Home Theater Research Articles

<i>The Rocky Horror Picture Show</i> (review)

Jeffrey Weinstock, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. London: Wallflower Press, 2007. 131pp. £10.00 (pbk).Matthew TinkcomThe idea of the cult film is a tantalising one, not least to historians and critics of cinema and popular media, because it offers the sense that not all viewing practices and habits of reception are normative. The problem, though, is that it remains difficult to define what makes a cult film: is it the particular formal qualities that inhere in a given film or body of films; certain marketing strategies employed by the film industry to publicise and exhibit films in such a way as to garner new audiences; or is it the intent of audience members to embrace a film that otherwise might go unnoticed within the domain of 'mainstream' spectatorship (whatever that might be)?Over a decade ago, these problems received critical and scholarly attention in the rich and provocative work of writers such as Henry Jenkins, J. P. Telotte and Timothy Corrigan, but this attention seems more recently to have waned, perhaps an indication of how viewing habits have changed in the historical moment of home theatre and DVD release. The things that made cult films possible - the emergence of the dissent cultures of the 1960s and 1970s, the dissemination of new film canons in universities and repertory cinemas and the centrality of cinema as a lingua franca within post-World War II education - now seem a part of the historical past. When it becomes possible, as it now does, to circulate the motion picture through the technologies of the DVD, DVR and Netflix, the social activity of watching film in the cinema seems quaint, as does the practice of dressing up for the midnight screening of a film such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Sharman UK/US 1975) as so many have done since the 1970s, myself included.Jeffrey Weinstock's monograph on The Rocky Horror Picture Show appears in the welcome series, Cultographies, which seeks to re-animate the questions of cult cinema in a way that is perhaps inadvertently poignant, if only because cult film now appears to be a historical category, firmly in the past. Be that as it may, Weinstock's book illuminates the ways in which The Rocky Horror Picture Show came to play its central role in the popular imagination as the most easily recognised 'cult film'.One of the most important features of Weinstock's historical research is his account of the film's release distribution and exhibition, and the details are worth dwelling upon: after successful runs of the stage production, The Rocky Horror Show, in London and Los Angeles, the film version was released soon after a disastrous New York production of the play was shut down. The film initially appeared in a handful of US theatres to weak box-office sales and, as an inventive manoeuvre that sought to reinvent the film as an 'underground movie', it opened nationally in the US as a 'midnight' movie (with, by the way, an astonishingly small publicity budget). The film never had a large distribution - Weinstock tells us that by 1978 it was only playing in fifty theatres on Friday and Saturday nights at midnight - but it had found a niche within the cultural economy of cinema that was consistent and based upon a devoted audience who made the film financially viable through their reliable and repeated viewings. The fact that The Rocky Horror Picture Show was released as a midnight movie - a milieu that had emerged in New York in the 1960s as part of a new economy of non-Hollywood product, such as the films of Kenneth Anger, Andy Warhol and Jonas Mekas - tells us that it was not simply a corporate product that cult viewers discovered and made their own, but rather was an aberrant (read: failed) product that savvy marketers placed in front of audiences who were more likely to embrace its extremes of style and topic.The discovery that The Rocky Horror Picture Show was distributed in this way is of great significance, since it corrupts one of the most cherished ideas for the film's cult viewers: that it was the audience who discovered this piece of cinematic debris and were able, like the film's central figure, Dr Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), to make a (perverse) life where there had been none. …

Audio output adjusting device of home theater system and method thereof

A home theater system, an audio output adjusting device of a home theater system and methods thereof allow a prescribed or three-dimension audio configuration state for at least one prescribed position even when the prescribed location and/or a configuration of the speakers in a home theater system are modified. The device can include a checker (10) for analyzing at least one of volume and delay time of a test audio signal outputted from speakers and providing the analyzed information to a controller (20). The controller can control output level and timing of audio signals subsequently output from the speakers (31-36) based on the analyzed information.

