HOME CINEMA REPLICATES a real “movie theater” using pictures displayed on a high-quality widescreen television set, such as a plasma TV, and surround sound from strategically sited loudspeakers. The source for sound and vision is a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc). Its player uses standard CD (Compact Disc) digital technology, but with a higher density of laserread microscopic pits—more than 20 billion such pits in multilevel spiral tracks that, stretched out, would extend nearly 25 miles (40km). Blu-ray is a high-quality DVD system that fits much more data on its disc than standard DVDs, allowing High Definition video files to be stored. It is hard for the human ear to discern the direction of low-pitched sounds, so these emanate from a central bass speaker, often built into or below the screen unit. High-pitched sounds, the direction of which is easier to detect, emanate from mid- and highfrequency speakers positioned around the viewer. Plasma screens use fluorescent tube (“striplight”) technology. Tiny three-cell pixels, each about one millimeter across, contain red, green, and blue phosphor chemicals and a gas mix. Where electric pulses coincide for a split second in the crisscross matrix of wire electrodes, the gas energizes and emits ultraviolet light, which in turn makes the phosphor glow.
Home cinema
in
THE MODERN WORLD
published on 8:41 AM
HOME CINEMA REPLICATES a real “movie theater” using pictures displayed on a high-quality widescreen television set, such as a plasma TV, and surround sound from strategically sited loudspeakers. The source for sound and vision is a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc). Its player uses standard CD (Compact Disc) digital technology, but with a higher density of laserread microscopic pits—more than 20 billion such pits in multilevel spiral tracks that, stretched out, would extend nearly 25 miles (40km). Blu-ray is a high-quality DVD system that fits much more data on its disc than standard DVDs, allowing High Definition video files to be stored. It is hard for the human ear to discern the direction of low-pitched sounds, so these emanate from a central bass speaker, often built into or below the screen unit. High-pitched sounds, the direction of which is easier to detect, emanate from mid- and highfrequency speakers positioned around the viewer. Plasma screens use fluorescent tube (“striplight”) technology. Tiny three-cell pixels, each about one millimeter across, contain red, green, and blue phosphor chemicals and a gas mix. Where electric pulses coincide for a split second in the crisscross matrix of wire electrodes, the gas energizes and emits ultraviolet light, which in turn makes the phosphor glow.
