Attention Interior Home Design Aficionados!

Front Row Residential Entertainment Systems

Will be Appearing at a Showhouse

With Barbara Ostrom and Associates

from September 28^th through November 4^th
To Benefit the Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center

Front Row, expert home theater designers and builders, is proud to join with Barbara Ostrom and Associates in their newest showhouse, coming to Saddle River, New Jersey, with an open house from September 28^th – November 4th (with special events held during the first week). Barbara Ostrom and Associates will present its renowned interior design, accompanied by a variety of home product providers. All who are interested in home design and top of the market home products of all types are strongly encouraged to visit! You can get more information on the “Designer Showhouse of New Jersey” by visiting their website at http://www.designershowhousenj.com

Front Row, expert home theater designers and builders, is proud to join with Barbara Ostrom and Associates in their newest showhouse, coming to Saddle River, New Jersey, with an open house from September 28 – November 4th (with special events held duringthe first week). Barbara Ostrom and Associates will present its renowned interior design, accompanied by a variety of home product providers. All who are interested in home design and top of the market home products of all types are strongly encouraged to visit! You can get more information on the “Designer Showhouse of New Jersey” by visiting their website at

Richard B. Rosenberg, Front Row’s founder and CEO, will be on premises at the showhouse* to provide his home theater wisdom and discuss any ideas you might have for your own home theater project. In specializing in the ever-growing popularity of home theaters, Front Row has been custom designing home theater systems for luxury homes in the Tri-State area.

To quote Richard B. Rosenberg, “A true Home Theater experience is not about new specifications, hype, and poorly designed, dedicated rooms. A quality Home Theater is really about one thing only — having a rewarding and relaxing entertainment experience, every time you use it.” Front Row creates extraordinary Home Theater and Media Room systems that are custom-designed to fit each client’s budget, lifestyle and environment. They expertly navigate the maze of state-of-the-art choices, to arrive at carefully selected and personalized entertainment solutions. Front Row then maximizes those choices to deliver the highest degree of Audio/Video depth of sound, color, and clarity.

The Showhouse Exhibit, in conjunction with Barbara Ostrom and Associates, will be open to the public from Sept. 28th – Nov. 4^th, and is located at 19 Werimus Road in Saddle River. 

* If you would like to ensure that Richard is on the showhouse premises during your intended visiting time, please contact him in advance. To contact Richard B. Rosenberg at Front Row, please call 800-452-4002 or email at info@frontrowres.com. 
 

Home Theaters

Media Rooms • Audio/Video

Rivervale, NJ 201.391.3022
Showroom Hours by Appointment

w| www.frontrowres.com e| info@frontrowres.com

To find out more about Hackensack Medical Center please visit www.humed.com 

The future of home entertainment is currently quite unclear. Many people are happy with DVDs, still amazed at the quality improvement over VHS videos, but the early adopters, as ever, are chomping at the bit to get their hands on the next generation of players and formats. Unfortunately, since the invention of DVD, there has been a split in the industry, and there are two rival formats set to battle it out to be the successor to DVD: HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

HD-DVD is the official successor to DVD from the DVD Forum, the group of companies that came up with the original DVD standard. The HD part stands for ‘high density’, like in HDTV, and indicates higher-capacity discs with much better picture quality.

Blu-ray, on the other hand, is supported by a group of breakaway companies led by Sony, the inventors of the format. It is named after the blue laser it uses to read discs, allowing more data to be written on the disc than with normal red laser formats. Sony hopes that the inclusion of Blu-ray in its Playstation 3 video game console will jump-start the format, as it will mean that many people already have a Blu-ray player right there in their home before they’ve even heard about HD-DVD.

Industry insiders and enthusiasts are split on the merits of the format: many feel that Sony must have lost its mind, as including a Blu-ray player in the Playstation 3 will jack the price up, while others are excited to be getting the player so quickly and at a reasonable price. Many believe that HD-DVD will eventually win out, however, simply because of its greater number of supporters.

So what should you do? Historically, markets will only support one video format – so one of these is destined to be the next VHS, and one is going to be the next Betamax. As anyone who bought a Betamax player can tell you, the best thing to do is to wait and see who wins before you buy anything from the next generation of formats.

