Top 5 Horror Movies to Watch in Surround Sound

Top 5 Horror Movies to Watch in Surround Sound

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It’s Halloween! Are you planning on dressing up to go trick or treating? How about visiting that creepy, abandoned Victorian at the end of your block, or contacting departed spirits via Ouija Board? Perhaps that’s a bit too spooky…If you’re looking for a fright this Halloween, look no further than your own living room! Here is our list of the top 5 horror movies to watch in surround sound this Halloween!

 

5)  The Grudge

The 2004 American remake of the Japanese film Ju-on: The Grudge was a box office smash. The Grudge is a curse that is born when someone dies in the grip of extreme rage (or sorrow), materializing, and killing those in it’s path. Therefore, the Grudge is constantly being reborn, passing from victim to victim in an endless train of terror. The Grudge makes a clicking/gurgling sound when on the prowl, and your surround sound system will pick up every chilling note. Not to mention, the piercing, high-pitched noises that pervade the soundtrack, as well as all the banging and crashing that goes hand in hand with fighting off an unstoppable force of evil.

 

4) The Orphanage

This Spanish horror film is as beautifully shot as it is creepy. Filmed on the rocky coast of northern Spain, The Orphanage chronicles the story of Laura, a former child orphan, her husband, and adopted son. Together, they move into the orphanage where Laura grew up to reopen the facility and cater to disabled children. But her son begins to act strangely, claiming to see a masked child, and soon goes missing. The film features an exceptional soundtrack and lots of mysterious banging noises that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

 

3)  The Babadook

Jennifer Kent’s 2014 masterpiece about a widowed mother and her young son who are tormented by a monster known simply as “The Babadook,” was a commercial and critical success due to the actors’ performances, Kent’s screenplay and direction, and the overall thrilling, yet heartfelt story, loaded with symbolism. The film features “a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track that is layered with creepy sounds, atmospherics, and great surround activity…The overall presentation does so many things right, setting the stage for a story that is sure to send chills down your spine.” (Home Theater Shack)

 

2) Alien

Sure, “in space no one can hear you scream,” but your surround sound system will pick up every eerie note in this 1979 Sci-Fi/Horror classic. With a musical score composed by Jerry Goldsmith (Planet of the Apes) and performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra, Goldsmith envisioned a score filled with romanticism and lyrical mystery that would build throughout the film, culminating in suspense and fear. Nominated for numerous awards including a Golden Globe for Best Original Score, a Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album, and a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music, we’d say that Goldsmith’s score was out of this world.

 

1) The Cabin in the Woods

The horror-comedy film, The Cabin in the Woods, follows five friends who travel to an isolated cabin deep in (you guessed it) the woods. Their relaxing vacation soon turns nightmarish when they fall victim to zombies and two technicians who manipulate the ongoing events from an underground facility. From the audio side: “Footsteps thump solidly from every direction, a whirling chain scythes through the air splitting from front to rears with exceptional clarity, and the drip drip of falling water in the forest is heard with pinpoint accuracy…There is no generic 70’s sounding mono music to warn us that a bad guy is creeping up behind the unsuspecting teens, but rather the score floods its way into the audience, creating a mood of suspense and horror without coming right out and giving everything away, as can be so common.” (Home Theater Review)

 

You’re favorite horror film didn’t make the cut? Share yours in the comments section below!

Throwback Thursday: “Under Pressure” Debuts in the U.K.

Throwback Thursday: “Under Pressure” Debuts in the U.K.

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On this day in 1981, legendary British rock band, Queen, released their single, “Under Pressure,” in the U.K. The song, which was written and recorded in collaboration with David Bowie, evolved from a jam session, as evidenced by the scat singing heard throughout the piece. The song reached number one of the UK Singles Chart, the band’s second number one hit in the U.K. (the first was 1975’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”) “Under Pressure” was played live at every Queen concert from 1981 until the end of Queen’s touring career in 1986.

