Home Theaters Research Articles

Investigating basic channel routing matrix using reaper: designing a surround sound 5.1 instruction model for learning

The production and processing of surround sound are only done in the post-production department for movie and home theaters. In our country, there has been no specific teaching on surround sound systems, especially in channeling. We use matrix routing to define the DAW's channel flow arrangement on the soundtrack. Surround Sound spatial sound processing is indispensable for improving film production in Indonesia. Inspired by Dolby Surround, we independently investigated the matrix channeling on the Reaper DAW to identify the specific settings for getting ready audio mixing conditions with a 5.1 surround system. Specific tools are needed to understand large and complex data sets to understand processes. We went through several experiments and time to understand this, collecting observational data through recording and thinking hard until finally, we poured the process into a model of teaching materials. We offer channel patching on some audio interfaces. The design of teaching materials implemented the findings of this study. Furthermore, the teaching material model can be equipped, used, and adjusted to the conditions of the place of study.

Retooling results of a massive database of home theater measurements

In 2010 the first results of a large-scale measurement program on home theaters was reported in an AES presentation. More than 1,000 rooms were measured for impulse response from each of a minimum of six loudspeakers to at least four (usually more) listening locations. However, computer processing capacity limited the initial report to 275 rooms. Room acoustics and sound system information was reported: RT and its std. dev. with frequency, room volume statistics for those rooms, and transient and steady-state frequency response for some example rooms were shown. From these few rooms an important item of interest emerged: the Schroeder frequency did not show as a boundary of response deviations between lower and higher frequencies—the average deviation from the average response was more constant with frequency than expected. This work will be briefly reviewd. Now in 2022 a new look at this data plus that which was gathered in the intervening years may be studied with much more advanced math tools such as machine learning so much more can be understood. This presentation is interim describing work to be done and soliciting comments from practitioners.

Autonomous Technology for 2.1 Channel Audio Systems

During the COVID-19 pandemic, smart home requirements have shifted toward entertainment at home. The purpose of this research project was therefore to develop a robotic audio system for home automation. High-end audio systems normally refer to multichannel home theaters. Although multichannel audio systems enable people to enjoy surround sound as they do at the cinema, stereo audio systems have been popularly used since the 1980s. The major shortcoming of a stereo audio system is its narrow listening area. If listeners are out of the area, the system has difficulty providing a stable sound field. This is because of the head-shadow effect blocking the high-frequency sound. The proposed system, by integrating computer vision and robotics, can track the head movement of a user and adjust the directions of loudspeakers, thereby helping the sound wave travel through the air. Unlike previous studies, in which only a diminutive scenario was built, in this work, the idea was applied to a commercial 2.1 audio system, and listening tests were conducted. The theory and the simulation coincide with the experimental results. The approximate rate of audio quality improvement is 31%. The experimental results are encouraging, especially for high-pitched music.

Acoustic performance of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites: Influencing factors, future scope, challenges, and applications

AbstractNoise pollution caused by urbanization and industrial development must be effectively controlled to provide a pleasant living atmosphere. Different synthetic fiber materials have good acoustic performance, yet synthetic fiber materials have a high cost and have adverse effect on the environment. Natural fibers are a good alternative to synthetic fibers in terms of acoustic properties and they are also less expensive and have less environmental impact. Several factors affects the acoustic behavior of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites (NFRPCs). The present article focuses on the effect of different processing methods, reinforcement architecture, fiber diameter, laminate thickness and density on the acoustic performance of NFRPCs. Reinforcement architecture has been proved to be the best option in order to tailor the various acoustic properties of the composite laminates without even changing other physical properties. The challenges, future scope and potential applications of natural fibers in acoustic applications (home theaters, offices, cinema halls, automobiles, etc.) have also been discussed.

TV Homes: Scenes from the Family Photo Album

Drawing on my collection of over 5,000 snapshots featuring TV sets, this essay explores how people (mostly in the US) visualized their TV homes in the 1950s–1970s. It explores the use of TV as a posing place for the presentation of self and family. Rather than simply watch TV, people performed in front of the set, and turned the TV set as setting. The text considers a variety of spatial settings from empty spaces to theatrical spaces to uncanny spaces in TV homes. It suggests that vernacular photography provides new clues into the way people lived with TV and made their homes into TV ‘home theaters.’

Review of the perception of diffusive surfaces in architectural spaces

The use of sound diffusors started in antiquity in the form of statuary, balustrades, coffered ceilings, and surface ornamentation. While these surfaces added both beauty and useful scattering, their bandwidth was limited. It was not until the invention of the reflection phase grating by Manfred Schroeder in 1973 that acousticians were able to design number theoretic surfaces with a specified broad bandwidth. Later Cox and D’Antonio expanded diffusive design options beyond number theoretic surfaces to include fractal surfaces, binary amplitude diffusors and beautiful curvilinear architectural shapes acceptable to the architectural community, using shape optimization software. Many peer review publications and books by the authors, ushered in the widespread use of sound diffusion to complement sound absorption. Significant research ensued to study various shapes, bandwidth, location, coverage, and their perceptual aspects. This presentation will review how sound diffusion modified the sound fields originally in recording control rooms, followed by home theaters, rehearsal spaces, performance stages and auditoria, worship spaces, and sound reproduction spaces. Many applications will be presented, as well as subjective questionnaires and objective measures.

