[sonytheater]

As much as I hate to admit it Im getting to the point of being bored with hometheater. I think I've come to a point that for what I can afford it just wont get much better. I have an upgrade bug that wont leave me alone but I don't know why because everything I seam to Add lately looses its luster after just a day or two.

So what is left to keep things alive? I've thought about upgrading my now 5 year old receiver to something a bit newer but Im not sure if it will be worth it. I would like to get into a new HD DVD player, but don't wont to jump into that yet because to me its still too new to see where its going. I don't trust anything from Sony anymore so Im not so sure about Blue Ray, but I don't wont to invest into HD DVD just to have if flop either.

I think some of it has to do with the lousy movies lately. Everything anymore just plain sucks to me. I used to be a horror fan but anything released anymore is a joke. Just way to much crappy effects & gore for my taste. And whats with all the Dark ****** picture? Im sick of the grain & overly dark crap, it dosent add any suspense. Its just all the same crap all the time.

I love a good war movie but haven't seen one worth watching since SPR, or Band of Brothers.

The action movies are just to over the top & so unrealistic that they are plain ignorant. The stunts & things you see anymore are so far fetched its more like watching a bad comedy.

It's pretty bad that Im almost 30 years old & I find more entrainment out of kids movies & cartoons than anything else offered. Damn you Dreamworks...

Really though Im lost, I love home theater but its has gotten so boring latley for me. I don't know if its just that for my money it just wont get any better. Or if its a matter of the crap thats out lately has stopped my interest.


So is their anyone else or is it just me?

 

[bryan.carlson]

I was in the same boat for a while. I caught the hi-fi bug in college and started to get interested in speaker design. I bought every book, magazine, and reference I could find on the subject. I even purchased a license of LEAP; I wanted to do this for a living.


Then I lost interest in speaker design a few years after graduating and decided to simply purchase my gear including my speakers. Eventually I transitioned from 2 channel into home theater and am still mainly interested in this format. However, I always keep an eye on the latest beefcake amp, speaker, or whatever in the 2 channel arena. I suppose in a couple years I'll begin putting a dedicated stereo system together again.


At times I get bored with my movie collection and I rarely just listen to music anymore. It sounds like your hobby is centered around the equipment instead of the media it is designed to play; I get this too. I can't really offer any suggestions to fix this other than perhaps try Netflix or somehing. You can watch "experimental" movies to explore new genres and hopefully find something to spark your interest again.

 

[kgb540]

I'm with you 100%

 

[rnrgagne]

I love my HT, and what has kind of kept it fresh for me is moreso music than movies. I now watch and own quite a few live concert DVD's and that has by far surpassed any other use of of my HT. When I'm in the mood I can crank up my rig and it's dam near like being there. The audio quality of these recordings has gotten so much better and continues to improve all the time. And like a good CD you can listen (watch) them over and over again.


You're right about movies though they seem to be few and far between for quality stuff.

 

[SiriuslyCold]

definitely multichannel music - for me - SACD and DVD-A. there's only so many movies you want to watch

 

[whoaru99]

Well, you can always start playing with different interconnects and speaker cables to find the ones that bring perfect synergy to your system. That should pretty much keep you busy on an infinite quest...

 

[sonytheater]



Quote:
Originally Posted by whoaru99 /forum/post/0


Well, you can always start playing with different interconnects and speaker cables to find the ones that bring perfect synergy to your system. That should pretty much keep you busy on an infinite quest...

Been there already, I make most of my own cables. Heck all of my componets have been apart a time or two as well for some small mods.


As for music, concert DVD's, SACD & such Ive really gotten bored with all that as well sadly.

I don't know maybe I just need to get out a bit more or something. But nothing excites me anymore when I throw in a new DVD, or CD. You see the posts pop up all the time about the newest release out that has the sub killing bass for all other movies to bow to & how good the surround effects are & such. I almost always seam to think "what were they talking about" when I watch it. And it used to be that I would have to buy just about anything new that was out. Now I almost always rent first. I know its not my system cause I have had several friends that just wont stop grinning when they are over & hear it. But its all gotten kinda bland for me latley.

Oddly enough though I still wont to add more thing & upgrade this & that for whatever reason.

 

[SiriuslyCold]

sell everything and start from scratch

turntable, stereo integrated amp, pair of speakers...

 

[shadow 8]

If you are not excited by the software, there is no point in doing this stuff at all. I love the music and movies, and have for twenty plus years. When that no longer excites you, sell your gear and do something else.

 

[tfs]

Getting a prescription for Prozak is going to be way cheaper in the long run.

Just kidding. I hear you. Netflix saved the day for me. As far as new releases go, I could not agree more. The crap to decent flic ratio is way out of balance. For every good movie I see, I must see 7-8 medium and 1 really bad movie. The advantage of Netflix for me is that they have just about everything including premium TV such as the Soporanos etc. It's gotten to the point for me that, except for Sports, I can barely sit and watch Network or Cable TV. The quantity and quality of the commercials are abominable. The programming is mostly just not good enough to keep my attention most of the time. The greed and shortsightedness of these big media companies is simply amazing to me. Then these idiots scratch their heads and wonder where all of their viewers are going. Who can stand to watch? And then a commercial comes on that's several decibles louder than the programming.. and then I'm gone. Thank god for Tivo as well. Don't even get me started on what is happening in pro sports as far as greed. If I did not love Football and baseball as much as I do, I would ditch that as well.


Read a good book man. I'm trying to get back in that habit.

