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It might be the long lines at the theater, the $4.00 for a small bag of popcorn, or the cutting-edge technology that's now so readily available to the home market. Whatever the reason, the home theater market today is booming like the soundtrack to Star Wars! Want proof? A Google search for home theater reveals over three million results. Yikes!
It's simply undeniable: More and more people prefer watching their favorite movies, television shows, and videos from the comfort of their own sofas and couches. What's also undeniable is the inexperience of most people who choose to install or upgrade their home theaters.
Until now, the knowledge, technique, and experiences of those who've encountered similar conditions to yours could only be accessed through laborious web searches, stacks of magazines, and water cooler conversations. Home Theater Hacks from O'Reilly is the perfect remedy for this group.
A smart collection of insider tips and tricks, Home Theater Hacks covers home theater installation from start to finish, purchase to experience. Just imagine: no frustrating trial-and-error process and better yet, no expensive appointments with installation experts. Home Theater Hacks prevents both by imparting down-and-dirty technique not found anywhere else.
The book begins with a quick glossary of terms so you can speak the lingo when you go shopping, and then dives right into hush-hush, insider tricks. It's all covered where to find the right audio and video components, how to deal with speakers and wiring, understanding cable connectivity, mastering remote controls, how to fully grasp TiVo, and so much more. And to top it off, each of these insider tips is presented in a concise yet delightfully entertaining style. Bringing the Jurassic Park dinosaurs into your living room has never been so easy!
A seasoned veteran with numerous O'Reilly titles under his belt, author Brett McLaughlin leaves no stone unturned in helping you customize your home theater experience to your own personal environment.
CopyrightCreditsPrefaceChapter 1: Buying GearChapter 2: Video ComponentsChapter 3: Audio ComponentsChapter 4: High DefinitionChapter 5: Speakers and WiringChapter 6: SubwoofersChapter 7: ConnectivityChapter 8: CalibrationChapter 9: Do It YourselfChapter 10: Remote ControlsChapter 11: HTPCChapter 12: TiVoColophon
Anonymous
Posted March 15, 2005
Home Theater Hacks is the perfect book for anyone in the planning, building, or improvement phase of their home theater. This book really covers everything that has to do with a home theater: from selecting the right components, to component configuration, to cabling, to making your theater look awesome. This book is a must read before you start your home theater. The book begins with a very thorough and impressive discussion of how and where to buy home theater components. The author discusses receivers (both audio and video), DVD players, TVs (both HD and standard), as well as the ins and outs of buying online versus at a local store. This discussion naturally leads to a very large section on ¿configuration¿, which includes such things as how to install and configure a terrestrial television antenna, how to match your subwoofer to your room, and everything you ever wanted to know about cables. I particularly enjoyed the author¿s discussion of the modern myth of expensive cabling. He provides a very good explanation of what ¿good enough¿ means (you wouldn¿t put gold water pipes in your home, why spend $100 on a gold cable?). As mentioned, this is a very interesting and useful book for anyone planning or currently working on a home theater. It dispelled a lot of myths I had heard in the past, and provides clear explanations as to why many of these myths are false. Additionally, I found that the book provided sound advice in the purchase and configuration of home theater components.
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Overview
It might be the long lines at the theater, the $4.00 for a small bag of popcorn, or the cutting-edge technology that's now so readily available to the home market. Whatever the reason, the home theater market today is booming like the soundtrack to Star Wars! Want proof? A Google search for home theater reveals over three million results. Yikes!
It's simply undeniable: More and more people prefer watching their favorite movies, television shows, and videos from the comfort of ...