So you’re in the market for a new home theater system? Why not? Everyone you know either has one or wants one. Are you sick of having to go to your buddy’s place to watch the game on the big screen? Have you been playing that SNES system, circa 1995, since, well, 1995? Is your prized movie collection in laserdisc format? Maybe it is time to invest in a new home theater.

The first thing you ought to do is establish a budget. You could spend thousands of dollars on your new system, so give some consideration to what you are able to spend. There’s no point spending your rent money on a TV, if you will not have an apartment to watch it in.

Once you have decided what you are able to spend, draft a wish list of components you would like. Big screen TV or LCD projector? X-Box or Playstation? What about surround sound? 5:1? 6:1? 7:1? There are so many options, and the possibilities are seemingly endless. Keep it simple. Do you really need a 51 inch HDTV, for your 10×10 living room?

Either way, your system will definitely need certain components to qualify as a home theater. For the sake of being modest, why not consider getting started with a home-theater-in-a-box? These packages generally come with a surround sound receiver, a set of speakers, and a DVD/CD player. These systems are relatively inexpensive, and will leave you with enough cash flow to buy that new Sopranos box set! Capice?

A lot of people like to include gaming systems in their home theater, especially if they are able to play on a big screen. There’s nothing like playing Halo in life size! If you do most of your gaming on your computer, most decent video cards will have a video line out that you can use to connect to your TV or projector. Otherwise, you can incorporate any other console system into your home theater.

Your sound system will likely consist of a number of speakers (left, right, and center front, surround left and right, and a subwoofer). This is the standard surround system. The wattage of the amplifier you are using will greatly affect the sound being produced, so be sure to use one with enough power to effectively supply your system.

As I said, the options are seemingly endless for home theater systems. Be sure to buy from a reputable dealer, and do not buy anything that does not have a 30-day money back guarantee……just in case you have to return it to pay your rent!

Whether you are an audio novice or an experienced technophile, this article is for you. Let’s take a few minutes to review the basics of surround sound, and the principles behind it. If you are new to surround sound, this will help you to understand the concept. It will also refresh the memory of those already in the know. These are the basics of sound.

Monophonic sound is single channel and unidirectional. Basically, this means that your audio is all filtered down into a flat single channel. All elements of the recording are mixed down into one source, thereby seeming to originate from the same source no matter where you are standing in the room. This is old school, kids.

Stereophonic sound is reproduced through two channels and is considered superior to monophonic sound. You can tell stereophonic sound, because different sounds originate from either speaker. This type of sound gives one the sense of being there during the recording. The best example of this is listening to a recording of the symphony, where different band members are located in different parts of the room. The strings are over here, and the horns are over there.

Surround sound was first pioneered by Dolby in the early 1970’s, and first used in movies such as “Tommy” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. The Dolby process encapsulates four channels of audio; left, right, rear, and phantom center. The reason it is called phantom center is because it is essentially a mix of the left and right front channels. This gives the listener the impression of being surrounded by sound, hence the name surround sound.

Dolby surround sound has evolved considerably in recent years. Dolby 5.1 is bar far the most common. Dolby 5.1 is similar to traditional surround sound, but it is further broken down and processed into more distinct channels. Dolby 5.1 increases the range of sound by adding stereo rear sound as well as a dedicated subwoofer channel. This results in a far superior surround sound experience. You not only hear surround sound, but you feel it, too!

Technology is ever changing, and the marketplace offers many surround sound options. This article is not complete by any means, and only serves as a primer on the basics. Check out your local electronics superstore for the latest technology.

Over the years, I have grown really attached to my home theater system. I must say, of all the rooms in the house, my own little movie theater is the one I could not live without. I am absolutely in love with my home theater system and, if you are anything like me, I am sure you will love yours too. I found, when I was initially building my system, that there was so much information to absorb. Every product out there seemed better than the next, and I found myself unsure about which to buy. Here are a few things to keep in mind when shopping for a new home theater projector.

There are two main types of projectors on the market; DLP and LCD. DLP stands for digital light processing. It was invented by Texas Instruments, and utilizes a microscopic array of over 2 million mirrors. DLP has a higher contrast than LCD, but there are some unfavorable consumer reports that note something called the “rainbow effect”. The “rainbow effect” is noticeable when looking from one side of the screen to the other, and is characterized by a sudden burst of color.

