[JHouse]

Or: the four steps to true satisfaction.


I'm old. So I have had a lot of experience. First with "stereo" then with "home theater" and then with projectors. This is what I have learned:


1. If you get hooked (that means it becomes an internalized goal that you can't shake) you will never be satisfied for more than a few minutes.


2. You will spend way too much time looking for flaws, than actually enjoying the content. Your enjoyment will be history during this phase.


3. Each "upgrade" (or maybe only a change that feels different and you are willing to presume it is an improvement because that's what you are after) will be less significant/impactful than the last.


4. Ultimately, rather than being in ecstasy, you will just forget to care (which is the best outcome anyway) and watch the show.


This rant was triggered by seeing the 4K thread. And really, 9 speaker surround and twin subs? How much crap do they think we are going to fall for? You have to be able to walk through the room don't you?


Just let me say, I have spent a fortune on source material. 45's, LP albums, cassette tapes, quadraphonic albums, direct-to-disc albums, Beta tapes, VHS tapes, compact discs, Laserdiscs, DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-ray. And now you want me to buy another format? For a not so cheap thrill? And buy the same things over again? PuuuLEEEASE!


For better or worse, you get used to what you are watching. It usually starts feeling "right". Audio is the same way. I think your brain actually compensates and makes you see pretty much what you should. Like the inverted lens experiments. There are two ways to react. "Don't worry, be happy" or "I'm bored and unsatisfied, the grass surely must be greener in some other home theater."


I'm sure they will sucker a bunch of the young/well to do guys, whether knowledgeable addicts or just more money than sense types. Fine. That's capitalism. I'm all for it. Madison Avenue and all that. But this is just a little cautionary tale, for the more prudent among you.


There is a point of diminishing returns. And the more things you have going on in your life, the faster you get there. (That's a little something extra for perspective.)


So do what you want. Chase whatever Chimera you will. Have fun. But make sure you are actually having fun.

 

[conan48]

True.


I seriously think people who post here too much have some kind of underlying mental disorder

I question my own sanity, and am even considering not doing any kind of basement theatre in my new home.

 

[JHouse]

That short throw Epson did it for me. It's just too damn easy. Big and BRIGHT. $40K flat screen for $1,500. And I get to sit by the fire, play with the cat, cook, eat, surf the net on my tablet, socialize and still look at a great big HD image.


And everything I watch or listen to now is in the cloud (or stored on my DVR's). I have a TON of DVD's that I'll never watch again. So irritating.

 

[dholmes54]

You make a very good point,Jhouse Im also sick of all the upgrades & what ever else the industry wants you to do.It took them for ever to get HDMI & blu-ray to work correctly,they should be making sure current hardware & software work before they come out with new things.But we dont have to buy just be happy with what you have.

 

[R Harkness]

I spent a long time as an audiophile so I certainly know "the sickness." I did find the constant scrutiny worse in the audio domain than the home theater hobby. By necessity

my home theater took over my 2 channel audio room which cut down on some of my options for 2 channel listening (though I still have 2 channel gear I love). A couple

years after the home theater was done, I'd paired down from having about 6 different pairs of high end speakers on my house to 3. I'm getting rid of another soon since

I almost never use them.


As far as home theater, I do get upgraditus in one form: if I happen to be working a job that gives me a bunch of play-money left over I look at what might be available

in terms of an upgrade and if it's compelling I go for it. Otherwise, I sit happily with what I've got.


Far from being irritated or disappointed, the last 4 years of having my home theater have been extremely satisfying. Easily the best tech-lifestyle project I've ever done.

I enjoy it every single day, either listening to music or watching a movie and I feel as giddy about it as I did the first day.

As discussed earlier in the thread, part of this is due to the room being on the main floor and easily accessible, and bright and comfortable during the day.


Two other things: I don't go in for blaming industries for updgrades. They sell what people want; if we didn't want it, we wouldn't buy it, they wouldn't sell it. Generally, you don't "have"

to upgrade if you don't want to. I'm just glad that progress is such that the choice is usually there if we want it. I've got nothing against progress.


