Home Entertainment & Automation Services in Matthews, NC.
Home Entertainment & Automation Services in Matthews, NC.
Home audio and Video Services in Matthews, NC.  TV installation, Surround Sound, Home Entertainment Systems
LED vs LCD TVs

How are LED TVs different from LCD TVs?

Simply stated, an LED TV is an LCD TV that is lit with an LED (light emitting diode) light source instead of CCFLs (cold cathode fluorescent lamp). Manufacturers such as Samsung began the trend of marketing the LED-lit LCD TV as an “LED TV” likely in an attempt to easily differentiate the product from typical CCFL lit LCD products.While an LED TV is still technically an LCD TV, just get used to seeing this type of designation. We don’t really have a problem with it and it does, among other things, seem to make it easier to say it out loud.

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An LCD TV is comprised of several layers. The front layer is a piece of glass filled with liquid crystals that move and change to produce the images we see on the screen. But images can only be viewed when the screen is illuminated. This requires a light source. The light source is the difference between LED TV and conventional LCD TV.

Here’s a simple explanation of how it works: Conventional LCD TVs use fluorescent tubes (CCFL) to provide light to illuminate the LCD panel and make the images viewable. In an LED TV, the LCD panel is lit from behind with an LED-based backlight. LED lights can be more precisely controlled and can produce richer blacks and a better contrast ratio for a more vivid viewing experience.

Edge Lit vs. Rear Lit

With LED TVs, edge-lit technology is what allows some sets to be less than 1-inch thick. The LEDs are actually arranged around the very edge of the screen, allowing the display to be very thin, since the lighting technology isn’t positioned behind the screen. While this does indeed grant a thinner display, it typically (this is changing now) precludes te manufacturer from setting up a system that optimizes contrast across various areas of the screen.

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Smart Dimming and Zones

Several manufacturers are optimizing their LED backlit displays to produce different amounts of backlighting on different areas of the screen. In this way, you can see content that contains bright areas on the screen along with very black areas. Think of a candle lit in a dark room. With your typical edge lit display you have one level for the overall backlight. With Smart Dimming, you can brightly light the part of the screen with teh candle, and then all but turn off the LEDs behind the black areas of the screen.

Should you expect to pay more for LED TV? What are the benefits of LED vs. LCD?

LED TVs like those form Westinghouse Digital are often edge-lit, which means they are generally more energy efficient, weigh less and cost less than full array LED TVs. Some LED TVs are engineered and produced so efficiently that they may even cost less than conventional CCFL lit LCD TVs. The bottom line is that LEDs are getting cheaper and cheaper and soon we estimate they will actually be easier and cheaper to produe than CCFL backlit displays.

LED TVs in general use less energy (and are therefore more efficient and economical to operate) than conventional LCD TVs. LED TVs are also thinner and weigh less than LCD TVs and generally create a brighter picture. For those who are environmentally concerned, LED TVs also contain no Mercury or Lead.

Presented by Westinghouse Digital and edited by Clint DeBoer

http://www.audioholics.com/education/display-formats-technology/led-vs-lcd-tvs

Custom Installation Services, LLC – First choice for low voltage wiring in Charlotte, NC and surrounding areas

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The Cabling Industry Needs a Makeover

CIS is Charlotte's 1st Choice For Custom Home ElectronicsIt’s time for the cabling industry to reassess how it approaches marketing to consumers.

I find Twitter entertaining and, at times, almost addicting. This morning a tweet from Production Advice’s Ian Shepherd shocked me with concern for an electronics category that I think is beneficial: cabling.

Shepherd retweeted a blog written by L.A. recording engineer Bobby Owsinski, who blogged about a 2008 Engadget story that asked 12 “audiophiles” to compare an audiophile cable brand with another cabling product. It turns out the other cabling product was a set of coat hangers. The crux of the story is that those audiophiles couldn’t tell the difference between coat hangers and expensive cables.

Adding insult to injury, Owsinski points out the obvious difference between the audiophile community and professional sound engineers that use their listening skills for work by noting, “‘audiophiles’ showed just why they get so much abuse from pros over their so-called “golden ears.”

Monster was the cable manufacturer in question in Engadget’s blind testing, and Owsinski says Monster does make good products; the problem, in his opinion, is with how the products are marketed. “Monster Cable takes some reasonably good cable and markets it in such a way that its perceived value is a lot greater than it deserves to be,” he asserts in his blog. “The problem is that for speaker cable, 12 or 10 gauge zip cord [lamp cable] will work just as well as expensive Monster cable.”

Unfortunately for the cabling industry, Owsinski isn’t alone in his opinion, and websites such as Audioholics.com fuel the public’s disdain for cabling by publishing stories that attack the credibility of many of the cable category’s claims for improved performance.

Like Owsinski, Gene DeSalla at Audioholics points out that Monster and other brands aren’t necessarily bad, its just that their products don’t measure up to the claims.

To rectify this problem, I think it’s time for the cabling category to own up to its self-generated hyperbole and tone it down. Let’s start by addressing the claims of exotic materials, proprietary construction techniques and slick geometry designs that contribute to their out-of-this-world performance claims without any third-party verification.

Manufacturers should look to develop products that are affordable to consumers in these difficult economic times. Too often, critics point to the steep price tags attached to some cabling products and note that a consumer could buy a nice car or place a down payment on a house with the amount of money some companies ask for a pair of speaker cables.

The last thing the cabling industry needs to do is educate the public on the benefits of a properly designed cable that employs quality materials. Owsinski says cabling can make a difference in how a system performs, and I believe he is correct. Using dealers, let’s teach consumers on how to buy cable and how to listen.

