New Developments in Outdoor Audio
Dolby Podcast Episode 18, July 5, 2007
Jack and Craig talk about different ways to set up a home theater system outdoors, including recommendations for AV receivers, speakers and projection screens, and discuss surround sound camcorders. Listener, Andy from Medford, finds out how to get the best video quality from his standard-definition TV using high-definition signals.
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Mentioned in this Episode
Jack Buser: Hello and welcome to Dolbycast - the insider's guide to entertainment technology from the experts at Dolby Laboratories. I'm Jack Buser.
Craig Eggers: And I'm Craig Eggers.
Jack: And we're here to give you the straight talk on everything you need to please your ears.
Craig: [singing] Summertime and the livin' is easy.
Jack: What is that, what is that song, I should know that.
Craig: Aw come on.
Jack: Come on, what is that song, I'm thinking Summertime, Fresh Prince.
Craig: No, no, no, this is a classic man, this goes way back before you were born.
Jack: Oh, who is this?
Craig: I'm not going to tell you.
Jack: I bet I know, I bet I know.
Craig: Alright, who is it?
Jack: Janis Joplin.
Craig: She did it.
Jack: Bam! Bam! Well, it is summertime...
Craig: Tell 'em who we are.
Jack: We are Dolbycast. I'm Jack Buser.
Craig: And I'm Craig Eggers.
Jack: And we're here to talk to you about entertainment in the summertime, because it is gorgeous now.
Craig: People are doing vacations; people are having parties in their backyard.
Jack: That's right. And if you're going to have a party in your backyard or go on vacation, you might as well have some home theater goodness to go along with it.
Craig: There you go.
Jack: [laughs]
Craig: Before we get there, we've got a reader's, listener's question here.
Jack: Yes we do. This question comes from Andy from Medford .
Craig: Can you believe I said reader's question?
Jack: A reader's question. I hope their not reading this podcast.
Both: [laughter]
Jack: Andy from Medford wants to know, "I am not buying a high definition display for the near future since my Sony does just fine, but my problem is the source material. Is there a device that can upgrade cable signals and possibly even downgrade over the air HD signals?" Great question.
Craig: Good question, good question, Andy, thanks for writing. And the first thing I'd say is the best video signal you're going to bring in to your television set, short of and HD signal is a digital signal.
Jack: That's true.
Craig: So if you've got digital cable, I'd tell Andy to subscribe to digital cable.
Jack: Yeah, you've got to get digital cable if you have nothing else.
Craig: DBS, DishNetwork, DirectTV...
Jack: Yup.
Craig: A lot of manufactures also made set top boxes and make set top boxes that take over the air HD signals, they offer a component video output for connection to...
Jack: Or even S-Video.
Craig: Or S-Video, yeah. For traditional NTSC video, which is our traditional analog video that we're used to, you'd want to use the S-Video out on the back of that device and you get a very, very respectable video picture.
Jack: Absolutely, if you're doing over the air and picking up on high-def signal, the first thing, the first thing...when that thing gets downgraded to NTSC to run to your old scr...
Craig: Down-converted.
Jack: Down-converted. It will down convert inside the set top box to your NTSC standard television set that you have today, the Sony you're using right now. It's actually going to look really good because there's so much data in that signal.
Craig: Well, you're taking advantage of all of the 480 lines of broadcast.
Jack: That's right. It's actually going to look as good as NTSC can look.
Craig: Exactly.
Jack: Often times you get a standard definition signal and they're not using the full capabilities of the system.
Craig: A lot of people refer to it as a quality similar to the very best DVDs.
Jack: I've got a Sony Trinitron, actually, in a side room and I'm running a down-converted high-definition signal through that set and it makes the thing shine.
Craig: There you go.
Jack: I've often thought that buying a high-def TV for the side room, but you know we just watch it here and there and, eh, it looks fine actually.
Craig: Not ready to throw the TV out either.
Jack: Not ready to throw the TV out. But I will tell you, Andy, this is Dolbycast so we've got to recommend, if you're even thinking about going high definition TV, it's hard to go back.
Craig: Or, if he has the digital set top box, the good news is...
Jack: Well, it will work when you do decide to upgrade.
Craig: But the good news is...
Jack: Go on.
