The other day we had a visitor to our store who came in to purchase a remote and then asked "You guys are home theatre specialists? Why would anyone want a home theatre, when they can go to the cinema theatre?"

For the record: His concept of a home theatre was a 60" LCD TV with a surround sound package that he got from the back of a truck at the LCBO, for a "great deal".

After giving him a quick walk through and him being completely floored by our setup, he said he did not need an answer to his question.

But, we gave him  these additional reasons, in no particular order:

Yes, the cinema theatre experience is good, but here's why I (and many of our customers) choose my home cinema instead of a movie theatre when I decide to watch a movie.

1. Late comers (You know the ones who come in after the movie starts, and are walking all around trying to find their group in the dark, flashing their cellphones and "whispering" out names!)

2. Groups of noisy/chatty teenagers, who always have a snarky comment or remark on every good scene, or the one person who just doesn't get the movie and asks questions throughout the movie like -- I thought he was the killer?)

3. Sticky floors, Sticky Seats and Sticky popcorn oiled armrests.

4. Uncomfortable chairs, uncomfortable space -- especially when you have to share arm room with the guy next to you who definitely missed his shower schedule.

5. The tall girl with the big hair, who somehow always manages to sit in front of you, blocking half the screen.

6. The fixed schedule of movies start times, no pee breaks, and no option to rewind back to a scene you didn't catch quite well the first time.

7. The crisp "better than Cinema Theatre image" on our huge 110" or 120" screen with a reasonably priced Epson, Panasonic or JVC projector in our home theatre.

8. The crystal clear surround sound that is perfectly matched to our seating placement in our home theatre. We always have the sweet spot for sound and picture and catch every detail of the movie.

9. The crazy inflated prices for popcorn and other snacks at the movie theatre, above the already high ticket prices.

10. Your choice of alcoholic beverage while being fully immersed in a movie with big screen & big sound surrounded by family and friends. Priceless.

Contact us and we will help you bring the great experience of a true home theatre into your home today!

Highlights of the Panasonic PT-AE8000U Features

   This model comes equipped with Full HD 3D technology, provided with a lamp life of 4,000 Hrs and a max resolution of 1920x1080; offering the highest quality HD experience. With a contrast ratio of 500,000: 1 this projector gives you the most HD experience that you can get from the projector industry. Provided with the Panasonic PT-AE8000U is a 2 year warranty, this will protect you from any damages that may occur while using it. If you ever have any problems Panasonic won’t hesitate to help you out even if your projector system fails. You’re covered.  This new Panasonic projector has an even higher lumen count from the previous model giving you a beautiful bright picture, the AE7000 had only 2000 lumens and the Panasonic PT-AE8000U projector has over 2400 lumens! This is one of the most diverse projector systems that you can buy anywhere on the market.

Compatibility of the AE8000U

 Many great features are offered with the Panasonic PT-AE8000U Projector… you’ll find the ability to use every single format of definition from 480p to 1080p and even from 525i to 1125i. Having these options gives you the chance to try different types of definitions offering you a high level of compatibility. It includes EDTV/480p and SDTV/480i, you’ll also have a component output and 3 HDMI outputs from the Panasonic PT-AE8000U. The Panasonic PT-AE8000U projector can also be used with your computer! So now you’ll have chance to hook up your Panasonic PT-AE8000U Projector to your computer and play any of your favorite games on your big screen. Now how cool is that?

Features you Should Remember:

• 500,000:1 Contrast Ratio
• High Compatibility for any video format
• 3 HDMI INPUTs, Component and computer monitor input
• HD 3D Projector System that offers both HD and 3D capability
• 2 Year Warranty for maximum protection
• 2 Programmable 12V triggers
• Power zoom and focus
• Usable in both 16:9 ratio and 4:3 image ratio

Why You Should get the PT-AE8000U

   After learning more about the system, I’m sure you want to know how much the Panasonic PT-AE8000U’s price is and where to buy it. You can buy it online at Sonic Visions or better yet the Panasonic PT-AE8000U is on full display on a 120" Stewart Filmscreen Firehawk G3 at their store located in Brampton, so you can see it in action before you purchase. Sonic Visions offers the most affordable deals and the best prices. You won’t be able to get these types of deals anywhere else. With these features you should really consider trying the best new 3D projector system that Panasonic Projectors has ever offered. It’s something that no one should miss out on!

]]> Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:45:26 +0000 If 2D alone isn’t enough, and you want some 3D in your life, the Epson Home Cinema 5020UB is the perfect choice.  Let’s go through some of the many reasons this is a top rated 2D/3D projector on the market.

