Home Theater Systems » Building A Home

Building a Home Theater in Your Home

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 08:28:39 +0000

A home theater is a great addition to any house. Your home theater could be as simple a living room with a nice couch and a television, or a room with projection style TV screens and stadium seating. Your home theater can be as big an as exciting as you want, and we have all the tips to help you save money and build a home theater in your house for less! Also tips to selecting a new TV, we can help you figure out what’s better a LCD or a Plasma TV for your home. Rememebr when making a home theater for your home, you also have many different options. How big room do you want? Do you actually want a movie theater in your home? The most simple home theater’s could be a living room with a nice tv and surround sound. It all depends on what you want, and how much you are willing to spend. You can spend any ammount of money you want on a home theater system, so try and narrow it down before you begin.

The main goals during your home theater’s construction phase are noise isolation and build quality. If you are going to be watching loud movies in your home theater, you don’t want the sound to echo out into to rest of the house. Also sound the room will sound much better if all the sound stays into the room. Build quality refers to the types of materials you use during construction and how you use them. All materials will affect how the room sounds. Noise isolation refers to how much outside noise reaches into your room and how much of your room’s noise reaches the outside world. This is one of the most important things to consider. Outside noise coming into your home theater is just as bad as inside noise going out. If you want to be simple about your home theater project you don’t really need to worry about this as much. This is just if you are going to actually build a room into your home that is dedicated for home theater. Because of the fact that its so much more expensive to do, if you are going to do it you might as well do it right with the right materials and not skimp there.

Designing your home theater can be a very expensive project, so its best to make sure you know everything you want to do before you get started. Keep in mind when planning a budget that once you start building and construction, no matter how well the budget is planned there are always things and always will go wrong with any project. Keep in mind a good idea when building your home theater in your house is to start out small, and add things along the way so it’s not such a big expense all at once. Starting out small can also give you time to think about what you actually want, and you may be inspired to do new things along the way.

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Does a PS3 act as a receiver for home theater systems?
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About Author

Mike Brake -
About the Author:

Mike Brake is owner/operator of www.abouthomeimprovement.com and is a Home Theater expert.

Tips On Home Theater Painting

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:06:05 +0000

In building a home theater, it is home theater painting that most people neglect. Movie lovers select the most expensive equipment and amplifiers, state-of-the-art speakers and sound system, most comfortable seats, and all other accessories. What most people don’t know is how painting affects the colors and images on screen. This makes it an important aspect to consider if one seeks to achieve the ultimate home cinema experience.

Home theater painting would involve the walls and ceiling. A wide-screen or flat-screen plasma TV or any model of superior quality is the best that you can have. Once you’ve decided on a television set, it is time to choose the paint for the walls and ceilings.

Choose dark-colored, flat or matte-finish paint. Never use glossy paint, as it reflects light from the screen. When walls are flat and non-reflective, the colors from your screen look clearer and more vivid. While black is the ideal choice, the idea of a black room is ghastly. Some choose red or plum tones, while others prefer neutral colors like brown and tan. The idea is to keep the room dark and light reflection minimal.

Also do not choose paints and products like vinyl wallpaper that block vapor. Instead of allowing the walls to “breathe”, these products act as vapor barrier, so moisture condenses and stays on the wall, causing the paint to chip off or deform.

Before painting, it is important to prepare the wall. Repair holes or cracks with Spackle or plaster, then scrape off or sand uneven surfaces. After repair, apply a primer on the surface. The wall should now be ready for painting.

With these tips at hand, you will discover that home theater painting is important as it is easy. By choosing the kind and color of paint, and applying it properly, you are able to enhance your viewing pleasure. So visit your local hardware store and choose from the wide variety of paint colors. Your dream home theater is just a few paint strokes away!

By: Tim Lee

Home Theater Video

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:08:30 +0000

Today, the possibilities for building a home entertainment system are nearly inexhaustible. Different variations and combinations of high-tech components allow viewers to re-create the movie theater experience in their own living rooms. Consumers have a world of equipment to choose from. With so many options available, it’s best to have a little information prior to purchase.

