Digital Signage

Digital Signage is the way of the future and can help grow your business.

Digital signs can inform ,educate, and entertain. Have you ever entered a store or a restaurant, and had your attention automatically go to the running tv? Well, digital signage provides an even better, more tailored source of information and entertainment to the shopper or guest! Also, a digital sign can increase efficiency, productivity and enhance the enjoyment of your customer or guest’s overall experience.
Think of this: Moving images and music can be soothing and put people at ease. A digital sign will accomplish this for you.

Now, it can be a challenging task to setup digital signage for your business by yourself. Most people have limited or no experience in setting up a digital signage system. What kind of cables do I use? Plasma or LCD display? Will a regular monitor work well or do I need a professional model display?

That’s where we come in.

GotUWired is an expert in digital signage and we can get you a tailored setup that meets the needs of your business. After all, you only have a short amount of time to capture your customer’s attention!

Product Review: Samsung 52″ LCD LN-52A650 (1080p, 120hz)

Samsung’s LN52A650 dares to be different. In a world of me-too, glossy black flat-panel HDTVs, no few of which may bear the company’s own logo, this 52-inch LCD is dressed in red. Like many radical design choices, you’ll either love it or hate it, and we didn’t love it. But before you write off this red TV, we recommend you check it out in person–the product shots here and elsewhere on the Web just don’t capture the red tint of the frame properly. Aside from design, we found plenty to like about the higher-end LN52A650, and it produces arguably the best picture of any LCD TV we’ve tested so far, although it doesn’t quite beat the quality of the best plasma.

Design
Samsung’s LNA650 series incorporates the company’s Touch of Color design scheme. Instead of the standard glossy black frame, the LN52A650 sports dark-red accents that suffuse the entire frame, but are most prominent along the top and bottom edge and either side. Other eye-catching elements include a layer of transparent plastic, which is visible along the extreme edges on all sides, and Samsung’s trademark shiny screen (more on that below). The Touch definitely creates a unique look, but call us traditionalists: we didn’t really like it. The photos above just can’t capture how red the Touch makes the frame appear, especially in bright rooms, and if red isn’t your favorite color, you’re out of luck–no other colors have been confirmed for this year, despite the company touting a veritable rainbow at CES. In its favor, the red frame didn’t really detract from the color fidelity of the picture.

Including the standard-issue pedestal swivel stand, the LN52A650 measures 50.2 inches wide by 34.1 inches tall by 12.8 inches deep and weighs 76.7 pounds. Without the stand, it comes in at 50.2 inches wide by 31.7 inches tall by 4.1 inches deep and 64.6 pounds.

The remote differs from the one included on the Samsung PN50A550 because it uses a rotating, clickable wheel, similar to an iPod scroll wheel, for menu navigation, as opposed to the standard, four-way directional keys. The wheel would be a cool idea if it was more responsive, but with the brief delay between moving the wheel and seeing the results on the screen, we found ourselves more than a bit annoyed by it. The rest of the remote’s buttons are nice and big and backlit (the backlighting engages automatically when the remote is picked up, something we’ve never seen on a remote included with a TV), and we liked the dedicated “Tools” button that offered quick access to picture and sound modes, the sleep timer, and the picture-in-picture controls. We didn’t like the clicker’s glossy black finish, however, which picked up more than its share of dulling fingerprints after a few minutes.

Samsung’s new menu system is sleeker than before and blessed with big, highly legible text set against transparent backgrounds that occupy almost the whole screen. Getting around is easy; there’s helpful explanatory text along the bottom, and we dug the context-sensitive menu that would pop up occasionally to provide more options. Overall, it’s one of the best-designed and most-attractive menu systems we’ve seen on any HDTV, and it really makes setup a breeze–except for the confusing picture mode arrangement (see below).

Features
The LN52A650 has a 120Hz refresh rate, which allows it to cut down on blur and to affect judder in motion with a video-processing mode Samsung calls “Auto Motion Plus.” Check out David Carnoy’s Fully Equipped column for an in-depth discussion of 120Hz, and the performance section of this review for details on how it’s implemented on the LN52A650. Like most other LCD and plasma TV models on sale in 2008, the LN52A650 also has a native resolution of 1,920×1,080 (aka 1080p).

New for 2008, the 650 series also includes an Ethernet port, which allows the TV to access the Internet to display news, stock ticker information, and local weather. We liked the easy-to-read font in normal and large sizes, as well as the intuitive controls. USA Today provides the newsfeed, which can sit in the corner of the screen like a ticker (turn Desperate Housewives into Fox News!), or be expanded to allow you to read numerous top stories in a variety of topics. One annoying quirk was that we couldn’t remove the Setup screen easily–hitting “return,” as the manual suggested, merely turned off the whole service. Also, we’d really appreciate if the port allowed the TV to access firmware updates, but according to Samsung that’s not in the cards. A USB-to-Wi-Fi dongle that allows the TV to connect to a wireless network (model WIS-08BGX, $34.99) is also available.

The LN52A650 has three adjustable picture modes that are each independent per input. That’s great, but in addition there are three more picture presets, called “Entertainment Modes,” that cannot be adjusted and are accessible via a separate key on the remote and the Setup menu. This arrangement is unnecessarily confusing on a TV with so many settings anyway; we’d prefer to have all of the picture modes, both adjustable and non-adjustable, be accessible together from a single key on the remote and one area of the Picture menu. Also, if you’re in Entertainment mode, you’re prevented from making picture adjustments, or even selecting one of the adjustable picture modes, until you actively cancel an Entertainment mode by navigating to the Setup menu (which the onscreen instructions suggest) or toggling the mode to “Off” using the remote. That’s an awkward hitch in an otherwise smooth menu design.

