Virtual surround sound for the living room

Stuttgart - Tension on a TV crime show is coming to a head: On the right a gangster runs off

into the dark of night, while horrified screams are audible to the left. Behind you the sound of

police sirens are growing louder.

If you have the right equipment, watching TV can feel more like being in the middle of the

action. This used to require five speakers and a subwoofer, known as a 5.1 system. There are

now several solutions available that produce surround sound using only two, and in some

cases even one, speaker. This is known as virtual surround sound.

"Virtual surround overwhelms the brain and the laws of physics," says Georg Wilde, a press

spokesman for electronics maker Philips. Virtual surround technology takes up less space

than 5.1 systems and requires fewer cables. Yet the sound is also different from traditional

surround sound systems.

"On the whole, though, it functions astonishingly well," says Christine Tantschinez from

Stuttgart-based Audio magazine.

Virtual sound achieves the highest audio quality, if the room is square or rectangular. Too

many niches and bays can be disruptive. Wallpapered walls are also better for sound than

glass or tile.

"The idea is to let the sound waves bounce off the wall like pool balls - with surround sound

coming out of the reflections," Christine Tantschinez explains.

Many systems require an exact measurement of the room to provide optimal sound results.

Some devices must also be harmonized with the television before being turned on for the first

time.

This set-up process is generally performed using some form of an easy on-screen menu

wizard. Some televisions now even come with an integrated virtual surround sound system

instead of normal loudspeakers.

Overly large or extremely sparsely furnished spaces can also diminish the virtual surround

effect.

"There's too much reverb there," says Matthias Rose from the Fraunhofer Institute for

Integrated Circuitry in Erlangen. The systems deliver good sound quality in a living room of up

to 50 square metres.

"You don't need to start rearranging things in your living room," Tantschinez says. Yet as

with true surround sound and in the movie theatre, the virtual set-ups do have a sweet spot.

That's the location where the listener feels like he's in the middle of the action.

For 5.1 systems, the loudspeakers are organized in circular fashion at a specific distance from

the listener, with best results in the centre. This isn't necessary for virtual surround systems.

Yet only one viewer on the couch will enjoy the central sound experience.

"Whoever sits in the middle hears everything best," Tantschinez says. Everyone else hears

more from the side on which they're sitting. Then again, this works the same way for

traditional sound systems with multiple little speakers.

Yet virtual surround sound isn't just of interest for the living room or for the speakers next to

the computer.

"The goal is to bring surround sound out into the mobile world as well, such as for portable

televisions or entertainment systems on airplanes," Matthias Rose explains.

That's why the Fraunhofer Institute is currently researching how best to transmit surround

sound via headphones using similar techniques to trick the human ear into perceiving sounds

from what seems like multiple sources.

"The signal is modified so that it is repeated directly in the ear as if it were coming from six

loudspeakers," Rose says.

There are already a variety of concepts being worked on to offer surround sound from just one

speaker. Yamaha, for example, uses what it is calls a sound projector to create bound sound

waves off one another, thereby producing the effect. Philips is working on a system called

Ambisound.

"The system is decked out with a multi-channel amplifier that works with expanded digital

sound processing technology that takes advantage of psychological/acoustic factors," Wilde

says.

The systems are available - to the extent that they are not already integrated into a television -

in both stand-alone and bundled versions, such as with DVD players. Prices vary based on the

technology being used.

While a sound projector costs around 500 dollars, an AV receiver including surround sound

system will cost around 1,000 dollars, Tantschinez says. "The more technology inside, the

more expensive the devices will be - there's no ceiling."

INFO BOX: The 5.1 multi-channel sound system

Most home theatre equipment produces surround sound using a 5.1 multi-channel sound

system. This means that a film's sound is output across five primary channels as well as an

additional channel for bass sounds. 5.1 multi-channel sound systems include left and right

primary speakers, a centre speaker, surround loudspeakers to the right and left as well as a

subwoofer to produce the low frequencies. Other 6.1 and 7.1 surround sound systems are also

available.
Reviews
Digital camera first take : Fujifilm FinePix F100fd
Mobile phone first take : Samsung SGH-D880
Handheld review : HP iPaq 112 Classic Handheld
Handheld first take : HTC P3470
Mobile phone first take : Sony Ericsson C702 Cyber-shot
Home AV review : Samsung LA46F81BDX (46-inch LCD)
First take : Nokia N96
Digital camera review : Ricoh Caplio GX100
Mobile phone review : Nokia N82
Handhelds first take : MWg Atom V

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Virtual surround sound for the living room
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http://www.bangkokpost.com/gadget/gadget.php?id=411

By Verena Wolff, dpa

News Apple's latest laptop: Small is in

San Francisco - There's never been a laptop as skinny as the new MacBook Air from Apple. At its thinnest, it measures just about four millimetres.



