Home Theater Systems » Curtains

Home Theater Rooms – Upgrading to One

admin — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:33:27 +0000

With the introduction of relatively cheap varieties of home theater equipment into the market, it isn’t surprising to hear of households converting old TV rooms into home theater rooms, where widescreen television sets and surround sound stereo components strike as superstars.

The process of converting old TV rooms, or any room for that matter, into home theater rooms basically involves a two stage process, the first stage dealing with the purchasing and/or upgrading of the necessary home theater equipment. The second stage revolves around setting up the actual room for conversion, adjusting the room to compliment the purchased/upgraded home theater equipment.

When it comes to purchasing/upgrading the necessary equipment for home theater rooms, two main devices have to be primarily considered. First the main viewing screen, followed by a surround sound system. As a home theater system’s basic difference from a simple TV lies on a surround sound system, “tailor cutting” a room to maximize a surround system’s performance is quite essential.

Once the necessary home theater equipment is purchased, the second stage in converting old TV rooms to home theater rooms come into play.

Enclosed space would be more ideal for home theater rooms, as open rooms don’t have good acoustic quality. Most top-of-the-line home theater rooms are lined with curtains and have carpeted floors, improving the overall acoustic quality of the room, taking this layout from actual movie theaters. It isn’t necessary for home theater rooms to be rigged with curtains and carpeted floors, but it would greatly enhance sound and lighting conditions. As with most enclosed rooms, curtained or not, a good ventilation system which doesn’t compromise the acoustic quality of the room would be a good idea. Home theater rooms should be comfortable, aside from simply being functional.

When it comes to positioning speakers, a basic understanding on how a surround stereo system successfully operates would greatly aid in positioning the system’s components in a home theater room.

On a basic level, a surround stereo system involves speakers to be positioned around the main viewing screen, making it an anchor point. Two front speakers are positioned near the main screen, with two more on the sides, next to where the viewers are, and two more behind the viewer’s area.

Most surround speaker packages include a subwoofer, ideal for bass boosting, which could be positioned behind the viewer’s area in the layout, and a/v mixing systems which handles the distribution of sounds to the various speakers.

Successfully positioning surround speaker systems greatly enhances the sound output quality of home theater rooms.

Lighting adjustments, chair types and layout, overall room color, as well as wall d

Home Theater Solutions

admin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:04:28 +0000

Home Theater – Out of the box

What has made the home theater experience more accessible and affordable for more people in recent years is the emergence of what the industry now calls “cinema in a box”. This is a great option for the home-theater novice, those in apartments or renters as it is most cost effective.

For as little as a few hundred dollars, you can enjoy basic cinema sight and sound. You need to look around for all the latest specials in this area. Just go into your local shop and ask about “cinema in a box”.

For those on a budget this provides an ideal way to create a home theatre from scratch. Instead of having to choose and buy expensive separate components, you get all the equipment you need for one fixed price.
Will the home theater fit in my room?

Where you decide to put the home theatre is just as important as the equipment itself. The position, size of the room, along with how many windows it has, will influence your cinema experience to some extent. Large, uncovered windows and wooden floors will detract from the big screen as it will introduce the unwanted ‘glare’ factor. It would be a great idea to hang heavy curtains to reduce this glare and to lay carpet in the proposed cinema to eliminate noise reflection.

Square rooms are the worst for home cinema because sound waves bounce off the rear wall. So a rectangular or odd-shaped room will be much more suitable when it comes to sound if that is possible.

Several manufacturers now offer a solution to this in their home-theatre systems that will automatically balance the sound between all speakers, making it easier for the home-theatre novice.

So where is home theater headed in the future? Wireless! Actually it is already here so keep your eyes peeled for more news on that!

By: Steve Knowles

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

Setting Up Your Home Theater

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 01:29:11 +0000

So is your home theater going to be used as a rumpus or family room as well or just as a designated home theater? This is important in deciding how you will set up the room. For example floor ceiling carpet us not very practical in a family room!

Your theater needs to be located on the ground floor of your home if possible. Bass from the subwoofers will resonate downwards. If your home theatre is located on an upper level, the noise will penetrate to the lower floors and you’ll probably annoy your neighbors as well.

Lighting is a very critical factor. The home theater room must be as dark as possible to get the most out of your potentially expensive television and projector. However, a totally dark room will cause eyestrain and fatigue. The ideal solution for this is to install a dimmer switch that will allow the light to be lowered to optimum viewing level. Another thing to be careful of, lighting should be positioned so it does not interfere with either the screen or the viewers.

Don’t clutter the room too much with excess furniture as this will affect audio quality. Furniture acts as a buffer for sound. If the room is being used for more than one purpose make sure you adopt a minimalist approach with furniture. Your home theatre should really be located away from the sounds from the street to reduce interference from traffic noise and of course street lights. It should also be away from bedrooms to make sure sleeping family members can, in fact, sleep!

Even though it is not a good idea to have many hard shiny surfaces around as this reflects sound, you can reduce acoustic reflection by dampening the room with carpet, thick curtains and acoustic paneling. However it is not necessary to completely dampen the room. A little reflective brightness will bring life to your sound system, particularly when listening to music.

If you are using the room for more than the home theatre purpose but you still want to use a projector and a screen you might want to consider a roof-mounted projector and an automatically retractable screen. This will prevent your expensive equipment from cluttering the room when your home theatre is not in use.

By: Steve Knowles