Others picture controls include five color temperature presets along with the ability to fine-tune color using the white balance menu; three varieties of noise reduction, including an automatic setting; a film mode to engage 2:3 pulldown (it also works with 1080i sources); a seven-position gamma control that affects the TV’s progression from dark to light; a dynamic contrast control that adjusts the picture on the fly; a “black adjust” control that affects shadow detail; and a new color space control that lets you tweak the Samsung’s color gamut.

You can choose from four aspect ratio modes for HD sources, two of which allow you to move the whole image across the screen horizontally and/or vertically. As we’d expect from a 1080p TV, one of those modes, called Just Scan, lets the LN52A650 scale 1080i and 1080p sources directly to the panel’s pixels with no overscan–the best option unless you see interference along the edge of the screen, as can be the case with some channels or programs. There are also four modes available with standard-def sources.

We appreciated the three power-saver modes and the singular fact that, unlike most other manufacturers, this year Samsung did not use the brightest picture mode as its default. Instead, the default picture mode for Home use is Standard, which saves a lot of energy compared with the much brighter Dynamic. Check out the Juice Box below for details on the set’s energy use. As far as other conveniences, Samsung throws in picture-in-picture along with a USB port that can connect to thumb drives to play back digital photos and MP3 music. The LN52A650 is also compatible with the company’s forthcoming digital media adapter.

The connectivity of the LN52A650 is excellent. There are three HDMI inputs available around back, while a fourth can be found in a recessed bay along the panel’s left side. There’s also a pair of component-video inputs; a single RF input for cable and antenna (the ’07 models had two); and a VGA-style RGB input for computers (1,920×1,080 maximum resolution). That recessed bay offers an additional AV input with S-Video and composite video, a headphone jack, and the aforementioned USB port.

Performance
The Samsung LN52A650 is one of the best-performing LCDs we’ve tested. Its picture quality, anchored by excellent black-level performance, and accurate color, surpasses that of the Sony KDL-46XBR4–and Samsung’s de-judder video processing has improved to the point where it’s basically equal to the Sony. We did notice a couple of minor issues, and as usual we’d avoid watching dark movies on this glossy-screened TV in rooms with lots of ambient light, but that’s about it.

Our standard calibration was aided by the numerous picture controls in the Samsung’s user menu. We were able to improve color temperature and dial in saturation without going overboard thanks to the blue-only mode (check this tip to see how it works). Although we attempted to tweak the color points a bit using the custom color palette controls, primary and secondary colors were already close enough to the standard that we simply settled on the default Auto in the end. Click here for a full list of our dark-room picture settings.

After setup, we placed the LN52A650 in a comparison that included our reference sets–the Pioneer PDP-5080HD, the Sony KDS-55A3000, and the 120Hz Sony KDL-46XBR4–along with the Panasonic TH-46PX85U. We checked out Spider-Man 3 on Blu-ray at 1080p from the Sony PlayStation 3.

Black level: The Samsung LN52A650 reproduced one of the deepest shades of black we’ve seen from any LCD. It can’t quite match the champ, Samsung’s own LED-based LN-T4681F, but from what we remember, it’s pretty dang close. The Pioneer and Panasonic plasmas got darker by a couple of hairs, although the Samsung solidly beat the two Sonys. Of course, as with all LCDs, those deep blacks became brighter when seen from off angle (see below).

Details in shadows were quite good, although not perfect. During a shot when Flint stares into the camera after sneaking into his daughter’s room, for instance, we couldn’t quite make out the print on the wallpaper behind him, and the shaded half of his face looked indistinct compared with the reference Pioneer, although still more natural than any of the other displays. Cranking brightness brought back the details but destroyed black levels, and the Samsung wasn’t crushing black. Its gamma was just a bit shallow in dark areas, even at the most aggressive +3 (our preferred setting).

Color accuracy: The initial color temperature in Warm2 was still a tad blue (see the Geek Box), but other than that we had no complaints. After calibration it was quite accurate, lending a natural look to skin tones and other delicate areas, like Mary Jane’s pale face. Green grass in the plaza and red balloons during the parade all looked rich and punchy, and color balance was superb. One major advantage the LN52A50 demonstrated over the Sony KDL-46XBR4 LCD was its color fidelity in dark areas–where the Sony dipped into blue, like many LCDs, the Samsung remained close to true black. Overall saturation, thanks to deep blacks and fine color balance, was equal to the superb Pioneer.

Video processing: Samsung’s Auto Motion Plus (AMP) processing is designed to smooth out motion–specifically the judder or faint stuttering inherent in 24-frame material such as most films. Judder can be perceived most easily in pans and camera movement, but once you notice it, it seems to pop up everywhere there’s any movement onscreen. Some viewers find the smoothing effect desireable, while some think it looks too video-like and even cartoonish in some instances, particularly Hollywood films. We’re of the latter camp, but we feel de-judder processing can be effective in some scenes.