"When you first see MacBook Air, it's hard to believe it's a high- performance notebook with a full-size keyboard and display," gushed Apple CEO Steve Jobs while presenting the new laptop at the keynote speech of the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco. "But it is."

The excitement at the Moscone Centre was also sparked in typically reserved observers like Michael Gartenberg, research director at the US market research firm Jupiter Research:


"This will become the object of lust for all tech fans this year," Gartenberg told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

In advance of the MacWorld Expo, the chatter on many websites was focused on a potential combination of the iPhone and a normal laptop - more or less a retooling of the "Newton" PDA concept that Apple phased out 10 years ago. The MacBook Air is instead a full-value laptop with a robust aluminium casing with a 13-inch display and a full sized keyboard.

During his presentation, Steve Jobs compared the MacBook Air, which costs about 1,700 dollars, with the Vaio TZ series from Sony.

"The thinnest part of the Vaio is the thickest part of the MacBook Air," the Apple CEO told the cheering crowd. What he didn't mention in his comparison is that unlike the MacBook Air, the Sony laptops come with a DVD burner, a modem, and an integrated UMTS module.

With an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 1.6 or 1.8 gigahertz (GHz) of processing power, Apple has certainly sent its new laptop out into the world with a significantly stronger CPU than the Japanese devices against which it is competing.

The standard model contains a 1.8 inch hard drive offering 80 gigabytes (GB) of storage space. Users willing to hand out another 900 dollars can upgrade to a 64 GB Flash hard drive. Flash memory works more quickly than a hard drive and consumes less power. The battery in the MacBook Air lasts five hours when working with a traditional hard drive.

The second major MacWorld Expo announcement centred on a second attempt at the "digital home" market, as well as launching an online video rental service. To facilitate all of this entertainment, Apple introduced an improved version of its "Apple TV" TV set-top box. It will enable HD video films to be rented from the Internet without having to connect with a computer.

Steve Jobs gained the support of all significant Hollywood studios for the "iTunes Video Rentals" platform. In the United States, DVD- quality films will cost 3 or 4 dollars for a rental limited to 30 days. High definition (HD) films will cost 1 dollar extra.

"This is going to turn the video industry inside out the same way the iTunes store changed the music industry," says Jupiter analyst Michael Gartenberg. Ross Rubin from the market research institute NPD disagrees, seeing Sony and Microsoft as enjoying the better start position:



"Both of those Apple competitors have already placed their Trojan Horses in the living room through the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360." Each game consoles is capable of downloading HD content online.

It's unclear how the Apple movie rental model will work outside the US. Jobs indicated plans to launch the service in Europe "later this year."


By Christoph Dernbach, dpa

Handhelds review : E-Ten glofiish X800

By John Chan, CNET Asia, Jan 16, 2008



The good: VGA display; HSDPA connectivity; GPS navigation with bundled maps.

The bad: Sluggish at times; horrible video calls; poor battery life; only 64MB RAM.

The bottom line: For all its great features, the X800 could have been significantly better if it had more RAM and if its software was implemented more elegantly.

The E-Ten glofiish X800 was first unveiled at CeBIT 2007. It created quite a stir among handheld enthusiasts because of the sheer number of features it managed to pack into its compact form factor. Though there's already news of the M800 which has a slide-out QWERTY keypad, the X800 should still appeal to those who will take a smaller form factor over tactile buttons.


Design





The X800 looks as good as it does in the photos. It is predominantly black in color with silver trimmings and a dash of red. It sits comfortably in our hand, thanks to the curved edges and compact form factor. We especially like the fact that it has a soft touch feel on the sides and that the silver portions are not too glossy, so there aren't problems with fingerprint smudges. That said, we expect that those going for a more professional look may not take to the colors of the X800. And because it's no HTC or O2, we don't expect there to be many third-party accessories like clip-on leather cases to change the outward appearance.

The dimensions of the X800 are 113.5 x 60.5 x 15.8mm, which is smaller than other handhelds with VGA displays like the O2 Xda Flame and Dopod U1000. Compared with the HTC P3600i, the X800 is longer but slimmer. That is an important comparison because its features are almost identical to the HTC, and we suspect many will be making a choice between the two.

Quite a few buttons sit on the front of the X800, under the screen. These include Start and OK keys found very close to the base, which are very thin, and we found we had to use our fingernails to press them. The power button on the right side of the handheld shares the same color as the side, black. It is small and not very pronounced and may be difficult to find when in a dark location. The same applies to the volume control rocker on the left side. These side buttons could all do with a little more tactile feedback for ease of use.

The X800 uses a mini-USB port for charging and syncing. It has a separate 2.5mm audio mini-jack for connecting a headset, something that is missing in the P3600i. For memory expansion, it uses the microSD format. That slot has a plastic dust cover and is found on its base beside the mini-USB port.