Second: It's still a bit weird to me how many people talk of needing lights on or "it's not social" or people "won't like the experience." I have tons of family and friends over all the time

for movies and sports and everyone likes the lights off best. And it's as social as it would be with the lights on. It's not like with the lights off we are watching the UFC in stone-faced silence

instead of screaming at the screen (as usual).

 

[mark haflich]

I have a detailed analogy here but I will let you guys figure it out. A few hints.Iits like a 10 that you just met saying will you drive me to your place or do you want me to drive us? You can take it from there.

 

[JHouse]

That's over my head. BTW, this might be the first time I ever noticed that R. Harkness and mark haflich weren't one person.

 

[Elix]

This first post must be at the top of this forum at all times. As a reminder and a warning. I remember the time when I was floored by my first FullHD LCD monitor. 24" monitor felt like a cinema at home after 17" CRT monitor. Then it didn't cut anymore. Then I was floored by a 42" Panasonic GT20 plasma. I thought I won't ever need to go to the cinema. Then all of a sudden it didn't cut anymore. I went for a projector setup. Now... With each upgrade I feel like I'm going the wrong way. I just want to stop and enjoy what I have already. I want to be able to enjoy small things like I could back then.

 

[R Harkness]



Quote:
Originally Posted by JHouse  /t/1522989/is-one-ooooh-aaaah-moment-worth-all-this-upgrading#post_24494637


That's over my head. BTW, this might be the first time I ever noticed that R. Harkness and mark haflich weren't one person.

I'd love a good chuckle but I'm not in on that joke and can't figure out the connection.

 

[JHouse]

If you are talking about my comment, I saw those two names as the same (obviously not studying much) because they appeared to me to be smart/thoughtful/experienced/knowledgeable guys, and with the names having the same cadence and rough appearance, I never differentiated the two. Just goes to show how much attention I pay to detail.

But if you are talking about Haflich's joke, I'm with you.

 

[Craig Peer]



Quote:
This rant was triggered by seeing the 4K thread. And really, 9 speaker surround and twin subs? How much crap do they think we are going to fall for? You have to be able to walk through the room don't you?

I went from 7.1 to 11.2 last year and I love it! It isn't taking up any more floor space either. But only because I hid one sub behind my wife's seat!

I can wait and see regarding 4K - 1080p projectors and Blu Rays are pretty much a mature format - I can buy Blu Rays for around the same price as renting them sometimes. And many sure look outstanding!

 

[fierce_gt]

I think this is why I love this hobby though. it doesn't have to be about the hardware, it can be about the software. that is, once I've got a pretty good theatre, I don't NEED to do constant upgrades, because I can get that 'ooh' and 'awe' moment from watching new blockbusters. sure, I still want to upgrade to 9.2, and sure I want a new screen with less texture, and sure I want a larger room, and sure i'll want to upgrade all of that 3 weeks after I finally do. but, in the mean time, it's not like I'm watching the same copy of 2001 over and over waiting for new gear to make it exciting again. every movie I watch, even on the gear I've gotten used to, can be exciting. to be honest, I'm finding fewer and fewer things getting me excited to upgrade, so in a weird way I'm kind of hoping for something to make all my equipment feel obsolete... haha.


like anything, a good balance is always best

 

[Romans828]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Peer  /t/1522989/is-one-ooooh-aaaah-moment-worth-all-this-upgrading#post_24495833



I went from 7.1 to 11.2 last year and I love it! It isn't taking up any more floor space either. But only because I hid one sub behind my wife's seat!

I can wait and see regarding 4K - 1080p projectors and Blu Rays are pretty much a mature format - I can buy Blu Rays for around the same price as renting them sometimes. And many sure look outstanding!

What are the major differences that you notice with 11.2? What sound is directed to those high and wide speakers from a 5.1 or 7.1 Blu-ray?

 

EDIT....oops....probably the wrong forum for this question.