The big reason: Picture Quality

I hate to be a broken record, but for the same reason I chose the Epson Home Cinema 8350 as the best 2D projector in it's price range, the Epson Home Cinema 5020UB is the best 3D projector in it's price range!  The brightness is outstanding on this piece.  A solid 2400 lumens at spec gives us all kinds of flexibility and brightness for any different application you have.  You may remember from my Epson Home Cinema 8350 review, how important brightness is when you have ambient light.  You may also recall that I said to expect 2/3 to ½ of the spec’d brightness in reality.  So when we set up our light meter on this beast, we were expecting to see an actual 1800-2000 lumens, which would have been fantastic.  So what happened, we put her in dynamic mode, set up our light meter, and had a reading that made no sense to us.  2412 lumens.  Light meter must be broken, go get the backup (Thanks Stewart Filmscreen!).  2412 again.  That’s right, the projector actually put out MORE light than the spec!  And the great part was, we could also dial it all the way down to 852 in Natural mode.  This brightness is incredibly important in a 3D projector.  Take a look at any pair of 3D glasses, they aren’t completely clear and transparent like your reading glasses, they are tinted.  This means they basically act as sunglasses when you watch 3D.  You lose a ton of light, so we need to start with more than a ton of light to compensate.  Not only this, but Epson has a built in 3D brightness feature that talks between the glasses and the projector to artificially increase your brightness.  More brightness in 3d = more depth = more immersive experience.

Crosstalk, and overall instability which causes flickering in 3D that is present in many other projectors, is virtually non existent.  The 2D to 3D conversion feature performs quite well compared to many other video displays (even flat panel TVs) we’ve seen.  The 320 000:1 contrast ratio really shows up when watching dark scenes, and in 3D where you don’t lose any of that edge details and shadowing.  The last thing I want is my shadows becoming all blocky, and a single shade of black, and that doesn’t happen in this projector due to its incredibly contrast.

The little things:

Intuitive menu structure, and easy to use remote.

This projector is the best I’ve ever seen for flexibility of placement.  With a 2.1x zoom lens, you can really place this almost anywhere in your room and hit the screen.  The lens shift is incredible as well.  A lot of the time we don’t consider how important placement of the projector is, but the last thing you want is to have to put your projector in a certain spot, and therefore have to do a smaller screen then you wanted because that’s all the projector can handle..   They only way they could improve this is if you could put the projector in another room and bend the light around the corner!

Warranty. We’ve said it before and we will say it again, the Epson warranty can’t be beat.  2 years, advanced replacement, meaning if your projector is defective, they send out a replacement, and then pay the shipping for you to send the defective one back.  Not only that, they have a direct line that deals with just service.

Great lamp life, and a relatively inexpensive lamp.  The lamp has an MSRP of $300.  That’s far less than some of the competition, and it’s rated to last 4000-5000 hours.  That’s a drastically reduced cost of ownership compared to many other projectors.

I could go on all day here, but the point is that the Epson Home Cinema 5020UB is the best 3D projector, in it's price range.  Come in and see it in action for yourself at our store in Brampton, Ontario.

Aesthetics:  I know! It sounds ridiculous to have this as the first point.  But the first thing you see is the receiver itself! I don't know about you, but I hate having something in my audio rack, or sitting within my TV stand that I can't stand looking at.  The retro/simple look that Marantz pulls off is incredible elegant.  The two dials, combined with a small display are perfect.  All of the standard front panel controls you'd expect are nicely hidden by a drop down door.

Marantz - SR7007

The ins and outs: Ok! Enough about the looks already!  The inputs and outputs on this machine are numerous.   7 HDMI inputs.  7!  One is on the front, so you can plus in your HDMI enabled device easily and unplug it just as easily, ie. Camcorder, laptop.  If you're a tech geek like me, you know how frustrating it can be to not have enough inputs.  No problem with this unit.  Now, where this gets really interesting, is the outputs.  There are 3 HDMI outs, two of which are simultaneous and one being discrete.  So what does that mean?  When you set up your 120" drop down screen, with your 50" flat panel behind it, they can each be hooked up to receive the exact same signal.  No switching cables or separate systems needed.  But, not only that, we can have something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT playing in a third zone off the same unit.  ie.  I can have my blu-ray player playing on my projector/flat panel in the theatre room, and my cable box playing in the living room.  This eliminates the need to duplicate equipment.  It also has audio pre-outs for these, meaning we could send the audio through the HDMI cable to our second zone, or we can simply send RCA jacks into a separate amplifier to create a true multi zone audio system.  Airplay is also built in, so you can easily stream music from your iPhone/iPad directly to the system.  With the network connection, you can also do all the US favourites like Pandora, that us Canadians can only dream of.  But if one day we have access, you've got a system that is ready to go.  The last part of this receiver that is great for those of us who really like to feel the pound of an explosion when you are watching a movie, is that little .2 out.  That means you can hook up two subwoofers directly to this baby, meaning more thump.  This actually allows your subwoofers to not have to work as hard, giving you a much more accurate lower end.  Trust me, a second subwoofer is just what your system is missing.

