I would like to remind you all that this is NOT in any way affiliated with the Best Buy Geek Squad.  Even though it’s basically the exact same concept, only as far as I can tell, the Walmart home theater crew doesn’t dress in button down shirts and ties and drive Beetles around.

Anyway, Walmart’s tacked on a special extra service for its customer base–you can have your gear installed.  Everything from TVs and home theater setups to computers, for just an extra charge between a hundred and three hundred forty bucks.  This also includes pre-purchase consultation (just in case you don’t want to just ask the guy at the counter free of charge just what the difference is between this one and that one) and a tutorial on how to use the stuff you just bought once it’s been installed.

So just in case you’re getting started with home theater and want to take advantage of Walmart’s prices, you should be able to find a helping hand here.

ADVANCE WARNING: THESE ARE SOME REALLY GOOD DEALS. IF YOU HAVE A HEART CONDITION OR SIMILAR CHRONIC ILLNESS I RECOMMEND YOU READ SOMETHING ELSE RIGHT NOW.

Maybe I’m going too far, but I dug up Sears’ Black Friday deals.  They’re clearly out to NOT get outclassed by Office Max, and best believe there will be PLENTY of joy for all my home theater heads.  So assuming you’re still reading this far, check out this incredible slice of awesome.

How about a forty-two inch Zenith plasma TV for just under five hundred bucks?

Not good enough?  Okay, how about a Sony Bravia 5.1 Channel 1000 Watt integrated home theater system (a home theater in a box kind of thing) for just under three hundred thirty?

STILL not good enough?  Oh, you’re killing me, but lucky for you I got plenty more–try this one on, true bargain shopper: your choice of a Samsung or Sony Blu-ray player for just a hundred and fifty bucks.

Yeah, I figured that’d get you.  So if you were thinking about sleeping off the turkey coma on Black Friday, you may want to think again, because these are some incredibly SWEET deals.

Shawn Lyman, you, sir, are some kind of mad genius deserving of our every salute.

So I was reading this thing over at Electronic House, and I find myself laughing along with Shawn Lyman.  See, most people’s idea of a “budget home theater” starts at about five grand and works its way up from there.  Well, Shawn was looking for a temporary home theater system.  I say “temporary” because he was looking at moving eventually, and realized, hey, the next buyer may not want all of this stuff.  For a lot of people, including California building code folks, a “home theater” is a fancy way of saying “a set of speakers in a box and a plasma TV“.  But to some of us, folks like us, “home theater” is a huge and dedicated enterprise that can cost thousands.

And for Shawn, it did cost thousands.  Two of them, specifically.  Plus an extra three hundred bucks.  Shawn went modular with his hardware, installing removable risers to give a second row of stadium seating in his home theater.  He also went with some lower-cost components like the Onkyo box system, and he apparently already had an Optoma 720p projector ready to go. (Let that be a lesson to you, home theater buffs on a budget.  Recycle whereever possible.)

Some might scoff at his choice of 720p, but he’s got one critical point–at ten to fifteen feet away, no merely human eye can actually tell the difference, and he didn’t have much of a room in which to put it.  He actually hand-made his own screen, and says it looks better than it did when he had a “nice” pulldown screen.

So here’s to Shawn, who managed to make a home theater setup for what some of us might spend on a new computer.  Saving money is absolutely sweet, especially these days.

With the large influx of large screened Plasma and LCD TVs in the market, expect the demand for TV stands to equally increase. Probably one of the most overlooked things needed to complete their home entertainment needs, the larger TVs need customized stands that can hold up these big screens and PlastamTVStands.us.com aims to provide a functional new TV stand with the their line made for 50” wide TV stands.

They weigh less than 110 lbs. and are made up of a black tempered glass and a black aluminum frame. This contemporary stand is perfect for commercial and residential use as the market continues to look for such useful stands for their new wide screen TVs. They also include 4 wheels which can be locked and unlocked to make sure that you find that right angle for your viewing leisure.