Improving the Smart Home Hub

Improving the Smart Home Hub

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It’s a challenge for smart home owners to gather all of their devices together under one simple, straightforward interface, but smart home hubs promise an easy way to bring isolated smart devices together. There are many smart home hubs out there, some of which now serve multiple purposes: the Amazon Echo is both a smart home hub and a voice activated smart speaker, while the Samsung Connect Home doubles as a router. When choosing a smart home hub, users tend to consider variables such as compatibility to their current smart home devices, ease of use, and unique features (such as voice control) to help them decide which hub is right for them. But how can smart home hub manufacturers help meet the demand of their users and ensure the technology’s longevity in the marketplace? And how can consumer electronics manufacturers help bridge the islands that pervade smart home entertainment and create hub-friendly solutions?

 

Before the advent of smart speakers, the best reason to invest in a smart home hub was to unify multiple communication protocols under one platform. Smart home hubs are designed to work across many different wireless standards, including Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth. So if you have devices that work on different standards, a hub will most likely allow you to control them all from one centralized location, i.e., the hub’s app (note: not all smart home hubs work with every smart home device). But today, is this still enough of reason to spend upwards of hundreds of dollars on a hub? To most, the answer is ‘no.’ In a CNET article titled: “The only way to save the smart home hub is to kill it,” contributor David Priest contends that “folding the signal translation and automation capabilities of a hub into another essential device that people already buy — be it a router, TV or perhaps even security camera –…moves standalone hubs out of the middleman position in the smart home. As the market continues to develop, customers will be less inclined to spend over $100 on a device that does nothing in and of itself besides helping two other devices communicate…the smart home hub will only survive if it’s reincarnated as something more.”

 

That’s why products like the Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Samsung Connect Home are so appealing to consumers: they do so much more than just link up your solitary smart devices. Launched in 2014, the Echo was the first mass market voice-controlled smart home hub, and since then, other companies like Google and Apple have jumped on the bandwagon. Besides it being able to connect to a plethora of smart devices (with more and more being added each quarter) which you can control through voice commands, the Echo is also an excellent standalone smart speaker, which makes it that much more appealing to consumers. What traditional smart home hubs do really well (that devices like an Echo or Google Home do not) is offer better scheduling and automation controls, so there are some reasons why a user may opt for something other than an Echo or HomePod. But in order to stay relevant, smart home hub manufacturers must follow the “more bang for your buck” model and combine unique features (such as voice control or even just a first-class app) with the traditional hub.

 

But what about from the consumer electronics end – the entertainment devices users want to connect to a central hub, such as wireless speakers? Combining individual entertainment systems to work together to create a truly connected smart home is non trivial – it requires precise synchronization, low latency for lip sync and a general reliability over standard Wi-Fi (the best and most commonly used communication protocol for the home.) Something like this hasn’t been done before – until now.

 

Blackfire Research is making the smart home smarter by helping consumer electronics manufacturers get their products off isolated entertainment islands and create hub-friendly solutions. Our revolutionary new protocol, The Blackfire Realtime Entertainment Distribution (RED) framework, allows users to mix and match entertainment devices – from multiple brands that are Blackfire enabled – to create a whole home entertainment system. With the Blackfire RED framework embedded in wireless speakers and the smart home’s voice-activated smart speaker (such as an Echo or a Dot), users can finally enjoy a truly connected home. With Alexa, you can ask any Blackfire enabled device to play music, wirelessly and synchronously throughout the home, in groups and on multiple devices. The Blackfire RED framework also supports low latency and multi-channel, which other wireless solutions do not.

 

The Blackfire RED framework is the most synchronous, reliable, and cost effective wireless solution on the market. Voice service solutions require a high performance, multi-room solution like the Blackfire RED framework, which can allow multiple devices to respond to voice commands, simultaneously, and can be integrated into a broad spectrum of high quality voice service applications.

 

The Blackfire RED framework enhances the smart home hub and does what no other solution has done before. Harman Kardon, Pioneer, and Onkyo have stepped into the future by leveraging Blackfire’s technology in over 100 new products this year alone. Now is your chance. Join the Blackfire Revolution today.