Setup:  Setup is a breeze.  If you are a tweak-o-phile like me, you can adjust all of the speakers levels to be pefect to your ear, or if you want to leave it to the pros, use the built in Audyssey MultEQXT system to calibrate your speakers to get that sound just right.  The menus are extremely easy to navigate, and the on screen display looks great.

The Rest: This unit offers a solid 125 watts of output per channel, which wil certainly leave you with enough headroom to pump the speakers and not have to worry about distortion.  This unit offers your standard video up conversion, as well as having 3D pass through, and 4k.  Again... future ready, not to mention that the software can be upgraded through the built in networking capabilities.

The Best Part:  I had trouble deciding what the best part of this receiver is, so we have co-winners.  With a price under $2000 for all of the features, that had to be one of the co-winners.  The value for dollars is incredibly high.  But then I tried the remote control app on my iphone.  If you're anything like me, your iphone never leaves your side.  This app allows you to control all of the features of your SR7007 through a very neatly designed app.  No more losing your remote! But never fear Android users, you can also take advantage of the app as well.

It's these reasons, and more that make the SR7007 from Marantz the best AV receiver, period.

Brightness: Yes, brightness is important, but too much brightness is not good!  Brightness is really what gives a picture it's "pop".  But flat panels are so bright, that the real loser is the contrast.  Contrast is the most important aspect of most movies.  Contrast is essentially the different shades of gray.  For example, the more shadows you see when watching The Dark Knight, the better your contrast is.  If it's just really one shade of black - Bad Contrast.  So having a really bright flat panel causes our eyes perceive less contrast.  Just like on a really bright day, you can see less detail on dark objects than if it were a gray cloudy day.  Consider this: We have all see light dimmers.  Imagine we put the dimmer all the way up to 100%.  Lights are now fully on.  Then turn it down to 90%.  Can you see much of a difference?  Nope.  Next, put the dimmer down to 20%, then slide it from there to 10%.  HUGE difference.

Aspect Ratio: Movies were never meant to have black bars on the top and bottom of them.  The only way to get rid of these, is use a projector with an anamorphic lens attached to it.  On your standard 1080p flat panel, if you are watching a movie with black bars on the top and bottom, you are losing a ton of your resolution.  Instead of seeing 1080 lines on the horizon, you are wasting a bunch of those lines on useless black bars.  Not only are you not getting the full performance you paid for, you movie is losing detail, and getting much smaller.

Film Feel: You know that "look" the picture has at the movies?  That soft type look?  Ever wonder why you don't get that on a flat panel?  Without getting two deep intpo the physics off it, flat panels are light emitters.  Projectors, are reflectors.  So in a flat panel, the light is coming from behind the screen, going through some filters, and then shining straight towards your eye.  These filters, which are generally shiny glass type substrates, eliminate that soft look that films have.  When you use a projector, the light comes out of the lens, and then reflects to your eye off the screen.  No filters, and no light shining directly at you.  That allows that nice, soft, film like image.

If you love movies, and I know you do, you owe it to yourself to do a front projection system.  Movies were made for them.

The big reason: Picture Quality

One of the great parts about this projector is the brightness it can achieve.  It is far and away one of the brightest in it’s price point.  This is important because it allows you to crank up the brightness in certain situations.  For example, we all aren’t lucky enough to have a dedicated theatre that is basically a blackened cave.  And I don’t know about you, but I feel a little creeped out watching the hockey game in complete darkness with the guys!  I like to have some lights on.  And as we have discussed before, the more ambient light in the room, the more washed out your picture gets.  How do we compensate for that?  Increase the brightness coming out of the projector!  The 8350 has a generous 2000 lumens   Now, generally speaking the spec’ed amount of lumens is wrong on every projector.  You generally are looking at actually getting 2/3 to ½ of that actual spec.  But my colour meter measured a solid 1592 lumens in dynamic mode, which is absolutely outstanding.  That’s not the best part.  Even at that extremely bright mode, our colour uniformity was outstanding.  What that means, is basically our yellows stayed yellow, and the yellow at the top of the screen was the same as the yellow at the bottom of the screen (we used Bee Movie while testing).