Historical evolution of sound diffusion in spaces for modern music

This presentation will review the historical evolution of the use of sound diffusors, from their initial use in recording control rooms to include almost all spaces for the performance, recording, and audition of music. Shortly after the invention of the reflection phase grating diffusor by Manfred Schroeder in 1973, the quadratic residue diffusor was installed in Michael Fowler Hall, New Zealand, Underground Sound recording studios in Largo, MD, and in the Oak Ridge Boy’s Acorn Studio in Henderson, TN. The initial acceptance of these new surfaces led to installation in hundreds of recording control rooms and live rooms, home theaters, stages, auditoria, and worship spaces. The design of sound diffusors was expanded to use optimization algorithms created by Cox and D’Antonio to include decorative shapes to complement the original phase grating surfaces, thus opening their use in all architectural acoustic spaces. Following a brief review of the design theory options, many applications over three decades, in a wide range of venues will be presented. A speculation on what the future holds, based on evolving diffusive designs and advanced manufacturing methods, will also be presented.

Competition Scenario of Taiwan Transformer Industry

A major applicant of transformers was to increase voltage before transmitting electrical energy over long distances through wires. Most of consumer and commercial electronics for daily using like personal computers, home theaters, air conditions, TVs, cell phones and notebooks, etc., needed transformers to do electrical transfer. Moreover, in order to adopt the design of consumer and commercial electronic devices, the specifications of transformers including the circuits, diameter of wires, turns of windings, and size of cores and bobbins were different; transformers were customization. There were standard specifications for transformers. The common types of transformers were EI type and toroidal type, etc. Due to the internationalization and concentration of business, economic executives no longer had a strong connection with their place of production. Production locations could transfer or collapse for various reasons, amongst them changing cost factors or competition.

Towards MMIC-Based 300GHz Indoor Wireless Communication Systems

SUMMARY This contribution presents a full MMIC chip set, transmit and receive RF frontend and data transmission experiments at a carrier frequency of 300GHz and with data rates of up to 64Gbit/s. The radio is dedicated to future high data rate indoor wireless communication, serving application scenarios such as smart offices, data centers and home theaters. The paper reviews the underlying high speed transistor and MMIC process, the performance of the quadrature transmitter and receiver, as well as the local oscillator generation by means of frequency multiplication. Initial transmission experiments in a single-input single-output setup and zero-IF transmit and receive scheme achieve up to 64Gbit/s data rates with QPSK modulation. The paper discusses the current performance limitations of the RF frontend and will outline paths for improvements in view of achieving 100Gbit/s capability.

Evaluation of different spatial windows for a multi-channel audio interpolation system

The adoption rate of multi-channel audio systems has dramatically increased in recent years. It is common to find 5.1- or 7.1-channel systems in typical home theaters. However, most users do not setup the satellite loudspeakers at the prescribed positions for aesthetic reasons or due to space constraints. Recently, we introduced a technique to optimize multi-channel contents for reproduction over non-ideal loudspeaker setups. Our proposal improves localization accuracy for sound sources reproduced by horizontal loudspeaker arrays. It can also be extended to handle full 3D contents, like those of the upcoming 22.2-channel standard. The proposed method works by applying a set of spatial windows centered at the loudspeaker positions and interpolating along the angles using the spherical harmonics. We now extend our previous results by evaluating the performance of six different spatial window functions. We consider the 5-channel distribution of ITU recommendation BS.775-2, as well as four variations that end-users are likely to deploy. Apparent sound source locations are estimated from the energy and velocity vectors at the sweet spot. Our study found that using the Slepian window with our proposal and a non-ideal loudspeaker layout leads to a reproduced sound field that is closer to that of the ideal configuration.

End-to-end framework for 4-D broadcasting based on MPEG-V standard

Advances in media technologies brought so-called 4-D movies to your neighbour. The 4-D movies represent movies (preferably in 3-D) with additional sensory effects such as motion chairs and wind effects. We present an end-to-end framework to provide sensory effects for home theaters based on MPEG-V standard. The key technologies of the 4-D broadcasting framework, required to provide sensory effect through home theaters consist of creating sensory effects synchronized with audiovisual contents, delivering the sensory effects with content to home theater devices, recognizing home devices for rendering sensory effects, and rendering contents through home theater system with connected sensory devices in a synchronized way. This paper proposes end-to-end technology required, in addition to the conventional broadcasting framework, based on international standard of MPEG-V, specifically Part 2 to describe capabilities of the home sensory devices, Part 3 to provide contents with sensory effects, and Part 5 to command the sensory devices among other parts of MPEG-V standard.

4K Projectors Come to Home Theaters

Anyone who has seen 4K‐resolution images on big‐screen displays knows how detailed and impressive these images can be. Now it is possible to have 4K projectors for personal home theaters.

Soundscape realization through standard surround sound.