LCD stands for liquid crystal display. These projectors have three distinct glass LCD panels inside; one for each component of the video signal (red, green, and blue). While DLP chips reflect light, the LCD panels allow light to pass through them. LCD projectors produce brighter images, and they are known for having excellent color saturation. In the end, you will be hard-pressed to notice a great difference between the two types of projection systems.

When shopping for a new projector, keep your particular needs in the forefront of your thoughts. As I mentioned above, it is really easy to lose yourself in the minutiae of each particular system. Connectivity is a definitely something to be mindful of. Make sure that you are able to connect all of your components, including your gaming system. Nothing beats playing Halo in real-life size! Contract ratio is another important factor; the higher the ratio, the better the picture will be.

The brightness of your projector is another thing to consider. Light output is measured in ANSI (American National Standards Institute) lumens. You will want to avoid a projector that produces anything shy of 1000 lumens. As you are likely aware, the projection resolution is extremely important. This refers to the number of pixels that can be displayed on the screen. Go for something that is no less than 1024×768, as this will allow you to fully appreciate the depth and quality of HDTV. In the end, you should buy the projector that is in line with your needs and your budget. Soprano’s is coming on right now! Time to go!

HDTV or High Definition Television is the latest and greatest in television programming. I’m sure you have heard about HDTV but do you know exactly what it is? Do you know why you should want it or do you just assume it must be good? By reading this article, you will gain some information to help you determine if you really need HDTV.
High definition delivers exceptional sound and picture quality as close to life as anything that has ever been seen before. Standard definition TV programming has a maximum of 480 lines of visible detail. High Definition programming has up to 1080 visible lines of detail. This makes for a far crisper and more lifelike picture.
There are two main types of HD. You have 1080i and 720p. With 1080i you have more lines of resolution but your TV draws the image in two passes. With the 720p you have less lines of resolution but your tv draws the image in one pass. This means that 1080i will have the better picture but 720p will have a smoother more realistic image. Most networks have gone for the better image clarity of the 1080i but a few have opted for the smoother picture of 720p. Unless you are a serious technology nut however, you probably could not tell the difference.
As far as programming goes, viewers are somewhat limited. Networks are producing more and more programming in HDTV all of the time but most programs are still unavailable. Networks like Discovery, ESPN, HBO and more have dedicated HD channels available. These channels are normally not included in regular cable or satellite programming packages so expect to pay a premium for them. In the future, you can expect all programming to roll out in the HD format. Its starting to get there but it is a slow process.
Hopefully this article has given you a little information on HDTV. Deciding to buy HD programming or buy an HDTV can be a difficult decision. Is it worth the price? Only you can make that decision.

There are at least 10 ways you can listen to music and I will describe each of these, their pros and cons, and which is my favorite. Before i begin let me just say that I love to listen to music whether its while exercising, working, driving, or just relaxing on the back deck on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

- Home Stereo System. You can put on a John Coltrane album and sit by the fireplace with your honey and enjoy the magic. The flexibility of the home stereo system is that you can play your music from several formats including record albums, cassette tapes, 8-track tapes, cd’s, reel-to-reel players and others. The pros of the home stereo system are that the sound is probably the best you will get from any source and you probably already have a large collection of albums and cds already. The cons of the home stereo system are that you can’t easily take your system with you and you also can’t easily take your music collection with you. In addition the home stereo system is probably the most expensive way to listen to music.

- Car Stereo. Your car probably has one of the most convenient ways to listen to music and most manufacturers design their systems to be acoustically compatible with the car their in. In other words, rather than just adding a standard radio the manufacturers design the sound system with the acoustical elements of the car itself in mind. Car stereos are getting better and better all the time. The pros of the car stereo system are that they are already installed and can play a variety of formats from cassettes, cd’s radio, etc. In addition, many people spend so much time in their cars commuting that they probably have invested a large amount of money in the format that best suits their system. Cons of the car stereo are that you can’t take it with you when you get to where you are going and it can be difficult and expensive to change your system if you want to upgrade or if there is a problem.

