What is Hi-Res Audio?

What is Hi-Res Audio?
Hi-Res Audio (HRA) is the most awesome sounding music you can enjoy. It offers the highest digital sound quality while retaining the benefits of digital audio, such as portability and personalization. HRA provides listeners greater sound clarity and detail than MP3s and other compressed digital audio formats.

Typically, hi-res downloads are a minimum of 96-kHz/24-bit, with 192-kHz/24-bit becoming increasingly popular.

 

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What audible benefits does Hi-Res Audio provide?
Hi-Res Audio tracks capture the details, instrument and vocal timbre and textures that listeners typically sacrifice when listening to MP3s, CDs or streamed Internet music and allows music to be heard as the artists originally intended.

 

Why should consumers care about Hi-Res Audio? 
With the growing popularity of compressed digital downloads from online music stores and compressed live streams from popular Internet music services, consumers are sacrificing sound quality for convenience. Hi-Res Audio represents an opportunity for consumers to get closer to a studio experience and hear more emotionally engaging music.

Do I need to be a techie to get into Hi-Res Audio? 
No, but here’s a quick primer to help you better understand the key features that make audio “high resolution.”

All music can be represented by a single, varying waveform that changes over time.

Digital audio measures the waveform’s voltage at regular intervals, converts these voltages to digital data through a device called an “analog-to-digital converter” and then stores the data in computer memory. This process is similar to how a video camera captures moving images by taking individual frames.

With audio, the rate at which you measure the waveform is called the “sample rate.” A CD-based system samples the waveform 44,100 times a second, while Hi-Res Audio typically measures a waveform 96,000 or even 192,000 times a second. This higher sample rate allows the faithful recording of much higher frequencies, resulting in a vastly larger audio bandwidth.

 

Read more at https://www.soundandvision.com/content/guide-hi-res-audio-faq#EWAgT2oZVSFxkIyh.99

Improve Your HDTV image in 10 seconds

While your TV home mode will default to a Standard picture mode that produces an overly dim, oftentimes dull-looking picture. Why does it do this? To earn the coveted Energy Star label. As HDTV screen sizes started to grow, so did their power consumption. In 2008, the EPA revised the Energy Star certification process to include an "on-mode" power-consumption restriction, as opposed to just a standby-
mode restriction. 

LG 65EF9500 OLED TV Review: Flat's Back, Baby

LG is giving OLED-loving but curve-hating TV fans what they’ve been waiting for in the shape of the 65EF9500 (65EF950V in the UK): a 65-inch, HDR-ready 4K OLED TV that’s absolutely, totally, completely and utterly 100% flat. 

What’s more, as revealed last week, this new shape of big-screen OLED is available for exactly the same money as its 65EG9600 curved sibling (the 55-inch version of which is reviewed here). So picking between LG’s flat and curved 4K UHD OLED options really is a simple matter of choosing which shape suits you best – or actually, as we’re about to discover, which shape actually delivers the best all-round experience.Before getting into a wider look at the 65EF9500’s OLED picture talents, it makes sense to deal first with the ramifications of its headline flat screen. Does it somehow make the viewing experience feel flat, too, versus LG’s curved OLED efforts? Or is it really nothing more than an aesthetic choice? Starting with the aesthetics, I was surprised to find that I preferred the 65EF9500’s flatness to the EG9600 series’ curves. I’d previously felt that the curve somehow added to the futuristic appeal of OLED technology, but actually the 65EF9500’s flat face puts more emphasis on the brain-bending skinniness that’s an OLED design trademark.

Using the 65EF9500 as my main family TV for a few days has also rammed home some practical advantages of its flat screen. People watching the TV from down its sides, for instance, are less impacted by geometry issues than they would be with a curved screen. Even more importantly, while the 65EF9500’s screen is still a bit more reflective than I’d like, at least there’s no curvature to cause those reflections to distort across a greater area of the screen.

082815

Ultra High Definition 4K is a Challenge for Broadcast TV

4K television, also called ultra-high definition, is the biggest and best picture available. The 4K means the TV has four times the resolution of the former high definition standard, 1080p; to put it another way, all of the pixels from your current HD TV could fit into a quarter of a 4K screen. D&M Sound owner Anne Moore said the picture is “like looking through a window.”

“The result is stunning,” Moore said. “Almost everyone who sees it does a double take and voices a ‘wow’ as they watch.”

In the first quarter of 2015, 4K TV made up 9 percent of all TV shipments, but shipmentsalso grew by 400 percent while the rest of the TV industry was stagnant (even slightly down). 4K grew even more among bigger screen sizes, which of course make the picture even prettier and the technology more impressive.

“Our customers tend to be trendsetters,” Moore said. “Locally, our best selling TVs are all 4K.”

The technology here is so advanced that it’s outpacing content providers. Currently, most TV shows film in HD. A 4K set then converts the HD signal to something close to ultra-high definition, but it’s like having a Ferrari in slow traffic: the machine isn’t showing off its full potential.

Digital streaming providers have been the first to rollout 4K content: Netflix is introducing a handful of new shoes and movies that are 4K compatible. DirecTV streams 4K movies, and 4K Blu-ray players could be ready for their spot beneath your Christmas tree in 2015.

August 21st, 2015

4K Content available to all TVs on DirecTV

DirecTV has announced the introduction of the 4K Genie Mini set-top box, allowing customers who also own an HDMI 2.0-compliant Ultra High Definition TV to access DirecTV's assortment of on-demand UHD content.