The need for both qualitative and quantitative analyses may be the key challenge separating soundscape efforts from traditional environmental noise practice. On‐site soundscape tours and interviews are a proven but resource‐intense method for soundscape study. A means to obtain a soundscape and reproduce it elsewhere for subsequent analysis could be an efficient way to collect data and increase survey sample size. Reproduction off‐site also makes soundscape modifications and comparisons possible, facilitating the measurement, evaluation, design, and composition processes. Standards specifying the full record and reproduce systems and procedures may never be able to anticipate the vast range of soundscape qualities that are salient across any and all soundscapes, loud to soft, low to high, large to small, transient to steady‐state, urban to wilderness. The more pressing need is a review of the merits and shortcomings of the many soundscape recording and reproduction techniques most likely to be employed, and one small contribution is offered here. Cinemas and home theaters, with a somewhat‐standardized 5.1‐channel surround sound reproduction capability, might serve as a useful playback venue. They are well‐understood by recordists and acousticians and have been used to fabricate a range of soundscapes in film and music, sometimes with great success. This paper evaluates the feasibility of using the 5.1 surround sound format for soundscape design.

Sound in a single family house.

Apart from road and air traffic noise, and some noise from neighbors, the most important noise in single family residences usually is the noise generated within the residence itself, such as music, general activities, operating machinery for the house and people comfort, and the sound isolation characteristics of the different partitions within the house. Mexican single family residences are usually made out of brickwork, but some inner walls are nowadays changing from brickwork to rocksheet and similar materials, which reduces noise attenuation from kitchens, washing rooms, and living spaces. Home theaters are usually installed at will, and the resulting sound has limitations. A case is presented where family relations started to deteriorate due to the low isolation capabilities of the inner walls.

Spaces speak, are you listening?: experiencing aural architecture

We experience spaces not only by seeing but also by listening. We can navigate a room in the dark, and the emptiness of a house without furniture. Our experience of music in a concert hall depends on whether we sit in the front row or under the balcony. The unique acoustics of religious spaces acquire symbolic meaning. Social relationships are strongly influenced by the way that space changes sound. In Spaces Speak, Are You Listening?, Barry Blesser and Linda-Ruth Salter examine auditory spatial awareness: experiencing space by attentive listening. Every environment has an aural architecture.The audible attributes of physical space have always contributed to the fabric of human culture, as demonstrated by prehistoric multimedia cave paintings, classical Greek open-air theaters, Gothic cathedrals, acoustic geography of French villages, modern music reproduction, and virtual spaces in home theaters. Auditory spatial awareness is a prism that reveals a culture's attitudes toward hearing and space. Some listeners can learn to see objects with their ears, but even without training, we can all hear spatial geometry such as an open door or low ceiling.Integrating contributions from a wide range of disciplines--including architecture, music, acoustics, evolution, anthropology, cognitive psychology, audio engineering, and many others--Spaces Speak, Are You Listening? establishes the concepts and language of aural architecture. These concepts provide an interdisciplinary guide for anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of how space enhances our well-being. Aural architecture is not the exclusive domain of specialists. Accidentally or intentionally, we all function as aural architects.

Color appearance of a display changes under various illumination conditions

Different technologies have given rise to a wide variety of everlarger visual displays. The conditions under which displays are viewed are diverse as well: inside stores for promoting products, in airports and train stations for displaying travel information, and in home theaters. Most of these viewing conditions include flare—an effect caused by ambient light—which has often been ignored in previous studies. Yet achieving consistent color reproduction requires understanding the impact of the surround conditions on the color and appearance of an image. Some color-appearance experiments have been carried out using various types of displays,1–3 although most were performed with a dark surround. For this reason, David Brainard and colleagues4 and Heui-Keun Choh’s team5 investigated the effect of ambient illumination on the appearance of achromatic colors on a CRT display using a color-matching method. They did find an effect due to chromatic adaptation, but did not consider alterations in the brightness or the colorfulness of the stimuli. The present study focuses on the change in color appearance of a large display in response to various surround conditions: dark, dim, average, and bright. We used a 42inch Samsung plasma display panel with pixel resolution of 1024 × 768 and a display area of 934 × 532mm2. Surround conditions were applied to two categories of illumination. In the first case, the ambient light provided little viewing flare, so the display colors were unchanged but observers could perceive varying brightness in the surround (see Figure 1). In the second category, a brighter surround was used and more viewing flare was added to the colors (see Figure 2). This represents an actual viewing situation. It can be difficult to distinguish which phenomena to attribute to the surround effect, because observers see the displayed colors Figure 1. In the first-category surround observers cannot see the illuminating source directly because it is covered with a diffusing cabinet and faces the wall.

Speaker system with reconfigurable high-frequency dispersion pattern

The present invention features a high-quality audio frequency loudspeaker system utilizing an array of tweeters placed in vertical alignment along an axis. The tweeter array, containing a plurality of tweeters, is mounted on a tweeter baffle board which may be reoriented by a user, so that the speaker system may be positioned in either a horizontal or a vertical orientation relative to the floor or other supporting surface. Reorientation of the tweeter array, in conjunction with other novel features, allows the speaker system to meet horizontal and vertical radiation pattern specifications for home theaters.