Home Audio and Home Theatre Options and Trends in 2013 a

Technology advances at lightening speed. You blink and there is something new on the horizon. Sometimes, it's challenging to keep up, but when it comes to home audio & theatre, nothing is more exciting than the prospect of accessible and affordable technology to help create a cutting-edge, comfortable and streamlined experience.
2013 has many exciting developments in store on the home theatre front and as experts in home theatre setup, design and support, we wanted to share some of those trends with our readers.
1. Seamless wireless integrationa
Airplay is an Apple functionality that allows you to stream music or video through your entire house, wirelessly. This technology can be integrated into speaker docks, AV receivers and stereo systems so that your iTunes playlists can be enjoyed in any room with the click of a button. And while most AirPlay products were somewhat pricey in 2011-2012, there is some expectation that prices will come down in 2013.
But if wireless isn't in your budget, you can give the impression of a streamlined, wireless system by strategically concealing all back-end power sources with a clean and tidy cable management approach. Cable management is the practice of using small and specialized cable ties and devices to hide cables from view and keep your home looking beautiful. Cable management can be extensive, used in larger server installations in businesses, or while building large homes. Cable management options can also be inexpensive and easy to undertake. Vendors such as Ikea or Best Buy offer many cable management devices for home use.
2. Bye-bye discs
It used to be that streaming video was the way of the future - the future is now.
While DVD and Blu-ray players still exist (and will for some time), more and more, consumers are demanding streaming functionality. Content streaming services continue to expand. Rogers on Demand offers more, Netflix invested heavily in its content in 2012, iTunes has an ever-expanding library, and all offer you entertainment when you want it. We can set up your Apple TV and integrate it with your Netflix or iTunes library so that you can stream any movie to any enabled screen in your home.
3. Multi room home audio
Imagine your favorite music, vibrant and clear, played softly or loudly in any room you choose, throughout your home. A strategically planned multi-room, multi-speaker home audio system is the ultimate in flexibility. And it is entirely possible in 2013.
All of your music is stored in one location (like your iPad, for instance) and we set up your audio system so that your favorite tunes can be transferred from your living room to your kitchen and even to your bathroom with the click of a single button. Enjoy bass thumping beats in the basement while you exercise, then switch to classical playing softly in the background while you work in your home office, and later, some sing along oldies while you prepare and cook dinner in the kitchen. Whole home audio amplifies joy in your life! The music to your ears is just a phone call away!

Tucu is Tech U Can Use. We offer installation and support services for at home or in the office technology needs in the Toronto and Greater Toronto area.
From home audio, home theatre and home security installations, with or without iPad integration, to network monitoring, cloud computing support and computer troubleshooting at the office, we offer personalized, referral worthy service.

Home Audio and Home Theatre Options and Trends in 2013

Technology advances at lightening speed. You blink and there is something new on the horizon. Sometimes, it's challenging to keep up, but when it comes to home audio & theatre, nothing is more exciting than the prospect of accessible and affordable technology to help create a cutting-edge, comfortable and streamlined experience.
2013 has many exciting developments in store on the home theatre front and as experts in home theatre setup, design and support, we wanted to share some of those trends with our readers.
1. Seamless wireless integration
Airplay is an Apple functionality that allows you to stream music or video through your entire house, wirelessly. This technology can be integrated into speaker docks, AV receivers and stereo systems so that your iTunes playlists can be enjoyed in any room with the click of a button. And while most AirPlay products were somewhat pricey in 2011-2012, there is some expectation that prices will come down in 2013.
But if wireless isn't in your budget, you can give the impression of a streamlined, wireless system by strategically concealing all back-end power sources with a clean and tidy cable management approach. Cable management is the practice of using small and specialized cable ties and devices to hide cables from view and keep your home looking beautiful. Cable management can be extensive, used in larger server installations in businesses, or while building large homes. Cable management options can also be inexpensive and easy to undertake. Vendors such as Ikea or Best Buy offer many cable management devices for home use.
2. Bye-bye discs
It used to be that streaming video was the way of the future - the future is now.
While DVD and Blu-ray players still exist (and will for some time), more and more, consumers are demanding streaming functionality. Content streaming services continue to expand. Rogers on Demand offers more, Netflix invested heavily in its content in 2012, iTunes has an ever-expanding library, and all offer you entertainment when you want it. We can set up your Apple TV and integrate it with your Netflix or iTunes library so that you can stream any movie to any enabled screen in your home.
3. Multi room home audio
Imagine your favorite music, vibrant and clear, played softly or loudly in any room you choose, throughout your home. A strategically planned multi-room, multi-speaker home audio system is the ultimate in flexibility. And it is entirely possible in 2013.
All of your music is stored in one location (like your iPad, for instance) and we set up your audio system so that your favorite tunes can be transferred from your living room to your kitchen and even to your bathroom with the click of a single button. Enjoy bass thumping beats in the basement while you exercise, then switch to classical playing softly in the background while you work in your home office, and later, some sing along oldies while you prepare and cook dinner in the kitchen. Whole home audio amplifies joy in your life! The music to your ears is just a phone call away!