AMP has been improved this year, and it suffers fewer artifacts than the version we tested on the LN-T4671F from 2007. The infamous “triple ball effect” seems greatly toned down, for one thing. We looked at one example we cited in the 71F review, a deep pass during a college football game between West Virginia and Louisville, and this time there was very little blurring and elongation of the ball. We also turned to the same hockey match between the Ducks and the Kings and noticed blurring of the puck much less frequently. It was still there in some instances, such as a flip pass into the air that spanned half of the rink before landing, but it was much less noticeable. Of course, the level of AMP made a big difference–we saw more blurring and artifacts around the puck in High mode, fewer in Medium, about the same in Low, and none in Off. For that reason, we still recommend watching hockey, and indeed all sports, in Off mode.

Comparing the Samsung against the Sony 120Hz LCD, the Samsung seemed a bit less prone to artifacts, but the Sony appeared less unnaturally smooth. During the opening of Spider-Man, for example, the camera quickly pans over a newsstand and a headline in USA Today (double-plug!) that reads “What a catch!” showed stutter and artifacts in the Sony (in Standard mode) and none on the Samsung (in any of its modes). The camera then moved to follow Peter Parker on his scooter, and the Samsung looked like the camera was on rails, while the Sony allowed a little bit of unsteadiness that made for a much more natural look in that scene. Later, the camera orbits Parker’s face at the beginning of the parade, and we saw a sort of halo effect around his head. The buildings in the background bent slightly near his head as they moved by, even in the Samsung’s Low mode, although these artifacts were worse in Medium and High. In this case, the Samsung’s Low and the Sony’s Standard were pretty much indistinguishable.

Both sets looked much better in pans over natural landscapes from the Planet Earth Blu-ray and in some other non-Hollywood movie material, especially compared with the non-de-judder-equipped sets in the comparison.

We also turned AMP off, along with the Sony’s de-judder processing, and switched our PS3 to 1080p/24 mode. We really couldn’t tell the difference between 1080p/24 and 1080p/60 on either of the sets, so we suspect they don’t perform the perfect 5x conversion from 24 frames to 120. Samsung’s engineers (along with Sony’s) claim the 52LN650 can perform this conversion, but if so, it doesn’t make much difference.

A refresh rate 120Hz should also cut down on blur in motion, increasing motion resolution. We compared the 52LN650 to the Samsung LN32A450, a standard 60Hz display, and with AMP in Low mode the LN650 exhibited less blur in test footage designed to expose it. The blur returned when we turned Off AMP, so you can’t get the blur-reduction on this set without de-judder. The Sony performed at about the same level for this test, and neither was as sharp as either of the plasma displays or the Sony SXRD. As usual we didn’t notice blurring in program material, however, including during Spider-Man.

As we expect from any 1080p LCD, the Samsung resolved every line of 1080i and 1080p sources, and unlike most sets it properly de-interlaces 1080i film-based sources as long as you leave the film mode engaged.

Uniformity: LCD will always be at a disadvantage compared with plasma in this department, and the LN52A650 is no exception. Its screen was relatively uniform for an LCD, but there was still a brighter spot visible in the upper-left corner in dark scenes or letterbox bars, and in mid-dark fields we saw that the left and right edges of the screen appeared brighter than the middle. Meanwhile, as we mentioned above, viewing the image from off angle lightened the black areas somewhat, robbing some punch from colors. The Sony LCD lost a bit less depth of black from off angle, although we still preferred the Samsung from non-sweet-spot seats because it didn’t become discolored. We’ve seen reports on AVS forum showing purplish discoloration from off angle on some 650 series models, but we didn’t see it on our review sample.

Bright lighting: The LN52A650 has a similar type of shiny screen as last year’s Samsung LCDs, and compared with a more matte LCD screen, such as the one on the Sony KDL-46XBR4, it reflects quite a bit of room lighting. With the windows open during the day and shining on the screen, we could clearly make out our reflection in the screen, especially during dark scenes, and it was a good deal more distracting than on the Sony or the Pioneer. Samsung claims the screen does increase contrast ratio and produce deeper black levels, which might be true given the LN52A650′s black level performance, but we still found ourselves distracted by the shine in bright environments while watching dark scenes.

(Article Source:cnet.com)

Cnet Video Review of the LN-52A650

Product Review: Universal Remote Touchscreen MX-3000

The MX-3000 from Universal Remote, is one of the flagship products in the home theater master line.  The MX-3000 is a universal color touch screen remote control.  The screen size is 3.8 inches and has the ability to operate by infra-red, radio frequency, or both.

For anyone who has ever lusted after color touch screen remotes, such as those offered by Crestron or AMX, but unwilling to sink what could equate into a few mortgage payments into a remote, take note this might be what your looking for.  While the MX-3000 doesn’t offer quite the level of customization a Crestron system does, it has more than enough features to handle the average home theater or media room setup.

At about 7 inches wide and 5 inches high the remote fits comfortable in your hand, and the color LCD screen is easy to read.  The contrast of the screen seemed quite high and made punching in channel numbers a breeze but, I’m getting ahead of myself.  Any programmable remote that uses PC based software is really only as good as that software, if it’s hard and cumbersome to program, your unlikely to get all you can out of it.
Earlier I’d mentioned the MX-3000 was IR or RF or both. To use the RF ability, you’ll need the separate MRF-350 which reads commands from the remote and then spits them out via infrared emitters attached to the front of the equipment.  I highly recommend this option, as pointing the remote at the equipment is no longer necessary, six infrared emitters are included.  This option pretty much guarantees the codes will be sent, regardless of where the remote was pointed at the time, also the range is increased from the infrared distance of 30 to 50 feet, to over 100 feet via RF.

