Danny Briere - Home Theater For Dummies

Home Theater For Dummies, 3rd Edition

by Danny Briere and Pat Hurley

Home Theater For Dummies, 3rd Edition

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Copyright 2008 by Eric Tyson and Ray Brown

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2008939212

ISBN: 978-0-470-41189-6

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Authors

Danny Briere founded TeleChoice, Inc., a telecommunications consulting company, in 1985 and now serves as CEO of the company. Widely known throughout the telecommunications and networking industry, Danny has written more than 1,000 articles about telecommunications topics and has authored or edited eight books, including Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, 3rd Edition , and Smart Homes For Dummies, 3rd Edition . He is frequently quoted by leading publications on telecommunications and technology topics and can often be seen on major TV networks providing analysis on the latest communications news and breakthroughs. Danny lives in Mansfield Center, Connecticut with his wife and four children.

Pat Hurley is Director of Research for TeleChoice, Inc. specializing in emerging telecommunications and digital home technologies, particularly all the latest consumer electronics and access gear, including wireless LANs, DSL, cable modems, satellite services, and home-networking services. Pat frequently consults with the leading telecommunications carriers, equipment vendors, consumer goods manufacturers, and other players in the telecommunications and consumer electronics industries. Pat is the coauthor of Smart Homes For Dummies, 3rd Edition, Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, 3rd Edition, Wireless Network Hacks and Mods For Dummies , and Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 PC For Dummies . He lives in San Diego, California with his wife, a fiery red-headed preschooler named Annabel, and two smelly dogs.

Dedication

Danny wants to thank his wife, Holly, and kids, who have endured their home theater being the test bed for just about every new technology known to mankind. Theyve had to learn the intricacies of beta testing everything from remarkably exciting motion-controlled TV to sadly disappointing Apple TV test gear. When their friends ask how to turn things on, the response is usually prefaced by, Well, this week . . . However, they also get to appreciate true breakthroughs, such as when they moved to RF control and no longer had to point in a certain direction to get something to happen. Ah, the good life! To all of them, thanks for their perseverance.

Pat, as always, thanks his wife, Christine, for her infinite patience. (Is it patience when one refrains from bonking his or her spouse over the head with a cast iron skillet?) He also thanks her for gamely smiling and nodding when he introduced, over and over, pictures of the newest future member of the Hurley family home theater, only to change his mind when he discovered the next silicon (not silicone!) laden object of his desire. Pats daughter Annabel (hi princess or is it mermaid princess today?) gets a special thanks as the primary consumer of home theater time in the Hurley household and as a four-year-old expert in using Harmony remotes, working through scratched DVDs, and participating in big-screen Wii marathons.

Authors Acknowledgments

Many folks provided us with their time, knowledge, and expertise as we researched and wrote this edition, including Jessica Loebig and Krista Weirzbiki at TiVo, Kate Brinks and Lloyd Klarke at Logitech Harmony, Steve Venuti at HDMI Licensing, Keith Claytor at Klipsch, Chris Fawcett at Sony, and Andy Parsons from Pioneer and the Blu-ray Disc Association. Special thanks go to Craig Eggers at Dolby, whos been our go-to resource (along with Roger Dressler and Jeanne Alford) for all things surround sound for the past five years.

The following folks helped with previous editions of this book and provides the knowledge base upon which we built this edition: Joel Silver at Imaging Science Foundation, Jeff Denenholz at X10 Ltd., Larry Becker at Crutchfield, Nick Carter and the rest of the crew at AudioRequest, Kaleo Willess and Roger Dressler at Dolby Laboratories, Shawn Gusz at G-NET Canada, John Dahl and Amy Brighouse from THX, Ltd., and all the people manning the booths at the past seven or eight CES shows in Las Vegas who let us stare and gape at their rear-projection, plasma, and LCD screens for hours on end. Wed thank them personally, but none of them gave us one.