 

[JHouse]

I'm really not trying to be a troll. If anything, I think the takeaway is do a healthy amount of homework and stretch to get something that will really do the job. Then be happy (that's the trick).

 

[stanger89]

I want to start by saying the whole point of this forum, and the hobby is to find what makes you happy. Now that said, let me be a little harsh.


IMO this opening post is just as over the top, or misguided as the line of thinking you're arguing against (audiophile tweaks, upgrade for upgrade's sake, etc).


The line of thinking in the OP, had it taken hold a couple of decades ago would have left us with with 480i (240i?) composite video with stereo audio on tapes that had to be rewound, and that wore out each time you used them. We'd have picture quality that was good enough only for TVs under 30" and viewed from distances of something like 10 feet. I don't see how anyone could argue that we'd be "better off" in that situation. Of course that's assuming we even made it that far, without trying to improve things would we have stopped with film, talkies, black and white silent films? Before that? Yeah I'm being over-dramatic, but so is the OP IMO.


That said I do understand some of the OP, that at some point you just have to sit back and enjoy. I've been doing that with my current system for close to 5 years now. I'd like to think I've found a good balance, at least for me. I'm not naive enough to think that my system is the pinnacle of performance, I know enough to know where the limitations of my system are, and more importantly what limitations of my system I'd like to fix. But I've also come to the point where when I sit down to watch something I can just enjoy it.


I'm looking forward to my next upgrade, but I'm still waiting for the thing that will make me jump. I think 4K is that think, but not just for the sake of upgrading. I can see the limitations of 1080p in my system (the occasional jaggie for example), and I look forward to higher bit depths (no more banding) and larger gamuts (what I see at the theater), and of course, I expect my next projector will have much greater contrast (better black level) and likely be brighter to support a larger AT screen.


But in the mean time I'll just sit back and enjoy.

 

[danieledmunds]



Quote:
Originally Posted by stanger89  /t/1522989/is-one-ooooh-aaaah-moment-worth-all-this-upgrading#post_24496040


The line of thinking in the OP, had it taken hold a couple of decades ago would have left us with with 480i (240i?) composite video with stereo audio on tapes that had to be rewound, and that wore out each time you used them. We'd have picture quality that was good enough only for TVs under 30" and viewed from distances of something like 10 feet. I don't see how anyone could argue that we'd be "better off" in that situation. Of course that's assuming we even made it that far, without trying to improve things would we have stopped with film, talkies, black and white silent films? Before that? Yeah I'm being over-dramatic, but so is the OP IMO.

There are a few advantages:

Those 480i movies would need to have really good scripts

I doubt the chemical peel would have been invented

You wouldn't have to buy your favourite movie 4 times in different formats

Laserdisc would be cool

 

[Deja Vu]

"They can't make you buy it if you don't want it."

Oh, yes they can!

That's marketing.

That's what a good sales pitch is all about.

Create a demand -- make you think you need it.

It happens every day on this forum.

 

[JHouse]

From the look of the timing, it looks like stranger89 took so long to compose he missed my post about the takeaway. stranger, how can you spend that much time given your post count. Though I don't have much room to talk.

 

[mark haflich]

I disagree. Nothing here is over the top. Its a fun thread because there is not that much to really talk about right now.

HT is a hobby for most. Way beyond getting one set up and just using and enjoying it. And for many posting on AV Science Forum, a business that depends on maximizing the number of hits, so that ad revenues increase, is a hobby. Its like going to a cigar bar that has a smoking lounge. you ca n go there to buy cigars (get information0 or to go there to smoke and talk about what interests you, HT.

 

[zombie10k]

I'm not sure I understand the context of this conversation...

I have fun tinkering and watching, that's part of the hobby if you're into it. Look on the car forums or high end PC forums, people are always upgrading and trying out the latest toys. no one is obligated to keep upgrading.


Like all hobbies, I can see getting burnt out over the years. Eventually I will settle down to 3 projectors and call it a day.