by: Brent Butterworth

Not just one but three companies have recently announced surround-sound technologies that go beyond 7.1 channels. Now home theater enthusiasts who thought they were finished adding extra speakers to their systems are asking: Is adding a bunch of new speakers to my system really going to make a difference?

It’s too early to answer that question for sure, because only one of the new technologies has actually hit the market. But I can share a few first impressions.

First Up: Dolby Pro Logic IIz

The first of the systems to be announced—and to be available in actual products—is Dolby Pro Logic IIz. PLIIz adds two front height speakers to a 5.1- or 7.1-channel system. The height speakers mount 3 feet or more above the front left and right speakers.

In most home theater systems, adding Pro Logic IIz should be fairly easy. However, the benefits aren’t dramatic. When I tried the first PLIIz-equipped receiver, I didn’t get the sensation of height that I expected, but it did make my speaker system sound somewhat bigger and more robust. The effect was noticeable only when I played action movies, though.

Coming Soon: Audyssey DSX

The second system to arrive will be Audyssey DSX, which is scheduled to arrive in new receivers this summer. In addition to the front height speakers that PLIIz uses, DSX also adds two width speakers, positioned outside the existing left and right speakers. The system uses two, three, or four surround speakers—so you could have a system with as many as 11 channels, plus a subwoofer or two.

I got an early demo of DSX at the University of Southern California’s Immersive Listening Lab, and I liked what I heard—but just as with PLIIz, the effect was fairly subtle.

The Big Maybe: DTS Neo:X

DTS demonstrated its own >7.1 technology at last January’s Consumer Electronics Show. However, the company has provided no specifics since then about the technology. (My guess is they put together a demo just to steal some of the thunder from Dolby’s announcement of Pro Logic IIz.) The tentative name for the technology is Neo:X, and what little information DTS has provided suggests it’s a 10-channel system with two front height speakers and one rear height speaker.

It’s still way too early to tell if >7.1 systems will take off. One thing’s for sure, though: These technologies will be more successful in custom home theaters than they are in the mass market. In custom home theaters that have their speakers mounted behind fabric walls, adding the extra speakers should be fairly easy. So if you’re planning to upgrade soon, think seriously about adding one of these new technologies to your system.

by: John Sciacca

Back when the concept of home theater was really catching on, one of the selling catchphrases used to help justify the expense was that “a home theater is the swimming pool of the 90s.” I believe I even used it in a column at some point. The idea was, instead of dropping $15-20 grand on a pool, invest that in a home theater. Great, huh?

But now that I think about it, this is a poor analogy. First, pools are frickin’ expensive. And I’m not talking crazy, Hugh-Hefner-and-the-swim-in-grotto pools. An in-ground pool can easily run well over $50,000. Granted, you can drop that kind of coin on a theater as well, but you can get something really impressive for a good bit less. Second… Well, lots of reasons. As someone who owns both a swimming pool and a home theater, I’d like to tell you why owning a home theater is oh so much better than a pool.

Pools require constant care

Skimming, vacuuming, brushing, backwashing, chemicals, etc. It’s always something. The only care my theater requires is remembering to put the remote on the charging cradle.

Everyone enjoys watching movies

There are a lot of people who don’t want to go swimming. Whether it’s body issues or not wanting to mess their hair or whatever, some people just won’t go swimming. Everyone will sit and watch a movie.

It’s never too cold for your home theater

Unless you have a heater – ka-ching! – there will be many months of the year when you can’t use a swimming pool. Conversely, the weather is always perfect in my theater.

No one will ever drown in my theater

Being able to leave my 2 year old unattended in the theater is a pretty major difference.

You don’t feel like your home theater is out to get you

My pool is vindictive. I don’t know why, but it is. When it senses I’m about to leave town, it likes to break. Preferably over the weekend when it’s impossible to get a replacement part. This also leads to…

You’ll never come home and find your home theater has turned green or black

The first thing I do when returning home from vacation is check my pool. I’ve found dead animals in the filter, a broken glass table resting on the bottom and once the dreaded black water when my pump stopped running for two weeks. My theater? Fires up perfectly every time no matter how long I’m away.

No one tracks water into my house when watching a movie

Granted you might face the spilt beverage or overturned popcorn bowl, but these are relatively minor compared to wet people going in and out of the house to use the bathroom or grab a snack.

I don’t worry about anyone peeing in my theater

OK, my 2 year old has peed on the floor of my theater, but still.

by: John Sciacca

Backing up your data is something that everyone plans on doing, but tends to get backburnered for one reason or other. Truthfully, I was no different. Even with minor scares like my power supply crapping out and the hard drive making random clicking sounds — you know, the computer basically shooting up red flares telling me that trouble was a brewin’ – I still managed to put it off.

My procrastinating came to a head one day when my computer totally locked-up. After installing some updates and running a virus scan, not even the failsafe control-alt-delete worked. After a hard power down, the computer booted up into DOS and the monitor immediately began filling with screen after screen of code. This went on for several minutes until finally the desktop came on…totally blank!

I was instantly overcome with that watery, narrowly-avoided-a-horrible-car-wreck feeling. Had I stumbled across a virus that wiped my drive clean just for giggles? Was this the Conflicker worm rearing its ugly head? But most importantly, had I just lost my precious, irretrievable data? Every digital photo and video we’ve taken of our 2 ½ year old. My 8,000 song music collection. Eight years of Sound & Vision articles. Fifteen years of financial records. And every other scrap of data that makes up the unique 0s and 1s of what I hold dear.

Fortunately, the desktop returned to normal and my data was intact, but in those few moments, I became a true believer and I immediately ordered a hard drive, the Western Digital My Book Mirror. Out of the box, this wonder is pre-configured for RAID 1, meaning that it uses the 2 Terabytes as two mirrored 1 Terabyte drives. With some free software found on the Net, the computer now automatically performs back-ups weekly. Beyond the fear of losing data from a drive crash, I now have a small data “vault” that is easily evacuated in the case of emergency. (I live in hurricane prone Myrtle Beach.)

Spend a few seconds and consider what you’d lose if your computer suddenly had a grand mal. Sobering, no? Whether you buy a large external drive, use Network Attached Storage (NAS) or a bunch of USB drives, pay for remote storage or just routinely burn everything onto a DVD (or Blu-ray), make sure you’ve got a back-up plan in place and stick to it!