The Importance of the Center Channel Speaker

Center channel speakers are definitely an important component in home theater setups. This speakers purpose is to connect the dialogue and action from television and movie programs to the video that is displayed on the screen. It is important to have the center channel speaker placed in close proximity to the screen and aligned with the center of it. If this alignment is not achieved video and audio will not be connected and voices from actors on the screen will seem to come from another location other than there mouths. In order to have proper center channel speaker placement is important to have the right center channel speaker stand or bracket that will position your speaker optimally. Since flat-panel television displays have dominated the market, center channel speaker placement is more challenging than it once was along with finding a center channel speaker stand. Most center channel speaker stands position your speaker directly on the floor in front of your television stand. But thankfully today there is a new product on the market called the Center Stage Bracket which allows home theater consumers to place center channel speakers directly on top of flat-panel televisions which aligns it with the center of the television display. This is a very good position for the speaker as it will definitely connect the audio and the video signals together.

Soundbars, Soundbars and more Soundbars

Soundbar speakers are becoming more and more popular these days. Soundbar speakers are a great way to rid your living room home theater system of complicated and messy wires that run all over the room to meet an abundance of surround speaker channels in order to achieve that lifelike home theater sound that we have all become accustomed to. I've heard it time and time again that the Soundbar speaker is every man's wive's favorite home theater component because they eliminate the complicated clutter of multiple speakers and wires yet allow one to experience quality surround sound through one neat and tidy speaker that can be placed on the television stand in front of your television or on a convenient Soundbar speaker shelf which can be found here. So if you're looking for great way to cleanup your living room or possibly end the ongoing argument regarding having too many speakers and wires in your home theater with your spouse it might be a great investment to marry a center channel speaker shelf and a Soundbar in your home theater system.

Center Channel Speaker Placement

Time and time again I hear of people wondering where to put their center channel speaker after upgrading to the new superthin flat-panel television. They will say, "well, it used to sit on top of my TV but now the television is to thin." At which point they will start to look for new homes for their center channel speaker. Typically this means finding brackets that drill into a wall or pushing the television to the back of the television stand and placing the speaker in front of it or sometimes, excluding the speaker altogether. In fact, one time I went to a woman's house and found that a big-box store installer placed her speaker on the floor to the right of her television and called it a day! Although there are some decent solutions to this problem there is a product out there that is a near perfect solution. The product is called Center Stage Brackets. These brackets quite simply allow consumers to mount center channel speakers on top of flat-panel televisions. These brackets come in various sizes for various speaker and television set ups and they even have one that works perfectly as a Xbox Kinect Mount. So if you find yourself running into this problem do yourself a favor and check out these great center channel speaker brackets!

www.centerstagebracket.com

Xbox Kinect Official Mount

Xbox Kinect has an official backing bracket for your television that allows you to mount the Xbox motion sensor camera directly above a flat-panel television. But upon doing some research I discovered that there are many people who are not very happy with this product.

So not wanting to waste my time and money on ordering something that I will possibly have to send back at my expense I scoured the Internet for another option. And lo and behold, I found another bracket on the market that is called the Center Stage Bracket and it is the perfect Xbox Kinect mount . you can see a picture of it in the following video.

PlayStation Move Setup Instructions

The PlayStation Move is PlayStation's version of motion detection gaming using a motion sensor camera. Like the Nintendo Wii, the PlayStation comes with controllers that the PlayStation Eye motion sensor camera follows instead of simply following hand and body movements like the Xbox Kinect. PlayStation boasts a gaming system that is superior in accuracy over its rivals which very well seems to be the case on some of their game titles but not so much on others. Setup is very simple. Simply charge the game controllers via USB from the front of your PlayStation and then plug in the PlayStation Eye motion sensor camera to a USB output and place the Eye above or below the center line of your television. PlayStation recommends placing the Eye in line with your shoulders as much as possible. Generally this means putting the Eye above the television. There are inexpensive mounts and brackets for PlayStation Move and Xbox Kinect that can help you with this. After setup is complete simply use the PlayStation's on-screen calibration to calibrate the handheld controllers and you're off to hours of gaming fun. I personally think the PlayStation Move will be most popular amongst hard-core gamers mostly because of its accuracy which will in all likelihood become better and better over time.

Best Placement for Xbox Kinect

Let's face it, this new generation of motion sensor controlled gaming environments is pretty much the coolest thing that ever happened to the video game industry. As they gain in popularity and continue to show up in consumers living rooms, generally the first question asked during setup is how to best position the sensory camera for best performance. Xbox suggests that the Kinect sensory camera be placed between 2 and 6 feet from the floor and the ideal playing space be between 6 and 10 feet from the camera. Here in lies a bit of a problem. I have noticed that the closer a sensory camera is to the floor the farther back you need to stand from that camera. So if you were to put your Xbox Kinect on the television stand right in front and below the screen the sensory camera may not be as responsive if you stand too closely. The obvious solution is to just move further back but a second problem arises which is that most people don't have the room in their living spaces to be 9 to 10 feet away from their televisions with out standing on their furniture. So a solution to this problem is to simply raise the Kinect sensory camera to a higher position and in doing this the playing space becomes closer to the camera. The best and most inexpensive way to achieve this is by purchasing a bracket that allows you to place components like this up above your television. It's a quick and easy solution to the problem. The Center Stage Bracket is an exceptional product and they make a great little mounting bracket for the Xbox Kinect and Sony PlayStation Move. Frankly, it is the most universal bracket on the market and the price point is great!

http://www.centerstagebracket.com

The Future of Videogames

The thing I'm noticing about video games is that the demographics of the people who play them is widening by the month. Gone are the days when a person needs to sit down in front of a television, read a 20 page manual and memorize impossible 15 button combinations in order to advance through hundreds of difficult levels of a video game. With the introduction of the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox Kinect, people who would never give video gaming a thought are now screaming and laughing in front of their televisions while they play another round of Nintendo Wii Sports. The main reason for this is because this new breed of video games is easy to play. If you know how to swing a tennis racket or throw a bowling ball you're pretty much good to go! This means kids can start playing games younger and people who are between 30 and 80 can be happily involved as well. So gone are the days when video games were only for kids and die hard gamers. A new era has begun and it is only going to progress to widen the demographics of people who play them.