(Source) Press

Whoa.

Okay, guys, brace yourselves.  You may not be familiar with this right now, but Pioneer recently announced that they’re no longer making their flagship plasma TV model, the Kuro.  The Kuro is not only regarded as the best plasma TV that Pioneer makes, it’s also often regarded as the best plasma TV ANYBODY makes.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if the best piece on the market suddenly decides to bug out, that’s a sign to me.  That’s a sign that they want to get out of the market.  You’ve got name recognition.  You’ve got actual industry acclaim.  You’ve got a halo effect running over half your gear, so why do you exit the market by pulling the driver out of it?

See, plasma TV is great.  But it costs quite a bit more than LCD, and between LED and OLED, plasma may not be able to hold its own.  This is a HIGHLY debatable topic, but if plasma can’t compete in price, and it can’t compete in quality, then there may be nowhere left for it but to leave the market.

Admittedly, this by itself is a sweet home theater setup, but what switches this over into a full-on themed setup is just one thing, and you can see it in that picture.  Just in case you can’t, it’s the huge life-sized model of the Silver Surfer done in fiberglass and plastic up on the wall there.  It’s truly amazing what you can find on eBay, isn’t it?

The first interesting thing of note with this setup is that it’s green.  It’s VERY green.  Bamboo flooring in the main room, rubber floor in the control and equipment rooms, a control board table made out of recycled sunflower seeds–the works.

But this is just the beginning of the awesome–this home theater also includes a home recording studio space for the owner’s band to practice in.  Plus a wide array of home theater gear like a Pioneer PDP-507CMX plasma display, a Denon DVD player with Sony four hundred disc carousel, and enough speakers to choke a hog.

Considering the sheer variety of options available here–home theater, home recording studio, home everything–and the awesome little extra touch of the Silver Surfer watching over the proceedings, this is unquestionably a sweet home theater setup.

After seeing the Bentley home theater setup, I suppose it was really only a matter of time until someone decided to make their own sweet home theater setup around a whole new automotive passion–Harley Davidson.

Yes, that’s the Harley Sweet Home Theater you’re looking at–containing a bar, poker table and setting area in the same general space as a home theater setup containing one plasma TV, two LCD TVs, a set of in-ceiling speakers and a whole bunch of other gear from Elan, and a Panasonic Blu-ray player.  The three TVs can operate independently from each other, or show the same movie on each thanks to an RTI remote AND yet another item from Elan, a touchpanel.

With all these exciting pieces of equipment, along with a whole bunch of home theater gear (yeah, I was referring to the Harleys before), there’s not a bit of doubt that this qualifies as a sweet home theater setup.

I talked about another Irish pub home theater not too long ago, but this one, oh this one is a whole different animal.  This one, you see, isn’t just a home theater with a little Irish pub wedged into a corner–this is an actual home theater setup INSIDE an Irish pub replica and all put in someone’s basement.

The authenticity on this thing will blow your mind outright.  Not only is there a full-on home theater down there, with tons of hardware like a Crestron ST-CP2EPAK-C17 control system, a series of JBL amplifiers, surround processors and subwoofers, a Da-Lite one hundred and nineteen inch screen and plenty more besides, there’s also three other big-screen TVs, a poker table, a pool table and a full-on WINE CELLAR.

Allegedly, there’s room in there for sixty people and it’s entirely possible that, given adequate food, you could go down there and not come up for an entire winter.  Frankly, with all that hardware, it’s definitely possible.

And any room that’s capable of sustaining sixty people for a night, or one man for the winter, must be considered one hellaciously sweet home theater setup.

Sure, we’ve all seen the Indiana Jones home theater setup, but this particular sweet setup has an extra twist that you just can’t miss.

How would you like to dodge a few “traps” on your way to get into today’s featured sweet home theater setup, like a tunnel, a secret code, and moving rocks?

