. It's simply over priced and only for the ultra rich folks. I am getting a JVC projector budgeting 8k-10k but even then this 10k MadVR is insanity for its price. It's amazing no doubt but only 1% of the people who buy projectors will prob adopt it (those who get it for free or at a hefty discount don't count because the average person doesn't get that kind of deal. I want it but for 10k there are so many other things one can buy.
Great video guys - very clear and love that you explained WHY you chose the settings. It guide so much motor confidence and authority when you do that. Thx so much!
While there is a lot I don’t like about HDMI as a business, we have less and less issues with it each year and we mostly now just plug it in and it works.. neat and tidy way to get high res audio and video and gives us the results we want.
Seriously! A heap of technical information and that is your only comment? But as you asked, he is the CEO of Wisdom, a really nice and extremely intelligent man for whom I have massive respect.
I am astounded that virtually all discussions about nominal screen size, including this one, fail to start where they should: at THE source of it all...professional cinema standards. A combination of SMPTE specs for nominal viewing angle range for 'scope screens (around 42 degees to 45 degrees subtended viewing angle at seating center) AND "where" folks like to sit in their favorite commercial cinema will result in answering this question for each client. How "big" do they like it there? The other factors are solved as part of design details (screen material, projector, etc). Also never mentioned is the law of inverse proportions with regards to ANSI/simultaneous contrast degradation. Bigger rooms allow more distance from walls and the ceiling, therefore less light reflecting back to the screen to lower ANSI contrast. This is a plus that high performance projection in large media/great rooms enjoy as opposed to dedicated rooms. Dedicated rooms are almost always smaller, therefore more vulnerable to contrast degradation. Larger rooms can have a medium reflectance paint tone and not degrade contrast due to the law of inverse proportions, aka light fall-off. If the client insists on white paint, then contrast will suffer in large rooms, as well. Food for thought.
All of our room designs consider THX SMPTE standards. This drives many of the initial seating position decisions. The room is developed from there. This video was not intended to cover that discussion but to confront those customers who say to us… I want the biggest screen I can get! A simple question which are trying to address in simple terms. I totally agree with everything you say.
I have an epson 12000 at around 14feet distance wall mounted from the screen... Is there any downside to watching the projector with the lens zoom all the way at around 140inch of screen size?
Yes absolutely there is. At maximum zoom a few things change. Most of all the quality of the image. Lenses work best at mid focus which is what we consider in our room designs. This is not always possible but in those circumstances we discuss and clarify with our clients the pitfalls of the situation.
@user-hl6gz6zo2i Ok first of all the insults aren't needed but since you went there...are you are kidding and where did you get your facts from? Chromatic aberration and focus deteriorates on most lenses at the edges at least at maximum zoom, the same applies to most lenses just ask any photographer and I can measure and identify this during calibration it also affects luminance (brightness) and if you think the LS12000 is "decent lens" then I am guessing you have never investigated lens quality nor performed one on one comparisons with high quality lenses like Barco Christie and Sony. You are basing your statement on what exactly?
HTE! Love the channel. Can I ask some general advice. If in a living room meaphonix are too ugly. Do you prefer to not use towers? Eg Krix neuphonix. Something about bass management? Would I be missing anything going with monitors / acoustix LCR? Thank you! Love your work
Thank you. In dedicated cinemas we never use tower speakers for a lot of reasons that have been explained in previous videos. But in a living space this may not apply as it may not in your case. Once again this is the reason we do room designs for all kinds of rooms we put systems in to ensure the best outcome
My passion for surround sound and great audio quality was born in June of 1993 when I first experienced digital sound when the DTS logo swirled around the theater before Jurassic Park, and it absolutely blew my mind! Then 4 months later I watched the movie again in a budget secondary theater that had low quality sound with no bass or proper surround processing, and I realize just how important audio is to the movie watching experience. I sat there for the entire 2+ hours being completely disappointed by how diminish the experience was without the incredible sound that I experienced the first time... And in 1995 a kid in my 10th grade high school class said his dad hooked up a surround sound setup and I begged him to let me come over to hear it, and after a few days he finally said yes. When I was there he put Jurassic Park into the VHS player, and during the helicopter scene where they first arrive at the island, I walked around to every speaker and was dazzled by how each one was putting out different audio. And 31 years later I'm still dazzled by it! Cheers guys!
With the high-end equipment being used here doesn't mean anything if it hasn't been calibrated in conjunction with room treatment. This room by all accounts should sound fantastic and Grant should be extremely happy, I know I would be. Another outstanding job by HTE, the knowledge and experience behind putting a room together like this is impressive. A job like this is best left to the professionals .......... congratulations to all involved.
Agree. The most important factors being calibration and room treatment. However, knowing who to trust to achieve it is key. Even a moderately priced system will look and sound great, when calibrated. Fortunately, Grant was able to include the very best equipment AND have his well treated room professionally calibrated. Well done HTE. Enjoy your room Grant. If I may, why Procella over say Krix? Andrew, would there be much difference in the sound between the 2 brands when calibrated?
With regard to calibration. It is generally one of the cheapest components in the room, often less than the price of a good disc player or AVR yet it is the one feature that extracts and delivers the best from the room and provides to the client the greatest value for money.. On Speakers…We are fans of both Krix and Procella but we have found Procella just delivers a level of clarity and distortion free power that we are still looking for in Krix.
