True Films 3.0 - Kevin Kelly

the kind of portable conference projector you see advertised in airline
magazines. You can get a good one now for $800. The quality of even
the low-end projectors exceeds the quality of video, although it is not up
to High Definition yet. I recommend the Epson Powerlite S1, or whatever
will replace it (models obsolesce within a year). You hook it up to an
everyday DVD player. The setup works perfectly fine. So many folks have
discovered this trick that manufactures like Epson, In Focus and Sharp
now market models for precisely this use.
If your wall is white and uncluttered you can project onto the wall, or you
can find an inexpensive roll-up screen, which is what we did. In addition
to the small projector we also added inexpensive surround sound to the
room. You can get wireless speakers these days which make installation
easy. The full experience is as about as good as our local half-plex theater.
Is it perfect? No. Our cheap home theater quality does not match the experience
of viewing a good print on a large screen in a good theater. Also,
because of the large windows in our room, we use the theater mostly at
night. The projector has a fan in it so it is not as silent as a TV or a flat
panel, but in a large room with the volume cranked up you won’t notice.
All the electronic gear sits compactly hidden beneath a tiny end table,
on the floor. (By design the projector angles upward slightly so it fills the
screen from the floor perfectly.) Most visitors to the room don’t have any
idea that it can transform into a serviceable home theater in the time it
takes to roll down the screen.
Enjoy. And let me know which films you like the best. Even better, tell me
about one I missed. I plan to do future editions and I’ll share your tip.
– Kevin Kelly
Winter 2007