Tucu is Tech U Can Use. We offer installation and support services for at home or in the office technology needs in the Toronto and Greater Toronto area.
From home audio, home theatre and home security installations, with or without iPad integration, to network monitoring, cloud computing support and computer troubleshooting at the office, we offer personalized, referral worthy service.

Professional Service and Repair For Home Audio Systemss

It is very common for people to have very elaborate sound systems in their homes in today's modern times, so it always important to be aware of companies that are out there to repair your system in case it gets damaged, or be aware that companies are out there that specialize in upgrading your systems. From sound systems that are set up around the house for PA systems, to elaborate theater sound systems for your home entertainment areas, there is always need to use a professional Home audio tech.s
Many people want to get the most out of their brand new huge plasma TV, and the best way to do that is to have a sound-system installed that compliments your new TV. Audio systems can be very complex, and have a lot more going on than just speakers and wires. There are equalizers, main boards, amplifiers, and everything in-between that runs your system. Many components in a sound system can easily be broken, or blown, and you want to call a professional to fix or replace what you need to have fixed.
Having your sound system properly installed, and set up, will make the difference of quality like you could have never imagined. Even speaker placement is important. Also, if you have a speaker go out, you want to make sure a proper replacement is installed. Audio systems are very complex, and hard to fix on your own properly, so its best just to leave it to the professionals to make sure you are getting the most out of what you have.

The HDMI Cable: The Future of Home Entertainment

The term HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. It was developed after a consensus reached by a consortium of the big players in electronics manufacturing industries, which included Silicon Image, Hitachi, Sony, Philips, Toshiba and Panasonic. This technology allows efficient and "future proof" transmission of HD-videos as well as multichannel audio in a variety of computers, video and audio products.
The efficiency of this innovation has made over 800 electronics manufacturers to adopt HDMI as a standard for their products. The biggest benefit for the end consumer is the fact that he gets to enjoy a high quality, single cable, and all digital solution which can be used to connect all the home electronic appliances for entertainment without minding which manufacturer it's from. Also HDMI allows your electronic components to communicate with each other. This will allow you to optimize and synchronize your electronics with HDMI in a trouble-free automatic manner.
Benefits of HDMI:
• It is currently the best and efficient audio/video connection available in the market. It delivers great quality and is the only way you can view 1080p full-HD videos at home. Simply put, if you want to experience true HD on your Blu-ray players, DVD players that are upconverting and HD set-top boxes, then you must connect all these appliances with the HDMI cable.
• One Cable Convenience: Before the HDMI cable, you had to have 3 video cables, and at least one audio cable so that you can connect a single video/audio component to the TV. However using HDMI, all these signals travel just through one cable: thus translating to less confusion, and a cleaner system with fewer wires involved.
• All signals transferred are digital: The previous interconnection cables such as S-Video, component video and composite video did not carry an uncompressed, purely digital version of the data they were transmitting between components. Thus it involved a lot of analog to digital and digital to analog processing at various stages where the cable was connected on the various components, thus distorting the data especially when it moved through many components and long connections. However HDMI transmits purely digital data, thus it is never distorted during the conversion stages.
When you go to look for an HDMI cable, there are a number of things you should consider such as: construction and materials, speed ratings, bit depth rating, in-wall rating and if they support a specific feature among others. When deciding on the length of the cable, you need to know whether the length will be to connect each of your components. When it comes to HDMI being compatible to 3D, you must look for any HDMI cable with a continuous throughput of 10.2Gbps and one that can support 3D.

