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Richard Fisher

Richard Fisher

A/V Science Director

Richard Fisher is the President of Mastertech Repair Corporation, serving north east Atlanta, Georgia, and has been servicing, calibrating and reviewing audio video products since 1981. Tech Services USA, a division of Mastertech, creates sites, communities and libraries for consumers and professionals to share their technology knowledge and learn from each other. These include The ISF Forum and HD Library. HDTV Magazine exclusively publishes HD Library and Forum for Tech Services USA.

Richard is ISF and HAA certified providing calibration and A/V reproduction engineering services. Richard is a technical consultant and also provides performance ISF and HAA home theater systems and calibration via Custom HT. Mastertech Repair Corporation is a factory authorized service center for Hitachi, Mitsubishi and Toshiba and a member of the National Electronics Servicing Dealers Association, NESDA, and the Georgia Electronics Servicing Dealers Association, GESDA.

15 Articles11 Reviews3 ColumnsRSS

Articles by Richard Fisher

3DTVDLP TVsHome Theater

From the Trenches - 2 Million 3D Ready Displays Already in the Home, but...

Mitsubishi and Samsung DLP rear projection HDTVs sold over the past three years use a wobulated 960x1080 DMD chip running at 120 Hz to produce a 1920x1080 2D image, making roughly 2 million existing sets technically 3D-ready without a new display purchase. In 3D mode, the checkerboard processing splits left and right eye images at half resolution per eye, and a required 3DC-1000 adapter will handle the Blu-ray 3D 48 Hz standard. Owners should verify compatibility before replacing a working set, but should also understand the per-eye resolution trade-off before assuming full 1920x1080 3D performance.

Columns
WirelessHD - Integrating Wireless HDMI For Displays
Home TheaterHDMIStandards

WirelessHD - Integrating Wireless HDMI For Displays

WirelessHD operates exclusively in the 60 GHz band via SiBeam technology, supporting lossless transmission of 4:4:4 color depth, HD audio bitstreams, and multi-channel PCM at distances up to 30 feet within a single room. Unlike competing standards such as WHDI, which employs perceptual masking compression similar to MP3 encoding and caps video at 1080p/30fps, WirelessHD passes stringent interoperability testing including full HDMI CEC protocol support. For performance-focused buyers, understanding these technical distinctions is critical before committing to any wireless display solution.

Articles
Home Theater3DTV

3D HDTV in the Home

Stereoscopic 3D HDTV for home use relies on two competing display approaches: active LCD shutter glasses operating at 120 Hz (60 frames per eye) and passive polarizing systems that halve vertical resolution to 1920x540 per eye. Hands-on demos at CEDIA from Sony, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, and Digital Projection revealed that active shutter glasses cause measurable light output reduction, color temperature shifts, flicker, and eye fatigue, while passive X-pol systems avoid those issues but deliver visibly degraded resolution. Full-resolution 3D delivery via Blu-ray will require HDMI 1.4 bandwidth, making display and source upgrades unavoidable for consumers pursuing reference-quality 3D.

Articles
Home TheaterOTA Set-Top Boxes (STBs)Satellite HD

CEDIA 2009 Review: PC Home Theater Integration

PC home theater integration remains elusive in 2009, with Cable Card support inconsistently adopted by local providers and a full IP-based cable transition potentially forcing half the market onto set-top boxes within 5-10 years. Satellite stands out as the most promising universal solution for delivering SD and HD broadcast content to a PC, with both Dish and DirecTV demonstrating working prototypes at CEDIA 2009, though content protection remains the primary obstacle to commercialization. In the meantime, devices like the PS3, Xbox 360, and TiVo are already delivering multimedia directly to the main display, leaving full PC integration largely a pursuit for enthusiasts.

Articles
Home TheaterStreaming HDSmart TVs

CEDIA 2009 Review: Multimedia Directly To Your Display

At CEDIA 2009, manufacturers including Samsung, LG, and Mitsubishi showcased smart TV platforms integrating Yahoo widgets, VUDU HD movie streaming, and Netflix instant video directly into HDTVs and Blu-ray players, with Samsung's Internet@TV suite offering DLNA compatibility and dual USB 2.0 ports for local media playback. Netflix confirmed partnerships spanning LG, Samsung, Roku, Xbox 360, TiVo, and upcoming Sony and VIZIO displays, though wireless delivery risks cutting streaming throughput by roughly half compared to wired connections. Despite the feature expansion, real-world adoption remains low, with most consumers unaware of or unable to navigate these capabilities.

Articles