- Sony Walkman type devices. Originally the Sony walkman was a portable radio with a cassette player that has evolved over the years to include other formats. Hardly anyone would carry around a portable cassette player anymore due to the vastly superior choices available today.

- MP3 player. Around 1994 the mp3 format (a format of digital music that took up much less space than a cd formatted song) became available online. Since then there have been improvements in the players such that you can carry around virtually all of your music collection in one device. The pros of these are portability and compactness. The cons are that the mp3 format is of a lesser quality that the original cd digital format and you can easily break or lose your mp3 player.

- iPod. The Apple iPod, while technically an mp3 player, is by far the best available on the market bar none. The iPod is integrated perfectly with the iTunes web site and the uses a much better “lossless” ALAC codec for their music. Sleek in design and way cool the iPod is the mp3 player of choice. I’ll be writing several article on the iPod alone. The pros of the iPod are that it is the world-class leader of mp3 players and the music quality is much better than mp3’s (although it can also play regular mp3′) and it can also play videos (later models). The cons of the iPod are that it is expensive and difficult to repair if something goes wrong. It is also highly desired by thieves so you must be careful with your iPod.

- Satellite Radio. I have both XM and Sirius satellite radios, one for each car. There are differences between the two which I will write about in a different article. I believe that these two companies will probably merge one day. Satellite radios can be listened to in the car, at home, or on the go, depending on the model you have. Many now feature tivo-like abilities to pause, rewind and fast forward music. The pros are that you get more commercial-free music than you can handle. The cons are that you have to pay $12.95 per month for the service and if you can’t decide between the two you may end up with both!

- Computer. Yes you can listen to music at you computer. Most computers these days come with decent speakers and since you can store virtually unlimited number of songs on your hard drive you can keep your entire collection in one place. You could listen to mp3’s, cd’s and dvd’s on your PC as well as download music. The pros are that you can keep all your music conveniently in one place and listen while you work. The cons are that a PC is a very expensive radio.

- Streaming Music. Many people don’t realize but you can listen to the radio from stations all over the world by going online and streaming the music. iTunes and Windows media player both provide this interface as well as yahoo.com, all for free. Whatever your taste in music you can find from an online streaming site. You can even get programs that will record the music into mp3 format for listening later. The pros are that you can listen to virtually any kind of music for free. The con is you generally have to listen from your computer.

- Satellite and Cable Systems. Whether you have Dish, DirectTV or cable at you house, most packages include about 30 music format for listening to and they are all commercial-free. Pros include commercial-free digital quality music. Cons are that you have to pay for all of these and you generally listen over your TV (although you could modify this)

- Live Music. One of the most enjoyable ways to listen to music is to attend a concert of your favorite artist. Depending on the venue the sound can be anywhere from poor to fantastic. It is always fun, though, to hear the music being performed live. Pros: an experience that cannot be duplicated. Cons: can be very expensive and you have just the memory when its over.

That concludes the list of 10 ways to listen to music. By the way, my favorite is a portable XM satellite radio that lets you pause and rewind the songs and lets you store your own music on a memory card.

As home entertainment equipment gets cheaper and the quality gets better each year, more and more people are starting to wonder about setting up their own home cinema system. So what are the advantages and disadvantages of a home cinema compared to just going to the real cinema?

Well, let’s start with price. Sure, going to the cinema can be expensive, especially if you buy popcorn and hotdogs every time, but it’s nothing compared to the cost of buying a home cinema system. For the price all the equipment you need, even though the price is going down, you could still go to the cinema every week for years - and that’s before you consider the cost of buying or renting the films!

However, the fact that you can buy and rent films is a big upside of having a good home entertainment system. When you go to the cinema, your choices are limited to what they’ve got - with a home cinema, combined with the unique power of the Internet to locate almost any DVD in existence; your choices are almost unlimited.

Yes, you have to make your own film food, but at least it’s cheap, and you can have as much as you want. You also don’t have to put up with other people eating and talking through the film - but if you want to pause it and answer your phone then at home you can.

Really, it’s a trade-off, even once you take price out of the equation: you’re never going to get a screen as big and a sound system as good as the one in the cinema, but what you lose in quality you make up for in control. Besides, many movie buffs say that although the picture may be smaller, they believe that the overall quality of the film is higher when they configure their own equipment, instead of leaving it to the underpaid teenagers who staff the projectors in modern cinemas.

