We first saw the Yamaha YSP-4000 Sound Projector in use at CES 2007. At that time we were quite impressed that a single unit could generate a 5.1 sound field. For those of you who are not familiar with what the Yamaha Sound Projector, it is single unit resembling an oversized center channel that decodes surround sound and generates multi-channel experience by bouncing sound waves off the walls in your room.

The advantages are obvious, no running of speaker wire, easy placement of a single component, no clutter! This type of device is ideal for an apartment dweller or for use in a master bedroom, or for the person who wants surround sound but doesn't want to deal with the installation of a multi piece system. You connect your source components to the Sound Projector and then connect and HDMI output to the TV.

The YSP-4000 on supports two HDMI inputs. The 4000 also supports two component, three composite, and two digital optical and coaxial audio inputs. Once all the connections were made you connect a microphone and start the automatic room calibration. This took a few times to get it to run successfully. There are some requirements about where you can place the microphone in relation to the Sound Projector. This may limit how well the surround performs.

In general the microphone needs down the centerline of the Sound Projector and no more than 1 meter above or below. Due to the room's dimensions that it was installed in, we had to move the orientation of the 4000 to get a calibration that succeeded. The unit also supports an iPod dock and XM Radio module. We received both and installed them into the unit. Each has a port on the back of the unit and only took a few seconds to install.

One word of caution on the XM Radio unit: If you don't have a South facing window near the unit you won't be able to receive XM radio. The unit also supports a subwoofer. Our tests did not include one but we strongly recommend that you use one for the full surround experience. A nice feature of the 4000 is that it can store three calibration setups in memory.

This is very important because the room configuration is important to the experience. In our case we ran two calibrations, one with the windows and blinds open and one with them closed. The Sound Projector produced a better experience with the windows and blinds closed.

However, if I did not run a calibration with the windows open the surround experience would have been completely lost. There is also a feature called "My Beam" that directs all the audio to your sitting position eliminating any surround effects. It has clear diagrams for optimal room placement. This will save you some grief if you have a room that the projector just won't work in.

Performance After hearing how good the YSP-4000 sounded at CES and CEDIA we were hoping for the best. But if we were able to get any sort of multi channel sound we'd call it a success. The answer is that for Ara's wife the sound was fantastic and for Ara, just 20 inches to her right, the sound was good.

Due to the positioning of the microphone per the instructions the optimal sound was on Ara's wife's side of the bed when she sits up. In that position it the surround sound was very strong. During Harry Potter I would look at the wall next to me in amazement. There is no speaker there but the sound was definitely coming from the wall just above my head. The experience was not as good on Ara's side of the bed.

While the sound was far more expansive it was not as pinpoint. It was still an improvement over the TV speakers alone. This drove home the fact that the proper placement of the speaker makes a big difference. We ran a final setup with the unit in a position that was not acceptable to the wife but more conducive to the proper calibration. For this last test the microphone was place right down the middle of the bed.

In this case both my wife and I were able to hear surround sound as if we had speakers above our heads. The sound projector really works well if placed properly. The other area that was tested was music playback. We were quite pleased with how well the 4000 produced music. There was a good sense of stereo and openness. HT Guys Advice The Sound Projector is an amazing device that makes setting up a home theater simple.

While it's true that you can buy a traditional home theater surround sound system for less, you can't buy one that is easier to install. Just be sure to read the User's Manual first to make sure that the Yamaha YSP-4000 will work in your room layout.

ADSG was the R&D unit of the sound department producing products for movie theaters and movie studios. Two of the products they worked on include the DCP-1000 and DADR-5000. The DCP is a digital cinema processor used in movie theaters around the world. The DADR-5000 is a disk-based audio dubber used on Hollywood sound stages.

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You no longer have to choose which HD component to connect to your TV thanks to THREE HDMI DIGITAL INPUTS that expand your connection options and reduce cable clutter. The 16:9 aspect ratio brilliantly delivers HD movies and DVDs in all their widescreen glory. The Dolby Digital sound and VESA wall-mount compliance make this LCD HDTV perfect for your high-performance entertainment center.

Experience widescreen HDTV Enjoy a widescreen theater experience and high-definition picture quality with this display's widescreen aspect ratio, true HDTV capability, and wide viewing angles. High-definition images look amazing and even standard television images are unbelievably smooth and sharp. Powerful high-fidelity audio It's all accompanied by an ultra-high fidelity 20-watt Dolby Digital sound that completes the entertainment experience. Ask our community members, we are sure they can help you.

Source: http://cdfreaks.com/hardware/product/65483-viewsonic-n4251w-~.html

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Today we take a look at the Western Digital WD TV HD Media player. The WD TV HD Media Player is a device about the size of an external hard drive that plays A V content from USB storage media. The player supports 1080p for content and menus navigation.

Features Thumbnail and list views - Browse your content by filename or by thumbnails of photos, album covers and movie cover art. Media Library - This unique feature lets you view all your media by media type in one menu regardless of its location in folders or drives. You can view your content by categories such as genre, album, artist and date. Search - Search by genre, title, artist, filename and partial filename. AAC Dolby Digital decodes in 2 channel output only - JPEG does not support CMYK or loss less.

BMP supports uncompressed format only. TIF TIFF supports single layer only. Setup Setup was trivial. There is no network support so setup consisted of connecting power, HDMI, and plugging in an external hard drive. There are also composite connections available nor SDTVs. The player is actually setup for HDTV as default. So many devices are setup to be 4:3 right out of the box. Performance The WD TV HD Media Player worked quite well.

The menus were more polished than we expected. They looked good displayed on a 65 inch 1080p TV. Navigation was simple and intuitive. Once a drive is plugged in the media player scans it for content and organizes it by type. You don't have to go hunting for photos, music or video. You can even search for a file by name.

We attached a universal card reader, an iPod, and an external Western Digital Hard Drive. All three were recognized. But we found no issues with any drive we attached to it. Nor will it decode Dolby Digital beyond two channel. But what it does do is playback pretty much any video you can throw at it.

Ara has been busy converting his VHS Library to mpeg4 and found that the media player not only played the video but did a good job of upconverting it to 1080p. If you have listened to the podcast for a while you know that Ara has an HD Homerun and can record OTA HDTV programs on his computer. These programs are both 1080i and 720p and contain Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. For this evaluation a few recordings were copied to the WD Hard Drive which was then connected to the media player.

They were immediately recognized and made available via the player. The looked beautiful when displayed on the TV and while the sound was not 5.1 it did sound clear. The only real complaint we have about the player is that it does not support Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Music playback is just as easy. Copy mp3 or AAC files to the hard drive and you are good to go.

The Album art is even displayed in the GUI. The player comes with a nicely laid out remote control. It's small and does not have a ton of buttons. Conclusion Ara was fully anticipating selling the player after he was done with the review. However, due to its tiny size and ease of transport, he now sees it as a great device for travel. And yes, Western Digital got it right by making it a perfect complement to the "My Passport" line of hard drives.

Your review makes it sound like it's limited to Stereo, and can't do multichannel at all. I realize that there's no internal DD5.1 decoder internal to the unit, but so what? ADSG was the R&D unit of the sound department producing products for movie theaters and movie studios. Two of the products they worked on include the DCP-1000 and DADR-5000. The DCP is a digital cinema processor used in movie theaters around the world. The DADR-5000 is a disk-based audio dubber used on Hollywood sound stages.

Source: http://feeds.hdtvmagazine.com/click.phdo

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