Sounds kind of awesome, doesn’t it?  Well, that’s just the start–once you manage to get past the array of tricks and traps one homeowner set in front of his sweet home theater setup, you’ll then be welcomed into a room full of such amazing components as a Control4 handheld remote that activates the room’s lighting system and causes a forty inch plasma TV with matching Yamaha soundbar speaker to rise up from a central altar and activate, providing you with that sweet golden idol of entertainment.

Okay, sure, so maybe the hardware isn’t as superpowered as we’ve come to expect, but it’s the sheer amount of cool stuff factor that makes this a sweet home theater setup.  After all, when’s the last time you had to work the Jehovah puzzle just to watch your favorite movie?

Just remember…the letter J didn’t actually exist when that puzzle was put in.

That’s what the crew out at Contrarian Profits is calling, folks–you don’t hear too much about OLED (organic light emitting diodes) these days, mostly because it doesn’t seem to show up in much stuff at all.  But when you look at the transfer of power between the old tube television and the liquid crystal display, you discover that technology moves in cycles, and it’s about time for the OLED to cycle in.

Quoth the Contrarian:

Overall, the OLED display market will grow to $6.2 billion, according to DisplaySearch forecasts. Last year, the total OLED market was worth an estimated $600,000. As you can see, we are looking at exponential growth, with the mobile phone market leading the charge.

But OLED just won’t be part of mobile phones.  it’s going to have a piece of every touch screen and home theater display and everything in between.  The move is on–but be sure not to be an early adopter.  You’ve all seen, firsthand, how the price of LCD and plasma fell through the floor.  Wait a while and you’ll be buying OLED goodness at plasma prices.

It doesn’t get bigger than this! Panasonic unveils a whopping 50” 3D plasma TV which comes with a full HD 1080p resolution. And with the 3D age fast being the talk of the town, providing a larger screen capable of addressing the HD display needs is practically served with this plasma TV that is set to hit the market in 2010.

But while that is the expected release date, consumers can get a glimpse of a prototype for the said Panasonic 3D Plasma TV from October 6 to 10 at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba City east of Tokyo. The TV set will require 3D glasses and makes use of Panasonic’s high speed 3D drive technology.

(Source) Slashgear

Seems that Sacramento finally heard the massive hue and cry against the big screen TV legislation, because they’ve just released the final proposal, and the big screen TV ban is out of the picture.  Though, probably as a sop to the environmental lobby, they’ve reserved the option to come back later and restrict the sales, which will probably happen about the same time hell freezes over.

I can’t believe they actually thought they could get away with this one–if there’s one thing Americans love, it’s their TV. Trying to step in on truly shaky environmentalist grounds and declare that you can’t buy a certain size television because it’s not sufficiently “green” is the single dumbest thing I’ve heard.  This proposal was clown shoes from the very beginning, and at least now, it’s getting its just desserts from a firestorm of public hate-on that you can still see steaming over the San Fernando Valley.

Even the Santa Anas are scared of it.

So good job, Californians–way to blast your insane egomaniacal government back to the CRT age!

One of my favorite movies of all time is In the Mouth of Madness.  It’s a John Carpenter flick, features Sam Neill, and there’s this really awesome sequence where suddenly the entire world around Sam turns blue at the behest of an author with mysterious powers.  This sweet home theatre is a lot like that, only not as scary.

It’s called The Blue Lounge, with obvious reasons–there’s a low light level all around, plus a starfield in the ceiling, all adding up to a suggestion of twilight or even night outright.  But it’s not all about the intangibles in this setup; there’s plenty of choice tech in here too. There’s a JVC projector, B & W in-wall speakers (left, center, right), a 103″ Vutec screen, a Crestron MC2W control system and an ML-600 handheld remote.

The really great part about this setup is that all the electronics, with the exception of the remote, are hidden, so it’s almost as though the movies just spring to life out of thin air.  All of this adds up to be one sweet home theatre setup.

