Internet Resources
Technology and Advice
Updated
29-Apr-2002 03:30:01 PM
If you know of a link that ought to be included, or you have some comments on
a link provided here, or if a link is broken, please send email to
site@htexplained.com.
There are lots of Internet sites that explain various aspects of HT in
considerable
depth. Some of the most interesting are the work of single
individuals. Have fun, but remember the most important rule of the Internet:
Some of what you read isn’t true.
ACI's Helpful Audio
Information
Useful articles about the audio-part of HT. Part
of the Audio Concepts site, which is itself listed under Shopping. The "Guide
to the Hookup/Installation and Setup" is especially well done.
Allan Jayne's Television and Video Advice
A huge amount of information about HT video.
Antenna Web
Web site that tells you what antenna you need to
pull in over-the-air stations, including HDTV, and where to point it.
AudioVideo101.com
Excellent site with news and information,
including an amazingly complete and detailed
dictionary (an
encyclopedia, really) of audio and video terms. The dictionary is a bit out of
date, however—there are no entries for Super Audio CD, DSS, Dolby Pro Logic II,
or DVI.
Big Matt's Home Theater
Interesting
essays on lots of HT topics. Some of the material, such as the recommended
component list and the description of front projectors (no DLP), is outdated,
however.
CD-Recordable FAQ
Exhaustive and authoritative reference to CD
technology.
Dolby Laboratories, Inc.
Many how-to and technical documents
for beginners and experts.
DTS
The Digital Theater Systems site, with lots of
technical information.
DVD FAQ
The most complete
reference to DVD technology.
Elliott Sound Products' Audio Articles
Terrific collection of articles on various audio topics
(no video).
GoodCans.com
Headphone information.
HeadRoom
Corporation
Lots of information about headphones, and sales,
too.
HeadWize
Headphone information, updated frequently.
Home Theatre 101
Lots of HT articles. (Not
Home
Theater Magazine's Home Theater 101 site, but a different one.)
How Film Is Transferred
to Video
If you want to know more about 3:2 pulldown, hard
vs. soft matting, and more stuff like that, this is the place. Lots of excellent
diagrams.
HowStuffWorks
A site with loads of articles about how all sorts
of things work. Fun to browse through, and one of the best sites on the web. For
HT, see the directories of articles about
Video Electronics
(including "How Home
Theater Works") and
Audio Electronics.
(The site's full name is "Marshall Brain's HowStuffWorks," and one of the things
you learn in the article How
HowStuffWorks Works is that that's his real name.) Unfortunately, the
articles are split into small chunks that you have to click from page-to-page to
read, to give you more exposure to the ads. But, heck, somebody has to pay for
the site, right?
Introduction to Widescreen
A site devoted to widescreen, with the web's most
complete collection of visual examples of aspect ratios, letterboxing, pan &
scan, etc. Very enjoyable to browse through. If this isn't enough to convince somebody
that pan & scan is a bad thing, nothing is.
Keohi HDTV
They call it "Your Friendly HDTV Tips Site," and
it does have an extraordinary amount of information about HDTV, especially
brand-specific information available nowhere else. Be sure to click deep into
the site; the best stuff is accessible from the menus along the left of the
screen.
Letterbox and Widescreen Advocacy Page
Zealous advocacy
of wide-screen.
Letterbox vs. Pan 'N Scan
An MGM site that compares the two, gives their
history, and explains how they're done. Lots of visuals.
Projector Central
Information about front
projectors (mainly LCD and DLP), including reviews. Updated frequently.
Radio Shack & One For All Remotes
An amazing site dedicated to a single family of
remotes that takes them way past where their designers intended consumers to go.
Makes me want to use one of these inexpensive remotes just so I can use the
site.
Remote Central
Nearly everything about remotes; the
user reviews are especially valuable.
Review Centre:
Home Cinema
Reviews, with numeric rankings, of DVD players,
TVs, home theater equipment and many other categories. Actually, the reviews are
collections of comments contributed by people who visit the site (no HT
qualifications needed), and the numeric ratings are averages of the scores that
the various people assign. Visitors can also rate the views, so for each review
you get the reviewer's rating of the product, and then a measure of how much
respect others have for the review!
Roger Russell's Site
Iconoclastic essays from the
originator of McIntosh speakers. Especially provocative opinions about speaker
wire (in short, it doesn't matter).
Jon Risch's Site
More essays, some of which
totally disagree with Roger Russell. Among other things, includes details of the
"Jon Risch" design for speaker cables that are manufactured by several
commercial vendors, such as DIY
Cable.
www.ryanwright.com
Not much here, but worthwhile for a minute or so
to watch an interesting comparison of widescreen vs. pan & scan using a moving
diagram. Complete with narration.
SMR Home
Theatre
Articles and reviews about HT.
Sweetwater - Word For The Day Archives
Very complete dictionary aimed at the music
industry, but useful for HT as well. A little hard to use because terms are
indexed only once. For example, no entry for "Pro Logic," only "Dolby Pro
Logic." But, there is a dictionary-search feature works well, so use that if the
term you're looking up doesn't seem to be there.
The SpannerWorks!
Interesting articles about HT and DVD audio and
video technology. Also, I'm indebted to it for links to two sites that have
nothing to do with HT, but are wonderful nonetheless:
The Dialectizer and
Dancing Paul.
TitanTV
You sign up with your address (no need to give
your name or email) and the site tells you what shows are on over-the-air HDTV
or analog TV, digital or analog cable, and satellite. The shocker, if you're not
expecting it, is that the HDTV shows are the same as the analog shows (e.g.,
Jeopardy!), but in high-definition. But you already knew that, didn't you?
VCDHelp.com
Everything there is to know about VCDs and SVCDs.
This is truly the authoritative reference. Be sure to click deep in the site, as
there are layers and layers of valuable information here.
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