Other features include custom background files, the ability to import .ccf files from other remotes such as the Philips Pronto, and the ability to “smart route” commands.  This gives you the ability to remotely control identical devices separately.  Overall, I really liked this remote, while my MX-900 RF offers many of the same functions, the color LCD display of the MX-3000 was really alluring, not to mention how it felt in my hand, it was really comfortable.  So as said previously, if you’ve considered touch panels from Crestron or AMX in the past, but didn’t need that level of control, not to mention the price tag, the MX-3000 is highly recommended.

Product Review: Yamaha YSP-4000 Sound Projector

Is the age of the traditional loudspeaker almost over? Never before has there been so many alternatives to the typical monolith speaker, from in-walls that disappear into the décor to ultra-tiny speaker enclosures that sit on a shelf. A general aversion to complex and highly visible multichannel audio systems has left a good many consumers with only half the home theater experience. According to a September 2006 article from the Consumer Electronics Association, called “Home Theater Opportunities,” 76% of all flat panel TV users are not using a separate audio system. As the article points out there are a good deal of opportunities for audio equipment manufacturers to develop alternate methods for delivering quality audio for high-definition TVs.

The Yamaha YSP-4000 Digital Sound Projector ($1,799) is one of the simplest solutions this speaker-shy demographic could embrace. One could call the YSP-4000 the ultimate HTiB (Home Theater in a Box) because it contains speakers (or what Yamaha calls “sound beams”), amplification and complex signal processing that emulates surround sound, and video switching in a single enclosure.

What It Is
At 40w x 8h x 6d and weighing only 35 pounds, it’s essentially the same size as many “sound bar” style speakers that only contain the front left, center, and right speakers. With those types of sound bars you still need rear channel speakers and an A/ V Receiver for surround sound. The YSP-4000 can be placed underneath a cabinet, on a shelf, or on-wall using the optional SPM-K30 bracket ($80).

The YSP-4000 does not use conventional speaker drivers, but is equipped with 40, 1.5-inch “beam” drivers and two 4.25-inch woofers. Each beam driver is precisely directed based on Yamaha’s proprietary IntelliBeam auto calibration process, which optimizes the beam angle of each beam driver to match the individual listening room.

The YSP-4000′s built-in amplification delivers 2-Watts per beam and an additional 20-Watts per woofer for a system total of 120-Watts. Using the multiple beam arrays to direct sound in specific directions, in conjunction with some fancy digital signal processing, the YSP-4000 is capable of replicating a pretty realistic multichannel surround experience from a single sound bar.

In addition to providing complete amplification for the internal speakers, the YSP-4000 provides all signal processing including surround sound decoding for Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS Neo: 6 compatibility. Seven Cinema DSP settings (three for movies, three for music and one for sports) are also provided, in addition to SRS Labs’ TruBass enhancement technology.

Hooking Up
Despite its size, there are quite a few connection options available with the YSP-4000, but nothing like a full-featured A/V Receiver. That, however, is the point. The YSP-4000 is meant for simple systems with fast and easy setup and operation. There are two HDMI inputs with a single HDMI output, which are 1080p/24 and 1080p/60 compatible. Since both audio and video are transmitted via HDMI, it’s not necessary to use separate audio hook-ups for your HDMI sources.

For the type of user who would gravitate to the YSP-4000, there is no question that the HDMI hook-up is the easiest way to go and if the system is super basic it might be all a person would ever need. In fact, the HDMI inputs are marked specifically for DVD and Sat/Cable boxes. For additional video sources there are two component inputs along with a set of component outputs. For digital audio inputs, the YSP-4000 provides two optical and two coax connections plus there are two sets of analog audio inputs.

The YSP-4000 does demonstrate some surprising sophistication with unconversion of analog video sources to HDMI. Sources using the composite or component inputs can be output via the single HDMI port, as well as upconverted to your choice of resolution–480p, 720p, or 1080i. As a result, no matter how many video sources you have, all that is needed for an output is a single HDMI cable from the YSP-4000 to the video display.

Sometimes in the quest to simplify it’s possible to create greater confusion. And that is the case with the YSP-4000′s component inputs, which are assigned specific digital audio inputs. For example, both my DirecTV satellite receiver and Toshiba HD-DVD player have only optical digital audio outputs. Only one of the component inputs on the YSP-4000 accepts an optical input, the other requires a coax input. This could cause frustration for users in the same predicament.

Three composite inputs are provided, along with a single composite output, but there are no S-Video connections. A special jack is provided for using one of Yamaha’s recommended subwoofers, though there is a (RCA) LFE output for using a subwoofer of your choice (I used the YSP-400 with my SPB SubSeries 5i throughout this review). Connections for a XM mini-tuner and an iPod dock are also included.

The optional iPod dock [$199] allows access to the iPod’s menu via the on-screen display and is controlled with the YSP-4000 remote. I would have liked to see a more interesting GUI interface but it got the job done. All my playlists were there and I could scroll through them with the remote, playing songs at random. Other MP3 devices can be hooked into the YSP-4000 using the 3.5mm mini-jack on the front panel.

Beam Me Up
The YSP-4000′s auto-calibration method could not be any easier. A cardboard stand places the supplied microphone at the main seating position. Select Auto Setup and the YSP-4000′s proprietary IntelliBeam technology generates a series of test tones to measure speaker distances, levels and set room EQ. In less than three minutes you’re ready to begin watching movies.