Craig: It's got a digital output.
Jack: Oh, that's right, you'll be able to get a full 5.1 sound...
Craig: Yay!
Jack:...lest I forget.
Craig: That's what we're here for!
Jack: That is true, there's a lot of standard definition broadcasts out there that give you the 5.1 sound.
Craig: Exactly.
Jack: And if you're getting over the air high-def, even if you're using a standard def TV, probably got 5.1 system/ If you don't, you definitely need to get one.
Craig: Yeah, I mean if you're getting over the air digital...
Jack: Yup.
Craig:...it could be a DBS satellite...
Jack: Yup.
Craig:...it could be your digital cable, or even that set top box, the over the air set top box we were talking about, those have got digital audio outputs.
Jack: That's right.
Craig: Hook it up to your home theater system.
Jack: Hook it up. Well listen, when we're...when we get back, we're going to be talking about summertime entertainment; we're going to be talking about what you need to do if you're going on vacation or if you're staying at home, what you should do.
Craig: Can I sing again?
Jack: You can sing.
Craig: OK.
[radio break]
Craig: [singing] Fish are jumpin'. [speaking normally] Figured it out yet?
Jack: No, well I was just about to tell you that is just came to my mind, that it wasn't Janis Joplin, in fact...
Craig: It just came to your mind?
Jack:...it was Gershwin. In the 1920s, show's you how much I know. It wasn't even Fresh Prince.
Craig: Wait, wait, what was Gershwin's first name?
Jack: George.
Craig: Ohhh.
Jack: Yes! Yes!
Craig: Oh, man.
Jack: Well listen, today, we're talking about summertime entertainment.
Craig: Summertime entertainment.
Jack: So what have you got for us there, Craig? What happens if I'm going on vacation?
Craig: If you're going on vacation, you want to bring those vacation memories back with you, don't you Jack?
Jack: Yes, I do.
Craig: So what are you going to do?
Jack: Well I'm definitely going to bring a still camera because nothing will ever replace my stills.
Craig: There you go.
Jack: But these days, I'm definitely also going to be bringing a video camera.
Craig: And you're going to bring the video camera and there are lots of choices out there.
Jack: There are. So if those of us who are taking a vacation, hopefully I can get mine planned before things get too hectic here around the office. What are your recommendations for camcorders, what should I look for?
Craig: Well, first of all, if you're going to capture your vacation memories you want very good picture quality, right?
Jack: That's true.
Craig: So there are a number of camcorder products from Sony as well as Panasonic that do exactly that, capture incredible video as well as 5.1 surround sound.
Jack: Now, are these, high-definition cameras though?
Craig: They can be. There are some. For the person who doesn't want to invest yet into high-definition experience, both companies, Sony and Panasonic make camcorders which you take a recordable 3-inch DVD.
Jack: Standard def DVD.
Craig: Standard def DVD, pop it in the camcorder, record your memories, and the cool thing about that, you take the disc right out of the camcorder...
Jack: Just pop it out.
Craig:...and send it to Grandmother...
Jack: That's right.
Craig:...or put it, play it in your system.
Jack: Or you could dupe [duplicate –Ed.] it...
Craig: That's right.
Jack:...you know pretty easily.
Craig: Exactly.
Jack: OK, so for me, right now I have a high-def camcorder. This is the question I wanted to ask, now we've touched on this in previous podcasts, this is the part I'm confused; is there anything that does high-def, and 5.1 because right now I've got high-def and stereo but I want to get a camcorder that's high-def and 5.1. Do any of those exist?
Craig: The answer is yes, in both instances Sony and Panasonic they both make a recordable device that enables you to take a 3-inch DVD, pop it into the camcorder, it is a high-definition camcorder with Dolby Digital 5.1 and if you own one of the new formats, specifically the Blu-ray format. You take that disc out of the camcorder, pop it into your Blu-ray player.
Jack: No. Really?
Craig: 5.1 surround sound and high-definition video.
Jack: You're kidding.
Craig: Now if you're more PC-oriented...
Jack: I was going to say, so my dream camcorder, I'll just give it to you, if I'm going on vacation to Italy, if I can book this vacation, hopefully, we'll see, if not I'm going next year; but if I can get the camcorder of my dreams, it would be, high-definition...
