May not be HD compatible
For a country that prides itself on our high-tech superiority. our populous’ technical literacy is on par with its declining scientific literacy. While admittedly Best Buy — never one to let truth or fairness get in the way of selling an extended warranty — might have ulterior motives in sponsoring this survey, it sure feels right.
Survey Says: Best Buy Says You Don’t Know What You’re Doing With HD
Best Buy hired a firm to take a survey of the state of the American public’s knowledge of HDTV, and sad results are in. You don’t know what the hell is going on with your television.
Half of HDTV owners who responded to Best Buy’s survey “admit they are either not watching HD programming, or they aren’t sure if they are. Of these respondents, 35% didn’t realize they needed to subscribe to HD programming to watch HDTV.” Ok, this is sad. Just… sad.
The survey also suggested that ignorance about how to set up the HDTV was a source of embarrassment:
“While 41% of HDTV owners admit to knowing little to nothing at all about HD, they would not want to admit that to friends and family; Half (52%) of HDTV owners agree it would be difficult to admit their HDTV wasn’t set up right after showing off to friends and family. ”
The unsurprising news is that this survey is essentially a sales pitch for Best Buy’s overpriced cables and installation packages—both of which you can skip, along with the extended warranty… if you know what you’re doing.
Obviously, many people don’t, so do us a favor. Tell a friend everything you know about HDTV.
#96 – Same thing for speakers, but once again, there is little difference between a $500 speaker and a $10,000 speaker. This is not subjective! This is testing done by golden ear listeners with ABX testing equipment.
Yes there is…
The $500 speaker has a margin of $400
The $10,000 speaker has a margin of $9,900
This is one thing about audio that I “know with certainty” 😉
>>This is one thing about audio that I “know with certainty”
And so it goes. The prissed up “audiophiles” with their $100,000.00 sound systems are doing little more than enrich the predators who sell that crap to people who are gullible enough to think their “friend” are going to be impressed by how much they spent on a stereo. Prolly would have been better off with an 8-track.
#97,
I disagree. The 10k speaker is gonna have silver wire that has been gold soldered througout. Plus it is gonna have some sort of fancy high performance capacitor filter system. Then the case is gonna be constructed with a special formula MDF that is composed of mahogony and teak rather than pine and fir. It will have a cost of about a $1000. What wont be different is how it sounds.
#98,
Back in the day you would have been better off with a reel to reel system.
And Im not saying that stereo equiptment hasn’t gotten better. It has gotten better, just not in the last 25 years.
I want to thank you tin-eared jokers for a truly hilarious public display of the time-honored American pastime of demonstrating that you know just enough about a topic to make a fool of yourself in front of people who actually do know the topic.
Reminds me of days in my youth, when pimply teenagers hung around gas stations and told each other how those fancy Austin Martins and Lamboferratis were just overpriced junk that couldn’t hold a candle to their jacked-up and incompetently hotrodded Camaros and Mustangs. The fact that none of them had never even sat in a real sports car, let alone driven one, might’ve had something to do with it. Plus the fact that they had to disparage those things they had no hope of affording, so they wouldn’t feel so bad about the cheap, crude, flashy, low-performance shitmobiles they drove…
GregA – Mustachio… Aesop knew people like you a long time ago.
#90 – OFTLO –
“I am quickly learning to value your opinion of films even though we don’t see everything the same way. You seem to be one of those rare audio/videophiles who like movies and music as much as the gear you play it on ”
Well. as much as I love and have a gift for machinery of allsorts, in the end they’re tools for providing access to art, and as such, should approach perfection as closely as possible in order to do justice to the finest art. I genuinely doubt the fundamental respect for and commitment to art of people who are satisfied with experiencing less than what the artist intended. Beethoven would spin in his grave – although the exercise would do him a world of good – if he could witness someone content to listen to the Eroica over some pitiful-portable-picnic player. DaVinci would swoon if people were content to peer at the Mona Lisa through a grimy, distorting window. Respect for the art and the artist demands that the art be given every possible chance to be experienced as deeply as possible. 525i TV is OK for Spongebob Squarepants, but Elizabeth or Shakespeare in Love deserve and benefit mightily from the most detailed and sizable presentation possible. That good equipment is pleasurable to own and use is a welcome bonus.
