Sunday, July 07, 2013

New Writing Gig!

A few months ago, I was approached by one of the biggest computer hardware review sites on the Internet, Tom's Hardware, to become their display reviewer.  Needless to say, I accepted and have now thrown myself into a whole new beat.  My work with projectors and TVs will continue at Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity of course.

Building on Tom's excellent foundation of reviews, I added a few tests of my own.  You can check out all my coverage at Tom's Hardware US.  To date I've posted six reviews, four of them covering two displays each.  My articles publish monthly.  With the large amount of space available, I have expanded the testing to include brightness/contrast, gamma, grayscale, color gamut, and response metrics.  Tom's gave me a good deal of latitude in developing this benchmark suite and so far, it's received favorable responses from the readers.

In the upcoming weeks, I'll be publishing a series of articles on computer monitor calibration.  We'll begin with a how-to using an inexpensive Spyder4 colorimeter.  Future topics will include color science and calibration principles, as well as other tools one can use to optimize their displays.  I'm also working on a review of two new 21:9 monitors from NEC and AOC.  Stay tuned to see what's up with this super-wide aspect ratio!

I continue to stay busy at Secrets as well.  Prior to the Florida move, I completed three projector reviews (two Epsons and a Mitsubishi DLP) and a speaker review of Axiom's new LFR1100 towers.  Please visit Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity to check out all my coverage.  I had to take a break with the movie reviews but as soon as my new theater is complete, I'll resume that.  Also coming up is full coverage from the CEDIA Expo.  In September, Robert Kozel and myself will be traveling to Denver to cover the show for three days.  I expect 4K will be the hot topic so you can expect plenty of luscious screenshots from all the expensive TVs that are bound to be in attendence.

As always, thanks for reading.  Please refer to my Service Area Change post if you have any questions about my services.  You can contact me at ceberle.av@gmail.com (preferred), or call me at (914)850-0291.

Enjoy the View!

Announcing a Change of Service Area

As you can see from the sidebar, I have moved to Orlando, Florida.  I am now serving all locations in Central Florida within 100 miles of Orlando.  This includes Tampa, Daytona and cities as far north and south as Gainsville or St. Petersburg (yes I know that's a little over 100 miles!).  As always, I don't charge extra for travel.  If you can get a friend or two to sign up for my services, I offer a multiple-display discount.  I negotiate this on a case-by-case basis but you can expect to save at least $50 per screen; so tell your friends!

My service takes 2-3 hours to complete and includes a full-system calibration.  This means I'll set up all your HDMI inputs (analog inputs can be calibrated if you let me know in advance) for 2D and 3D where applicable.  I'll also optimize all your video sources to have them operating at peak performance.  For those with older equipment, I still have a reference analog pattern generator which I can use to calibrate component video inputs as well as RGBHV or even composite signal chains.

If you need help with your audio, I can provide that service at no extra charge.  I don't do an instrumented calibration but I can set up your receiver or prepro using an SPL meter.  I will also run any room EQ setups you may have such as Audyssey or Trinnov.

Whatever your AV and home theater needs are, it's likely I can help you get the most out of your investment.  If you'd like assistance choosing new gear, please email me your questions.  I have access to a lot of resources that can help you make the right choice no matter what your needs.

Thanks to the ISF main website, I've already heard from some of you here in Florida.  Please don't hesitate to contact me if you would like to make your display perform at its best.  I hope to hear from many of you; and as always - Enjoy the View!