Craig: High-definition.
Jack:...using the new AVC stuff, I love the AVC video, that stuff looks good.
Craig: Yes, OK.
Jack: High-definition, 5.1 surround sound...
Craig: You gotcha.
Jack:...and a hard drive.
Craig: Hard drive.
Jack: That's what I want.
Craig: Well both companies...
Jack: Do they have that?
Craig: Sony has a hard drive camcorder...
Jack: Ooh.
Craig: Panasonic actually has a camcorder that records onto the miniature SD cards.
Jack: Ahhh. So solid-state flash.
Craig: Yes, solid-state flash.
Jack: I love tape, because with tape, you can actually archive it. But the pain with tape is you hit record and you sit there and wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. And now, we're recording, and you've missed everything. You've missed the moment. So I want one of these with the hard drive, where you just, “bop”, push the button and you're recording.
Craig: Dump it onto your computer and do all of your editing there.
Jack: Dump it on your computer. Hard drive space is getting so cheap these days, you might as well go that way.
Craig: Yeah, definitely. So if you're going out on vacation, remember to take that camcorder, that hi-def camcorder, with the high-definition surround sound.
Jack: Yeah. And the hard drive. [laughs]
Craig: [laughs]
Jack: Well, listen. When we come back, we're going to be talking about those of you who might end up like I might end up, staying at home, and what you can do to get home theater up and running in your house, outdoors.
Craig: Outdoor home theater.
Jack: We'll be right back.
[start radio break]
Braden Russell: Hi, I'm Braden Russell.
Ara Derderian: And I'm Ara Derderian. And together, we're the HT Guys.
Braden: You're listening to the Dolbycast, and if you've got a question about audio, where do you send it?
Ara: To dolbycast@dolby.com.
Announcer: That's dolbycast@dolby.com.
[end radio break]
Jack: And we're back here at Dolbycast. We're going to be talking about outdoor home theater. For those of you have a nice big backyard and have thought about, "Hey, jeez, it's summertime. I'm not taking a vacation this summer." Or maybe, "My vacation's a couple weeks off and I want to have some fun out in the backyard." Now, I've got to tell you, Craig. You own a house here in the Bay Area.
Craig: Yes.
Jack: And I live in an apartment in downtown San Francisco .
[laughter]
Jack: So I'm not going to be setting up a home theater in my backyard any time soon.
Craig: How long have I been telling you you need to buy a house?
Jack: I know. One of these days. One of these days. One of these days.
Craig: One of these days.
Jack: But I tell you, one of the most exciting things about home ownership is the fact that you actually get a yard. And I've got to tell you, if I had a yard, first thing I'd do: set up a home theater.
Craig: Set up a home theater in the yard.
Jack: [laughs]
Craig: Well, I'm going to betray my age for a moment.
Jack: OK.
Craig: I remember those summertime days going to the drive-in in the station wagon, and watching the westerns.
Jack: What's a drive-in?
Craig: What's a drive-in?
Jack: I'm just teasing.
Craig: I told you I was going to...
Jack: We had drive-ins when I was growing up.
Craig: You didn't have drive-ins.
Jack: We did. Well, yeah, we had drive-ins. Go ahead.
Craig: But those are some of the memories you really, really remember. And I remember, when I was working with Sony in the '80s, the water parks across the country used to have movie nights.
Jack: Yeah.
Craig: Where you would literally sit out in a raft in the middle of the swimming pool and watch the movie.
Jack: They do that, actually, here in the park. In Dolores Park in San Francisco, they have movie nights as well, where they'll set up a big screen and show a movie. I haven't gone to one, but I hear it's a lot of fun.
Craig: So the idea of watching movies at night in the summertime outdoors is not too alien, is it?
Jack: Oh, it's just too cool. Yeah, we were actually talking about this topic and we started looking into it, and there is so much cool gear out there.
Craig: There's a lot of cool stuff.
Jack: If somebody's got a yard and the will to do it, it would be a lot of fun to set up an outdoor home theater.
Craig: So before we get to the home theater, let's just talk about stereo. How do we bring a stereo signal into the backyard?