 

[SiriuslyCold]



Quote:
Originally Posted by tfs /forum/post/0


Read a good book man. I'm trying to get back in that habit.

Sorry about going OT, but can I recommend Repairman Jack ?

the RJ novels are down the middle in the story cross references

 

[cecaa850]

Sounds like it's time for a new hobby. Stick with that for a while and come back to HT. Everything will sound/look better and brand new again.

 

[tfs]



Quote:
Originally Posted by SiriuslyCold /forum/post/0


Sorry about going OT, but can I recommend Repairman Jack ?

the RJ novels are down the middle in the story cross references

The whole thread is sort of off topic. Okay by me though. I'll look for that book next time I'm at the library. Always looking for good stuff. Series are even better if all th parts hold up well.


I like when a guy writes a couple of series of books and they crossever. That happened in the Issak Asimov "Robot Series" and his "Foundation Series" if memory serves. I think Steven King did it in a couple of his novels. Fun stuff.

 

[psujohny]

I agree with the original poster 100 %. Most current movies being just pathetic attemps at rehashing older movies ( whom actually were orignal with substance ). Most new movies are just all fluff ..what a shame, Hollywood has the means at their disposal to do things thats never been done and all they give us is pure craaaap.


HOWEVER,

I must say that one piece of new ht equipment has really been a joy and added a spark back to my ht experience...Is the PS3 ..Yea thats right

The improvement Ive seen in video and more surprisingly AUDIO ..is MAJOR, more so then any new amp, new cd player, new dvd player, new reciever, new subwoofer, new speakers Ive bought in a Loooong time..

The only bad thing is that you have a have a new hdmi 1080p tv and a new hdmi reciever to take advantage of the awesome upgrade that it truely is.

Also Im pleasantly surprised at the number of movies that are coming out in blu-ray ..I dont even bother watching regualr dvd's anymore ( unless it something that reaaally good, and as stated that doesnt happen much anymore ).

Secondly, I havent played video games since the old atari and Nintendo systems..But since I have the ps3, Ive decided to give em a try. I must say Ive enjoyed the heck ( and have gotten many hours of enjoyment ) out of the couple of games Ive played ( Need for Speed Carbon )...So all in all Id say the PS3 has put more use and excitement back into my HT then anything I can remeber for the last 5 years or so.

 

[SteveMo]

Could you do biamping or separates? You would notice an improvement. I promise you would not be bored.

 

[oztech]

i guess i am lucky licked hi-fi since i was a teenager and at 49 still enjoy

it and have watched other hobbies come and go and still suffer from

upgaditis still deciding on the new hd formats even have the mac tied in

the ht.

 

[sonytheater]



Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveMo /forum/post/0


Could you do biamping or separates? You would notice an improvement. I promise you would not be bored.

Im already running separates with way more power than I really need.

Its not that I don't like my system because I really do. I think one part of my problem now is that any upgrades I do anymore don't seam to add much where as before I was making quite a bit of improvement with small things.


The other is like I said before, movies are just getting so bland anymore. I honestly watch more kids movies than anything now days. They seem to be the only thing that is half way creative anymore. Most everything else is just a bunch of badly re made crap IMO.

 

[Bob Pariseau]

With a truly good video solution, "classic" movies may well be your salvation here.


You can get some excellent stuff both off of standard DVD and high quality digital cable feeds (not available in all areas of course). Satellite feeds just aren't there yet for SDTV channels due to ridiculous amounts of over-compression noise.


You'll need a really good video de-interlacing and scaling solution and you'll need a properly calibrated display. Right now those are expensive, but some of that will change this year. You'll also need a pristine standard DVD transport -- which doesn't have to be expensive these days.


You'll also need an audio solution with an "Academy" mono filter for those pre-1950's black and white movies.

--Bob

 

[sonytheater]

Bob you may be right on the classic movies. I normally would never watch older movies but find myself doing just that every once in a wile anymore.

As for a display, it's on my wish list to get into a nice projector but is still a couple years out yet ( unless I come into some free money )

Academy, mono filter? Never heard of that before fill me in...

 

[Bob Pariseau]



Quote:
Originally Posted by sonytheater /forum/post/0


Bob you may be right on the classic movies. I normally would never watch older movies but find myself doing just that every once in a wile anymore.

As for a display, it's on my wish list to get into a nice projector but is still a couple years out yet ( unless I come into some free money )

Academy, mono filter? Never heard of that before fill me in...

The older mono movies (roughly pre 1954, black and white, monaural, 4:3 aspect ratio) had a deliberate treble boost built-in to the monaural track in order to sound "correct" when played in movie theaters. The speakers were all behind the screen and thus had to play through the screen. The treble boost corrected for this (given the rather thickish screen material of the time), and also for the absorption of sound by the acoustics of the theater and the presence of the crowd.


The motion picture industry developed a standard way of doing this so that it worked the same in all commercial theaters. It is known as Academy equalization -- for the motion picture academy that promulgated the standard.


When you play such an old movie at home, if you don't undo this treble bias, things will sound "olde timey": Hiss and brightness dominate the sound.


An "Academy mono filter" in the audio system removes this bias.


However, sometimes when you play such a movie the audio has ALREADY been "corrected". Thus the audio sounds dull. For instance, Turner Classic Movies channel usually pre-corrects such sound tracks.


So you want to be able to select for Mono or for Academy Mono as appropriate. The difference is not subtle, so it is easy to select the correct setting by ear. The old movie sound tracks, particularly later in that era, have surprisingly good quality if played properly.

--Bob