Powered by Blackfire: The Onkyo TX-RZ920 Network Receiver

Powered by Blackfire: The Onkyo TX-RZ920 Network Receiver

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At CEDIA 2017, premium audio manufacturer and Blackfire Research partner, Onkyo, announced the impressive TX-RZ920. The TX-RZ920 is a 9.2 channel A/V network receiver that boasts 135 watts of sound per channel. Part of Onkyo’s flagship RZ Series of A/V receivers, the TX-RZ920 features top-quality components, a massive custom transformer, and is THX Certified for movie theater quality sound right in your living room. The TX-RZ920 also features Chromecast built-in, so you can stream any music from your smartphone, laptop, or PC to the TX-RZ920 with ease. With the Onkyo Controller app, you can browse and play music from your favorite online streaming services, including Spotify, TIDAL, Deezer, Pandora, and TuneIn. The TX-RZ920 is designed for both a full home theater and smaller listening setups and supports both 2.4 and 5GHz Wi-Fi connectivity.

 

But the best part? The Onkyo TX-RZ920 features Blackfire Research’s own FireConnect Multi-room Wireless Audio. FireConnect mirrors network audio and external analog sources connected to a master component (from streaming services to vinyl records) to any Blackfire-compatible speaker (like the Onkyo NCP-302 Network Speaker) in any room, all over standard Wi-Fi. Now, your favorite music can follow you from room to room.

 

Learn more about purchasing options for the Onkyo TX-RZ920 here.

Wireless Charging Fuels the Smart Home of the Future

Wireless Charging Fuels the Smart Home of the Future

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Last week, we spoke about the latest iPhones all (finally) supporting wireless charging and Apple’s commitment to the Qi wireless charging standard. But the sort of wireless charging that Apple has chosen to back isn’t truly a wireless solution, since you still have to use a charging mat (plugged into an outlet), and your device must be placed on the mat in order for it to charge. However, there are other wireless charging options on the market that are truly wireless.

 

One such company is called Energous, a Silicon Valley-based company whose WattUp wire-free charging technology is gaining a lot of buzz. Energous supplies chips to manufacturers that can be integrated into a wide variety of devices (such as smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and more) that enable wireless power transmission at short, medium, and long distance ranges – the longest of which can bolster energy from up to 15 feet in any direction. Energous uses a Radio Frequency (RF) system, so the experience of charging your devices will feel similar to using a router for Wi-Fi. According to their website: “A WattUp transmitter, or Power Router, sends energy via a Radio Frequency (RF) signal to your WattUp-enabled electronic devices when requested. A WattUp receiver in each device converts that signal into battery power.” To learn more about Energous in action, check out this article about their CES 2017 exhibition.  

 

Another company, Ossia, with their Cota Wireless Power technology, envisions a world in which you walk into your home, an airport, a coffee shop, even a train – and your devices automatically begin to charge. The system comprises of a transmitter, a receiver, and software. The transmitter comes in many different forms: from a smartspeaker-looking cylinder, to a ceiling tile. The receiver is a microchip that can be embedded into numerous devices, which mostly lies dormant, but gets triggered when a Cota receiver sends it a packet of information indicating a need for charge. The software then directs the charge from the transmitter to the receiver’s location, even if there’s movement. Cota uses the same frequency as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and can charge multiple devices at once.

 

Finally, there is Wi-Charge, which just received FDA approval to sell their products in the US. Wi-Charge works differently than Energous and Ossia because it uses infrared beams to transmit power as opposed to an RF system. The range for their charge is up to 10 meters indoors, with 3-4 watts of power per device. In order for the technology to work, your device needs to be in, what they call, the “line-of-sight” (i.e. visible to the transmitter). The first phase of their operations will use dongles or cases attached to your device equipped with the receiver. In the future, receivers will be fitted inside devices, like we’ve seen with Energous and Ossia. The current Wi-Charge charging stations double as lamps, but in the future, the company wants to equip transmitters into ceiling light fixtures in office buildings and homes.

 

While Apple was praised for choosing to implement a fairly ubiquitous wireless charging standard into their latest iPhones, their choice was actually quite underwhelming. Apple is known for being at the forefront of innovation. Because they waited so long to jump on the wireless charging wagon, many expected them to come out with something better than a technology that’s been standard on Android phones for years. They didn’t. Instead, startups like Energous, Ossia, and Wi-Charge now stand at the forefront of wireless charging innovation.

 

Wireless charging is essential to the smart home of the future because the smart home of the future is wireless. From the smart speaker boom to advances in wireless, multiroom audio, this year has brought hi-tech products into the mainstream market, fueling the growth of the smart home sphere. With the introduction of true wireless charging into homes, offices, and public spaces, we’re one step closer to a truly connected world.