Jack: OK. Well, that's relatively straightforward. I remember, talking about growing up, when I was growing up, my cousins actually lived out in New York and they had speakers set up outdoors. And when I was a kid, I thought that was the coolest thing in the world.
Craig: Did they have the environmental speakers, they looked like rocks and granite and things like that?
Jack: No, no. They had just indoor-outdoor speakers.
Craig: OK.
Jack: They mounted it sort of underneath an overhang that came up off the roof. And they had them wired into the stereo. I was too young to figure it out then.
Craig: Typically, companies like KEF, Bose, Boston Acoustics, Niles, they've been introducing, for years...
Jack: For years, yeah.
Craig:...these types of outdoor speakers.
Jack: And it doesn't matter if they get rained on. It doesn't matter...
Craig: Exactly. Exactly.
Jack: They can withstand an outdoor storm, I suppose.
[laughter]
Craig: Now, the cool thing, if you have an AV receiver that's got 2 zones...
Jack: This is important.
Craig: One of the cool things you can do with that AV receiver is you can drive the second zone, which becomes your outdoors.
Jack: Yeah.
Craig: With your home AV receiver.
Jack: So those listeners that are new to the concept of zones, you'll find that sort of mid-end to high-end AV receivers, and even some home-theater-in-a-box systems, will have these things called zones.
Craig: Zone 1 and zone 2.
Jack: Zone 1, zone 2, and actually the new one I got has got zone 3.
Craig: Is that right?
Jack: Zone 1, zone 2, zone 3.
Craig: And they're usually 7.1, generally, systems.
Jack: Zone on1e, of course, is 7.1. Zone 2, I forget. It's either 5.1 or 7.1. Zone 3, I think, might be stereo.
Craig: Yeah.
Jack: But the point is, if you have multiple zones, you can have zone 1 be your main room, and then zone 2 or zone 3 be another room in the house, or be outdoors.
Craig: Right, precisely.
Jack: So yeah, it's pretty easy to set up.
Craig: So you drive your outdoor speaker system from your main AV receiver.
Jack: Yeah.
Craig: If it has zone 1, zone 2 capability.
Jack: Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but most of these AV receivers, you're forced to listen to the same thing in all zones at the same time. Is that right?
Craig: Well, when you're listening in zone 2, it's a stereo signal.
Jack: But you've got to listen to the same thing inside as you do in the other zone. Now, some of them have the ability to route multiple signals to different zones, so if you're watching a movie inside and then the kids want to watch another movie out by the swimming pool, you could set that up. Is that true?
You probably have to check your AV receiver.
Craig: Yeah, check your AV receiver.
Jack: I think some of them might be able to re-route.
Craig: Some of them are capable of doing that. Most of them just reproduce what you're playing through the system.
Jack: If any listeners out there have a particular recommendation on multiple zones, where they know they can route different things to different zones, I'd be interested to hear what models are able to do that.
Craig: That'd be a good future subject.
Jack: Absolutely. So you're not only going to have to look for audio, though, if you want to do this with an outdoor home theater, but you've also got to think about routing your video as well. Is that correct?
Craig: Well, in this particular instance, I was thinking just stereo.
Jack: OK.
Craig: I think in our next segment, we really want to talk about introducing the multi-channel.
Jack: OK, OK. You want to do a 5.1 system outside. [laughs]
Craig: Yeah, let's do 5.1 outside!
Jack: I think that would be too cool. Now, in terms of stereo, we talked about mounting speakers sort of underneath an overhang on your roof, but you also mentioned rock speakers and things like this.
Craig: Oh yeah. There's speakers from people like Niles, from Boston Acoustics. One of the coolest and best performing speaker systems out there is from Terra Speaker Systems.
Jack: Terra as in Latin for "earth."
Craig: It's called terraspeakers.com, yeah. And they have got an outdoor speaker system. The fidelity is absolutely incredible.
Jack: Is that right?
Craig: It's hi-fi.
Jack: [laughs]
Craig: It's hi-fi outside.
Jack: Well, the cool thing about outside, people don't realize this, is that, arguably, arguably—we could have a debate about this—but arguably, outside in the right environment, you actually have great acoustics, because there's no reverberation.
Craig: No reverb.