Optimizing the sound pressure levels at low frequency limits of electrodynamic loudspeakers

This paper focuses on reproducible low frequency ranges of electrodynamic loudspeaker drivers. The research findings lead to a guide that allows the optimal driver to be selected at the early stages of the design when the consumer electronic products such as home theater systems, digital TVs or PC speakers are being considered. The suggested frequency ranges are based on the acoustics and estimated from statistical data from 1,473 loudspeaker drivers of various sizes. In particular, the lower frequency limit is discussed together with the peak volume displacement which is closely related to the maximum reproducible sound pressure in a loudspeaker.

A Statement on Sound Studies : (with apologies to Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Grigori Alexandrov)

Our cherished dreams of a robust field of sound studies are being realised. Musicology, having developed some of the earliest techniques for studying audio material, is now broadening its reach, applying its expertise to aural issues in film, pop music, television, and elsewhere. Cultural studies, likewise, is bringing its insights on reception, use, and audiences to sound-based concerns. With new journals (including this one) training their focus on sound, academic publishers releasing more audio-oriented research, and a burgeoning group of scholars from previously distinct fields mingling and sharing insights, sound studies may at last have found its voice.Those of us who work in film sound studies recognise that, given the long history of visually-oriented film scholarship, it is necessary and appropriate that much recent work in film sound has drawn as much (or more) on models originating outside cinema studies as it has on filmspecific theory. Historically, academic institutions have tended to privilege work from established fields; in the case of cinema sound, this has meant that approaches drawn from music, cultural studies, and elsewhere have provided the predominant analytical models. Indeed, we owe a great debt to the many scholars who have productively deployed the approaches from their own disciplines onto cinematic sound.At the same time, this is an opportune moment to make a statement on a number of theoretical principles about film sound, particularly as current scholarly work that relies solely on models from outside cinema may be hindering the development and improvement of a truly filmic model of sound studies.Here I offer four areas deserving consideration by scholars - whatever their nominal discipline - engaging with cinema and cinema sound. All of these issues would benefit greatly from the attention of researchers in musicology and/or cultural studies, but fall far enough outside the 'usual' boundaries of those fields to be frequently left out of work addressing film sound from these perspectives, potentially limiting that work's reach. These areas concern surround sound, production practices, the relationship between 'sound' and 'music', and the soundtrack as a unified object.Multi-channel SoundWhile 35mm film has remained a constant in the visual aspect of motion picture distribution, sound exhibition technologies have evolved significantly since the 1920s. Probably most noticeable among these is the introduction of the multi-channel soundtrack, which first appeared in the 1940s and has gone through several incarnations since then. Much work on film sound has treated 'the soundtrack' as a single element emanating from the screen, yet this approach has its limitations, particularly when studying movies with carefully constructed multi-channel soundscapes. Modern film soundtracks increasingly rely on multi-channel techniques to convey important spatial information, and on some occasions surround mixing strategies are even used to convey important plot information that goes unnoticed when played back in a monophonic or twochannel stereo environment. Just as it would be difficult to write about cinematography in The Wizard of Oz after watching it on a black-andwhite television, any analysis of a recent film soundtrack based on hearing the movie on a non-surround-equipped system will necessarily remain incomplete.This avenue of study offers huge potential, including research questions such as how the various audio channels work together and/or in conflict within the same movie; how surround sound changes the audience's experience of a movie; and why some people concern themselves with hearing movies in their intended soundtrack configuration while others do not (just as customer preferences differ on 'widescreen' versus 'fullscreen' image presentation). These last two questions, in particular, ought to be examined from a cultural studies perspective. Moreover, multi-channel sound is just one of several technological elements of film sound deserving study; other innovations - including recent changes like the rise of home theatre and increased viewing of movies on computers and portable media players - also beg analysis through lenses that incorporate both film theory and cultural studies. …

P‐237: Measurement of the Picture Contrast Enhancement of Gray Projection Screens

AbstractIt is well known that in a home theater, a gray screen can often render a picture with a higher contrast than can a white screen. However, until now, the explanation has been obscure. This paper describes and quantifies a possible mechanism for this contrast enhancement. It will be demonstrated that gray screens can effectively enhance the contrast of a picture in a room with light surfaces. The proposed mechanism is that the screen reduces the amount of light back‐scattered from the walls and off the screen. Part of the effectiveness comes from the gray color, but part is probably also due to the directivity of the screen. Under the measurement conditions, we have shown that a dark gray screen, with directivity, can increase contrast by up to five times as compared with that of a matte white screen.