…but as for the other – well, I might surprise / disappoint you when it comes to non-SF films… I hold certain things to be chiseled in granite; no greater film actor has lived than Cate Blanchett. True Romance, having no fewer than three of the greatest movie psychos of all time – Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken – is a greater film than either Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs. Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton and Luc Besson are the most underrated and underappreciated directors ever. The Star Wars films, even when they feature world-class talents such as Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman, are fabulous entertainment – but not great film – and cheesy SF. Can you say Jar Jar Binks? I thought so.
Outraged yet? 😉
#96 Greg A
“This is not subjective!”
LOL Yes it is the inherent nature of ABX testing is completely subjective.
I am still waiting for the links to these test results that were held by a respectable research center.
“The facts are conclusive, the number one influence on the sound your stereo makes is the room that it is in.”
Please tell me who made this conclusion and off of what evidence was it based?
AS to the rest of your post it pretty much full of nonsense.
Lets not forget this debate is not just about whether or not anyone can see or hear a difference. It was about the quality of a cable. If you look at the specs for HDMI there is a clear difference between High quality and low quality cables. The problem is those saying there is no different have not used the HDMI cable to its limits and therefore don’t realize that there is a barrier there on the lower cables.
But you already said you though Aeon Flux was a good movie… That disqualifies you for ANY artistic snobbery.
>>as much as I love and have a gift for machinery of allsorts,
Good gosh, Fish Finger. Are you parodying a poofed-up, self-aggrandizing, insufferable, soi-disant Renaissance blowhard, or are you really like this?
If the latter, I feel great pity for the woman who keeps you. No wonder she buys you all that expensive television equipment; anything to get you to STFU!
#103 GregA
“But you already said you though Aeon Flux was a good movie… That disqualifies you for ANY artistic snobbery.
I am not an Artistic Snob. What I actually said
“Aeon Flux is pretty good. I loved the animated MTV original. The movie has a few script issues but nothing I couldn’t overlook.”
It was pretty good but only because I watched the original on MTV and understood what was going on. Like I said it had some script issues
#106 pedro
“not knowing or downplaying the role a room has on sound has shown your lack of knowledge on the subject. ”
It is not that I am downplaying it. It is that GregA is giving it the #1 position as to the quality of a stereos sound. That simply isn’t true. The person who is listening is the #1 most important part of what will be heard. The room is important but not as important. It wont make crap components sound better. It will enhance good components but only in the case that they are set up properly for that room. Which leads me to the point. Any room can be made to sound better if you know how to set it up for the rooms acoustics.
Which leads to another point. Do you have any Idea what it cost to have a room set up for a studio? If you did you would have kept your mouth shut. It can be much more expensive than the equipment itself. So all this bitching about who can hear what and what makes the difference is mute because apparently we all agree that there is a difference and we just disagree what is the cause but either way it cost allot of money.
My last point. Just because I said I am not an audio engineer does not mean I do not have an education in it and it also does not mean I do not deal with them on a daily basis. So take your smug standing wave and node nonsense somewhere else because if you really want to get into that discussion I will embarrass you beyond belief because despite the fact that you can look it up on the internet…… you probably don’t have a full grasp of what they are so if I were you I would pull the foot out of your mouth and move on.
#107,
Um yeah, I happen to know what you ~need~ for a studio, but you don’t want a studio, you want a listening room. Pretty much any nice and quiet room will do so you don’t have to turn the volume up to extreme levels and tire out and eventually damage your ears. The concrete walls and floors of your moms basement are a HUGE no no in this regard, but nothing a few treatments can’t mitigate if not fix. Carpet with padding, some audio treatments for the concrete walls, and a drop ceiling will work excellently. Whats that to fix up your moms basement for excellent audio reproduction??? About $2000? Am I a little high?
Also, golden cuboids and vaulted ceilings are more audiophile black magic and nonsense. Although a bigger room is better… But then the treatments cost more.
