Wireless, Network, & Streaming-Based Audio and Video

The cutting edge is the bleeding edge. This is a sentiment I learned from my
colleagues back in my retail sales days. Like any good salespeople, we
wanted our customers to be happy with the audio and video systems we sold them.
For most customers–-users who don’t enjoy breakdowns or glitchy
operation–-that meant selling them systems that did what they were supposed to
do, day in and day out, with no surprises. Products that promised new
capabilities were, rightly so, eyed with suspicion. They weren’t proven
technology and they often worked as promised only some of the time. Is
any of this sounding familiar?

There’s a revolution going on in how we get our music. CD sales have been
overtaken by download sales. More people play their music from a computer
file than play it from a CD. Free and subscription based music are coming
to us via the internet. Music is, more and more, traveling from point A
(a network or computer) to point B (an amplifier or speakers) wirelessly.
This is the new cutting edge and I’ve seen lots of blood. Blood has
spilled for video, too, for largely the same reasons–-and also because of HDMI.
This is the convergence of computers and audio/video that people have
been predicting since the 90′s. It’s a world where glitches and
unpredictability rule.

If you’re sitting in bumper to bumper traffic and you didn’t expect it and you
wanted to get to your destination at a certain time, you might get frustrated.
If you know the traffic is there before you set out, there’s a good
chance you’re going to sit in it calmly. Converge your computer with your
audio and with your TV, knowing that it’s not as easy a path to entertainment
as playing a CD, DVD, or vinyl record. Better still, hire a professional.
A professional will advise you as to what you can expect by way of
glitches. That person will know how to properly set up your system to
minimize glitches and ensure the fun. First and foremost, that person can
design the appropriate audio/video and computer/network solution. (The a/v
designer and the computer designer is usually not the same person, but they
often work together.) Beware of a popular alternative to the
professional, the a/v or computer geek/hobbyist. Generally speaking, the
professional has made a career out of it and the other guy hasn’t–though the
latter may be getting paid. Still, why should you care which one you go
with?

A good professional knows which equipment to put together with which other
equipment, and with which end-users. This is system design. Good design
is crucial if you’re going to be happy with your purchase. A good
designer can tell you the kind of performance you can expect from a system or
from an individual component. If you give him adequate time and
attention, a good designer will be able to get you a system that matches your
expectations as close as possible, within your budget. The hobbyist or
geek, on the other hand–usually a friend or relative–often gives
recommendations without understanding what you will find easy to use and
maintain. Unlike the hobbyist, the professional sees so many more people
struggling with this or that equipment, that he better understands which people
find which equipment easy or difficult. A good designer/professional may
even change your plans about what products or features you should pursue,
steering you clear of aggravating calls to tech support and clear of angry
family members who can’t use the system.

If you’re not sure whether any of this applies to you, here are some telltale
signs that it does.

1. You want something wireless (e.g HDTV, music, Netflix, satellite radio,
speakers, etc.)

2. You want to get your music or TV content from the internet

3. You want to enjoy your music or video throughout other rooms of your home or in
other geographic areas

4. You want high-resolution audio or high-definition video from the internet

It’s not all doom and gloom. If you accept what limitations there are and
decide to take the plunge, I highly recommend computer based entertainment.
Youtube, for instance, is much better on the big screen and with the
vastly superior sound that a good stereo can provide. And, streaming movies is
extremely convenient. Just browse the available titles on your computer
or TV screen, press a button, and within 3 minutes you’re watching the movie.
There are several ways to do this, my favorite being Netflix. It’s
less than $10/month for unlimited movies and the picture is very good and the
sound is great.

As for music, I wouldn’t believe how broad and inexpensive the options are if I
didn’t see for myself. I use Rhapsody, have for years, and for $10/month
I can listen to just about any song or album I want from the 1950s on–-I
haven’t tried earlier decades. It sounds great, too. For 90% of the
people I meet, it sounds every bit as good as it
needs to.

Lately, I’ve been delving deep into a given year’s 100 best
albums. To find out which albums these are, I settled on the
recommendations of www.besteveralbums.com.
So far, I’ve created separate playlists of 100 albums each for ’67,
’68, 2010, and 2011. I can listen through a whole album at
a time or I can shuffle the playlist and hear songs come up at random. I
didn’t have to buy any of these songs–that’s what the $10/month paid to
Rhapsody is for. When Captain Beefheart pops up in the playlist, the
computer fetches the song from Rhapsody. It’s exactly as seamless as if
the songs were on my own computer, when it works–which is 95% of the time.
I’m fine with that. I’ve discovered so much great music! This is
the promise of convergence coming true. I’m like a kid in a candy store!

Your idea of a good time may differ, but if it’s audio or video related,
you may want to find an a/v professional and take the plunge, safely, into
computer-based entertainment.

Dennis Hartwick, dennis@dhaudioandhometheater.com, DH Audio and Home Theater, (908) 686-4913.