Biggest home theater innovations of the last 5 years? - Page 2

Making affordable HD projectors and affordable HD content for the budget minded (me). Blu-ray prices have dropped to where DVD was just a few years ago.

Anthem Room Correction.

While "one" specific HT innovation does not jump out to me, there is one concept (theory, law <-- whatever you want to call it) that I feel is extremely relevant to HT inovations and all electronics in general.

Moore’s Law

The graph provided indicates that microprocessor transistor counts that can fit into a circuit were at about 100 million back in 2006 and we are already up to roughly 2.6billion today and constantly climbing/evolving.

With doubling transistor counts roughly every 2 years, one cannot help but constantly look to the future of electronics in general. Better and more compact is what the future holds...

Sorry if that was a bit off topic. My point is, you buy the absolute best and "most innovative today" only to be overshadowed tomorrow and totally obsolete within the next year or two...
Edited by popalock - 6/19/12 at 12:30pm

Consumers using their iPads to operate their theater systems rather than the more expensive dedicated touch-panels.

I created my first HT about 7 years ago. The only major thing that would be different if I were to buy new equipment now would be a 1080p/3D projector instead of the 720p I have now. Back then HD projectors were not affordable and 3D projectors didn't exist.

In terms of HT usage, the major change during the last 5 years for me is streaming content. The quality of streaming is now decent (I wouldn't get perfect quality with my old 720p projector anyway) and the convenience over discs is great.

iphone and ipad for me. I don't care for either but their influence in the a/v field can't be denied. As much as I want to say cheaper projectors I can live without one if I have a big tv. Having actual decent home automation control on a device not built and overcharged for by Crestron/AMX has been huge. These smartphones are only going to make the home theater experience even better as we figure out more and better ways to use them.

The new wave of speakers that are able to handle the dynamics of movies playing at reference level without compressing or distorting.

BluRay and Audyssey.

As I see the trend in the last five years was mostly to reduce the size of active and passive components in speaker design to complement the trend to flat panel HDTV's. We went from larger speaker designs to these small towers, (example Vienna Acoustics, PSB, B&W CM/600 series) which aren't able to reproduce audio without some compression and distortion. Most of these require a additional sub-woofer to provide a full frequency response to one's home theater. Its very interesting to listen & compare mainstream speakers compared to what was the golden age about 20 to 30 years ago when sub-woofers weren't as necessary.

If there is one trend among speakers it is the increased usage of in-wall speakers for one's home theater which I think the marketplace has taken off. I do not think wireless speakers have done as well.
Edited by JohnAV - 6/20/12 at 2:55pm

I would say tablets have made a pretty big impact and the way technology has helped make things more affordable i.e. 70 80" TV's at reasonable prices.

I say tablets becuase I never would have thought that walking into a resturant that you order off an IPAD. (I know it's not home theater innovation but still cool) Tablets can be used for home theater control, home automation etc.. Pretty crazy and all the innovations just keep coming.

I would have to echo Netflix as well. Before, I would buy most every new release DVD, but now, I use Netflix to watch most things. If there is a show/movie I really like, then I buy the Blu-Ray. As a result I've only a shelf full of Blu-Rays, which is fine with me. Even so, they are much cheaper now.

With all the affordable projector displays, were I to start my home theater now I would have a much different approach to it all; I could get much more for my money now than years ago.

Yea, us "early 1080p" projector adopters, those that bought in 2007/2008 and funded the R&D by spending $5k or more, kinda now are sitting on sidelined for this whole 3D thing. We did our share funding R&D, let others do this go around. I'm looking at 2015 earliest for next pj.

The biggest innovations of the last five years?

1. The bridging of the TV to the PC. Period. This should be number one on every single list as we have seen Netflix lead the way with more than a few other options out there. Streaming media, audio, Sonos, YouTube, iTunes, networked media tanks. You have content whether it is photos on your laptop, or an entire movie collection in the cloud, it is now something that can be reached from any number of playback devices. From the more complex home theater PCs to a dediacted media server or AppleTV, to your $100 Blu-ray Disc players. (read the top complaints about BD players for proof that people consider advanced functionality and Internet capability more important than disc playback quite often!). This is, if not the innovation, the advancement which is front and center in the past five years, and will show the most growth.

2. Thin TVs being 'thin'. Not the 3 to 5 inches from the wall, need two people to hang them, and dealing wtih mounts that outweigh the TVs themselves. People are truly embracing hanging their TVs on their walls instead of setting them on furniture, and there is no doubt that Samsung has led the way, and pushed plasma and other LCD makers down the same pathway.

3. The acceptance of 'big'. Call it not much of an innovation, but people from 5 years ago generally thought of a 42" TV as 'huge' when going from their 27" CRT. Nowadays the 50" TV is very commonplace and the 60+" size is seen quite often in homes as something typical, instead of unusual. With Sharp releasing their 90" display, it is now possible to get close to front projection sizes, without the need for a dark room or the issues associated with front projection. Yep, it still will cost a fair shilling or two, but as always, prices will drop and quality will improve.

4. The end of the format war and the start of true HD finally. Unbelievable that it took so long after HD was on the market to get a disc out that was doing HD and was standardized across the industry. The price is right to get a player, the quality is great, and the ease of use is in line with what most consumers can handle without jumping through hoops.