While most people will probably “set it and forget it” with the auto setting, I had to tweak quite a few settings to create a more pleasing soundstage and frequency response. Fortunately, it’s possible to save up to three IntelliBeam settings.

There are also four Beam modes on the YSP-4000 remote control. The performance of the Beam modes will vary depending on your overall settings. 5 Beam outputs sound beams for the front left, center and right array, in addition to the left and right surrounds. This is considered ideal for multichannel sources or playing two-channel sources in surround. Stereo + 3 Beam outputs the front left and right channels normally then uses sound beams to create the center and two surrounds. Yamaha recommends this for live recordings since vocals and instruments appear closer to the center and the surround effects replicate the venue’s ambience. 3 Beam only outputs left, right and center without surrounds.

Performance
I started out my evaluation with “Nothing At All” from Santana’s Shaman album and it was here I made quite a few manual adjustments. I began in the 5 Beam mode, and found it to be very spacious with a remarkably defined center. However, vocals were slightly subdued and lacked a distinctive punch.

Going into the manual setup I changed the focal length and center channel treble gain, which pulled the vocals out a bit more. I them switched to the Stereo + 3 Beam, which gave the vocals the presence and body I wanted.

The Auto Setup calculated the installation height at 3.5 ft., which seemed accurate, but I liked it better at 5 ft. because the sound distribution seemed closer to ear height, which is the most appropriate positioning for the front speaker array. This, in no small way, resulted in a far more satisfying spatial image across the front.

Also, the individual treble gain controls that are available for all five channels were extremely useful in fine-tuning the overall frequency response of the system. I fiddled with the settings for different sources and never found the perfect “leave it alone” setting, so the three IntelliBeam user settings came in handy.

And finally, there was an audible void between my PSB sub and the YSP-4000′s midbass frequencies. After some judicious tuning of the bass tone controls and changing the auto-calibrated distance between the subwoofer and the main seating position, I was able to create a smoother, more cohesive blend.

The track “Enchanted Life” from Samantha James’ Rise CD has a nice, laidback chill vibe with lots of ambience. However, when I threw it into the Stereo mode the image collapsed and I lost the wide soundfield. For this particular track I preferred the 5 Beam mode, which pulled the vocal back into the mix, creating a more pleasant blend from channel to channel while providing a realistic and immersive surround environment.

While I was in the middle of my evaluation, I received a new Melissa Etheridge DVD called The Awakening Live, which is a concert performance at the New York City Hard Rock. The YSP-4000 recreated a very effective and believable live setting, providing plenty of concert hall ambience. In the 5 Beam position vocals were well placed in the center with an excellent balance between the band and backing vocals.

Moving to movies, during the heavy storm scene from The Perfect Storm on HD DVD, several members of the crew and rescue copter are floundering in the water. During this scene dialog has to be strong or it will get lost among the sound of the thundering wind and crashing waves. I found the 3 Beam mode worked best because voices sounded weak in relation to the rest of the busy soundtrack.

In Quentin Tarantino’s quirky Death Proof, there is a bombastic drum soundtrack mingled with the sound of these souped-up muscle cars that totally drives the off-the-charts car chase in the movie’s climax. The YSP-4000 delivered the depth to make this scene exciting and yet the dialog was clear and present.

Conclusion
If you object to having your music digitally poked, prodded and generally manipulated this is probably not the right product for you. However, for the MP3 generation, this was surely made for them. Add on the optional iPod dock, and the YSP-4000 turns into the ultimate iPod sound system and yeah, it plays everything else, too.

Between the auto-calibration, the additional manual adjustments and the Beam modes, the YSP-4000 offers plenty of adjustability for fine-tuning the system, more so than most simplified HTiB systems. Just by playing with the three key Beam modes you can find a sound palette that best suits your source. The $1,799 manufacturer’s list price is decidedly more than a wide range of available HTiBs, however, the performance capabilities of the YSP-4000 are far superior..

Ultimately, I liked the YSP-4000 probably more for its design and intent than its actual implementation. It didn’t have the scale of dynamics or the sheer power of my reference system, but I still found it to be very convincing and I certainly recognize its obvious appeal. I was able to audition the YSP-4000 to several of my friends who I felt would be the right demographic for this product and they all loved the concept and thought it sounded great. And lest we forget, there is zero speaker wire clutter, and that alone will appeal to a lot of consumers

Highlights
• Contains all electronics, amplification and speakers for complete 5.1 surround system in a single enclosure
• Extremely fast Auto Setup and easy operation
• HDMI Switching, though limited by only two inputs

(Article Source:cnet.com)

Product Review: URC MX-900 Universal Remote

If you had to pick the one piece of your home-theater puzzle that ties all of the components together to make them work as one, what would it be?

A processor is a good choice. It acts as the brain of your system — almost every component feeds a signal into or gets a signal out of it. Others might point to their speakers: without a good set of speakers, your system’s performance can’t be optimized. Then there’s your amplifier, your DVD player, your TV or projector, even your power conditioner — each could be considered quite valuable.

Everyone values something different in a system. My system’s MVP (Most Valued Product) — the thing ties all my components together and lets me enjoy them every time I use them — is my universal remote control. With one push of a button on the remote, everything is turned on, and each component is automatically adjusted to the proper settings. I can then control the devices individually. My universal remote lets me enjoy my system by simplifying everything about its operation.