Jack: That is, if you're kind of living out in a field somewhere. Now, if you're living where I live... [laughs] A bunch of high-rises all around you is probably the worst possible listening conditions.
Craig: Living out in the field... Have you ever lived out in a field?
Jack: I have.
Craig: You have?
Jack: Remember, I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky . I am a Kentucky Colonel.
Craig: [laughs]
Jack: I know all about big fields outside.
Craig: Oh, man! Don't remind me.
Jack: [laughs]
Craig: So let's come back and talk about multi-channel audio.
Jack: Yeah, that should be fun.
Craig: Multi-channel home theater.
Jack: And I want to talk about big inflatable screens, too, when we get right back.
Craig: There you go.
[start radio break]
Announcer: Got questions for Jack or Craig? Email dolbycast@dolby.com.
[end radio break]
Craig: And we're back at Dolbycast, and I am Craig Eggers. You are Jack Buser.
Jack: And we are talking about outdoor home theater.
Craig: Outdoor home theater. So in our last segment, we talked about introducing stereo audio to the outdoors.
Jack: That's right.
Craig: But we both agreed that probably it would be cool if we had video and 5.1 surround sound.
Jack: Well, I jumped right to that, because I'm not going to just set up sound, I've got to have the whole deal.
Craig: Well I got to tell you something, we're also going to talk about subwoofers outside.
Jack: [laughter]
Craig: I know that's your favorite topic.
Jack: You found the cool stuff. Now, tell me about this subwoofer outdoors.
Craig: We'll get there; let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.
Jack: Well, one of the things I wanted to talk about in terms of what a lot of folks are doing these days in order to show movies outdoors, it's very popular, is they are actually just getting an inexpensive projector.
Craig: Very.
Jack: Just by a very inexpensive projector, and just shoot it against the side of the house.
Craig: Or if you're really sophisticated get a couple of white sheets and hang them up against the side of the house.
Jack: That's right, that's what they used to do in the early days of movies, right?
Craig: Yeah, exactly.
Jack: Hang up a white sheet. But I mean, this is actually a real phenomenon that's going on out there.
Craig: It is.
Jack: Where people are shooting pictures up against the side of their house, or hanging up a little white sheet.
Craig: I have to tell you this story, in San Jose for Christmas last year, there was a guy that actually took his rear projection television set, pushed it up against the window.
Jack: [laughter]
Craig: Was showing Polar Expresson his rear projection through the window, and had an audio system outside.
Jack: Oh, that's very cool, that's one way to do it I suppose.
Craig: That's one way to do it. OK, so we've got the projector, we've got something to show it on.
Jack: Yeah, yeah.
Craig: Now, the white sheet on the side of the barn does not constitute an endorsement, does it?
Jack: No, no.
Craig: I want to make that perfectly clear; this is not our endorsement for high quality video, right?
Jack: There is one thing though that we have been looking at that is just a total riot, you've got to get one of these, it's that inflatable screen, tell me about the inflatable screen.
Craig: Well, there's companies out there, if you look in your Brookstone catalog.
Jack: Hammacher Schlemmer is where I saw it on the in-flight catalog, I love this thing.
Craig: And there is also a company called Sima, and they have a model called the XL8. And what it is, is an 8-foot, inflatable cinema screen.
Jack: If I had a house, in the yard, the first thing I would do, inflatable screen.
Craig: Inflatable screen.
Jack: [laughter] Totally.
Craig: They make a package that comes with the screen, and some active speakers, but...
Jack: You have got to go for 5.1 though, this is Dolbycast. So, inflatable screen, now, if any of the listeners out there actually go through with this, we want photos. Sent them in.
Craig: We want to hear about it.
Jack: Now, here we go, inflatable screen.
Craig: Projector.
Jack: Projector.
Craig: We need one more thing.
Jack: 5.1 rock speakers.
Craig: Wow, I'm thinking...
Jack: I want the 5.1 rock speakers.
Craig: We're getting there, we're getting there.
Jack: OK, OK.
Craig: I'm thinking that, you know, there are a lot of good home-theater-in-a-box systems out there, they are pretty affordable.
Jack: That's true, that's true.
Craig: So I think a step up from the against the barn video imaging... You know, get the blow-up screen, get the projector, and think about a home-theater-in-a-box system to drive your system.