The new 4K Genie Mini, which is about the size of a paperback book, offers full Genie and 4K capability. This will expand the number of customers who can enjoy 4K movies without the need for a DIRECTV-Ready 4K TV. In addition to superior picture resolution, the 4K Genie Mini also supports Dolby Digital Plus audio decoding. Customers can find requirements for compatible 4K TVs athttp://www.directv.com/technology/4k.

"Customers who want the best picture quality are creating more demand for 4K," said Henry Derovanessian, senior vice president Consumer Premise Engineering, DIRECTV.

 

DIRECTV currently offers a variety of 4K UHD titles, including new releases, popular films and nature documentaries.

July 1st, 2015

Want to listen to your Sonos wireless audio outside?

If the rest of your house is all jamming to a Sonos system, then you really don’t want to settle for Bluetooth in your backyard. An easy solution is to simply carry a Sonos PLAY:1 or PLAY:3 speaker outside whenever you need one. Just understand that: 1) it’s not weatherproof (so don’t forget it); 2) it will need to be plugged into an AC outlet; 3) it will need to connect to your Sonos network, and that might be difficult through exterior walls; and finally, 4) Sonos speakers are not acoustically designed for outdoors—the openness of a backyard requires a speaker designed for such a space if you want the best sound.

The best way to use your Sonos system in your backyard is to go with a Sonos Connect: AMP and wire it to some good outdoor speakers. 

July 1st 2015

Is your backyard outfitted with an outdoor TV and outdoor speaker system? Why not?

Now that the rainy weather is (hopefully) behind us for the season, many people will be stepping out into the sunlight in their back yards.

As any realtor or home remodeler will tell you, the backyard (or deck, patio, roof…) is the new favorite place for entertaining, relaxing and enjoying friends and family. Just look at the growth of the landscaping and outdoor kitchen business as proof. But what happens when you bring all your party guests over for some grilling, swimming and chillin, but the cool AV gear is all in the house?

Where does your energy dollar go?

See where your energy dollar is spent. Heating and AC use most of our home energy. Your electronics use some of the least amount of energy. We do suggest you check your cable or satellite box rating, as they can use more energy than your television!

January 2014

D&M Sound Brings High Tech To Inside Columbia Magazine Building

When Inside Columbia Publisher Fred Parry wanted to create the perfect environment for cooking classes, he knew he needed a camera system to show off the chefs' work. But he also needed a flexible system for security and entertainment. The camera focuses on the action, which is then shown on three Toshiba flat-screen TVs. He turned to the team at D&M Sound who had no problem creating his perfect system. “We said we can do that, but we can do so much more,” says Anne Moore, owner of D&M Sound. Moore and her staff installed a commercial control to move the range up to the front to work from that,” and automation system. Called “g!” by Elan Home Harlan says. “By having the camera, you can have the user control multiple video and audio features from an iPad or computer. At the Inside Columbia office, a single iPad controls the Culinary Adventures camera, the audio system and the integrated cable television. Included in the system is the camera over the kitchen. prep space in the back and you can zoom in and out, and get more angles for everybody to see.” Each chef uses a lavalier microphone, which projects through the audio system that accompanies the video system. Speakers are installed throughout the building and the audio is divided into three zones. The camera has eight presets, all programmed to different spots in the kitchen and the building. The system, which also has a residential version, can be connected to even more controls in the building. The same system can potentially control the heating and cooling, arm the security system and turn on the lights, all from a remote location. Not all of these features have to be installed in the system, but they can be added at any time. Moore says the ability for customers to purchase only the modules they want keeps it easy and less expensive. About 15 years ago, home control systems started at $20,000, but new systems like “g!” make it more affordable for families and small businesses. “While this system isn’t cheap, it allows an individual or a business to purchase just the things they need and customize it to their specific requirements,” Moore says. But the value is only one perk of the high-tech system; it also creates a wow factor. “People come in and they don’t really have expectations that there’s going to be something high- tech,” Harlan says. “Then they see that we have this really nice camera system with flat-screen TVs and this nice state-of-the-art kitchen and they are thoroughly impressed by the depth of it.”

January 3, 2014

Cool Homes--Environmentally Sound and Technologically Smart Home

Without even realizing it, the homeowner, through her daily interaction with the Elan g! system, effectively minimizes the energy consumption of her home’s lights and heating and cooling equipment, both of which are tied to the Elan g! HC6 processor.  Secure, comfortable, entertaining, and energy efficient, any home can benefit from automation. For example, an ALL OFF command, which can be engaged via the screen of an Elan g! 10-inch wall-mounted touchpanel (two are installed in the house; one in the kitchen and the other in the master bedroom ) or an iPad or iPhone, sweeps through the 4,096-square-foot home turning off every light, most of which happen to be of the LED type. Thanks to the settings programmed into the Elan g! system by van den Broek, these lights never brighten to full intensity, which is another effective and effortless way to reduce electricity consumption.  The 90 percent setting supplies ample illumination for any task, says van den Broek, and the lights can be dimmed even more via up/down arrows on touchpanels, iPads or from any of several wall-mounted Lutron RadioRA dimmer switches installed throughout the house.

October 11, 2013

Projectors 101--Put some Wow into your Home Theater