now for some clips…

here’s another video. skip to about 1:30 for some dancing action.

i’m told that to see it in action, in person, is breathtaking. i’m also told that the screen cost a whopping $22million to design, construct and install.

for that money, you get the following…

1. the largest four-millimeter LED screen in the world, measuring 83.3ft x 25.4ft

2. 10 million pixels mounted in a seamless flat array - that’s 5 times the resolution of high-definition tv

3. an automated control room, home to 27′000 gigabytes of information, six dx-700 led digitizers, seven encore video processors and three matrixpro routers

wow.

at least we now know where some of the bandwidth charges are gonna go.

sources: 1, 2

however this is also giving a few movie geeks a real chance to shine and it seems they’re not content with a simple in-home movie theatre decent enough to hold a premiere in - they clearly want to be fully immersed in the worlds created by their favourite films.

so, in no particular order, here are 10 of the best themed home cinemas on earth…

1. indiana jones cinema

this amazing indy-themed room was designed by home theatre expert doug charrois for larry and colleen halliday in canada. the room even features ‘replicas of the holy grail, a jacket, hat, whips, torches and more—including the idol from the opening of the original movie’.

more info here.

2. the batcave

above is possibly the sleekest home theatre i’ve ever seen. it was created by canadian-based experts ‘elite home theater seating’, who, as the name suggests, specialize in hand-made, custom home theater furniture for ‘high-end’ clientele. and bruce wayne.
more info here.

3. the enterprise ncc-1701d cinema

based on starship enterprise ncc-1701d, this stunner consists of a cinema, bar area and apparently ‘one of the largest kaleidoscope hard-drive based storage systems (..) in a residential installation. at last count, there were eight servers with 3,816 dvds’. there’s even a red alert button which brings on red flashing lights and appropriately tense music.

more info here.

4. the bridge

trekkie gary reighn decided to cut out the middle man and design & build his home cinema himself on a relatively small budget of $15′000. his basement was cleared to make way for the creation and from start to finish took 2 years.

more info here.

5. evergreen ultimate theater

apparently ‘one of the most technically and structurally advanced private theaters in the united states’, this phenomenal star trek home cinema even contains motorised sliding doors, as requested by the unbelievably rich client who paid around $3′000′000 in total for the transformation.

more info here.

6. titanic

the ceiling dome in this titanic themed set-up contains 1′230 fiber optic light strands in order to provide the artificial night sky and entry to the luxurious bar next door can be found behind a motorised bookcase. the whole project was designed by donny hackett of ‘casa cinema design’.

more info here.

7. the death star

it doesn’t get much cooler than this. the 10-seat death star home cinema was designed for vic wertz and lisa stevens and includes, amongst other things: automatic doors, a twinkling fiber optic star field and a thx sound system. the best fact? the room was designed by doug chiang, lead designer on episodes I & II.

more info here and here:

8. the nautilus

this beauty was built as a result of film geek randy moran’s love of the nautilus submarine from the film 20′000 leagues under the sea. he hired ‘dillon works inc’ to build and fabricate all the trusses, wall panels, screen frames, and portholes and ‘acoustic innovations’ to supply the plush red seating.

more info here.

9. the pirate cove

the pirate cove was created as a result of avs forum user pkonold’s love of the pirates of the carribean disney ride and movies. to make the atmosphere as authentic as possible he and his wife ensured that when seated ‘you feel like you are floating down “the bayou” at night. to accomplish this we have built a star field in the ceiling, complete with real constellations and shooting stars!’.

more info here.

10. the sci-fi cinema

ok, so the screen isn’t the biggest and the seats are slightly lacking but inside dr. david winn’s home cinema can be found: a hydraulic alien bursting through the wall, a talking robbie the robot and both the predator and the creature from the black lagoon behind bars. the cinema, including all collectibles, cost approximately $100′000.

more info here.

in order to celebrate tv remotes, here are some interesting, bizarre, sometimes ridiculous examples of a gadget used on a daily basis by most of the people reading this blog (it’s a safe generalisation. don’t start feverishly typing abuse just because a few of you don’t have a tv).

1. garod tele-zoom

manufacturer: garod

one of the first tv remote controls ever seen by the unsuspecting public was the 1948 garod tele-zoom: a small, round, heavily varnished, single button remote which was connected to the tv by a 20 foot cable. rather than enabling lazy viewers to do something useful like switch channels or adjust the volume, a press of the button would simply crop the image on screen and zoom in - a feature i’m sure most people were pining for.