This is a question I’ve been asked a few times by folks looking at a projector for their home theatre plans versus those more interested in a TV, be it LCD, LED or plasma.  So for the benefit of those folks who asked–and those who would have asked but didn’t think to–allow me to present a brief primer on LCD and DLP projectors.

LCD, or Liquid Crystal Display, projectors operate much like an older television, but writ large.  An LCD has three separate panels, one in red, one in green, and one in blue.  The three then combine to create a single image with all the various hues involved in the picture.

DLP, or Digital Light Processing, uses just ONE chip to generate the necessary mixing of reds and greens and blues by using the DLP chip’s tiny mirrors and a color wheel of filters to produce the shot.

Now, DLP generally does the job more efficiently than LCD, producing a sharper, clearer image, but some people can actually detect the individual colors used in a DLP image.  This results in eye strain, so if you’re thinking about going with a DLP projector (which is smaller, lighter, and usually a better buy than the LCD) you’ll want to see it in action first to make sure you don’t get the eye strain.

Yes, I know, no one wants to be the bearer of bad news, but sometimes you’ve just got to suck it up and deal with it.  After all, you come here for no holds barred unvarnished commentary, news and advice, so I’m glad to be the one to dish it out.  It’s not always pleasant but it’s usually necessary.

1. The gear you buy today is either already obsolete or will be within days.

That’s the nature of the beast, folks–you’ll find a better deal on better components before you’ve put the hundredth hour on your home theatre setup.  There’s just no two ways about it.

2. Just because the picture looks great in the store doesn’t mean it’ll look good at home.

The TVs that you see in the store–even the projector images–are specifically set up for that store.  You’ve got to consider that, especially if you’re shopping the big box store, you’re in a huge cavernous space.  The light levels, the sound flow, everything will look (and sound!) different between there and there.

3. Something will go wrong.

Sorry perfectionists in the crowd, something’s going to go wrong and it’s going to do so a lot sooner than you expected, too.  That new 1080p you bought has MILLIONS of pixels, and the chances of one of them dying are really REALLY good.  Like almost certain good.  So chances are your magnificent five thousand dollar set will lose a teeny-tiny chunk of the screen within the first few weeks.

And there’s your bad news feed for the day–don’t worry; it can only get better from here.

I’m generally very fond of the Panasonic lineup as they’re not only an excellent system overall most times, but they’re also very intuitive to learn without even consulting a manual.  That’s one of my top criterion for judging a system–if I have to resort to a manual it loses points with me.

The Panasonic Viera TCP54S1 is no exception and proves to be an excellent system overall, much like the rest of its lineup.

This Panasonic is a fifty four inch 1080p plasma TV with three HDMI slots and the exclusive Viera Image Viewer, which allows you to show pictures from SD cards directly onto the screen.

One thing is clear, the picture on this piece is absolutely phenomenal.  There are easily reached, easily operable side-mounted controls to complement the remote, and the sound quality is also solid as a stand-alone system.  The one down side is that it’s got a pretty salty price tag of around eighteen hundred bucks, depending as always on where you shop.

But the Panasonic TCP54S1 is certainly a solid value for the price, and if you’re prepared to go big you can’t do much better.

Not only are Californians sputtering over the recent push to ban the big screen, but local businesses are also weighing in.  Their own quotes speak for themselves very nicely, but from Los Angeles to San Francisco, home theatre and electronics retailers are firing back and hopping mad.  Check out what they had to say, straight from their own mouths:

LOS ANGELES: “This regulation is a bad idea in a good economy and a horrible idea in a recession. With Los Angeles facing nearly 13 percent unemployment — why is the state pursuing this costly and harmful regulation?” — Steve Caldero, Ken Crane Big Screen Headquarters

MONTEREY: “It’s ironic that the California Energy Commission is targeting one of the few bright spots in the economy. Televisions remain an affordable and convenient entertainment option for cash-strapped families.” — David Hearn, Carvid Systems Inc.