Times have changed. Home Entertainment is no longer the days of just plugging in a VCR, a couple of wires, and a big screen TV, and the perils of doing it wrong weigh heavily on the pocketbook and the emotions of the client.  A “true” Home Theater or Media Room is attainable in any home. However, just like building your home, these systems require an architect who personally understands the gentle art of balance in properly designing it for you.
Let’s start by dispelling a major myth about Home Theaters.  A true Home Theater experience is not about new specifications, hype, and poorly designed, dedicated rooms. A quality Home Theater is really about one thing — having a rewarding and relaxing entertainment experience, every time you use it.
We are all too often exposed to Home Theater and Media rooms that are merely fatiguing rooms centered on assaulting noise and super bright, blinding lights.  While these systems, upon a first glance, might be very appealing and enticing at a friend’s home or in a highway store, to live with one on a daily basis is another thing entirely. One runs the risk of getting lost in the mumbo jumbo of specifications and impulsively buying a system for their home that doesn’t offer them what they originally wanted to begin with.  Such a system can actually become more of a disturbance to their lifestyle than a method of relaxation. “True,” carefully designed Home Theaters and Media Rooms enable you to enjoy your system for hours on end in a completely relaxed and engaging experience. They offer you a retreat in your home to hear and see films the way they were intended…and precisely what the movie directors themselves wanted you to experience.

Home Theater and Media Room systems have a complexity that requires real professionals who are genuinely concerned about, and will take the time to uncover your specific and personal needs, wants, and lifestyles.  Sometimes something as simple as changing a few wires or cables can make a huge difference for you.  In fact, correct wire and cable selection, along with carefully chosen and ideally matched equipment, are some of the most critical elements in the success of any home entertainment system. Forgetting whether or not they are genuinely interested in you and your needs, someone who talks to you for five minutes and mumbles a bunch of specs at you cannot possibly be entrusted with the complex task of designing an appropriate system for you. The choices are as numerous as picking fabric for your love seat and matching it to the carpet, and wrong choices just don’t work well together.

Front Row creates extraordinary Home Theater and Media Room systems that are custom-designed to fit each client’s budget, lifestyle and environment. We expertly navigate the maze of state-of-the-art choices for you, to arrive at carefully selected, matched, and personalized entertainment solutions. We then maximize those choices to deliver the highest degree of Audio/Video depth of sound, color, and clarity.
Front Row Home Theaters and Media Rooms become havens for daily retreat for our clientele, and provide you with consistently engaging, emotional, and relaxing experiences. But most of all, you get superior enjoyment in an experience that will “transport you there.” We couple all of this with superb setup and installation, unparalleled service and support, and ease of use.
The world of Audio/Video entertainment is vast. Let Front Row bring an intimate and exciting, warm and inviting, “better than the movies” experience right into your own home…
with or without a dedicated room.

A home theater enables us to view films in the comfortable ambience of our homes. The unique ambience of movie halls can be recreated completely, minus the crowds, and favorite movies can be watched with friends and relatives in comfort. Home theater video projectors are the main component around which the home theater system runs.

At present, there are three kinds of video projector technology in use. They are CRT, LCD, and DLP. Apart from these, there are certain modifications also available based on the technology used for the above three.

During the early years of video projectors, television expertise was centered on Cathode Ray Tube technology, or CRT. Cathode ray tubes are used for the generation of a television image. Three small CRTs with a single unit meant for every principal color, and a light-magnifying lens, helps in the projection of a color representation against a big screen in a dimly lit room. A CRT projector is capable of creating superior high-resolution images. This can be achieved with the help of the right combination of video processing circuitry, CRT size, and lens combination.

The second sort of video projector is the LCD projector, or Liquid Crystal Display. This is different from a CRT projector in the sense that it is not based on the conventional projection tube. An LCD projector primarily operates by delivering a strong light source through a transparent LCD chip comprising of individual pixels, which exhibits the moving video image. This image is subsequently projected through a lens to a big screen.

The rapid developing sort of video projector with respect to sales is the DLP, or Digital Light Processing projector. This type of projector is very similar to the LCD as in this also the real image is exhibited on a chip.