The little things:

The remote control is easy to use, and the menu system navigates intuitively.  A child could figure this thing out without much trouble!

This projector is the best I’ve ever seen for flexibility of placement.  With a 2.1x zoom lens, you can really place this almost anywhere in your room and hit the screen.  The lens shift is incredible as well.  A lot of the time we don’t consider how important placement of the projector is, but the last thing you want is to have to put your projector in a certain spot, and therefore have to do a smaller screen then you wanted because that’s all the projector can handle.

The projector is whisper quiet.  In the cinema modes, you can hardly hear it.  The last thing I want to hear is the hum of a fan on my projector during the quiet scenes in The Dark Knight!

The warranty is unsurpassed.  2 years, advanced replacement.  That means if your projector dies, they just go ahead and send you a replacement!! Once you receive the replacement, you send the defective one back, on THEIR dime! It doesn’t get any better than this.

The Epson 8350 is the best 2D projector.  Period.  Come to our showroom in Brampton to see for yourself.

15 Years ago, I would certainly agree.  Even 10 years ago, you would have had to spend a big chunk of money to get those components.  And even at that, the quality was very suspect.  But so much has changed in the past decade!  Last week I had this same (frustrating) conversation with a friend of mine.  The next morning, we at Sonic Visions decided to do something about it.  "Let's come up with a full theatre package for under $3500".  We had our goal, now we had to work backwards to achieve it.  At first, we thought it might be hard.  We were expecting to cut corners, or have to go out and get a brand nobody has ever heard of to make this work.  But to our surprise, this was not the case!

Step One: Video

Our number one golden rule: If it's not a projector, it's not theatre.  So what was the best projector we could come up with to fit our budget?  Well it had to be 1080p to give us the best possible picture quality, and the Epson 8350 is unbeaten for 1080p at an incredibly affordable price.  Next, we needed a screen.  As I've discussed before; No, please don't just project it on to your wall! It would have been easy for us to just leave out a screen to hit our price point, but we were adamant about not sacrificing on quality.  We were able to slot in a 106" Daveco screen, in either fixed OR motorized that would fit our budget. That gives us the versatility of being able to hide the screen if needed.  Video? Check!

Step Two: Audio

This was the harder step.  We needed a system with good punch, a system that would really get you involved in what you are looking at.  Imagine you were at an airport, and you could see the planes, but couldn't hear them.  You'd really lose a lot of that wow factor of watching a plane take off, or land!  We needed a versatile receiver.  Our first thought was Marantz.  The NR1402 fit the bill perfectly.  5.1, On screen set up, four HDMI inputs, with all the latest in new High Def sound!  Ok, we're getting close to our budget, but we need a speaker system still!!  Wait a minute, what about that new Definitive Technology Pro Cinema 400 series 5.1 speaker system! Perfect! Compact speakers that really pack a punch with their 150 watt 8" subwoofer!

And presto! We had done it.  Since that day, this has been by far our best selling package for entry level true home theatre under $3500!  Not only is the price great, we picked components that are incredibly easy to set up, and are aesthetically appealing.

If you're ever thinking about a home theatre, and think you can't afford it, or think it's not possible, give us a call first! We might surprise you with what we are able to do for you!

Marantz Audio Equipment

It's true that through our e-commerce site, all you can see is a listing of products we sell.  It's hard to get a feel for how we are experts at putting together systems.  What this customer saw when he came into our store that blew him away, was what we call our "Platinum Theatre".  The theatre has a 2.35:1 aspect ratio 165" curved Draper Onyx screen.  Shooting onto the screen is the Epson 6010 projector with an Anamorphic lens to allow us to fill the screen completely with 2.35:1 movies.  Definitive Technology BP8080ST speakers flank the screen to the left and right.  Our centre channel speaker is the CS8080HD, and the surrounds are BP8080BP.  Our subwoofer is the Supercube 4000 and man does it ever hit you in the chest!  We have a Marantz processor along with a Marantz power amp and Blu-Ray player driving the system, not to mention our Tripplite power conditioner protecting it and making sure it runs with good, clean power.

There are various sound baffles throughout the room to make sure the sound is perfect.  The finishing touch?  Our Bell0 theatre chairs.

Epson 6010 with Panamorph A480SYS

The first movie we put on for this customer was The Dark Knight.  The opening scene, in which the bank is being robbed, is full of gun shots and explosions, and dialogue. After cranking the system up, you can really feel the gun shots and explosions.  But the top end remains crisp and doesn't distort.  You know that feeling you sometimes get in the theatre? That "Ouch that hurts my airs" feeling that makes you want to recoil?  That's distortion.  And it's horrible.  The reason we have the products we do in our theatre room is to make sure that doesn't happen.  The really great part of our Platinum Theatre system is once it gets to the dialogue, it is crisp and clear.  The dynamics of being able to handle the really loud, along with the really quiet, is integral to a great theatre system.  The audio is just as important as the picture in our view.