Jack: But now, a home-theater-in-a-box, you're going to have to set up a tear down all the time.
Craig: Exactly.
Jack: You want something permanent, right? So, this is listeners, 5.1 rock speakers, you heard it here first. I think that would just be too cool, think about it, a permanent... So you have friends over, you get the barbeque going, you press the button on the little generator outside and it inflates the screen, you've got the 5.1 rock speakers already set up, maybe you've a receiver with zone 2, going 5.1, you're cooking!
Craig: It's interesting you mentioned the barbeque, because I actually saw one set up, an outdoor set up, that had the barbeque, had the pizza oven, and then to the right of that built into the whole structure was a video projector and an AV receiver.
Jack: That's so cool.
Craig: Folks, if you do an outdoor home theater remember one thing; keep it away from the water.
Jack: This is very true.
Craig: You want to stay away from rain; you don't want to be standing in your swimming trunks dripping water touching these devices.
Jack: This is very true. Now, before we end this segment, there is one other component that you just covered, that I think is just like the world's coolest thing, the subwoofer. Tell us about the subwoofer.
Craig: The subwoofer, well there's so many cool components that we haven't even talked about yet.
Jack: OK, OK.
Craig: OK, so you've got Boston out there, you've got Niles, these are traditional speaker manufacturers. Go to their websites, check it out. They make speakers that look like rocks, high performance speakers.
And Boston makes a subwoofer, I haven't done all the research on it, but I've got to believe it's a passive subwoofer, which means that you need an amplifier to drive it. Because one of the things they talk about is that when you water the speaker, in the ground around the speaker, you actually make the base more efficient.
Jack: What? So is it in ground, do you dig a hole and stick it in the hole?
Craig: No, you put it on the ground and then you water the ground around it, the ground theoretically gets hard and molds to the cavity, and it creates this incredible base dynamic.
Jack: Oh man, you know I would have to have that.
Craig: You've got to check that out.
Jack: You've got to water your speaker; I can just see it right now.
Craig: Water your speaker, I've got to get more boom tonight, you know?
Jack: [laughter]
Craig: So, there are some really cool environmental-type speakers, they don't have to be granite rocks.
Jack: That's right; I've seen furniture and stuff like that.
Craig: In furniture, I've seen lights, like tower lights.
Jack: Yes, yes.
Craig: It might have a speaker in the bottom and have a light on top, the type that you put on a patio or a walkway. So that's really cool.
So we talked about the blow up screen, which you're excited about that.
Jack: I have to get that.
Craig: But there's a really cool screen from a company called Draper and they actually make this screen, it's a real projection screen, and they make the screen so that it can be mounted inside the house. So if you've got like large picture windows or sliding doors, you can mount it on top, the screen is motorized, it comes down, and then you do a rear projection with your projector.
Jack: This is great.
Craig: So you're sitting in the swimming pool looking through your picture window...
Jack: I've got to buy a house so I can do this.
Craig: And grooving out on home theater.
Jack: That's just too cool.
Craig: 5.1.
Jack: Listen, any listeners out there that either have an existing outdoor home theater, we'd love to see pictures of it, or if you're going to build one and you do my idea of the 5.1 rock speakers, I got to see a picture of this.
Craig: Two caveats though, I've got to say, if you've got an outdoor home theater you've got to do two things.
Jack: Yeah.
Craig: Number 1, remember to don't let it get wet, and don't touch it when you're wet.
Jack: That is true, this is very true.
Craig: And number 2, probably the most important thing, invite your neighbors over.
Jack: Yeah, get the grill going.
Craig: Because if you don't invite the neighbors over the local constabulary is going to come and shut you down at ten o'clock.
Jack: Listen, our email for any questions that you might have, as always, is dolbycast@dolby.com. Remember, if you've got an outdoor theater and you've got pictures; we'd love to see it.
Craig: Love to see it, love to talk about it.
Jack: Yeah, absolutely. And listen, hopefully we have inspired those of you who have not yet set up an outdoor home theater.
Craig: One is not enough; you have to have one outdoors, too.
Jack: That is very true. Well listen, until next time, I'm Jack Buser.
Craig: And I'm Craig Eggers.
Jack: All right, thanks for listening.
[music]
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