FeaturesOne of this handheld's main features is its VGA-resolution display. Though it wasn't retina-burning bright, we found its backlight sufficient for normal use. Like the E-Ten X500+ before it, having more pixels has its advantages. You see more of a Web page when surfing a site on the browser, and Excel sheets certainly get a boost.



On the back is a 2-megapixel camera with an LED light and preview mirror.
There is no lack of connectivity features on the X800. First up, it's the first mass-market device from E-Ten to come with HSDPA connectivity. This works in three bands (850/1900/2100MHz), so you won't be caught out when roaming in other countries. The same goes for its GSM radio--quadband so roaming in the US isn't an issue. Aside from the cellular features, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 are available, which is pretty standard for Windows Mobile PDA-phones.
One thing you won't find lacking in an E-Ten device is GPS and the X800 is no exception. This one, like many of its other devices, comes with the SiRFstar III GPS chip. We tested this out with software from MapKing and, as usual, found it to be effective when performing in-car navigation.

Like many other device manufacturers, E-Ten threw in a bunch of addon software to make the X800 different from other WM6 PDA-phones. The most obvious of which is Spb Mobile Shell, an application that modifies the Home screen of the handhelds, so commonly used items are more easily found. It also comes with its own wireless manager, battery meter and task manager software. Ironically, though all these are supposed to help you monitor and manage the device, they are the ones that cause slowdowns in the X800. We felt that E-Ten could have done better in this respect to scale down or, better still, optimize the applications bundled with the product, so they don't cause it to be less responsive. It doesn't help that the X800 comes with only 64MB RAM, not 128MB like what's becoming common on HTC devices starting with the TyTN II.

The 2-megapixel camera found at the back of the handheld also has an LED photo light and a preview mirror for self-portraits. It has an autofocus feature as we found images to be decent for a PDA-phone. But as usual, don't expect anything even remotely close to a dedicated digital camera. One thing we could have done without was the graphical interface in the camera application. It was full of cryptic icons that confused us--another software implementation that E-Ten needs to correct in future models.


PerformanceA 500MHz Samsung processor powers the X800. As we've mentioned earlier, the overuse of addons and lack of RAM cause it to feel sluggish. This could also be partly attributed to the VGA display as the four-fold increase in pixels can be quite a load on the processor.
Voice calls worked fine on the X800, but video calls were atrocious. The video call application was extremely laggy and it was during this test that we realized the front VGA camera was hopelessly inept. We don't expect great photographic quality, but the X800's front camera gave colors that were totally off--making us look like jaundiced patients to the other party.

One full charge of the X800's 1,530mAh battery gave us under two days of use. Daily charging will be required for those purchasing one of these.

ConclusionAfter the long wait for this device, expectations are bound to be high. It does deliver if you are focused on the features. But when you consider the software tweaks and performance, it leaves much to be desired. On the bright side, a quick Google search will reveal enthusiast sites that already have instructions on how to make the device more responsive. That's entirely up to the user to do though, and it's a shame the X800 couldn't have been better out of the box.
The E-Ten glofiish X800 retails in Singapore for S$1,188 and comes with a 1GB microSD card and MapKing with Singapore maps. It will be available throughout Asia Pacific, but the release in each country depends on the E-Ten distributor there. Check with your local retailer for details.


SPECS

Physical designForm factorPad
Dimensions113.5 x 60.5 x 15.8 mm
Weight w/battery147 g
Primary display resolution640 x 480 pixels
PhoneConnectivity options3G, HSDPA, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPRS/GSM, USB
Messaging featuresSMS, MMS, Email, Instant message
MultimediaBuilt-in digital camera?Yes
Maximum camera resolution2 megapixels
Camera sensor typeCMOS
Maximum digital zoomx
Maximum optical zoomx
Audio jack type2.5mm
Video featuresVideo recording, Video playback
Additional multimedia featuresStreaming video; VoIP; second VGa camera for video calling
PDAOperating systemWindows Mobile 6
Main processor typeSamsung SC3 2442
Main processor speed500 MHz
RAM64 MB
ROM256 MB
Expansion option(s)TransFlash/microSD
PC connectivityWindows
Removable battery?Yes
Rated battery life7 hours
Installed applicationsWindows Mobile 6.0 OS; Windows Live
Additional functionsSiRF star III GPS chip
DisplayMonochrome or colorColor
Touch screenYes
Backlit displayYes
Data InputMethodPen
AudioBuilt-in speakers?Yes
Built-in mic?Yes
Desktop ConnectivityDesktop software includedYes
Synchronization with desktopYes
Power supplyBatteries rechargeable?Yes
AC adaptor included?Yes
WarrantyBase warranty1 year