Next to audio capability, the most important element in home theater, is, of course, video. Large-screen direct-view televisions are an affordable way to go. However, if you’re looking to invest in a fancier model, front-projection and rear-projection sets are also available.

Direct-view sets are conventional TVs, the kind most viewers know well. They have cathode ray tubes and a phosphor coated screen. The tube restricts the size of this kind of TV. In fact, the largest direct-view TV on the market has a screen of 40 inches. Image contrast is an important factor to consider when comparing direct-view TVs. If the set has a darker screen, you’ll get a superior picture. This is because the contrast between light and dark will be more pronounced. Sets with flatter screens also provide a better picture, because distortion and glare are minimized. A direct-view set can be purchased for about $300.

Viewers interested in larger screens should consider purchasing a projection television. Because projection TVs don’t employ cathode ray tubes, there are no limitations with these models where size is concerned. These TV use projection screens, and they produce a picture through the use of three cathode ray tubes. The tubes divide the video signal into colors (red, blue, and green). The three tubes project onto a mirror in the set. The mirror then sends the color image onto the screen. Shoppers can purchase rear-projection models with 45-inch screens for about $1500.

A front-projection TV functions in a manner similar to a rear-projection set. A front-projection set is somewhat like a film projector, though. The operating system of the set is not stored in a traditional TV case. Instead, the TVs cathode ray tubes are kept in a single unit. The TV image is projected onto a fabric screen, which means that there is almost no limitation on screen size. 200-inch screens are available. Projection TVs can be hard to set up, and they work best in a darkened room. They must be installed at the proper distance from the screen, and the cathode ray tubes have to be set up properly. Viewers who are considering the purchase of a front-projection set should keep in mind that these TVs are designed to operate in a designated home theater space rather than a den or living room. Front-projection sets cost around $7,000.

By: Julia Hall

Home Theater Tips

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:10:41 +0000

Building a home theater can be a challenge, here are a few tips that may make things simpler.

Keep it simple

You don’t need to start out with the best of everything, start out simple and then build on what you have. The cost of everything electronic is dropping every day so you can save money by waiting until you really need that motorized screen or those expensive speakers.

Use a flat white wall for a screen and add curtains later for a nice effect. If you purchase a screen, you may find that you are locked into a fixed format or screen width. With a wall you are only limited by the walls on the side of the theater.

Plan ahead

If you are placing anything behind walls, be sure to use the highest quality, so that you are not tearing out walls to replace inferior cables. Install DVI or HDMI cables of the best quality to be sure that you are compatible with current and future products.

Locate the controls at a convenient location. A control console next to where you are seated is nice, or if you are planning on using a remote, be sure that the receiver is in front of you so that you are not turning around to change channels or the volume.

Think about the seating and how many people you want in your theater at any one time. you want everyone to have a perfect seat. avoid placing seats too far to the sides or behind one another. You will need at least twelve feet of width to accommodate four comfortable chairs.

If you planning a large theater with more than a few rows consider stadium style seating to ensure that everyone has a clear view. A sunken floor would be best, where you enter from the rear and walk down to the front row. If you have a basement with 10 or 12 foot high ceilings, build up the floor leading to the theater and then ramp down to the screen area. Be sure to keep the crawl space well ventilated and dry. This would also solve the problem of routing cables and power.

Avoid a room with windows or block them completely. Provide control lighting for the walk area that does not shine onto the screen. Rope lighting is great or even night lights evenly spaced.

Projector or large screen display?

I like a projector best for cost savings and better overall viewing. 1080p projectors under $5,000 became available in 2006. Some even ship with a spare lamp which will be the largest expense to maintain your theater. HDMI inputs are a must for any new equipment you install.
With a projector and a dark room you can create almost any size viewing screen you like, just don’t sit so close to a large screen that you have to keep turning your head to catch everything.

