August 3, 2010

Question of the Month: Lightning Damage to Plasma?

Filed under: Question of the Month — Tags: lightning damage, lightning damage electronics, lightning damage plasma tv, lightning damage tv, power surge damage — Alan @ 1:00 am

Q. Lightning either hit our house or very close to it last week, and the plasma TV I was watching lost its picture, as did a computer screen my wife was using. When she re-booted the computer, it worked, but the TV isn’t working. I am trying to get a feel for the most likely culprit. Normally, I would just figure the TV itself is damaged. However, the menus for the TV show on the screen. I just don’t get a picture. Is the fact that I can still see the menus from the TV an indication that the TV itself may not be the issue? I would have thought that if the screen was damaged such that I can’t see a picture, I’d also not see the menus.

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August 1, 2010

Dolby Height–DPLIIz

Filed under: Audio Knowledge — Tags: dolby height, dpliiz, surround sound — Alan @ 1:00 am

There seems to be some confusion about Dolby Labs’ latest refinement of its Dolby Pro Logic II processing algorithm, which it dubbed “DPLIIz.”

As most enthusiasts know, Dolby Pro Logic has evolved over the years as a digital logic processor of stereo signals from any source, adding ambient and directional cues to create a 5.1- or 7.1-channel system from a stereo recording—CDs, DVD movie soundtracks, Blu-ray discs, even old stereo hi-fi videotapes. As a primer for newcomers, DPLII takes stereo information and “locks” in a center channel signal (movie dialogue or solo singers, for instance), detects ambient information and routes that to two surround channels (5.1), and leaves hard-mixed left and right information in the main front left and right speakers where it belongs.

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