Am I the only one? (1 Viewer)

[Richard Stammer]

I need to know from fellow HTF members - Am I the only home theater fan whose ENTIRE family (including his wife) could care less about home theater, big screen tv's, great sound, theater-like presentation, etc? My immediate and extended family are all successful, educated, accomplished people. Yet none of them care about how a movie looks and sounds.

Now, I understand that everyone has different priorities, and I certainly live and let live. Yet, do any of the rest of you have to go looking to find someone to watch a movie with who will appreciate the major money and time you have invested to recreate a cinema experience at home? I watch and enjoy many a movie alone. Its sometimes a drag. Thanks.

Lonely in Florida

 

[Eric Emma]

My family has sort of a balance... We care about sound and picture and want it to look as good as possibile but it not the most important thing...

 

[Nick Senger]

I'm there too, Richard. I've had my home theater set up for about a year and a half, and I'm still looking for people I know who appreciate a cinematic experience at home, or who appreciate classic movies like I am trying to. I keep inviting my sister and her husband over repeatedly to watch The Godfather (which is his favorite movie), and they still haven't taken me up on it.

My kids (11, 9, and 4) love it, but there's only so many movies that I can show them, and not many of them really stretch out my system.

If I had a bigger room for my home theater, with more seats, I would have a film festival or something. But really I would just be happy if my wife or sister or brother-in-law showed more interest.

That's why I thank God for the HTF. It's where I go almost every single day to get my fix of movie appreciation.

So hang in there, and I'll think of you the next time I'm up early on a Saturday morning watching a great movie with the sound too low so I don't wake the family, wishing I could crank up the DTS soundtrack.

 

[Dan Shogren]

Same here at my house. It took me about an hours worth of trial and error to hook up my surround sound reciver to my sattilite system, I relaxed, set up the speakers, and sat down in my chair and started watching the tube. In walks my father, who pushes me out of my seat, grabs the remotes, and starts plugging away at the buttons. He decides he cant figure out how to operate the new sound by himself, so he demands that i "fix it" for him so he can have his "Normal sound" back. Also, after spending a half hour calibrating my old crappy tv set to the best specifications on the thx optimizer, and started up my favorite dvd. I started watching it and was amazed at the difference it made. My mother looked up from a horse riders magazine and looked at the screen. and she said this, "I liked it better before, it looked more realer." I sighed, shut down the tv, and left the room.

 

[Carl Johnson]

I'm the only person that I know of who's into home theater. Not only that, I've gone over other peoples houses who have decent equipment but they don't use it properly as in owning a DVD player and surround sound system yet the DVD player is connected thru the TV speakers. My parents have a HT in a box that's set up properly but that's just because they're on auto pilot using the equipment left over from when I lived with them.

 

[Jimmy Nugent]

Several years ago I introduced a good friend to the advantages of Laser Disc over VHS (on a 20" NEC monitor, believe it or not!). He apparently informed his wife of his new-found enthusiasm for quality home video presentation, as that christmas she purchased him a top-of-the-line laser disc player and a full complement of discs to boot. A week or so after connecting his new baby to his 30" Sony, he called me to ask about a problem he was having:

"The picture looks great, but, do all laser discs have those black bars?"

I explained original aspect ratio vs. full frame to him but my argument fell on deaf ears. Those annoying black bars bothered him to the point of distraction and he was left with no options other than to return the player and the discs.

We have both since upgraded our home theater systems to include surround sound receivers. My friend stepped up to a 36" Sony model while I made a more dramatic leap from my 20" monitor to a 43" Toshiba rear projection digital set. I still have my laser disc player and we have both joined the ranks of dvd afficionados. I buy way too many discs while my friend adds discs to his collection very infrequently- and, surprise surprise, he buys full frame whenever possible...

Richard- If you happen to be "Lonely in [North] Florida", we should get together and enjoy our hobby with someone who appreciates it!

Jimmy

 

[Timon Russo]

My wife could care less. A lot less. She likes movies to look and sound their best.

 

[Andrew Pezzo]

I have the same problem. My wife claims so couldnt tell the difference between my former speaker, Energy Take 5.2, and my current speakers, Def Tech BP7001SC's. For people in the know this is a dramatic leap in speakers and even a deaf person could tell the difference. To her its all ugly big boxes.

I have been trying to get my friends into it with limited success. My former roommate got me into home theater but since I dont live with him anymore I watch most movies alone:frowning: .

I agree that sharing the experience with someone else would make it much more enjoyable.

 

[Tony Whalen]

I guess I'm a lucky one. My wife loves to hear a movie in 5.1, and she can't stand watching pan & scan/full-frame hack-jobs.

Now if I can just convince her to let us get the nice projection system we just saw a couple of days ago...

 

[Ken Bentley]

well i am lucky my wife likes the good sound and good picture she says thats what dvds are for. thats why we spending are money on good sound good video.plus its cheaper then the movie theaters. so i have a small theater setup. with a nice not great but does the job soundsystem.. someday i hope to improve with way way better tv and soundsystem...

 

[Woo Jae]

Nope. Only me in my family.