Digital enhancement of television signals for people with visual impairments: Evaluation of a consumer product

Technology to improve the clarity of video for home theater viewers is available utilizing a low cost enhancement chip (DigiVision DV1000). The impact of such a device on the preference for enhanced video was tested for people with impaired vision and normally sighted viewers. Viewers with impaired vision preferred the enhancement effects more than normally sighted viewers. Preference for enhancement was correlated with loss in contrast sensitivity and visual acuity. Preference increased with increased enhancement settings (designed for those with normal vision) in the group with vision impairments. This suggests that higher enhancement levels may be of even greater benefit, and a similar product could be designed to meet the needs of the large, growing population of elderly television viewers with impaired vision.

Surround sound positioning tower system and method

A surround sound system and method involving a surround sound tower; a base plate; and a structure for positioning the surround sound tower on the base plate, the surround sound tower being mounted on, and normal to, the positioning structure for customizing sound direction and constructive interference patterns by interactively positioning the sound tower and/or at least one sound tower and by modular usage of tweeters, economizing floor space, especially in a home theater environment. The positioning structure may have a structure for indicating an angular rotation of the surround sound tower relative to the base plate and a structure for facilitating rotation of the angular rotation indicating structure.

2 × Zoom Ratio Telecentric Projector Lens Design for 1080 P High Definition Television with Minimum 8000 K Color Temperature

In today's digital age, digital projectors and their application are gaining in significance, especially in the home theater area where the projected area is more than hundred inches. More attention has to be paid to the design of these than of ordinary data projectors due to the enhancement of both definition and contrast for home theater projectors. This complicates the optical design of the projector, especially in 1080 P flat plane panel resolution requirements with strong offset of 130%, whose semi-image height (18.6 mm) is very close to that of 35 mm film (20 to 21 mm). In this paper the lens design samples focus on the application of a projector with a 1080 P digital micromirror device (DMD) system with 10.68 μm per pitch. Such lenses have the telecentric design on the image side because of the total internal reflection (TIR) prism. The complicated design is the reason for this: firstly, there must be a very long back focal length due to the huge TIR prism and zoom mechanical system; secondly, there is an extremely relative luminance requirement (70% minimum) at semi-image height (18.6 mm); thirdly, there are difficulties in the elimination of lateral aberration due to the limited choice of glass and, fourthly, there is a 2 × zoom ratio with modulation transfer function requirement of 40% at 501p/mm at a semi-image height of 18.6 mm minimum and, most important, limited total overall length. The lens design with 2 × zoom ratio for 1080 P resolution was presented with great success; the optimal calculation of lateral chromatic aberration via genetic algorithm (GA) was introduced in this research and then a local minimum of lateral color aberration was identified.

Audio and Video Equipment Basics for Libraries (review)