At-Home Audio Recording Studios

In recent times the quality of the latest music recording software has advanced significantly. The initial series of music based software applications were first created in the 1960s, prior to that audio recording was mainly restricted to systems that where more hardware-based. The software at that time was typically more on the basic side. It is now possible to shop for a wide collection of audio equipment that is very similar to what is used by the professional sound engineers at very competitive prices.
The audio software is available in a range of qualities and configurations, from a quite basic setup for the novice just looking to get into studio recording for the first time to a complete professional home recording studio set-up. The main benefit of the recording software is its ability to clearly capture the audio sounds via a microphone, production equipment, or line-in ports. A user of the software application is given the opportunity to compose and edit the recordings, mix and lay tracks.
The benefits of installing a home recordings studio are wide-ranging. In general, the music recording applications are able to convert the received audio signals into a digital signal which is stored on a computer, which can then be manipulated to create the desired sounds and effects.
If you are able to install the right professional quality software and hardware it is possible to have an in-home recording studio at a cost of about $2000 or $3000. A well-chosen room with the right basic hardware and software application is all that is required to convert a spare room or basement into a place to record music. It was not that long ago that anyone attempting to replicate a professional quality studio at home would have expected to shell out a sizeable sum of money, which might have reached $50,000 or more. The latest advances in software has now made it so much simpler and it is no longer necessary to rely on the complex recording hardware that was once required.
It has also become the case that digital as a means of storing medium has started to become the preferred choice, as the previous recordable tapes are more likely to degrade after a prolonged period. This isn't however the case with the digital media as this is more likely to stay in its original condition while also being easier to transfer from one studio to the next.

Home Theater Installation Specialists asd

To a lot of consumers, home theater installation can be a mind boggling concept. Unfortunately for some, it can also be wallet draining. So it comes as no surprise that the average consumer would try to find ways to save any money they can. The normal place most try to save is home theater product itself, trying to go with entry level equipment expecting high end performance which often leads to dissatisfaction and high returns. Another unfortunate place home owners try to cut corners is on the actual install itself. There are a few notable reasons why this is a choice that saves money now but could end up costing more in the long run.
New construction homes are seeing a lot more than just electrical wiring ran. Surround sound wiring and pre-wiring for a HDTV above the fireplace are common place now. It is a great addition to your home during construction or renovation for immediate or future use and almost always adds resell value to the home. Who doesn't want the experience of theater quality sound in their home? As more and more home owners request this service, more and more contractors are becoming adept to world of home theater.ss
The place where the two worlds intersect is a notable place where homeowners try to save money on their Austin Home Theater Installation. The contractor offers a bundled "home theater installation" price to run speaker and video wiring and connect it all. The average consumer would think to themselves that the walls are down anyway and I am trusting this man to construct my wall so why not let him connect what he is already running for me? Why spend the extra time and money looking elsewhere for a home theater install team to come and do the same thing? A penny saved is a penny earned as the saying goes.
This is where it is wise to stands back and thinks about long term results. The contractor has been doing his job for twenty-plus years in most cases. He can build a house and make it livable, but does this mean he can set up my new home theater that I spent my hard earned money on? My new Smart LED HDTV lets me surf the internet wirelessly on it. My new surround sound receiver lets me multi-zone whole home audio.
With what I am paying this person for my home theater installation, is he going to make sure I am getting everything out of the four-thousand dollar cinema system I purchased, or is he going to simply plug it in and turn it on?
Sadly, the ladder is usually true. There is no disrespect intended, but twenty-plus years in one field do not make you a viable expert in another. There is a lot more to your entertainment system than an on and off button. Are the speakers going to properly be calibrated for phase, crossover, distance and EQ to have the best sound for the size of your room and location of the listener? Is the receiver going to be setup to properly control multiple zones of sound so that you can enjoy the game inside while your wife enjoys the radio outside? Are your audio sources going to properly be set for PCM or Bit stream in the receiver to receive the best quality sound from each of them? Probably the most important question of them all; Will you know how to properly work your entertainment system when installation is complete? With the contractor the answer is usually a no. With the home theater installer, the answer will always be a yes.
The Austin Home Theater installer knows the equipment inside and out. He keeps up to date on what's new in the audio/video world so he can properly recommend the right equipment for family. He knows the capabilities and limitations of your system. He knows the right settings for your speakers so your surround sound receiver has to do less work and get better results. He knows the best settings for your HDTV for the type of room it's in. To put it bluntly, the installer knows home theater installation.
The place where the two worlds intersect is a notable place where homeowners try to save money on their Austin Home Theater Installation. The Austin Home Theater installer knows the equipment inside and out. He keeps up to date on what's new in the audio/video world so he can properly recommend the right equipment for family.