Over the last few years, as the high-definition boom has begun to reach my friends and family and they’ve asked me for advice, the one purchase I’ve always recommended is a universal remote. Although these new enthusiasts have mainly been concerned with the size of their new TVs or the placement of their new speakers, such details wouldn’t matter if they couldn’t actually use them. Place three or four different remotes in their hands and there’s a good chance they’ll never figure it out. The new A/V system will become a frustration because they can’t get it to work.

A really good remote can change that. Think of it as a book titled Home Theater Operation for Dummies. I have owned my reference remote, the MX-850 from Universal Remote Control, for about two years. In that time it has faithfully served me and kept my attention on my system’s performance, not on which remote does what.

Meet the new boss

A few months back, while scanning Universal Remote Control’s website, I stumbled across a list of their other models. Just above the MX-850 was the slimmer, more streamlined MX-900, with a layout slightly different from the MX-850’s, and only six LCD buttons instead of ten. (The LCD buttons can be custom-named and -programmed via the remote’s Programming menu.) I asked my editor to contact Universal to request a review sample, and within a few days, an MX-900 ($449.95) was in my hand.

A big change from the MX-850 is the replacement of its Main button with the MX-900’s Watch and Listen controls, for those times when the user wants to use an A/V system for (respectively) video and sound, or only for listening. To hear the radio or a CD, you press Listen. Otherwise, the MX-900 and MX-850 are very similar. The slimmer MX-900 fits the hand better, but the MX-850’s layout is more spacious. On both, the illumination button is on the right side.

To program the MX-900, I had to download its software from Universal’s website. These downloads are not available to everyone. The MX-900 is sold mainly through audio/video retailers and custom installers, and should be programmed for the user by the store that sells it. If a novice attempts to program an MX-900 without assistance from an experienced professional, it could turn into an expensive paperweight.

But if you insist on doing it yourself, I do have some advice. First, you’ll need a list of all of the components you wish to control. With this list, you navigate the device menus on the Universal Remote Control website and locate the appropriate codes for each component. In a few instances I was unable to find the correct codes for my TV and a DVD player, but was able to use the codes for different models from the same manufacturers. This process was pretty cut-and-dried.

Next I had to set up Device Macros and Punch Throughs. According to my dictionary, in computer science, a macro is an abstraction that defines how a certain input pattern is replaced by an output pattern according to a defined set of rules. In lay terms, it’s a set of signals the remote can output, via either an infrared or a radio frequency, to a component — e.g., “Power on” or “Power off.” At the same time, the macro can also choose the settings for your TV or receiver. For example, I’ve named the MX-900’s top LCD button “HDTV,” and have programmed it to adjust my system to watch and listen to my TV through my home-theater system. When I press HDTV, the MX-900 emits these commands: 1) TV powers on. 2) Anthem AVM 50 processor powers on. 3) Anthem AVM 50 switches to TV mode. 4) Cable box powers on. 5) Remote function switches to cable box.

Punch Through gives greater flexibility of system control to those who run an entire system through an A/V processor or receiver. Punch Through allows functions like the volume to be controlled by your receiver, regardless of which device the remote may be controlling. For instance, if I’m watching TV, the MX-900 functions as the cable-box remote, but designates that the volume of the system be controlled by the receiver instead of controlling the volume settings of the cable box.

After all of the commands are set via computer, you must download these settings to the remote. The MX-850 had to be connected to a computer via the computer’s serial port and its own mini stereo plug. The download process took only a minute or so, but the MX-900’s USB 2.0 connection does the job in seconds — so fast that, the first time I downloaded the commands, I assumed the program wasn’t working properly. This is a tremendous improvement, especially when you’re trying to fine-tune your settings. Although you may download new settings only once in a blue moon, when you’re first tweaking the remote’s programming, the quicker you can download settings, the better.

Once I’d programmed the MX-900, its performance was very consistent. The only time it failed was when its four AAA batteries ran low. I replaced them, and the remote was back up and running flawlessly.

Functionally, the MX-900 and MX-850 have a few differences. The MX-900 is capable of replacing up to 40 different remote controls, the MX-850 only 20. This is hardly reason to disparage the MX-850 — few people have 20 different devices to control, let alone 40. The biggest difference for me was the way the MX-900 fit my hand. After a year of using the MX-850, I found it difficult to adjust, though over time I did become more comfortable with the slimmer MX-900. With the MX-900’s fewer programmable LCD buttons, I had to adjust my standard settings. Batteries seemed to last longer in the MX-900; each set of four AAAs endured several weeks of heavy use.

The MX-900’s biggest competitor is probably Logitech’s 890 universal remote ($399.99 including RF sensor). The 890 is a consumer remote that can be purchased from one of the big-box retail stores. Areas where the 890 excels include how easily it can be programmed. Logitech’s programming software is very intuitive and user-friendly, and setup is much faster than with the MX-900, though not as flexible. In short, the Logitech doesn’t require professional setup. The fact that the Universal MX-900 does could be a deal breaker for some.

I found the MX-900 the more consistent performer: It worked every time I pushed a button. Whether aimed precisely at the intended device or anywhere else in the room, its signal reached the component every time. If the Logitech’s signal didn’t hit its target, I had to reset the remote to its main page and try again. In such cases I pressed the Logitech 890’s Help button, which let me find the step in the programming macro that had been skipped, then re-send it. Usually, this worked. There was also a short delay between the time I pressed a button on the 890 to its sending of the IR signal. The MX-900 seemed to emit a stronger signal, making aim not nearly as important. Both remotes have programmable LCD screens, but the Logitech’s is a color display.