AUDIO LIBRARIES Audio and Video Equipment Basics for Libraries. By Jim Farrington. (Music Library Association Basic Manual Series, No. 5.) Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2006. [viii, 144 p. ISBN 0-8108-5716-2; ISBN-13 978-08108-5716-2. $45.] Illustrations, index, bibliography, sources for equipment reviews, glossary. The need for audio and visual playback equipment has existed since libraries began collecting media early in the twentieth century. As streaming media and portable MP3 and video players change how patrons experience music and film, many libraries are reexamining their audiovisual formats, equipment, and listening spaces. Audio and Video Equipment Basics for Libraries, with its focus on past, present, and future playback technologies, offers relevant and insightful information for those involved with or interested in listening and viewing logistics in the library setting. While most books on the market are geared towards the audiophile, sound archivist, or home theater enthusiast, this welcome publication presents information and advice specific to a library's needs, collections, and budgets. Farrington is an eminently qualified author. Formerly the music librarian and director of the World Music Archives at Wesleyan University, he is currently the head of public services of the Sibley Music Library at the Eastman School of Music. He teaches a seminar on the history and aesthetics of sound recordings at the Eastman School of Music and wrote the article Preventive Maintenance for Audio Discs and Tapes (Notes 48, no. 2 [December 1991]: 437-45). A past president of the Association of Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC), Farrington remains involved in the association and currently serves as the Music Library Association's liaison to both ARSC and the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA). His writing demonstrates that he is conversant with current trends and practices and possesses a thorough understanding of both audio and video. The breadth of this volume is impressive. It addresses most of the challenges one might encounter when designing or redesigning listening areas, ordering and maintaining equipment, or developing a circulation policy for audio equipment. The book is divided into six chapters on the following topics: the listening environment, source components, video, electronics, sound producers, and miscellaneous. Farrington presents brief histories of the various formats, explains how they function, discusses desirable features in playback equipment, and provides tips to improve sound and prolong equipment life. He reviews all of the current and some older audio and video technologies, as well as some that will appear in the next few years. Farrington mentions commercial streaming audio services such as Naxos and Classical Music Library, but the focus in this volume is clearly on audio and video equipment in the library. …

Upmixing and Downmixing Two-channel Stereo Audio for Consumer Electronics

In this comprehensive study, algorithms for upmixing, downmixing, and joint up/downmixing are examined and compared. Five upmixing algorithms based on signal decorrelation and reverberation are employed to convert two-channel stereo signals to jive-channel signals. For downmixing, methods ranging from mixing with simple gain adjustment to more sophisticated head related transfer function (HRTF) filtering and crosstalk cancellation system (CCS) are utilized to downmix the center channel and the surround channels into the available two frontal loudspeakers. For situations where only two-channel content and loudspeakers are available, a number of up/down mixing schemes are used to simulate a virtual surround environment. Emphasis of comparison is placed on two consumer electronic products: a 5.1 home theater system and a dual-loudspeaker MP3 handset. The effect of loudspeaker spacing on rendering performance is examined. Listening tests are conducted to compare the processing methods in terms of three levels of subjective indices. The results are processed by using the Multi-Analysis Of VAriance (MANOVA) to justify the statistical significance, followed by a multiple regression analysis to correlate the auditory preference with various timbral and spatial attributes.

BEYOND THE MULTIPLEX: CINEMA, NEW TECHNOLOGIES, AND THE HOME

Book Review| July 01 2007 BEYOND THE MULTIPLEX: CINEMA, NEW TECHNOLOGIES, AND THE HOME BEYOND THE MULTIPLEX: CINEMA, NEW TECHNOLOGIES, AND THE HOME, Barbara Klinger. STEPHEN GROENING STEPHEN GROENING Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Film and Video (2007) 59 (2): 56–58. https://doi.org/10.2307/20688560 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation STEPHEN GROENING; BEYOND THE MULTIPLEX: CINEMA, NEW TECHNOLOGIES, AND THE HOME. Journal of Film and Video 1 January 2007; 59 (2): 56–58. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/20688560 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressJournal of Film and Video Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 2007 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2007 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

3.2: High Dynamic Range Projection Systems

AbstractDigital cinema and home theatre applications need to compete with analog film in terms of image quality. The single most important performance specification of a projection system, and the largest gap in the competition between digital and analog projectors, is the relatively low dynamic range of luminance of current digital projectors. In this paper we introduce a novel digital system capable of displaying images with a high enough dynamic range to rival analog film. The projection system described is based on a serial combination of light modulating devices, such as two liquid crystal micro‐display panels within a projection light engine. One of the modulation steps can be of lower spatial resolution and contrast. This increases the optical efficiency of the system and avoids optical artifacts. We describe several hardware implementations of this approach as well as the required image processing. Finally, we present an evaluation of the designs in terms of performance, image quality and cost.

15.4: People with Visual Impairment Prefer TV Viewing Using a Contrast Enhancement Consumer Product

AbstractA device that uses technology previously tested for those with visual impairment to improve video clarity has recently been implemented in a product marketed for home theater viewers with normal sight. We found it to benefit viewers with visual impairment, even with the settings aimed at normally‐Sighted users, suggesting that the higher enhancement capabilities not accessible from the user interface may benefit this population even more.