Speaking of the picture, have you ever seen a theatre with a 165" Screen? WOW!  The one word I would use to describe it is immersive.  You really get into what you are watching because it is filling your peripheral vision.  The crisp 1080p picture from the Epson 6010 on the Draper screen is absolutely beautiful.

165" Draper ONYX Curved Screen

Other than the big screen and big sound, you know what most people love about theatres?  Cup holders in the chairs! Only problem with the seats at the theatre is they are very uncomfortable.  With the Bello chairs in our Platinum Theatre, you get the best of both worlds.  Chairs that have cup holders, but that are also great to sit in!

At Sonic Visions, the look of the finished product is also incredibly important to us.  That's why our platinum theatre has the speakers built into the wall around the screen.  They are behind some acoustically transparent fabric so it really looks like a theatre, without compromising sound.

We are serious about Home Theatre.  If you are planning a home theatre, give us a call and we will help you through it.  Better yet, come by to our Brampton location and be blown away by our Platinum Home Theatre.

At first blush it sounds crazy, but it really is far easier than you think.  Consider the options from Epson.  We have the Megaplex series of projectors with which you can actually just dock your ipod/iphone/ipad and watch the videos you have stored on it!  They have the traditional inputs as well, of course, so you can plug in a blu ray player without any problems.  Just run yourself an extension cord outside, purchase a portable screen which can range from around $100 to $2000 depending on what your needs are, plug in and go!  The built in speakers allow you to get all the sound without having to lug around speakers.  Not only are the Megaplex projectors great for projecting images, but you can simply dock in your apple device and use it as just a speaker dock without having to turn on the projector itself!

Already have a home theatre inside, but want to get some enjoyment outside?  No problem, an Epson PowerLite 3010e or Epson PowerLite 5010e has a wireless HDMI module as well as built in speakers!  That means the projector and the source don't need to be right beside each other for you to use them!  As long as there is a line of sight between the transmitter and receiver, you've got yourself a picture.  This little portable system is great for when the kids have friends over, or better yet when YOU have friends over!

Our winters are so cold, we need to make the most of the outdoors when it's nice! And watching a movie outside on your deck or patio is a great way to get the best of both worlds!

We're always thinking outside the box at Sonic Visions, so if you have a vision, we can make it work!! Give us a call or drop in today.

I'm sorry, but no! Please don't just paint your wall white!!!!

Let's break down the image you are seeing when you watch a projector.  The source (Bluray, cable box etc) is plugged into your projector.  The projector then emits light through it's lens.  The light is then reflected by the screen.  This reflected light is what your eyes see as an image.  The quality of that reflected light will make a huge difference in how you perceive the image.  For example, if that image is reflected onto a matte paint, which is not designed to reflect light your image may look very dull and washed out.    Not only that, it is possible that your paint did not go on perfectly even, or your wall is not perfectly straight, which can create unintended reflections which will result on "hot spots" or colour shifting.  Not a pretty sight when you've spent a good amount of money on a nice new 1080p projector!

I'm not saying you necessarily need to spend $10k on a screen, but having an actual projection screen with your projector makes a huge difference.  And believe it or not, the better quality the screen, the better your image will look.  Things such as colour balance, white field uniformity and hot spotting can all drastically vary between screens.  A better quality screen will give you a better quality image, it is as simple as that.

Think of it like the tires on your car.  You don't see Ferrari's driving around on no-name tires from Walmart.  The better the tire, the better the overall performance of the car.

Another thing to consider when thinking about screens is whether you need a Grey or White screen.  This is probably the question we are asked most often.  In general, you would use a white screen if you have a completely dark room.  White screens give you the most accurate representation of colour.  But once you start to introduce some ambient light, they wash out much quicker than a Grey screen.  A grey screen allows you to maintain your black levels even with ambient light in the room.  This is because a projector can't reproduce black, since black is the absence of light.  So if we start with a screen that is a little closer to black, we are able to maintain that "black" easier.

Once most people hear that last point, the reflex is to say "We have complete control over a completely dark room".  To that we usually ask, "Do you ever have friends over to watch Hockey?  What about the Superbowl?  Are you going to have it completely dark with your friends over watching sports?"

The answer invariably is that the lights will probably be on at least a bit, which is why the majority of the time a Grey screen is right for you.

Come on in to the Sonic Visions Store to see the difference for yourself!