While I’ve been using the MX-900, my MX-850 has been on loan to a friend. I set up the MX-850 to suit his system, and after about three minutes of showing him how to operate it, he was using it like an old pro. He uses it every time he operates his system, and always mentions how much he loves it. His wife can now operate their A/V system without his assistance, and so uses the system much more often. But the review process is over, I have to send the MX-900 back to Universal, and soon I’ll be asking my friend to return the MX-850. He’ll then have to remember how to use the four remotes that control his system, and his wife will probably stop using the system altogether. If I know him, he’ll probably buy a Universal remote ASAP.

Conclusion

When you fork over the considerable amount of dough needed to buy a new TV or audio system, any additional expenditure — especially a $450 remote control — can seem unwarranted, even foolish. But the Universal Remote Control MX-900 can tie everything together and greatly simplify the operation of a complex system — a key to enjoyment. It can do this for even for the most technologically challenged person. Without reservation, I recommend it to every home-theater user I know — and to every one I don’t know, too.

(Article Source:cnet.com)

Product Review: Sony BDP-S350 BluRay Player

Since the Sony PlayStation 3 appeared on the scene, it’s been CNET’s go-to choice for those interested in Blu-ray–even if they weren’t interested in gaming. At $400, the PS3 was delivering a full-service Blu-ray player, with the added value of being a top-notch digital media device and gaming machine as well. But as Blu-ray players get better and cheaper, the equation is no longer so cut and dry. Sony’s own BDP-S350 is a good example. With its latest firmware update in place, the S350 adds full BD-Live (Profile 2.0) compatibility to its bag of tricks. That leaves only its annoyingly recessed USB port (for added storage) and its lack of onboard DTS-HD Master Audio decoding (not a huge issue outside of audiophile circles) as the remaining red flags–and neither is a deal-killer. The Sony is in a neck-and-neck battle with such other full-featured standalone Blu-ray players as the Panasonic DMP-BD35 and the Samsung BD-P1500. And now that all of those models can be found for as low as $300, they’re realistic alternatives to the PS3 (for nongamers, at least).

Design
Nearly all standalone Blu-ray players so far have looked like oversize DVD players, requiring a lot of depth and width in your rack to make ‘em fit. The BDP-S350 is radically different in this regard; it’s about half as deep as every other Blu-ray player we’ve tested, coming in at 17 inches wide by 8.75 inches deep by 2.38 inches high. The front of the player is mostly covered by a blue-tinted, reflective faceplate, and there’s an LCD screen on the right. On the far right are a couple playback controls, although there are no chapter forward/backward buttons for when you can’t find the remote control. There is also a single blue indicator light, which tells you if the player is outputting at 24 frames per second. Altogether, it’s a sharp-looking player–albeit not as sharp as the Samsung BD-P1500–and its small footprint is a welcome design touch.

The BDP-S350 is easily the smallest Blu-ray player we’ve seen so far.

The included remote is pretty good. The center is dominated by a directional pad, which is surrounded by important buttons such as menu, options, and home. Toward the bottom are separate rockers for volume and channel changing, for those who want to use the remote to control their TV as well. We generally liked the layout, and there’s enough button differentiation to navigate by feel in a darkened home theater.

One major design flaw is the deeply recessed USB port–used for BD-Live compatibility–on the rear of the unit. Our first problem is that it’s located on the rear of the unit in the first place, as that can be a pain to get to in many home theater cabinets and you may not want to dedicate a USB memory stick solely to the BDP-S350. Secondly, because of how deep the USB cavity is, many types of USB memory sticks won’t fit–you’ll need a long slim one to fit properly. The deep recess means you won’t have a USB stick protruding too far from the back of your player, but since the player is already quite shallow and there will already be cables connected to the back, we can’t see it being much of an advantage.

Sony’s XMB graphical user interface looks great in high-definition, and we liked that you could access it without stopping the movie.

The BDP-S350 also uses a version of Sony’s XMB graphical user interface, which should be familiar to anyone who has used a PlayStation 3, PSP, or a recent Sony HDTV. The high-definition graphics are a nice touch, and we found it easy enough to make tweaks in the menus. Geeks will enjoy the amount of tweakable options, including the highly desired capability to force the BDP-S350 to output 24 frames per second. A somewhat esoteric perk we enjoyed is that it’s possible to access the XMB menu without stopping a disk, so you can make minor tweaks like changing the resolution without having to reload the entire movie.

Features
Originally sold as “BD-Live ready,” Sony issued the promised firmware update for the BDP-S350 in September 2008. So long as the player is connected to your home network, the update is available at the click of a button, and automatically installs after a few minutes. Thereafter, the player becomes fully BD-Live/Profile 2.0 compatible, meaning that it can access the online features available on certain discs. To date, there hasn’t been a lot of compelling content, but the point is that you’re getting a player that’s as close to state-of-the-art as possible. The feature is there when and if better BD-Live content turns up down the road.

High-resolution soundtrack support on the BDP-S350 is good, although not perfect. There’s onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD–which means you can hear Dolby TrueHD on any HDMI-compatible receiver–but DTS-HD Master Audio cannot be decoded by the player. On the other hand, the BDP-S350 can output both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio in bit stream format, which means that people with newer receivers with onboard decoding can still take advantage of DTS-HD Master Audio. Of course, the similarly priced Sony PlayStation 3 can decode both formats, which means you only need a receiver with HDMI support to take advantage of both formats. However, keep in mind that the differences between these high-resolution soundtracks and standard Dolby Digital and DTS may be hard to hear unless you have a high-end listening environment.