Method for automatically adjusting the sound and visual parameters of a home theatre system

A system is provided for setting various acoustic and visual parameters to improve the reproduction of audio signals and visual signals. The system incorporates a hand-held remote control device which operates the main surround sound unit (e.g., home theatre receiver and/or digital decoder) and the display device via electromagnetic link, for example. The remote control includes a sensor capable of detecting various types of signals emitted by a number of speakers, and a processor that makes adjustments to the signal provided to each of the speaker based on the signal received from that speaker.

Sensory Jam

Sensory Jam

Beyond the multiplex: cinema, new technologies, and the home

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: What Is Cinema Today? 1. The New Media Aristocrats: Home Theater and the Film Experience 2. The Contemporary Cinephile: Film Collecting After the VCR 3. Remembrance of Films Past: Cable Television and Classic Hollywood Cinema 4. Once Is Not Enough: The Functions and Pleasures of Repeat Viewings 5. To Infinity and Beyond: The Web Short, Parody, and Remediation Conclusion: Of Fortresses and Film Cultures Notes Selected Bibliography Index

Buffer management for heterogeneous resolution display in home VOD services

This paper presents an efficient buffer management scheme to support heterogeneous resolution display in home VOD services. The proposed scheme provides different quality services for various home appliances such as digital TV, home theater, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Specifically, the proposed scheme exploits the reference popularity of video objects as well as the inter-arrival time between two consecutive requests on the same object. The scheme also considers the different streaming rate of video objects to provide QoS adaptive VOD service for heterogeneous appliances. Experiments with real world VOD traces show that the proposed scheme improves the performance of home VOD systems significantly

At the Heart of It All: The Concept of Presence

A number of emerging technologies including virtual reality, simulation rides, video conferencing, home theater, and high definition television are designed to provide media users with an illusion that a mediated experience is not mediated, a perception defined here as presence. Traditional media such as the telephone, radio, television, film, and many others offer a lesser degree of presence as well. This article examines the key concept of presence. It begins by noting practical and theoretical reasons for studying this concept. Six conceptualizations of presence found in a diverse set of literatures are identified and a detailed explication of the concept that incorporates these conceptualizations is presented. Existing research and speculation about the factors that encourage or discourage a sense of presence in media users as well as the physiological and psychological effects of presence are then outlined. Finally, suggestions concerning future systematic research about presence are presented.

A hybrid approach to rendering multichannel audio, using wave-field synthesis and stereophonic techniques, with virtual microphone control

In the evolution of multichannel audio presentation, a number of formats have emerged including 5.1 surround and wave-field synthesis (WFS). Due to the complexity and number of components required to realize an immersive WFS system, the use in a home theater environment is currently impractical. This study aims to investigate the perceptual advantages of integrating both systems into a hybrid array capable of providing immersive sound for a number of listeners, at a scale that is attainable for the consumer in terms of budget and complexity. In this approach the three front speakers (left, center, and right) are replaced with a linear line array allowing for a better lateral and depth imaging, while increasing the sweet spot. The rendering will be created using Virtual Microphone Control (ViMiC) for both WFS, simulating a line of omnidirectional microphones with ViMiC, and surround sound, which will allows dynamic source movement, speaker positioning, and scalability. The advantage of using this hybrid approach is the application of WFS to home theater systems without facing the complexity of a complete two-dimensional WFS array, while still allowing for an immersive sound presentation. A psychoacoustic evaluation will be presented, as well as measurements of the composed sound field.

Issues pertaining to the composing of ``minimalist'' loudspeaker music for home theater arrays

Loudspeaker music composed for home theater loudspeaker arrays is subject to a different set of aesthetic principles and production problems than is music (live or otherwise) prepared for concert presentation. Issues of scale, timing, dynamic range, spectral range, sonic materials, reverberance, the treatment of spatial issues, and listener expectations will all be discussed.