MojoLists

Collecting movies on DVD and Blu-Ray can easily become an obsession. Hang out on any home theater forum and you may be amazed, even shocked, at the movie collections out there. Three thousand DVDs is a lot, and there are more than a couple collectors out there who put the local Blockbuster to shame.

Collecting is easy, but doing it on a budget, dealing with storage, and keeping the disks organized takes work and planning. Taking the time to come up with a careful plan for collecting makes the task enjoyable and pays off for the whole family.

I plan to cover the variables of collecting in several articles, including finding the best bargains, choosing the method of storage, and keeping track of your collection. Collecting DVDs and Blu-Rays seems like a no-brainer until your collection begins to exceed 50 discs or so--at which point organization becomes a must. If you have relatives or friends you loan movies to, things can get even more out of control.

This article covers how to buy discs without busting your budget. The first thing to do is create a wish list with a simple prioritization system.  Creating a list keeps impulse buying to a minimum so your collecting budget doesn’t keep getting dinged with minor wants or dogs. My system is simple and straightforward and can be used in something as easy as an excel spreadsheet, a piece of paper, or an organization system like DVD Profiler, which I will cover in a future article on organization.

Buy it When Released: This category is for the must-have movies, like The Dark Knight. Preordering online can save you money sometimes, but I prefer to hit the local brick-and-mortar for these buys. Home Theater Forum has two hard-working members who put together a list of all the large stores, both online and off, so you don’t have to spend your time searching. Most times the store prices are within a dollar of each other…so you simply visit the one closest to you.

Classics: The first thing about classics is that they are often available in different versions that can have widely varied quality issues.  With some classics, there is only one version available and it simply isn’t worth owning unless you are a die-hard fan. This is another place where an enthusiast’s forum can be handy. You will find other fans out there who know the right version to buy and why. In the case of a single bad version being available, I suggest waiting until a better release comes out.

Really Want: These are movies that have already been released and you know you will buy it. Depending on how recently the movie was released, the price may already be right. For movies released in the last 6 to 12 months--it is worth waiting until you find it on sale or the MSRP comes down. DVD Price Search is an easy online tool that searches all of the major and a number of minor stores. DVD Price Search also lets you enter all or part of your want list and shows you the best store, including shipping costs to make your purchase.

Kind-a-Want: These discs are nice if you find a great deal, but you could live without it. This category includes discs that are most likely to eat away at your budget…so carefully consider what movies you might be giving up from higher on your list when you purchase these. Kind-a-Want discs are about the only time I will consider a used disc and I have had great luck at Half.com. They have a great selection of used and new discs.

Another good way to maintain your collection, getting rid of bad choices and making friends all at the same time is to, once again, give your favorite forum a try. Other enthusiasts take great care of their discs and are looking to trade or sell their copies.

Now that you have a game plan for buying, we can talk about storage next time. See you then!

DVD and Blu-Ray Storage    Organize a DVD and Blu-Ray Collection

Audio calibration turns ugly ducklings into audio swans, it can make an inexpensive system sound very good, and a good system sound great. If you haven’t carefully calibrated your system, you are not getting the best sound and you are missing out on details and nuance you never knew existed.

Audio calibration allows you to adjust for the differences in your room size, layout, furniture, floor, and even the decorations that hang on your walls. Every room is different and the factory levels are dead flat. Many new receivers have auto calibration features that detect and adjust delays and levels for you. In my experience, many of these do a good job but need a little tweaking after giving the starting point.

The starting point of audio calibration is measuring the distances and setting the speakers as close to the recommended distances as possible from the seating area. The front three speakers are of the most concern as they do the majority of the work. The center channel in particular is important in that it provides a solid foundation for dialog, the important part of most movies. Distances are important and it is often necessary to play around with exact positioning and angle to achieve the best sound.

Finding the best position requires a calibration disc and sound level meter. I have found all of the calibration discs available today do a great job of walking you though the setup of both audio and video calibration. I recommend using an inexpensive analog sound level meter, the digital models have received some criticism over the years so I have never tried one.

Now that the front speakers are in place, at least for the moment, let’s focus on the surround and rears if you have them. Most homes allow for easy placement of the front speakers but the rears are likely to be more difficult. I prefer the rear channels to be set up high on the side and back walls. Homes however have a way of making placement difficult, especially in living rooms where side and rear walls many not exist. Do the best you can and don’t mount anything to a wall yet, you will almost certainly have to move it.

This is where having a friend around can be handy. Have them hold the rear speakers up in the position you feel will work best, one at a time of course and make sure they are not standing with their body between you and the speakers. Start the calibration disc and set your analog sound level meter to “C weight,” “slow,” and “70.”