LCD Monitor Problems - Easy Way To Repair Itasd

Today's article talks about repairing the CMV 19" LCD Monitor problems model CM-922D. The complain was no power as what the customer told me. This power supply was not built into the circuit thus it need an external power adapter to power it up. The input to the hdmi monitors is 19V with 3.1 Amp from the adapter. Since the complain was no power, we have to test it out to check if the power adapter is at fault or the LCD Monitor.
The ac supply was plugged in to the power adapter and I could see the power LED was lighted up. Checking the output voltage of the power adapter I got about 19 volts which is good. Even though the LED has lit and correct output voltage, this doesn't mean that the power adapter can maintain when there is a load (the portable hdmi monitor) connected to it. I once came across a Compaq 17" LCD Monitor that have a precise output voltage from the power adapter but when connected to the Monitor, the display appeared for a fraction of a second before shutting down. Usually in this case, your experienced would tell you that it could be the inverter circuit are faulty or the lamps have problem. You would be surprised that the actual cause of the shutdown was due to the power adapter. It can't sustain the output voltage when there is a load on it.
This kind of fault was normally due to a bad filter capacitors located at the output of the secondary circuit. If you have ESR meter, you can actually locate the defective electrolytic capacitors fast. If you don't have the meter, just direct replace the caps. As mentioned in my previous repair articles, to confirm if the power adapter is truly working or not you need a light bulb to act as a load. Make sure the power no touch screen doesn't blink whenever the light bulb is connected. Even if it blinks one time, this proves that the regulation is not good and need to be check entirely. In the above china made LCD Monitor, the power adapter work perfectly fine!
Since I have already confirmed that the power adapter is good, my focus now was on the LCD boards. Removing this cover was very easy and you can easily access to the board when the metal casing was removed. The first thing that I checked was the SMD fuse located in the main board. If the fuse opens then there would be no supply to the ADC/SCALAR and the CPU IC thus the power LED would not light! Checking this SMD fuse was rather simple as the method of checking it is the same like a normal fuse. Use either an analog or a digital meter set to ohms range or continuity check. You can check the fuse while it is still in circuit. Yes, the fuse was found to be open circuit.
Now there is one question that needs to be answered by us. What makes the fuse to go open circuit? Well from what we have known about electronic repair, there are three possibilities as why a fuse opens circuit. First, the fuse can become open circuit due to its lifespan. Some fuses can last for many years while some only couple of years. In other words, the life span of a fuse depends on the qualities of the materials used. Secondly, the external factor such as a surge causing the fuse to open circuit in order to protect the main board. Thirdly, the main board itself have problem (such as a shorted IC's and other electronic components) that caused the fuse to open circuit.
If the LCD Monitor problems falls in the first and the second categories then replacing only the fuse will definitely solve the problem. However, for this LCD Monitor, replacing only the fuse didn't work at all and the fuse open circuit again. You have only two choices to solve this kind of problem. First you can use an external regulated power supply as explained in my previous repair articles and connect the negative output of the power supply to ground and the positive to the fuse (the line that leads to other circuitry) in order to detect the short circuit. Slowly vary the output voltage and monitor the current drawn. Once the current drawn about a amp or two, now place your finger to any electronic components in the main board. If you found any components that get very hot then that is the cause of the short circuit.
In this article, I'm going to do it differently to detect the short circuit. Are you ready? Now instead of replacing the fuse with the exact rating which is 3 amperes, I replaced it with a 5 amperes fuse. The purpose for me to put the 5 amp fuse instead of the 3 amp fuse was because "if the fuse doesn't blow then the component that have short circuit would blow". Do you get the idea? Three things can happen when you use this way to force out the culprit. First the power adapter may shut down due to heavy current draw from the main board. Second, the short circuit electronic components (either be a IC, diode, capacitors, transistor and etc) will get hot and you can quickly locate it easily by touching them. Remember don't on it for too long otherwise if the shorted components get too hot it will go open circuit and now you will have a hard time to locate the fault. Third, you may hear a pop sound and spark from the shorted component. Trace from where the spark came from and you can easily identify the location and sometimes to the actual component that generate the spark.
For the above LCD Monitor, I actually saw a small spark at the top part of the main board once the power input jack was connected. It prompted me to the exact location and when I check the SMD ceramic capacitor (that generated the spark underneath it) with analog meter set to X 10 K ohm range; it actually developed a slight short circuit. Replacing only the fuse and the SMD ceramic capacitor solved the no power problem in this 19" LCD Monitor. This Monitor uses the inverter IC (OZ960G), A1084-25CM (2.5 volts voltage regulator), AMC1117-3.3 (3.3 volts voltage regulator), ADC IC (MST8136B) and CPU IC (MYSON MTV312MV64).
Conclusion-There are always options as to which methods that you want to use to detect the short circuit. If you prefer the latter one, then I suggest you to take some photo shots first before anything really burnt out beyond description. With the photos, at least it will give you some hints of what the components might be or even the part numbers. Well, there's always an interesting way to solve electronic problems and this is one of the reason that I like electronic repair so much because you can always act as a detective to find out the culprit-real satisfaction! Oh! By the way, you can use the above method to any other electronic equipment and it is not limited only to problems repair. Have a great hunt my friend!