THX developing automated audio-video adjustment tech
By Erik Hanson 
posted July 20th 2007 2:41PM
posted July 20th 2007 2:41PM
Little known fact: THX was founded by Star Wars director George Lucas in 1983 to help theater owners adjust their auditoriums for maximum impact -- and in doing so became an iconic brand for AV technology, even if no one really knew what THX is or does. Well, the company is now using that expertise to take on a new home theater challenge: automatically balancing audio and video levels. While THX-certified receivers, screens, and speakers are nothing new, what THX has under development could help ensure even the least technology-savvy users get the most from their gear. While details are slim at this point, think about how HDMI connectors can send technical details between source units and televisions to set optimal resolutions or audio formats. The project, code-named Blackbird, will supposedly work with the equipment directly on a movie-by-movie basis to adjust levels and tweak all those many options and levels you set and forget. Now, if we can just get this tech to do something about people connecting their high-def sets up correctly in the first place.
This sounds like a very beneficial and practical thing. I find myself constantly fiddling with Brightness/Contrast/Backlight controls on my LCDs to get the picture just right, even when there are save settings for each source. Who knows, this could be the start of HDMI's digital interface becoming useful beyond merely passing 1080p and TrueHD signals, as well as those darned image constraint tokens.
What a great final line for this story. I was in a Best Buy yesterday and they had an HD set misalligned!
I love the THX concept. I bought a Denon 4306 and find that I am always second-guessing whether or not the audio calibration is correct. So many choices...so many opportunities to screw up. Kudoos to the THX team!
THX is, and has been for years, a complete joke. It was (and still is) fine when it was restricted to setting a reference quality standard for movie theaters, certainly. But at home... a joke, calculated only to make people pay more for gear. Getting a THX certification for an A/V receiver (for example) costs a lot, which pushes the product's consumer price up. And yet all the certificate does it proves the receiver matches some totally artificial standards set by THX. It's not hard to buy a better, non-THX-certified product, for cheaper. THX lost last remnants of its credibility when it was purchased by Creative Labs (you know, Soundblaster audio cards) and all these new, totally ridiculous THX certificates started popping up. THX Auto (for car audio), THX Ultra, Lite, Ultra 2... You can buy THX-certified PC multimedia speakers that sound like crap, for pete's sake. They are selling a logo which convinces consumers to pay more, that's all.
Hope you're not running cheap Kmart type calbes.
I'm running 'Time Correct-Magnetic Flux Tube' speaker cables at $15 per foot.