If you have a spare room to dedicate to the purpose, an excellent listening room, even with impressive looking audio bling (oh the irony) can be quite reasonable. No need to spend 10s of thousands of dollars.
#108GregA
“What’s that to fix up your moms basement for excellent audio reproduction??? About $2000? Am I a little high?”
See Greg the difference between you and me is that I don’t still live with my parents. I haven’t for a long time.
I suppose you think you can reproduce the lyric opera or Skywalker theater acoustics in your spare bedroom too?
“Also, golden cuboids and vaulted ceilings are more audiophile black magic and nonsense. ”
Why because you don’t understand how they work?
“Although a bigger room is better”
Another example of you lack of knowledge. You see the shape of the room is much more important than the size. I could have a smaller better shaped room that is better than a room twice as big with a poor acoustical shape
I think you have some issues with size. You see I don’t. To me, it isn’t about the amount I spend it is the quality I get and sometimes quality is expensive.
“No need to spend 10s of thousands of dollars. ”
You are not even close! Do some research and stop believing what you hear from wannabe audio experts who cant afford the best so have to make themselves feel better by saying it doesn’t matter.
I suggest you go to Skywalker Ranch and see if you can get a tour. Maybe you can even pose some of your dumb statements to them. See what their response will be.
Wow, you wrote all that and said not a single thing. You are an audiophile accoustic engineer!
#92,
#91 – Dude! Fish don’t have fingers.
Then what is Long John Silver’s selling?
*
#102,
I genuinely doubt the fundamental respect for and commitment to art of people who are satisfied with experiencing less than what the artist intended.
If I am reading a classic novel, it doesn’t matter if it is a worn paperback or a virgin, gold bound, leather covered, first edition. It is the content that matters. If you believe that it is the medium instead, then you are missing out on a lot of art.
Beethoven wrote his music to be played live. If he heard it in recorded form, he would spin in his grave with joy. FYI, Beethoven’s little hearing problem would have made him spin with joy just being able to hear his music at all.
Now I do not need to see Romeo and Juliet performed on a center stage to appreciate it. Nor would I need to use King Louis’s loo to appreciate the Mona Lisa. Nor must Fur Elise need be played on a harpsichord, circa 1810.
I understand you are proud of your system. I also infer that it is worth more than I’ll earn this year. Good for you. For all I know, your car might even be worth more than I’ll earn over the next decade. All the power to you. I’m not jealous, but if you would like to send a few bucks my way, …
My art, however, is to be enjoyed. Not the medium. The art itself. If there is some purity aspect that is to be enforced, then it isn’t art.
C’moffit, Fuso. A book is a totally different medium than what’s being discussed. Talk about straw men!
I don’t brag about my system – much. Too many people have even better ones – but mine represents the priorities that matter to me, given the kind of music I listen to. A classical-music purist would be able to find fault with my gear, because I listen primarily to contemporary rock, jazz and popular music, with a heavy emphasis on vocals, which my system is optimized for. I keep telling myself that I should break down and cash in s portion of my brokerage account and update certain pieces to bring me back into the vicinity of SOTA, but I always decide to wait a little longer. But all this talk about HD has convinced me to go ahead and spring $7k or so for a Pioneer 60″ and Blu-Ray player. I couldn’t give less of a shit about who approves of it or not. Movies are important to me, and with a useful life of at least 7 years, I don’t think $1000 a year is extravagant – I used to spend at lot more than that on cigarettes, fer Chrissake.
But if you personally don’t seek the maximum performance possible, that’s fine – I see it as your choice, and your loss. To each their own, to coin a phrase.
Thinking that that’s putting the medium BEFORE the art is a gross error. Spartacus is still the same movie on your 23″ TV, but don’t try telling me that the viewing experience is as emotionally involving as watching it on 60 high-res inches. The bigger screen delivers an experience much closer to seeing it in the theater, and that’s all there is to it. That means closer to how Kubrick intended it to be seen.
If you want to listen to Bach’s works for organ on wee bookshelf speakers, please be my guest. But don’t try telling me – or anyone else, for a’that – that the full gut impact of a pipe organ’s bottom octaves – that Bach intended you to feel – can be produced by a pair of 8″ woofers driven with 25 watts from an IC amplifier, because it simply isn’t so.
