Web history
hjemmekino.no – from 1997 to today
The story of hjemmekino.no: launched in 1997, six years as part of Akers Mic and two appearances on NRK about HDTV and the new HD formats.
I started hjemmekino.no in 1997. My interest in picture, sound and film had grown to the point where I wanted to collect what I learned and explain the technology on the web.
Choosing home cinema and AV equipment as the subject was not accidental. I was educated in electronics, hold a Norwegian trade certificate in audio/video and had worked as an electronics repair technician. That technical background gave me both the interest and the foundation needed to explain how the equipment actually worked — not merely how it was marketed.
It began as a personal project at a time when both the web and home cinema as a field of interest were developing rapidly. The site became a place for guides, explanations and advice on creating a better cinema experience at home.
Part of Akers Mic from 1998 to 2004
From 1998 to 2004, hjemmekino.no was part of Akers Mic, where I worked as web editor. The connection gave the site a clear place in a professional audio and video environment while I continued building its content and knowledge base.
When the collaboration launched, Digi.no covered it in the article “Akers Mic aims to capture film enthusiasts” on 25 May 1998. It described how Hjemmekino Web had grown from my private home page and noted that I had registered the hjemmekino.no domain. I was to serve as editor and retain the freedom to cover products that Akers Mic did not sell.
At launch, the site already contained 23 guides covering subjects such as speaker placement and the differences between THX and Dolby Digital. This reflected the ambition from the beginning: the site was intended to be more than a product catalogue and to focus primarily on explaining the technology.
Since 2004, hjemmekino.no has been independent. That format made it possible to continue with the same basic idea: understand the technology, organize the knowledge and make it available to others.
The AVForum community
For many years, I was highly active on AVForum and served as a moderator there.
Two appearances on NRK
In 2007, I appeared twice on NRK’s consumer programme Forbrukerinspektørene, one week apart:
- 26 September 2007: HDTV – I explained HDTV and what the new television technology meant for consumers.
- 3 October 2007: Blu-ray and HD DVD – I discussed the competing formats for high-definition films.
Both topics were new and surrounded by terminology and format choices that were difficult to navigate. This was exactly the kind of technology hjemmekino.no was created to explain.
A long-term knowledge project
hjemmekino.no established a pattern I later carried into other projects: study the details, structure the information and publish the result on an independent website.
Today, hjemmekino.no remains an independent resource with guides covering audio, video, rooms, acoustics, setup and calibration.