Walt Disney Studios and Monster Cable have joined forces to create an educational DVD to enlighten Monster consumers how to get the most out of their home theater experience. This demo video is available along with Monster merchandise and covers everything from how to purchase a home theater system, to hooking it up to maximize your system’s performance. The disc includes 5 chapters of educational material. Let’s take a look at some of the insightful information Disney and Monster want to share with you.

Welcome to the World of Higher Definition.

This introductory chapter is covers the basics of HD (higher definition). Cali Lewis from GeekBrief.TV is your guide in this disc to understanding HD and home theater technology. You’ll be treated to several guest speakers throughout the video who are experts in home theater systems as well. The first chapter in this demo explains what you can expect to learn in the chapters to come. A note that is stressed in this introductory chapter is that come 2009, television is going digital. So there’s no time like the present to upgrade. Also, if you have a HDTV, but watch movies on a DVD player made before 2007, you’re not watching true “HD.” This is a common misconception that people have about HDTV.

Purchasing Your HD Home Theater.

This disc breaks down what exactly you need to consider when buying your home theater system. Now in most cases, if you already have the disc in your possession, you most likely went shopping/browsing for your home theater. You may have already considered what you need for your HTS, but did you think of the 4 C’s? They are as follows:

Components: These are things like your HDTV, your DVD players, Blu-Ray and your speaker system.

Cables: Are you buying the right cables to transfer your sound properly?

Content: This means making sure what you’re watching is in fact, HDTV

Control: Have you thought about how you’re going to control all of this great media equipment? Surely you didn’t just plan on juggling 5 remotes. One word: Universal!

Putting it All Together.

Making your home theater system run like one well-oiled machine is easier said than done. This disc has a chapter all about hooking your system up. It’s actually quite a helpful chapter in the demo, and covers things that maybe some of us would overlook. For example, are you placing your TV in a spot that will leave some members of the viewing audience left out? Looking at displays from an angle can make the picture look dim. Also, did you know that plasma screens weigh a lot more than LCD screens? It can make wall mounting your display tricky if you don’t take those details into consideration. Also, plasma displays can have a distracting glare from lights in the room, or from windows. LCD’s seem to have their bases covered might be a better option in general.

Also, something insightful on this disc is the discussion of “Dirty Power.” It’s something that people should be aware of whenever they are hooking up electronics, especially those they’ve paid good money for. The DVD does a good job of discussion the theory of dirty power, but I want to explain it again, as simply as possible. Electricity is not constant. When we turn on our faucets, the water flows evenly and uninterrupted. This is not the case with electricity. Electricity “spikes” and can cause problems with electronics. You may notice if you turn on a vacuum cleaner or hair-dryer that your lights will flicker. These spikes of electricity can become and issue and even damage your home theater system. Your sound quality may not be at it’s best, no matter how good your cables are, simply because of your electric current. Surges in electricity because of power outages of lightening strikes can ruin your electronics, leaving you to replace all of it. Purchasing electricity conditioners (which can be extremely expensive) and high quality surge protectors are your best bet at keeping your home theater safe and running at it’s potential. Surges can come in waves, and some protectors will save your media from that initial surge, but will fail should a second surge charge through.

Bonus

Seems like no DVD is complete without bonus tracks. This disc has a section of bonus material to help you troubleshoot any of your home theater problems. Barb Gonzalez, author of Home Theater Made Simple takes you through several situations of when things can go wrong with home theater systems. These are common problems users have, such as no sound, no picture and trouble with screen color. An important note to remember, as with all electronics: Save your user manuals!

So for the first time home theater system buyer or the eager up grader, this disc can help ease your mind with the dozens of questions you may have about HDTV and home theater systems. This disc should be readily available wherever Monster power products are sold, and does include some great coupons for Monster products, Blu-Ray and Walt Disney Home Studios Entertainment.