Extra hair (lol) Hmm! potential ducks arse hair style, back to the 1950's. Hmm, again! That would have been for the drive-in, it might not suit home cinema. We want hair gel.
Exceptional job and results boys, but can I just ask on behalf of us with limited budgets, can you PLEASE show some more realistic and cost effective home theatres? Let's face it, the one in this video was obviously a budget no limit...cheers!👍
Hi. Thanks for the comment. We have shown a few rooms that are at lower budgets than this one but, here's the thing. This wasn't an "unlimited" budget but yes it was not cheap either. We would love to show you some "realistic cost-effective home theatres" but . . . despite advertising and promoting recently special low-priced room designs and also cost-effective total room calibrations we literally had not one person enquire at that level. On that note out of curiosity what kind of budget range did you have in mind. This would help us understand as people ideas of budgets does vary.
Oh boy. I may sound like a keyboard warrior but man, many of the channels i used to watch, now have 100 000 subs and up. They went pure marketing. With all the knowlage i have gathered in the last 4-5 years, i started asking the important questions or to pinpoint mistakes in the room designs. Everytime i ask a question, or point a mistake, i don't get any answers. I think i might actually be shalow banned on those channels. There are very few channels that actually serve good information. The rest of them are pure marketing or for content only. "Look at this room" -which is rubish. "Look at all this equipment" - but the room is just, and speaker placement is .... "How can a 6 inch coaxcial paper coned driver, produce 117 db/1m with 200 watts ?" i don't remember exactly but It was something ridiculas. I never got an answer. No measurment, no data, nothing, jsut marketing and content to have views.
Yep we feel that. Most of all we feel for the enthusiast starting out who looks to these “big” channels spewing info with no supporting evidence or foundation. Even more of a concern is the growing AI content. There are people teaching people to generate income by creating AI generated content. These videos look so realistic now they are hard to tell apart except for perhaps some vocal give aways. This is bad news and soul-less. They should be tagged with “Warning AI generated content” and all of them so far that I have seen are factually dubious.
Certifications, Journalism credentials with ethics code published. These are the mark of a professional, which also opens them up for public criticism and even legal action for the things they say.
We totally agree and while it may not look like it..we agonise over what we say and especially when quoting facts. This is critical to us and if we ever misstep we fully expect to be called out and we would correct ourselves pretty damned quickly!
Totally agree with you. I was lucky enough to have relatives who are sound and projection engineers. The thing I really learned from them is to scale the sound to the size of the room, something I wouldn’t have thought of and just gone for “biggest”
Very good explanation and demo. With the capabilities that the madVR brings for auto aspect ratio switching I'm guessing that a (scope) screen with automatic masking is no longer needed? When I watch 16:9 content, will the madVR stretch that to scope; or is masking the sides of the 16:9 image still the best approach? For me, image quality is paramount, so if watching 16:9 content stretched to scope degrades the image, then masking will be the way to go. Thanks again for the content.
Masking is always the best answer. But . . . . It is costly, often but not always noisy and these days cannot move fast enough for changing aspect ratio movies.. This become problematic. The answer is to ensure your video system is designed well for maximum dynamic range. Using a 16:9 projector on a scope screen will always mean you are throwing away pixels and light even in using a madVR but the madvr does manage everything perfectly and instantly. But there is no getting away from correctly matching projector and screen.
I have been following your channel for a long time and I value your work, I really do but oh boy, honestly, I don't think this video was necessary or useful. Nor will it gain you more clients/engagements. It sounds as if you were complaining. Even though I also think you are absolutely making a point and you are spot on right, I doubt it would make much of a difference. RU-vidrs/Influencers have been as well as will be around. Some of them are pretty knowledgeable, others not so much. They function by the number of clicks. A lot of viewers make decisions based on what these people say. But here is my point. These prospects/customers-to-be are NOT and will seldom be your clients! Through your knowledge and professionalism, you provide value-added consultancy services to those appreciating it! You cannot service anybody who does not need it (for whatever reason). At the end of the day you are going to have to accept the fact that yes, there will be loads of people you simply cannot convince. As a matter of fact, it is not even your job to convince anybody. If someone goes into your shop or gets in touch with you via phone or mail will get the impression pretty fast that you are 'different'. Your advice is based on decades of expertise, science, industrial standards, or recommendations. The more you stick to your kind of customer service the more people will be able to differentiate you from the 'competition'. So the way I see is that don't deal with these kinds of things, ignore this trend (you cannot do anything about it anyway), and let go of all the prospects following the flow! Keep doing what you are good at! Maintain the level of the work you do every day! I know it is hard but there is no other way but disregarding these channels.
I like click bait! A calibrator with training and a good name is worth the expense. My biggest problem was not knowing what good sounds like. (I still don't) Good becomes bad when you hear something better. People are happy when they're getting the best out of what they've got. (or not listening to anything else and not asking for other peoples opinions) Playing around can be fun, but too much, and you find yourself analysing speakers instead of watching a movie. Ceiling surrounds aren't the best? hmm! Maybe I can attach them to pull down retractable cable and lower them when in use.
Wow. Probably one of the best replies we have ever had that also explains my concept of “The Dynamic Range of Human Experience” fantastic comment thanks so much
