Elite Home Theater Seating Blog

Playbar, The New Sonos Soundbar

February 13th, 2013

Sonos has unveiled their new soundbar called Playbar that connects directly to your TV. The Playbar is 3 feet long with nine amplified speakers that provide great sound for your TV games, music, and movies. With a MSRP of $700, this is an investment for those of you who love great sound in your home theater.

Sonos has stated that the six mid-woofers deliver deep, rich low-frequenc sounds and three tweeters for crystal clear high-frequency detail. Sonos has stated this soundbar provides crisp and clear audio, not just loud sounds.

It connects directly to your TV with an optical cable and plays audio from everything connected to it, (Blu-ray DVD players, game consules, and cable boxes). The free Sonos app lets you control your Playbar from your smartphone or tablet to stream music from a home computer, or other music services like Spotify, Pandora, Rhapsody, and Amazon Cloud Player.

According to PCMAG.com, “Sonos said the Playbar was designed for easy setup and use. It can lie flat on a TV stand or be mounted on the wall above or below the TV”. “Sonos has transformed the way people listen to music throughout the home and now we’re bringing our wireless HiFi [high fidelity] approach to home theater,” Sonos CEO John MacFarlane said in a statement. “Playbar will change everything about the sound experience in your living room, bringing together amazing HiFi sound for your TV and wireless access to the world’s music in a radically simple way.”

Watch for the Playbar to hit stores on March 5, 2013. We always appreciate your comments and feedback so contact through Facebook, Twitter, email or by phone.

Canadian Head Office Unit 406, 17665 66A Ave. Surrey, BC V3S 2A7 Tel. 604-575-8310 Fax. 604-575-8329

U.S. Head Office 1927 Boblett Street Blaine, WA 98230 Tel. 1-800-490-1595

email: sales@elitehts.com



Home Theater PC’s (HTPC)

January 3rd, 2013

Steiger Dynamics offer gamers a new home theater PC experience. For many years, home theater PC’s have been less than exciting and frequently ignored. In a recent interview with Gaming IllustratedSteiger Dynamics CTO Martin Gossner sheds some light on the improvements of HTPC’s. Here are some excerpts of that interview:

“Gaming Illustrated: The concept of an HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer) has always been a dumbed-down version of your main PC. You’ve challenged that concept with your line of HTPCs. How do you plan on changing the consumer dynamic to make them expect more from an HTPC and the higher price tag that goes along with it?”

“Martin Gossner: Home Theater PCs are typically characterized by features like silent operation, a form factor tailored to living room furniture, and a sleek looking chassis that allows a seamless integration into a home theater setup. Meeting these criteria traditionally came with a compromise in processing performance, gaming capability, and storage capacity. Our systems break with that tradition and are the first and only on the market to incorporate high-performance state-of-the-art hardware, while meeting all of the traditional HTPC characteristics. The key to this is our sophisticated chassis design, the sole use of liquid cooling solutions, and the consistent implementation of highly efficient components. Another crucial enabler is the increasing spread of TVs with a screen size of 55 inches and above, allowing for the full-fledged use of Windows from the couch. Connected to such a TV, the LEET completely replaces your desktop PC and at the same time integrates home server, TV, Blu-ray playback, and gaming functionalities. This lets you get rid of multiple devices in your household, making the LEET extremely efficient and the center of your digital life. Especially the gaming experience is elevated to a completely new level. The bigger and better picture and the precise surround sound make it incredibly real. And playing from the sofa with your friends is much more social and comfortable than using a desktop setup. We strongly believe that high-end PC Gaming is conquering the living room – and the LEET is paving the way.”

“Gaming Illustrated: What are some great home theater tips you can give our gamers that represent some common mistakes that degrade the overall experience of watching movies or playing games in the living room / man cave?”

“Martin Gossner: First, the picture: For lag free gaming in the living room it is essential to decrease the TV’s input lag to its minimum. Therefore, make sure to deactivate picture processing of your TV by enabling Game Mode in your TV settings.”

“Second, the sound: proper calibration of the surround sound system makes a huge difference. It lets you locate sounds more precisely, giving you competitive advantage especially in multiplayer games.”

“Third, the control: Whereas most wireless mice and keyboards work well with short distance desktop setups, many of them struggle with random hangs or lags in long distance living room environments.”