Let the calibration disc run through all of the speakers to find the loudest one and adjust the volume until the sound meter needle is dead center. This is your reference for the rest of the calibration as well as the reference volume point you will use for movies if you want to exactly replicate the volume level of a movie theater.

Run the calibration and adjust all of the speakers with the receiver controls until they are all showing dead center on the sound meter. It is now time to mount the rear speakers and put in a DVD you are familiar with. Action movies are best for this, as you want action in the rear speakers. Adjust speaker angles and placement to make sure you are getting the best imaging and recheck all of the sound levels again.

Finally, it is time to adjust the subwoofer. This is done exactly the way the rest of the speakers were calibrated except the sound level meter should be set to “80.” Placing the subwoofer a few feet out from a corner is usually best, but not always possible. One old trick is to place the subwoofer in one of the chairs and walk around the room to identify the position that has the best volume. If you are limited to one place for the subwoofer, adjust it the best you are able.

You have now calibrated the audio levels for your receiver. If you are not using the 5.1/7.1 analog inputs you are finished and can enjoy the newfound life in your movies. If you are using the 5.1/7.1 analog inputs, we get to do it all again. These analog inputs bypass any settings on the receiver so the process must be repeated by calibrating the sound on the DVD/Blu-Ray player.

Some receivers require calibration of each input individually. Use the original settings and make adjustments from there, it should be a minimal and quick process for each input.

After calibration is done, you will need to go through this process whenever you add or remove equipment in your system, move, add, or remove furniture and once a year just for good measure. Speakers and amps can change over the year without you realizing it and besides, it gives you a chance to keep familiar with your system and identify problem areas that appear out of nowhere.

Some of the very best bargains in home theater are found at online only electronics manufactures. Online only companies skip the middleman and pass the savings directly to you and in many cases they give you the most bang for the buck.

Some of these manufacturers started building products as a hobby and found enthusiastic buyers in home theater forums. After making a few and selling them it became apparent, a successful business could be created. This was the case with the first online only manufacturer I became aware of. SVS started out building cylinder style subwoofers with a perfect combination of punch, deep bass and accuracy that simply can’t be matched for the price. SVS has since added traditional subwoofer designs and front and rear speakers that are every bit as good as their first mind-blowing subwoofer.

The advantages of buying from one of these manufacturers is easy to see, the downside is you can’t walk into a brick and mortar to listen to their equipment. To address this they all offer amazing customer service and an easy return policy that protects you in the event you decide the product just isn’t for you.

You can find more information on any of these manufacturers on any home theater forum and if you ask nicely, it is pretty easy to find someone in your area happy to let you demo the product in their own system.

The next manufacturer I came across, who also has a loyal following was Outlaw Audio. Outlaw started building powerful, well-featured receivers at a great cost. They have since added amps, speakers and accessories that meet the original Outlaw vision of quality and performance at a great price.

When it comes to cables, there are a lot of opinions and most home theater enthusiasts believe price is the last factor in getting quality cables. An additional thought, one I agree with, is that Monster Cable is a huge rip-off. This is where I have really saved a lot of money while getting some of the very best cable made. Blue Jeans Cable builds hand made cables for every audio and video need using the highest quality parts. Blue Jeans Cable researches each cable carefully and offers clear choices based on your individual needs. These are in my opinion audiophile cables at basement bargain prices. Do yourself a favor and ignore the advice you get in the local store, go online and buy the best at a fraction of the cost.

Elemental Designs has been a well-known manufacturer in the custom car audio community for a long time, now they are building a reputation for best bang for the buck home theater speakers and subwoofers. When I upgrade the speakers in my living room system, this is where I am going. Elemental Designs also has a big discount when buying packages and offers an easy to use tool that lets you build a custom system from 2.1 – 7.1. I have had the pleasure of setting up several of these systems up for friends and I love the sound of their speakers, especially for the money. One note on these speakers however, even the smallest bookshelf speaker they make is enormous, if size is a factor, measure carefully before ordering.

This brings us to our final online only manufacturer and these folks put power, lots of power, into your system. Emotiva builds big, heavy, powerful amps at unbelievable prices. Being the owner of the famously power hungry Magnepan speakers these amps make me drool like a dog watching the chicken coop. Emotiva amps are fully 4 ohm capable and push anywhere from 125 watts into 8 ohms to 500 watts into 8 ohms. Even more impressive is that they double or nearly double their watts into 4 ohms, which is an indicator of a well-built amp.

I am sure there are other quality online only electronics manufacturers out there and I would suggest giving them a chance. To find out more from people who own these products and will happily answer your questions with real world experience, check out Home Theater Forum and AV science Forums.