Connectivity is fairly standard on the Sony BDP-S350. The main connection is the HDMI output, which can handle HD video up to 1080p as well as multichannel high-resolution audio. There’s also a component video output, which can output Blu-ray movies at 1080i and DVD at 480p. There are also two legacy standard-definition video outputs, S-Video and composite video, but you should stick with the high-definition connections to take advantage of Blu-ray.

For audio, the HDMI output is the best option for those with HDMI receivers. There are also both optical and coaxial digital audio outputs, although these can’t handle the full resolution of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. For analog audio, there is a stereo RCA-style output. The big omission is the lack of analog 5.1 outputs, which means that those with older receivers won’t be able to take advantage of Dolby TrueHD decoded by the BDP-S350.

It’s tough to tell from the image, but the USB port is actually recessed inside the player, so you’ll need a slim USB stick to reach it.

Rounding out the rest of the connectivity is a USB port and an Ethernet port. While you might think the USB port is used for looking at some JPEGs or listening to MP3s, actually its only purpose is to serve as external memory for advanced Blu-ray features–which is why the port is labeled “EXT.” You’ll need to connect a USB drive for storage to use the BD-Live features. Likewise, the Ethernet port can’t be used to stream files from your computer; it’s dedicated to accessing firmware updates and pulling Blu-ray-specific content off the Internet.

Blu-ray performance
Blu-ray playback performance from all Blu-ray players is generally excellent, providing a far superior image to DVD when viewed on a large HDTV in darkroom environment. We have, however, seen some flaws on less-expensive Blu-ray players–particularly when the players are set to output 1080p signals at 60 frames per second–so we were interested to see how the BDP-S350 measured up.

We began our high-definition tests with Silicon Optix’s HQV test suite on Blu-ray. During the Film Resolution Loss Test, the BDP-S350 looked good on both the test pattern and the slow pan across Raymond James Stadium, showing none of the moire or jaggies that we often see on cheaper players. Next were some video-based tests, which are considerably less important, as the number of video-based Blu-ray Discs is pretty small. We looked at the Video Resolution Loss Test, and the BDP-S350 was not able to correctly display this test pattern, as the most detailed resolution box had a strobelike effect. Next up were a pair of jaggies tests, and the BDP-S350 handled them with ease, clearly rendering both three pivoting lines and a rotating white line without excessive jaggies.

Switching from test patterns to program material, we popped in Ghost Rider on Blu-ray, and the BDP-S350 had no issues rendering the end of Chapter 6, as the grille of the RV remained perfectly detailed as the camera pulled away. We also looked at the beginning of Chapter 8 of Mission Impossible: III, and we saw no moire in the stairs in the background, which confirms what we saw in the test patterns–the BDP-S350 handles film material well. Next up we tried Tony Bennett: American Classic, and at the beginning of Chapter 7–which includes some video-based footage–we did see some minor jaggies on the clapperboard, but not quite as many as we saw on the BD-P1500.

It’s important to stress that the differences between these players is slight, and that only the most perceptive videophiles will notice the difference. Overall we found the DMP-BD50 to have slightly less jaggies on video-based titles, but you’ll notice them very rarely. Also note that if you plan on using these players in 1080p/24 mode, the differences essentially disappear, as we noticed virtually no differences between the players in 1080p at 24 frames per second mode.

We also tested how quickly the BDP-S350 powers on and loads discs, and it’s a step above other players released this year–but with a major caveat. The caveat is that to take advantage of the speedier load times you need to set the player to Quick Start mode, which means the BDP-S350 uses power even when you turn it “off.” In our tests, the BDP-S350 used 16 watts while playing a Blu-ray movie, 9.3 watts when off in Quick Start mode and 0.5 watt when off in normal mode. That being said, the BDP-S350 powers on in a very speedy six seconds in Quick Start mode. Once on, the BDP-S350 also loads discs about as quickly as other new Blu-ray players, with Mission Impossible: III loading in about 27 seconds, and the BD-Java heavy Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man’s Chest in 2 minutes and 6 seconds.

Standard DVD performance
The number of movies available on DVD still dwarfs the number of available Blu-ray movies, so DVD performance remains an important factor. We started off looking at test patterns from Silicon Optix’s HQV test suite on DVD. The BDP-S350 handled the initial resolution test well, depicting all the detail that DVD is capable of–although we did notice some very slight image instability. The next two video-based jaggies tests were a mixed bag–it performed admirably on a test with a rotating white line, but it was just mediocre on a test with three shifting lines. On the other hand, we were impressed that it passed the difficult 2:3 pull-down test, as it kicked into film mode in less than a second, resulting in no moire in the grandstands as a racecar drove by. It also handled scrolling CNN ticker-style text competently, as well as a credits sequence.

The BDP-S350′s performance on test patterns was pretty solid, so we expected similar results with actual program material and were not disappointed. We popped in Star Trek: Insurrection and the BDP-S350 did a solid job on the introduction, as the curved railings of the bridge and hulls of the boats were rendered smoothly. We switched over to Seabiscuit and took a long look at the opening sequence. While we did notice a few subtle jaggies, we were overall very impressed. The BDP-S350 handled the black-and-white photos better than most players we tested. In all, the BDP-S350 should satisfy all but those that need the absolute best DVD playback–and if you’re one of those, you should check out the Oppo DV-983H.

(Article Source:cnet.com)