The full interview will give you insight on HTPC and what Steiger Dynamics has in store for us. Click here to read the entire interview from Gaming Illustrated and judge for yourself if you would prefer the HTPC. For many years HTPC’s have lagged excitement but just maybe, Steiger Dynamics may be able to change that perception.

We always appreciate your comments and feedback so contact through FacebookTwitteremail or by phone.

Canadian Head Office
Unit 406, 17665 66A Ave.
Surrey, BC V3S 2A7
Tel. 604-575-8310
Fax. 604-575-8329

U.S. Head Office
1927 Boblett Street
Blaine, WA 98230
Tel. 1-800-490-1595

email: sales@elitehts.com



Gamers & Hockey Fans: NHL 13 Demo is Out Today

August 21st, 2012

As the popularity of gaming increases, more people are dedicating their home theater rooms to full gaming rooms or a hybrid of gaming and theater into one entertainment room. Our blog on June 18th, “Is Your Home Theater Room A Dedicated Gaming Room” discussed that very subject. In light of the popularity of gaming, we thought it would be great to mention that EA Sports has released a demo of NHL 13 for both Xbox and PS3 today.

New features to NHL 13 include True Performance Skating, EA Sports Hockey I.Q., Free Skate, create your ultimate fantasy team with Hockey Ultimate Team, and Hockey Moments Live, (where you can watch scenes from past games). This version allows the goalies to sprawl, dive, and move at a quicker pace then previous years. The clip below demonstrates the new feature, True Performance Skating. NHL 13 uses real-world physics to replicate the momentum a player uses when he starts to skate.

The demo features the Stanley Cup champions, the LA Kings and the team they beat, the New  Jersey Devils. Download the demo here and let us know what you think. With so many dedicated home theater game rooms being built, we can imagine the fun you and your friends will have playing NHL 13. The comments left by fellow gamers on the NHL 13 Facebook Page is relatively positive, fans like the new graphics and changes.

NHL 13 and a special Stanley Cup Collector’s Edition are set to be released on September 11, 2012 and can be pre-ordered here.

Give us your feedback on this or any other home theater related experience. We would love to hear it.

Canadian Head Office
Unit 406, 17665 66A Ave.
Surrey, BC V3S 2A7
Tel.  604-575-8310
Fax. 604-575-8329

U.S. Head Office
1927 Boblett Street
Blaine, WA 98230
Tel. 1-800-490-1595

email: sales@elitehts.com



Xpand’s New 3D for Home Theater

July 30th, 2012

“We saw that the time was right to create a dedicated Home Theater Division” – Maria Costeira, CEO of Xpand 3D (DCinema Today, 2012)

XPand 3D Cinema System has been added to over 5000 movie theaters worldwide. You may have not heard of them before but it is more than likely that you have witnessed their technology while watching a movie at your local theater. 3D technology for the home has increased since 2010 when Samsung released the worlds first 3D LED HDTV. XPand has decided to introduce their 3D glasses for home theaters. 

What makes these 3D glasses different is how they operate. 3D technology depends on stereopsis, (perception of depth produced by the reception in the brain of visual stimuli from both eyes in combination).The XPand technology uses alternating shuttering of the lenses. Since this is done so quickly, the human eye cannot tell. So while the right eye is blocked, the left is visible and when the left is blocked, the right is visible. These glasses are not the plastic disposable kind you receive at a movie theater. These 3D glasses start at $119.00. There are three styles to choose from, YOUniversal Electronic 3D Eyewear, Universal 3D Glasses, & DLP®-Link Edux 3D Glasses. 

For the 3D glasses to work, the AE125 IR emitter is needed.  By placing the emitter at the back of your home theater, the emitter projects to the screen. As this occurs, the signal then bounces off the screen directly to the 3D glasses.

There are three kits available:

1) The QC Cinema Kit includes: an AE125 Emitter, Mid-Range, Wide Angle-25 degrees, and 10 X103-C3 Infinity glasses.

2) The QC Pro Kit includes: an AE125 Emitter, Mid-Range, Wide Angle-25 degrees, and 10 X103-C1 Infinity Pro glasses.

3) The XPAND VIP Cinema Kit includes: an AE125 Emitter, Mid-Range, Wide Angle-25 degrees and 10 X104 LX1 YOUniversal Glasses.

For more information on XPand, please visit their website. With the popularity of home theaters and the popularity of 3D for the home increasing at such a rapid rate,  XPand 3D could be an essential in 3D home theaters in the near future.