SACRAMENTO: “Why is the California Energy Commission proposing such a harmful regulation, especially when the state is suffering the worst unemployment rates since World War II?” — Charlie Martinez, Elk Grove Home Theater

SAN DIEGO: “What we need during these tough economic times is for the state to remove road blocks for small businesses like mine, not add more.” — Shawn Worst, Evolution Home Theatre, Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO: “With San Francisco facing nearly 10 percent unemployment, why is the California Energy Commission proposing a regulation that will ultimately drive jobs and tax revenues online or into nearby states like Oregon and Nevada?” — Barry O’Brian, Performance Audi

And these are just the tip of the iceberg.  Generally, when unemployment’s down and the economy’s souring, it’s a bad idea to pass restrictions on what people can and can’t buy.  Given that seventy to seventy five percent of the United States economy is consumer driven, the best way to recovery is to give the consumer lots of choices and plenty of cash to shop with.  Cut taxes and ease regulation when it comes to getting products to market.  We can worry about the environment later–we’ve done it this long….

If you didn’t scrunch up your forehead and ask “who?” when I pitched you that headline, then you’re either better versed in world cinema than I am or just not the curious type.  But it’s true–Panasonic’s got a new pitchman for its Viera line of televisions, and it’s Ranbir Kapoor.

You may not know who he is, and it’s not surprising if you don’t, but Ranbir Kapoor is actually one of the biggest names in Bollywood right now.  Bollywood, in case you don’t know, is the Indian equivalent of Hollywood, and so this choice for pitchman makes some sense.

I emphasize some–while it’s somewhat widely known that Kapoor will not endorse a product he wouldn’t personally use, and that’s a great attribute for a pitchman to have, the problem here is that Kapoor’s appeal is somewhat limited.  Oh, sure, in and around the subcontinent, Ranbir Kapoor might well be the equivalent of Robert Pattinson.  But once you get out of Bollywood’s effective range, which as yet is a whole lot smaller than Hollywood’s, Kapoor’s name recognition falls through the floor.

So unless Panasonic’s planning on using Kapoor locally, this may be a bad idea.

In one of those weird things Californians seem to dig on incessantly, there was some talk going around about banning most kinds of big screen TVs in the state, because they use too much energy.  But, following a poll taken, some new findings have come to light, and frankly, there’s some hope for the Californians, who have been portrayed as lunatics pretty much everywhere.  Check out these numbers:

– 61% believe there are too many regulations in California as it is.
– 59% believe that such a matter should be the consumer’s choice, not the government’s decision.
– 58% believe that the CEC’s proposed regulation is another example of the costly and unnecessary rules the state continues to force on small business owners.
– 55% believe that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger should stop the CEC from adopting this regulation.

The law, as proposed, would ban the sale of fully twenty five percent of current model televisions, and every single plasma TV larger than sixty inches.  Resolution Economics LLC determined that such a law would cost California fifty million a year in lost tax revenue AND take out about five thousand jobs.

Sounds like California needs to listen to its people.

Twelve THOUSAND dollars for a plasma TV? Man, it had better be good for that kind of loot, and the good news is, yes, indeed, this sucker’s worth it.

Today we’re talking the Panasonic Premiere line, and twelve grand is just the starting price.  The fifty inch version runs you twelve, the sixty five, meanwhile, costs a cool twenty grand.

And what do you get for this singularly monster investment?  Check THIS out:

The panels deliver full HD 1080p (1,920 x 1,080) resolution and a 60,000:1 contrast ratio, as well as “industry-leading” colour gradation level of 7,160 steps.

“Panasonic’s 18-bit digital signal processing produces a detailed graduation from light to dark, with faithful expression of subtle colour differences. The moving picture resolution of over 900 lines reproduces clear, crisp and smooth images for impeccable reproduction of fast-moving scenes.”

Calibrating these TVs takes FOUR HOURS, and requires specially trained installation personnel who are probably so poorly paid that they’ll never be able to afford one of these, but still.  If you want the absolutely top of the line in plasma TV technology on your side, then this is your weapon of choice.