Home Theater Systems » Blackout Curtains

Home Theater – Plasma TV VS Projectors

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:10:24 +0000

Many homeowners are struggling with an important, electronic question: What is the ideal display for my home theater? Many people have fought this debate, but I’ll try to make clear some important considerations.

The most important detail to consider when deciding between a projector and a large plasma television is ambient light. A room with lots of windows presents a problem for a projector because every little bit of ambient lighting degrades the projected image. The ideal environment for a projector is one where you have total control over the lighting. If your home theater uses a projector, you are limited to using it when you can eliminate other light. A plasma screen can be used anyplace, anytime.

Assuming your home theater has blackout curtains, or exists deep underground; let’s examine differences between a plasma television and a projector. One advantage of a projector is that you can get a much larger picture than is available in plasma. Projectors can produce images comparable to an 81-inch screen and larger. This just isn’t possible with a plasma screen. However, plasma’s have the advantage of not needing any amount of space. A projector must have a long enough corridor to project its image on the wall or screen. To get an 81-inch or greater image, you need a decent distance between the projector and the target. Second, a projector’s image is dependent on more than the quality of the projector; you must be projecting onto a specialized surface or you lose detail. A top of the line HD projector with a very high native resolution would be wasted if you were just projecting the image onto a wall. You need an equally high quality screen with features such as a matte finish to eliminate reflection and glare. A plasma display requires no additional equipment.

Overall, a projector has the potential of creating a beautiful image, but it needs too much to work effectively. If you’re creating a private movie theater with lighting control and an investment in a screen, mounting equipment, and blackout curtains, then a projector is your piece of equipment. For everyone else, I suggest a plasma television.

By: Jakob Culver

Planning A Front Projection Home Theater System?

admin — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:48:05 +0000

Many people wonder what the notion of a home theater actually is. It can certainly mean different things to different people – ranging from your basic large screen TV and set of stereo speakers to your complete system including front projector and screen with integrated sound etc. It is the latter set-up which is obviously the more expensive but is becoming more and more popular as homeowners seek the complete theatre experience in their own home.

Most of us love a night out at the pictures but if you could grab all the best bits from that experience and leave all the annoying aspects (don’t you just hate those teenagers who seem to think they can holler and shout and not give a stuff!) you would surely have the dream ticket. That is exactly what more and more are turning to when it comes to spending their hard earned cash.

If you are going to have a front projection system, you have to plan it properly from the start. It is no good spending a sizeable amount of money on an elaborate system and a couple of months down the line realising that the room in which you have installed it just doesn’t lend itself to the equipment you have had installed.

It is recommended that you set aside a room specially for the installation of your front projection home theater. Ideally it should be around 20′ by 15′ and obviously with suitable vertical height for the projector installation – minimum of 7′ should suffice. You need to make sure the room is appropriate for considerable sound – so perhaps timber framed stud walls would not be the most suitable, and also you need to be aware of the ambient light factor. Blackout curtains would help to ensure no interference with your top-quality visual experience.

It is also highly recommended that you budget for professional installation. Having the entire system fitted out by an expert with all different components integrated and fully tested and everything concealed and tidy, is a great move to make. It will save you untold hours of frustration, unless that is you are already adept in this field. Set aside around $1000 for the completion of this vital task.

In terms of cost for the entire system, you obviously need to do your own research and decide on which individual components you want to include in your overall system. For a good system which should serve the needs of most customers perfectly well you would be looking at the 10-20K price range. If you think of that total, spread over a certain amount of time on credit, it should be within reach of most individuals who are serious about providing an excellent system for the entire family to benefit from for years to come.

In short, it is imperative that you do careful research and planning both in terms of the space available within your home, and of course the best system available for a budget you can afford. If proper planning has been carried out, it will be a very enriching experience from the start.

By: Jonny Strong

Curtains For Home Theater Screens

admin — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:38:20 +0000

Curtains are one of the most important accessories for a home theater and work in the same way as for windows. They add that beautiful look to the room and also hide the screen. They are ideal when the room is being used for some other purpose and the screen cannot be moved out. Besides, curtains also give the feel of a real theater. The curtains can be classified as blackout lined curtains and unlined curtains. They are available in many different sizes: 28 inch, 48 inch, 68 inch, 88 inch, 108 inch, 128 inch, 148 inch, 168 inch, and 188 inch. They can also be classified in the way they open or the way they are drawn, like center opening, two-way draw and one-way draw.

Home theater curtains are available in an extensive range of colors to match the décor of the room. These colors include avocado, blue, pink, sage, yellow, birch, bordeaux, camel, cherry, cloud, eggplant, forest, gold, herb, hunter, indigo, leaf, melon, mink, noir, sand, scarlet, sequin, and taupe.

Suppliers are also offering custom-designed home theater curtains that can be made to specific requirements in terms of height, width, color, type etc. The ideal way is to provide measurement of the rod length, to which the manufacturer would add another 6 or 12 inches, depending on the kind of draw.

The prices of home theater curtains start from $100. They vary depending upon the size and the material used. The minimum price of a 1-20 inch height curtain with a two-way draw would cost around $130 while that of a 91-108 inch height curtain with a 2-way draw would cost around $320 or even more. A 188-inch curtain would be priced at $700 or more. Some interesting options are also available, like manual or electrical curtain rods with or without curtains.

By: Alison Cole