One other suggestion I would make is that maybe we should think about locking audiophiles in the basements from which they came. For all their passion about music and equipment, they inflict a lot of irreparable damage to an industry that can hardly afford the scrutiny of a public that doesn’t respect their collective opinions. OK, OK, I’m only kidding about that last suggestion, but I would take away their Diana Krall and Patricia Barber CDs and LPs as punishment for their past transgressions.

By Robert Archer

http://www.cepro.com/article/the_cabling_industry_needs_a_makeover/K536

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Philips Pronto is ‘Not Dead at All,’ Distributor Says

Custom Installation Services - Charlotte's Source For Home Electronics!Sources say Pro Philips Pronto will re-emerge within 60 days, with “the same name, new owners,” and controllers announced at CEDIA will ship on time.

The buzz in Europe is that Philips Pronto is well on its way to a new life with “the same name, new owners,” sources tell CE Pro in confidence.

The news comes more than a week after Philips announced it would close its remote-control and home automation division, rather than sell the assets.

Philips had claimed that “no suitable partner was found for the acquisition of these [Pronto] activities,” even though major U.S. vendors told CE Pro that Philips never approached them about a potential acquisition.

It appears, however, that a partner has indeed been found.

CE Pro has obtained a letter, dated 2 November, from a major Philips Pronto distributor in Europe, telling dealers (translated), “As you can see, the future of Pronto is already on its way with new players. For you, for us, no worries, nothing changes.”

The distributor claims that the new Pronto Edit Pro 3 (PEP3) programming platform is still scheduled to ship this month, and that the Philips TSW9500 in-wall touchscreen will be delivered in December, as originally planned.

Furthermore, a new central controller (the Pronto CRX?) is scheduled to ship in the first quarter of 2011, according to the distributor.

Reached today via email, another European source familiar with the Pronto business tells CE Pro, “There is a deal in process” and Philips will make an official announcement within 60 days. “Dealers and end users will not see the transition to new ownership.”

The comments affirm what CE Pro learned last week from a U.S. manufacturer that had inquired about purchasing some Pronto assets from Philips. The manufacturer shared with CE Pro some correspondence that indicated Philips was pursuing other partnership opportunities.

Meanwhile, a CE Pro reader in Europe tells us, “I did contact Pronto. None of the employees have been dismissed as of today.”
So Why the Announcement of Pronto’s Closure?

Why did Philips announce in the first place that it was closing its Belgium-based Pronto business and that it could not find a buyer, even though U.S. manufacturers told us Philips never even approached them?

We have heard that Belgian and/or EU regulations prohibited Philips from selling its assets to a company that would send manufacturing overseas. We know for sure that Philips had attempted to move its manufacturing to Asia, but was unable to do so.

Our distributor source in Europe points to the “Renault law” — named after the sudden announcement of the closure of the Renault plant in Vilvoorde in 1997 — which requires that companies with more than 50 employees make a public announcement prior to business closure or impending layoffs, allowing time for employees to respond.

According to the International Labor Organization:

Further to the Renault case (related to the sudden announcement of the closure of the Renault plant in Vilvoorde in 1997), some changes to the procedure for collective dismissals were introduced by the promotion of Employment Act of 13 February 1998 clarifying the obligation of employers to consult with workers’ representatives and creating an obligation on employers to analyse and formally respond to any proposals from workers’ representatives. In addition, sanctions for non-compliance are strengthened to include the reimbursement of any subsidies paid by the federal Government to the employer to create jobs.

So Philips dealers and distributors are optimistic that the Pronto will rise again.

Meanwhile, competitors are banking on the uncertainty. For its part, URC is offering training for Philips Pronto dealers, helping them to convert them to URC’s CCP programming platform. Training begins this week.

UPDATE

Philips posted this notice to Pronto dealers today, indicating that PEP3 programming software will be released this month, and the new TSW9500 in-wall touchscreen will be distributed on a “best-effort basis.” In the U.S., call center support services will be offered at least through 2011.
Dear Pronto Dealer,

This letter is intended to clarify the consequences of Philips’ decision to close our Pronto business unit in relation to support, warranty, product and software availability.

Although Philips will stop selling Pronto products, we will continue to offer product service and support for the Pronto products. The intent of Philips is to make sure all warranty and service obligations will be honored by Philips.

For the United States, Philips will continue to offer call center support services (888-773-7384) until at least the duration of 2011, and the Pronto repair center will remain operational throughout that time.
Outside the USA, all warranty obligations will continue to be honored by the present Pronto distributors. Philips will ensure that a sufficient stock of spare parts will remain available to service product repairs.

Regarding products and software, all current Pronto products are still available for purchase by Pronto distributors throughout the month of November. Dealers are advised to order any additional products from their distributor immediately to secure their required product quantities.

The recently announced ProntoEdit Professional3 (PEP3) will be released as scheduled this month. The TSW9500 product will be distributed on a best-effort basis, depending on the received orders and availability of components and resources to manufacture the unit. It is also Philips’ intent to put forth a best effort to make firmware for all TSU and RFX devices available to be fully compatible with PEP3.

We hope to have informed you sufficiently and would like to thank you for the loyalty you have shown to the Philips Pronto products.

Sincerely,

The ProntoTeam

By Julie Jacobson

http://www.cepro.com/article/philips_pronto_is_not_dead_at_all_distributor_says/?utm_source=CEPWeekly&utm_medium=email

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Custom Installation Services, LLC | P.O. Box 132 Matthews, NC 28106 | 704-400-8701 | dmiller@cis-nc.com
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