Plasma TV screens have wider viewing angles than LCD flat-panel televisions. That means you can sit at more of an angle and still get the best picture. With most TV technologies, including plasma TV, the picture stays the same from virtually any angle. With LCD TVs’, however, sitting too far to one side will result in a loss of brightness. 50 inch screens are about limit for Plasma TV screens at the present and the heavy weight should be considered when mounting to a wall.

In the near we will have Organic LED displays (OLED) which should be light, emit light like the Plasma and come in just about any size. These screens are just now showing up in small hand held devices and laptops. SONY has announced a 27-inch Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) capable of Full HD (1080p) performance in what SONY calls a “razor-thin” form factor.

A final nice touch would be a central control panel for all of those remotes. Try mounting all the remotes in a box with the front open for the IR light and clamp it to the side of your favorite chair. Use foam to cut out recesses for the controls so that the buttons are flush with the top of the box.

Try to keep your theater flexible and don’t lock yourself into a small screen or older analog equipment.

By: Hubert Crowell

Building a Home Theater

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:35:47 +0000

The first step in building a good home theater is to get a job with a major producer of projection equipment to learn how to set up and maintain your home theater. Although this is what I did, of course it is not necessary to go to that extreme.

My training and experience with Barco Projection Systems, helped in setting up and obtaining the equipment needed for my home theater. I started with a dark basement room that was only about 9 by 20 feet. I had used it for many things over the years, from a play room for my daughter, to a workshop, a space ship, and now a home theater.

From work at Barco, where they were remodeling, I picked up some cloth-covered wall dividers they were throwing out and placed them along the sides of the theater too hide the cinder block walls and reduce the echo for sound improvement. I then paneled and painted the end wall a flat white for the screen. I use the entire wall for a screen with no border, that way the projected image becomes the border and it never looks like the movie is not filling the screen when watching a wide screen version.

It is good to know that all movies are shot on 4/3 ratio film. Wide screen versions just crop the top and bottom to make it look wide. I usually test a movie in both wide screen version and full screen to see where they are cutting the image. Sometimes after a movie had been edited to wide screen it is cut again on the sides to provide a full screen version. Kodak has produced such a high quality of movie film that it allowed the film makers to reduce the area of the raw film and still get an acceptable resolution. I enjoy both the wide screen and full screen versions. But is nice to fill out the entire wall with the picture.

For a projector, I kept my ears open for units being scrapped or sold cheep to employees. A few years after working for Barco they sold off some of the older demo equipment and I picked a Barco Graphic 400 projector. At the same time I bought a second broken projector for spare parts. Total cost was $150.00. Over the years with Barco I collected other used or broken equipment to add to my theater. The Video Enhancer VSE20 was a much needed accessory. Without line doubling the large image produces horizontal lines resulting from the resolution of the TV quality image from tapes and DVDs. The line doubling smooths out and fills in the missing information on the screen, resulting in HDTV quality from all TV and DVD input. No need to buy a HDTV.

With a good stock of extra parts for my old projector and a set of service manuals, I should be in good shape for many years to come. I have had to make a few repairs and adjustments over the years, but it has been worth it. The VS20 creates a lot of heat and after about two hours I would have to let it cool down, so I installed two quiet CPU fans on top of the chassis and solved the problem. When I started building the theater I picked up a display sound system from K-Mart for under a hundred dollars and the surround sound has been great. The projector is mounted overhead so it is not in the way and we have four nice rockers for viewing the movies.

For an added touch I installed rope light along the ceiling with a dimmer control. We occasionally watch TV in the theater but mostly save it for movies. We don’t rent anymore, and try to pick out good DVDs to add to our collection. My favorite movie is Ground Hog Day, I never get tired of watching it and it is much better without the commercials.

You can still get good used projectors on E-Bay, try searching “BARCO” and look for projection equipment and video enhancers. The Small DLP technology projectors for under a thousand dollars make good home theaters also and video enhancing is not needed as you can only get the resolution that the projector is capable of. The digital processor in the projector acts as the video enchancer. The large image may not be as smooth as with a CRT projector and the lamp replacement costs are factors to consider when obtaining a large screen projector.

By: Hubert Crowell