Some of you – you not so much as others – fail to grasp that just because there are (as there has always been and always will be) people with more money than taste, who conspicuously consume things they’re incapable of actually appreciating – it is pure bigotry and unjust stereotyping to then tar all people who own high-end A/V gear with that same brush.
I run into the same thing with carrs. I own, drive and enjoy my BMW – and I am more aware than someone who DOESN’T own one just how many BMer owners are idiot poseurs, who have no idea how to drive the precision machines that they bought to appear sophisticated to their equally shallow peers. At least 80% of the people you see driving BMWs haven’t the first clue, but I’ve learned to not mention that I own one in front of otherwise-intelligent strangers who automatically and reflexively stereotype me as yet another clueless yuppie.
I think you can grasp where I’m coming from – OFTLO got it, Mustard, maybe, GregA, not a chance in Hell his head will ever be out of his ass long enough…
#111 Mr. Fusion
I agree with almost all of what you said to some degree.
You are right about books. Content is all that matters. I actually said that about a collection of very old books I received recently. But it isn’t a “visual medium” in that the words are not laid out on the page to form a visual composition but are instead laid out to fit the page size. i.e.. paper back vs. full size book.
Beethoven? LOL yeah kind of funny BTW “Fur Elise” is a solo piano piece not a harpsichord piece.
Romeo and Juliet…….The whole purpose of theatre is to bring a script to life with lights set and actors moving about on the stage. I agree with you you can appreciate it no matter what venue it is seen. But you can’t argue that the Royal Shakespeare company and a highschool production of Romeo and Juliet would be a comparable experience.
I am not sure what you mean about King Louis toilet but I think I disagree. Seeing the Mona Lisa in person is not the same as seeing it on TV or in print. There is a depth there that cannot be duplicated.
“I also infer that it is worth more than I’ll earn this year.”
Don’t know about Lauren the Ghoti but mine might be. lol Then again it isn’t about the money it is about the quality. You can appreciate a movie with a good script even if you watch it on a bad TV. But, There is so much more to a good movie than just a good script and good actors. There are people who dedicate their life to the audio, cinematography, scenery art, and visual effects. Their work is muted or not seen to it’s full potential when not watched on a quality screen and with a quality audio system.. It would be like seeing Romeo and Juliet lit by flashlights and cardboard boxes as the set. Yeah you might appreciate the script but so much is lost without good lighting and good scenery
“For all I know, your car might even be worth more than I’ll earn over the next decade”
Again I don’t know about Lauren the Ghoti but NO. I have never seen a car as anything more than a device to get me from A to B hopefully in some reasonable comfort. I won’t mention what car I drive as to not stir the “Anti Snob” comments. But I assure you it was less then $30,000
#105 – MM
“>>as much as I love and have a gift for machinery of allsorts,
Good gosh, Fish Finger. Are you parodying a poofed-up, self-aggrandizing, insufferable, soi-disant Renaissance blowhard, or are you really like this?”
Dang! I done fergot how’s you ‘reg’lar folk’ don’t cotton to all that thar highfalutin’ Niuw York City egghead way o’ talkin’!
You gotsta ‘scuse my snooty ass all ta hell for usin’ them big’ol words and stuff, like I’s some kinda perfesser er somethin’.
Or – on the other hand, mayhap you could consider taking a flying fuck at a rolling donut… 😉
Nice way to create an ad hominem smokescreen to weasel out of having to admit your argument just went down in flames.
That typically American anti-intellectual sneering fits hand-in-glove with your self-proclaimed religious ratiionalization – that what the majority of sheep believes has to be right, cause they’re the majority – and similarly you think that any speech that isn’t representative of the semiliterate masses’ lack of language proficiency is evidence of contemptuous elitism.
Got it. Great logic there, Musto, worthy of the blue-collar ignoramus you apparently aspire to be…
Look, I have an HDTV because my xbox looked horrible at sizes of 37 and above without one.
It’s not a status symbol, it just a tool to help you see whats goung on.