01/23/08
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General
Posted by:
@ 6:51 pm
I thought we might kick off 2008 with a few random observations for the upcoming year. We always welcome your comments so feel free to send them on and I’ll publish them for everyone to see (we have to draw the line at R rated!). So off we go…..
- The CD as a music delivery system is becoming extinct. Packaged media (especially music) will become less and less relevant. Downloads are here to stay. What we need now is some quality. 128K is not fine, we need lossless and we as consumers should not be paying full price for a much lower quality product.
- Ipods seem to have a stranglehold on the download market at this point. I think this is an unhealthy situation and I’ll go on record to predict that 08 is the year where we see direct to device download. What I mean by this is that if you currently download to a PC or Mac and then load your music devices from there you should be seeing directly enabled components. Imagine your whole house music system having the ability to just download your selections directly and not having to even use an MP3 player or IPOD. No middle step. Until that happens, downloads will not be fully embraced.
- Movie downloads will get some traction. Cable and Satellite companies will fight this tooth and nail, as in theory you have would then have a choice (God forbid). The next logical step is buy only what you want to watch. Again, quality is an issue. We shouldn’t be paying full price for a vastly stripped down (compressed) product. We should soon see 100MB/Sec internet (for an additional fee) like Comcast in the US has introduced.When that happens, how you get your TV and movies changes forever. A full High Definition movie takes 13 minutes to download at those speeds. That’s over 20 GIG of information.
- HD DVD and Bluray continue to slug it out at the expense of the consumer. I don’t see this resolving itself anytime soon. If nothing else the Toshiba HD DVD players make great upconverting players that happen to play HD disks all for less than the cost of a regular decent DVD player. Buy both formats if you can and just enjoy the movies.
- Consumer electronics will not get any easier to use or set up, regardless of what marketing claims. Based on what we see on a daily basis most people’s systems are operating at less than 20 percent capability (thats a real shame too). In other words they are seeing and hearing a fraction of what they paid for in terms of performance. It really bothers me that there is such a huge disconnect from what the marketers tell us and what the reality is. We have reached the point where only trained professionals or the most dedicated DIY’er even have a chance of getting it right. I know I’m biased, but consult a qualified professional, it really is worth it. That $100 you might save on a component isn’t worth the cost of $1000,s in performance and usability. It’s like doing your own surgery to save a buck….bad things are going to happen.
- Lets make quality a priority again. Quality pictures and high fidelity audio for both movies and music. Never at any time in history have film makers, musicians and record producers created higher quality content. So what do we do? We listen to music on computer speakers and watch heavily compressed movies on tiny screens. It can’t get any worse than that! Do yourself a favour this year. Get out and experience a truly high quality music and movie presentation in a properly set up home system. There is no going back. It’s more affordable than at any time in history, just try it!
- If 2008 is the year you are considering a reno or new home build, spend some time planning the intergration of your home electronics. I can’t stress the planning enough, from wiring to completion, it is the difference between success and failure. That sounds like it applies to everything…..I wonder why?
- If you recently bought an HDTV, and an HD PVR or DVD player and you aren’t stunned by the difference in quality, you have something not set up correctly. It’s that simple. The differences are spectacular. It is not subtle.
- Gaming systems will start to become a feature for the large screen home theatre experience. In fact I would guess that in the next few years movies may take a back seat to gaming. The HD X Box and PS3 games are so good on properly setup theatre system that reality is actually blurred. Thats not an exaggeration either.
Thats all for now, we invite anyone who is interested to comment, or drop us an email if you want to come by and experience for yourself what home electronics can do for you. Your more than welcome to come down and try it out.
Regards,
Mike
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