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Pascal Sijen · 14th December 2006

There are two basic difference between "Professional THX" and "Consumer THX". With a consumer system, the hardware is "certified" to meet a certain performance criteria. For professionals, the hardware is "approved for use in a THX Certified studio / cinema". Therefore, in order to have studio 'THX Certified', you need to work with THX on the design and implementation of the complete studio or theater and then the theater or studio is tested against industry / THX standards. So, even after using THX approved gear, you may not get certified. This could happen, for example, if the HVAC system is way too loud (common problem in theaters).

The cost for a manufacturer to have product THX "Approved", in a professional application, is considerably less, as compared to THX Consumer certification. The THX Consumer certification is a licensing program, not just a testing and "approval" program.

I actually worked for THX Professional for a little over 5 years, when THX was still part of Lucasfilm Ltd. I can tell you that the people who work there do genuinely care about quality. Additionally, the mandate given by George Lucas, was to find ways to both improve the quality of movie playback and make it more consistent between all venues. It certainly wasn't a big profit center for Lucasfilm and was never intended to be "scam".

Anyway, the THX website has a lot of information about the processes involved (www.thx.com)
... also this link has some good information on the consumer side of things.
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...06-part-1.html

Cheers!

14th December 2006	#8
Pascal Sijen Gear maniac Join Date: May 2003 Location: La Quinta, CA Posts: 221	There are two basic difference between "Professional THX" and "Consumer THX". With a consumer system, the hardware is "certified" to meet a certain performance criteria. For professionals, the hardware is "approved for use in a THX Certified studio / cinema". Therefore, in order to have studio 'THX Certified', you need to work with THX on the design and implementation of the complete studio or theater and then the theater or studio is tested against industry / THX standards. So, even after using THX approved gear, you may not get certified. This could happen, for example, if the HVAC system is way too loud (common problem in theaters). The cost for a manufacturer to have product THX "Approved", in a professional application, is considerably less, as compared to THX Consumer certification. The THX Consumer certification is a licensing program, not just a testing and "approval" program. I actually worked for THX Professional for a little over 5 years, when THX was still part of Lucasfilm Ltd. I can tell you that the people who work there do genuinely care about quality. Additionally, the mandate given by George Lucas, was to find ways to both improve the quality of movie playback and make it more consistent between all venues. It certainly wasn't a big profit center for Lucasfilm and was never intended to be "scam". Anyway, the THX website has a lot of information about the processes involved (www.thx.com) ... also this link has some good information on the consumer side of things. http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...06-part-1.html Cheers! __________________ *Pascal Sijen* Director, Product Management, Cinema Solutions @ Dolby Labs \| Former Co-Founder Blue Sky Int. & Audio Design Labs Inc. \| I'm also a geek in my spare time.