I am the only one who knows how to use the electronics. My sister, mother, and father don't care too much as long as it "works". Nor do they even attempt to understand OAR.

 

[DeeF]

I'm an unusual case.

I'm single, and I live in a smallish New York City apartment. I have set up my home theater in the only place for it, the bedroom.

Even though I'm the only home theater enthusiast that I know personally, this hasn't prevented my hobby from becoming hugely interesting to a great number of friends. In fact, many people originally thought I was hermitting myself by watching movies every night in my bedroom. I do this, but in the past year, my social life has increased tenfold, from the people fascinated by my setup and my collection.

The hardest thing to explain away is the cost. My Fujitsu 50" plasma television cost $10,000, and I have a collection of 1,000 DVDs at an average price of about $20, so it cost $20,000. Most of my family is aghast at this. But I don't have children, college, or orthodontics to pay for, and I don't own a car. I think the cost is justified for the excitement and social interaction it has brought me.

 

[Stephane]

I am very lucky as well... My wife in a sence does not mind looking at her 25" TV upstairs with no surround or nothing. But then again she knows that I have a passion for this and she lets me upgrade as I want. I got a kick out of playing Darknes falls and see her jump 3 feet off the couch the other day. I had just added a Lexicon MC 1 to the system a few days before...

The sound that scared her the most was when traveling from the rears to the front. In Logic 7 it was incredible

So she does not understand why love to spend my pay checks on my theater and could not care less, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that even if she does not care about picture and sound... I get to see her jump once in a while LOL.

Stephane

 

[Paul_Medenwaldt]

I feel your loneliness

I have converted my wife into appreciating the home theater experience. She will only watch movies in wide-screen and when she goes shopping for DVD's she always makes sure she gets the 'correct one'.

My in-laws, family and friends could care less about how my home theater improves the sound and quality of watching a movie. I bring them over to watch a movie and their only response is 'yea, thats nice'.

I always seem to get the response of 'why would you want to spend all that money'

Paul

 

[Jesse Blacklow]

You have to work at the conversion. My dad's kind of a skinflint when it comes to electronics, but at least he has a good eye and ear. In fact, I was a fan of OAR looooong before I was a fan of home theater. In fact, my dad was convinced for a little while that movies (usually on VHS) with the "edited to fit your TV" meant they were editing for content as well .

Anyway, I wasn't into home theater until DVD came out. My dad was less than convinced at first. This was surprising for a man that not only bought a CD player early on, but was a fan of Betamax (and I agree with him that it was better than VHS to this day). Still, I worked on him more and more, and eventually we went from a crappy 20" to a decent RCA 27", although he waited until I was in college to finally get a DVD player and 5.1 system (I'd been doing the DVD-ROM route). In the last year (since I've graduated college), I tried a different tactic: my mom. Yes, I managed to convince her not only of the benefits of HDTV, but now I've got both of them jonesin' for a projector. Am I good or what?

 

[Jack Briggs]

I'm sort of thinking this is better suited for After Hours, so here we go.

And I have (had?) a friend who tells me I am the "only one" who cares about high-resolution video and audio. Years ago, he dismissed my contention that DVD is phenomenally popular, basing his logic on the fact that I was the only person he knew who had a DVD player. Somehow, I am the driving economic force behind a multi-billion-dollar industry.

 

[Andrew Pezzo]

Somehow, I am the driving economic force behind a multi-billion-dollar industry.

Its like I keep telling people, someone has to keep this economy going, I am just doing my part.

 

[Ricardo C]

My brother is into HT, though not to the extent I am (he owns FOTR and AOTC in *gulp* P&S). He does have a nice sound system, even if he's a heathen when it comes to OAR.

My parents, however... 22'' TV, surround shmurround, and VHS. They don't particularly care about DVD's increased PQ, nor do they care about OAR. They UNDERSTAND it, they're just not bothered by P&S. I'm thinking of getting them a nice 16x9 RPTV for their anniversary, to hopefully get them to embrace DVD.

 

[Paul_Fisher]

My wife is trying her best to understand my hobby, she enjoys the surround sound and such, but she is always worrying about the money. When I bought my Ascend Acoustic 170's ($330), she didn't understand how I could spend that much money on just speakers. :frowning:

I told her this is just the beginning. $330 is nothing!

 

[Kevin Farley]

I am a lucky, lucky, lucky man. My wife worked at EAD for 6 years as a tech/builder, and is now a confirmed audio/video phile. (When are we getting a dvd recorder? When are we getting new speakers?) WAF: infinite. I could roll home the Avantguarde 3's and rock the house if I could afford them. Now, if I only had some more funds to spare...

Other than that, my extended family is clueless. Intelligent, better educated than me, but vhs styles abound. Some dvd players, but just with tv speakers, that's it. One of my brothers has a bangin' set of MK sat/subs, but they're pointed the wrong way: 90 degrees towards the living room/kitchen instead of flanking the tv. For tv sound, they use the tv. Those MKs with an MK center and surrounds would be awesome!!!! Really great speakers. Oh, well.