2. zenith lazy bones

manufacturer: zenith

the first ever tv remote control that could actually change channels was the zenith lazy bones, released in 1955. as with the garod tele-zoom, the lazy bones was attached to the tv by way of a long cable, perfect for tripping up relatives and causing frustration due to entanglement. as the advert says, ‘it’s like something out of the arabian nights!’.

3. zenith flash-matic

manufacturer: zenith

created by engineer eugene polley (above) in 1955, the zenith flash-matic was the world’s first wireless tv remote control and looked a lot like a flashlight. a beam of light had to be aimed accurately at one of the 4 corners of the tv set for it to work, the remote enabling you to either turn the tv on/off, change channels or mute the sound. the flash-matic system was pretty frustrating in the daytime due to the fact that the sun had more chance of hitting the sensors than the remote-holding human and would cause the tv to sporadically change channel.

4. zenith space commander 200

manufacturer: zenith

no, this isn’t an old games console cartridge - it’s the world’s first ever functional wireless tv remote control that wasn’t affected by sunlight and was designed by ‘the godfather or remotes’, the late robert adler, in 1956. the available options for the viewer were simply ‘channel up’ & ‘mute’ and the system worked using ultrasound. depending on which button the user pressed, the control emitted a frequency which was detected by the tv set.

5. art lebedev pultius

designer: art lebedev

with a baffling but brilliant length of 20″, the art lebedev pultius would be the longest tv remote control in the world (no fact source needed as i refuse to believe there’s a longer one) if produced - at the moment it’s just a concept. much of the remote’s body is covered with buttons numbered 1-99 meaning you would hardly ever need to press a combination of buttons to get your desired channel. also, running out of battery power would never cause a problem as you could probably prod the relevant buttons on the tv set from quite a distance.

6. pogo ezpower universal remote control

manufacturer: pogo

one of my pet peeves is the death of the remote’s batteries at a crucial time. many times during ad breaks i’ve found myself rolling duracells in my hands, putting them in the fridge, licking the ends (i possibly confused a couple of tips) - all just to get a couple more hours from the remote. the environmentally friendly ezpower remote doesn’t require batteries to work and can control up to 6 devices. all you need to do is wind it up and a full charge will power the remote for 7 days.

7. bang & olufsen beo5

manufacturer: bang & olufsen

welcome to the mother of all remote controls. obviously, this ‘remote control’ isn’t just for your tv - it’s programmed to order and can control your tv, stereo, dvd player, security system and even air-conditioning. it’s probably got more processing power than my pc and at around £350 is definitely more expensive. as of yet i’m unsure whether it comes with a remote control.

8. invoca voice activated remote control

manufacturer: brookstone

if, like me, you’re tired of having to either reach for the remote or use finger and wrist power to change channels whilst lazing around on the couch, this product could be for you. it can learn up to 25 commands, chosen by you, which will subsequently be carried out as you bark orders from your seat. it also sits in a charging station which means as long as you pay your electricity bill on time, the power won’t run out.

9. innovage jumbo universal remote

manufacturer: innovage

the innovage jumbo remote is possibly the best remote control on earth. just look at it and try not to smile. intended for those with impaired vision or dexterity (but extremely muscular arms) and measuring 11″ x 5″, this beast would also be suitable for humans with very beefy fingertips or paw bearing, tv watching animals such as yogi bear or scooby doo.

10. curitel pt-l1800 mobile phone remote

manufacturer: curitel

the curitel pt-l1800 is a south korean mobile phone and the reason it’s featured is because utterly bone-idle owners of the device are supplied with a remote control for video playback. surely, with a screen that small (unless you have the eyesight of a superhero) you will always be sitting close enough to the phone to either turn up the volume or change channel?

bonus product…

multimedia remote control wrangler

designer: rodd miller

to finish, i’d like to draw your attention to a remote control accessory known as the ‘remote wrangler’, an invention that’ll probably cause you to kick yourself in the face for not thinking of it first.

the next time you misplace the remote and then scratch your head in bemusement you’ll instantly solve your problem. the good news is, the wrangler can also hold mp3 players, meaning you have an excuse to wear this sexy device outdoors.

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

i reckon the guy in the first photo succumbed a long time ago and now works directly for the dishes.

munich…

kosovo…

tehran (please note, they’re illegal here)…

kabul…

amsterdam…