Tivo vs Apple TV

Two of the newest and most popular innovations in the television viewing world are Tivo and Apple TV. Tivo is the oldest of these two innovations, and is incredibly popular. Many people these days either have a Tivo, or a digital video recorder box of a different brand name. The features of Tivo are convenient and easy to use. You can pause live TV so you won't miss a thing. You can schedule recordings and even record more than one program at once. Your recorded programs are digitally stored without the need for any tapes or disks. You can access and manage your recorded items with the touch of a button.

Then there's Apple TV. Apple TV hooks up to your television and computer, and allows you to access your iTunes library right on your TV screen. You can listen to music, view digital photos, watch television shows, podcasts, Internet videos and movies. The difference between Apple TV and Tivo is that with Apple TV, you must download your materials from iTunes. With Tivo, you get your material from your cable television provider. Some people love Apple TV, while others feel it will never take the place of cable. This is why some people have the best of both worlds and enjoy both an Apple TV and Tivo on their television.

Whether or not you should choose the Tivo or the Apple TV is a matter of personal preference. It all depends which features you deem more useful and how much you're willing to spend. Some users like the Tivo for its compatibility with cable television, while others enjoy Apple TV because they can view their iTunes collection on a big screen television instead of a small computer monitor. Both choices certainly have plenty of features and benefits to offer today's viewers.

Top 5 Tips to Soundproof Your Home

Sick of hearing your neighbors complain about noise when you are trying to watch a movie or listening to music? Are you frustrated with hearing unwanted noise in the room next to you? Noise leaks through your walls, ceilings, floors, windows, and doors. Keep in mind that noise is like water, it takes the path that is least resistance. When soundproofing your room, you must assure that you treat all necessary areas. We often use the term "soundproof," but keep in mind nothing is really 100% soundproof. Building practice of reducing noise is also referred to as sound damping, noise damping, or acoustic design and performance. Here are the top 5 tips to help reduce the noise in your home!

1. Treat all electrical boxes and any penetrations that will leave a passage for sound. Use a putty material that does not dry, crack, or shrink and is fire rated, such as QuietPutty.

2. Use sound damping drywall that is specifically made for reliable, high acoustic performance. Use a soundproof drywall with the EZ-SNAP technology, which is design for simple, easy installation and can reduce noise in walls by half or more. It is the fastest, easiest, most reliable way to quiet your home.

3. Make sure your wall and ceiling is airtight. Using an acoustical sealant is crucial in a soundproofing project. Apply acoustical QuietSeal around perimeter of wall, ceiling, floor, penetrations and any seam that is not backed by a stud to maintain high acoustic performance in your assembly.

4. Examine the door(s) in the room. Doors are often forgotten in a soundproofing project. A door is a movable part, which means it may not offer an airtight seal allowing sound to pass through the cracks. One way of checking for air leaks is to turn the lights off on one side of the door and have someone on the other side shine a flashlight around the edge. If light can get through, so can sound. There are special doors available that are designed to treat noise transfer. There are special doors and windows designed for acoustics that you may consider for your project.

5. If you are still unsure or need some assistance with your project, get some advice from an acoustic consultant (http://www.ncac.com). They specialize in sound and understand the terminology and how acoustic works. They are experts with noise and sound and can work with you to help you get the best sound performance for your specific project (home studio, theater, office, and etc).

You CAN be comfortable in your own home. These tips will give you the opportunity to build a reliably comfortable and quiet living space. Enjoy chatting, reading a book, or sleeping without any distractions. Listen to music, watch a movie, or have friends over, without disturbing your neighbors.

LCD or Plasma

It seems that I get asked one question more than any other:

Which is better LCD or Plasma?

To some degree you could say that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, but that doesn’t help anyone make a decision when faced with all of TV propaganda out there.

So, I’ll lay out the facts for you:

-Size does matter, when you’re paying for it. Plasmas are traditionally less expensive, especially when you look at the bigger sets. Most LCD brands top out around 57”, where as plasma can get much larger.

-Plasma sizes only go down to 37” where as LCD has a variety of smaller options.

-Plasma is capable of displaying blacker blacks which ultimately means better contrast ratio.

-LCD sets suffer from motion artifacts or motion blurring do to slower refresh rates. Although, newer units have much better refresh rates check the spec’s for pixel response time, the lower the time (ms) the better with motion it will be.

-Plasma has better viewing angles than LCD, however LCD is still pretty good, so I wouldn’t take this into consideration unless you have an extreme situation.

-LCD units are not affected my images left on screen for long periods. Plasmas in the past have had issues with image burn in, but in newer sets not only is it not a permanent problem, but it is all so less of an issue because of technology improvements.

-Plasma TVs tend to have a more glare from their glass screens; where as LCD TVs have less glare because of the screen surface.

-LCD units have a longer life (60,000 hours). However; plasma life expectancy is between 30,000-60,000 hours. What that means is you could watch TV eight hours a day for a minimum of 10 years. I don’t see that being a problem.

In summary, I think that in the past deciding which to choose, Plasma or LCD was easy…let the application decide. Lot’s of windows, play video games go with LCD. Otherwise go with Plasma (assuming we’re talking about TV’s bigger than 42”.) However; as technology improves the decision gets harder because the two types are closing the gap between them. As this happens the more I think it will come down to personal preference, which picture do you like. When deciding always remember, if you choose a quality brand (you get what you pay for) when you get the unit home and hang it on the wall nothing else matters. The picture will be the best thing you’ve ever seen.

My personal favorite: 50” Plasma!

To start off...

I would like to welcome everyone to our first, of what should be, many blogs.

We are intending to use this blog as a tool to stay in touch with our colleagues. Whether it be to keep everyone up to date on the latest technologies, or to just keep you posted on what's happening at Atlantic Control Technologies.

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