5. HDMI actually working... The number of posts about HDMI issues has seen serious decline in the last few years. The first few years of HDMI was nothing but issues. Getting a reliable 30'+ distance was unreliable and often very pricey. And don't even get started on how poorly electronics handled HDCP and EDID information. Now, we get a lot of things that just work well. Not everything (for sure) but most of it. Along with that we now have HD-Base-T to send HDMI as far as most people would ever need using standard CAT cabling. Will be truly amazing with HD Base T is integrated at the component level. Just plug your BD player into your receiver with a piece of Cat-5 cabling, then plug your receiver into your TV. About $2.00 in cabling to wire everything up.

I'm not sold on OLED yet but look forward to the future and what it brings.

I don't think projection has changed that much in the past five years. Cheap 720p was out ten years ago (Sanyo Z1 era), and 1080p is a nice improvement but front projection is not as pervasive as the other items I think.

3D is also still very niche. A very cool add-on feature, but not one which is often used by athe masses... yet. 3D still has some growth we will see in upcoming years and is likely one of the bigger things for the next few years. Much like OLED will possibly be.

I think TVs like the large sharp models are on a collision course with projectors. We should see great values for projectors as TVs get larger/thinner. Seems like to me that people who want an 80" screen size will have big decisions to make.

Along these lines, if you go back a tad further (10 years) ago, I'm sure none of us would have ever imagined that $20K 50" Plasma Wall TV on display at Tweeter would be selling for $800 today at your local Best Buy.

How about Mitsubishi with a 92 inch 3D DLP for under $5000

A Redbox at every Mcdonald's (sorry had to say it).
Sudden craving for a Big Mac now, gotta go...

I am very surprised at how few are mentioning the rise of lossless audio (Dolby truehd and DTS MA) and its incorporation in even budget receivers. In my opinion, this is the biggest reason to use blu ray over streaming - the audio difference is quite apparent even on relatively low budget setups.

For me

I Pad – I Phone integration
4k resolution in the home
1080P 3D
Lossless Audio
"Networked "everything"


Cheers
Calvin

HTPC, HTPC, HTPC.

I know it was around more than 5 years ago (that's about when I got into it) but it's so much different now with network CableCard tuners, on-line streaming (Hulu, Netflix, etc.), CPUs with integrated GPUs, SSDs, mini-ITX form-factor, low prices, etc. There is so much more available now than ever for either buying one off-the-shelf of building your own and it's more affordable than ever. You know something changed because my wife likes them .

Because of HTPC, all of my media: music, videos, movies, photos, on-line "radio", everything -- all in one place. It's truly amazing. I also no longer have a cablebox or many other components for that matter. My HT is my HTPC, my AVR and my TV -- no longer is it my DVD (or Blu-ray) player, my CD carousel, my AVR, my cable box, those RF extenders hooked to my one-and-only office PC for listening to MP3s and my TV. My "cable box" is a little box that sits in the basement with a CableCard in it that hooks into my network. Every PC in the house can view cable TV -- no coax, no "weak signal", just perfect.

PC in the living room, bedroom, etc. -- wherever there's a TV.

How about increase in easy to use multi-room options? My parents are currently building their dream house (mom is in her late 50's, dad will be 61 in August) and they will have a multi room system audio setup. My dad will be streaming Pandora or other internet music options throughout the house. My folks aren't technically inclined at all, but the options now will make this both affordable and easy to use for basically anyone.

Interesting points but the question was about Home Theater. The definition of HT is different for different folks here but my goal has been to have a true Theater experience at home. You simply can't do that with a television and streamed content in your living/family room. For me, the biggest advance in my Home Theater was sound. With FP, video (even 720P) has always been good but moving from HiFi to HE (high efficiency) speakers and subwoofers with massive output has taken my and others systems to a new level of performance. The big screen is essential but big audio in a dedicated space is the real wow factor. IMHO
Edited by RMK! - 7/10/12 at 8:28am

I think the avalibility of wireless HDMI is just beginning and will allow the masses to improve their setups with easier placement of displays and such.
Just picked up an ActionTec kit and it works flawlessly thru exterior walls for a price not much higher than just a 25 ft HDMI cable from Monster:)

Interesting... No audio sync issues?

Wireless has always intrigued me, just didn't think the tech has evolved to the point of being viable for those picky A/V types...

hello everyone........

Here's my list:

Home Theater Innovations of the last 5 years

1. Blu-Ray
2. Lossless Audio
3. Audyssey MultEq (with MultEQ "Pro" being the highest version)
4. Streaming media services
5. HDMI (now stable)

Home Audio Innovations of the last 5 years

1. Sonos (admittedly older than 5 years, but has really taken off in the last 5 years)
2. Network-based streaming media services (Pandora, Rhapsody, etc.)
3. iPhone/iPad control of said services
4. Class D audio amplifiers (small form factor, low-heat)
5. AirPlay

2007/2008 not even close for an "early adopter". The first 1080p projector (I believe) was the Sony Qualia in 2003 - which listed for $25000 - curiously the same price which their current 4K projector lists for.
(I think the price dropped in half for the next generation - which is why I try not be an "early early adopter" since I don't have money to burn and realize that the technology will get better and cheaper if I just wait
awhile.)

(It's amazing how difficult it is to get a simple answer on the Internet to: What was the first 1080p projector? I tried that and all I got were ads.)

Darbee Visual Presence processing technology