Home Theater Room Lighting – Control and Ambiance

admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:59:38 +0000

Room lighting control is an important aspect for home theaters – especially if you have a front-projector and screen set-up. Video projectors often demand a controlled lighting situation due to the lower brightness of their displays. Room ambiance is another important function of lighting during a viewing as you most likely not want your guests to sit in darkness (unless it is a really creepy horror flick). Reflected room lighting is a consideration as well as you do not want a glare on the screen – whether it be ambient light from a window or merely reflections of a lamp within your room. Ambient window lighting is major when determining your living room layout or designing a dedicated viewing room. A dedicated room would of course be best without windows altogether – if you have the luxury of designing a room from scratch.

Glare Control and Picture Enhancement

Room lighting control is relatively easy with a little planning. If you want to incorporate your home theater within your living or family room you will want to postion your video display so that any ambient light upon the screen is diminished or eliminated altogether. Each time we have moved to a new home one of my first considerations (much to the chagrin of my wife) is where we will place the TV in our living room. Since video is my profession I plan our living room layout around the TV and entertainment center (again to the chagrin of my wife). The TV is always placed at an angle away from the main window in the room in order to eliminate window reflections on the screen. Our living room lamps have shades that direct lighting downward and are not very translucent in order to minimize their reflections. Since I have a front projector and screen display in the living room – in addition to the 32″ Mitsubishi we use for normal viewing — we have vertical blinds which do a nice job of darkening the room. We also have velour drapes which can pull to either side of the screen and do a great job of providing a controlled lighting environment for our projector. You will want to do much the same — have your video display directed away from any windows and use blinds with drapes to control daytime lighting from windows.

Setting the Mood

Wall sconce lamps located along the sides of your room for ambiance during viewing in a dedicated theater room is a nice touch and lends to the theater-esque atmosphere. Depending upon the overall decor and theme of your dedicated room sconces can be either plain or elaborately gaudy much like the movie houses of yore. Basic sconces can be found at a local Home Depot or lighting store. More elaborate theater-looking sconces are available at specialty stores. A dedicated room will benefit from remote controlled lighting – or at least it will add a touch of class to your theater. There are many varieties of remote controlled lighting which can be controlled either by their standard controller or be included within a macro-programmed command on one of the many all-in-one macro-type remote controls such as the Harmony H659 which I am quite pleased to own.

Regardless of whether you are incorporating a system into your living room or planning a dedicated room, the principles of home theater room lighting are the same. No glare or reflection on your video display and sufficient ambient room lighting for your guests during viewing. If you have any further questions about home theater room lighting feel free to use the contact form at http://www.Home-Theater-Systems-Advice.com/contact.html and I will be pleased to answer any of your inquiries to the best of my ability. You may also find more resources for home theater lighting and components at http://www.Home-Theater-Systems-Advice.com — from beginner’s component selection tips to room design and acoustical considerations.

By: Phil Taylor

Getting HDTV Into Your Home Theater

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:21:21 +0000

Feeding your HDTV video system an actual HDTV signal makes a world of difference. I recently worked on the installation of a very high-end home theater system (six figure price tag on this job) and when the time came to test it, it was hard to watch anything but a true HDTV channel on the big 20 foot projection screen.

A high definition television system has a native resolution and every signal is either scaled up or scaled down until it matches this native resolution. The optimum situation is to feed it a signal that matches the native resolution so no scaling is required.

When a standard definition tv signal is displayed on an HDTV, the result is like looking at a low quality JPEG photo. All of the artifacts in the image are magnified. When you switch to a true HDTV image it’s like someone cleaned a layer of dirt off of the tv. Everything becomes much clearer and more vivid. So, how do you get a true HDTV signal into your new home theater system?

Tuning in to HDTV Channels

The three primary ways of getting an HDTV signal into your home theater system are: over-the-air, cable, and satellite broadcasts. Let’s take a closer look at these options.

Getting HDTV Over-The-Air

It might come as a surprise, but over 99% of US homes have at least one television station with a digital broadcast and 85% of all US homes have 5 or more stations broadcasting digitally. These are the major networks that you watch every day. Many of them have HDTV broadcasts. Before you go any further, look for local HDTV signals available in your area (www.hdtvpub.com.)

If you are planning to get most of your HDTV programming over-the-air, it makes sense to shop around for an HDTV with a built-in (ATSC) tuner. Many HDTVs (and almost all video projectors) do not have a built-in tuner. If you are building your home theater around a video projector, or plan to buy an HDTV without a built in tuner, you will have to invest in an HDTV (ATSC) tuner (like the Samsung SIR-T451) to access over-the-air broadcasts.

Once you have worked out the tuner issues, you need an antenna to get the broadcast out of the air and into your HDTV. The distance between your house and your local TV stations broadcast transmitter, and the power of the transmission they send out, will determine whether an old fashioned pair of ‘rabbit ears’ will work or whether you need a more robust antenna up on the roof. AntennaWeb’s antenna mapping program (www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.asp) is a resource that will help you find where the local broadcast transmitters are in your area and point you to the type of antenna you’ll need to put on the roof.

Check with your local tv stations to determine what over-the-air HDTV programming they offer. This will vary station by station and market by market, but the number of channels available is steadily growing. You may get a better mix of network HD broadcasts over-the-air than through your cable or satellite provider – and they’re free!

Getting HDTV Through Cable

To get HDTV programming from your local cable company you will need an HD compatible cable box (usually your cable provider will provide this for a small monthly fee) and a subscription to HD programming.

The amount of HDTV content broadcast over cable channels is growing every day. Check with your local cable company to determine what channels they offer in HD. They will likely have several different packages available.

Most HDTV cable service will provide excellent results. But, the quality of the signal that arrives at your home depends on the quality of the wiring network that your cable company maintains. In some instances this can lead to lower picture quality. If you plan to go with a cable solution, ask around and find out if others in your area are happy with the service.

Special Note: Digital Cable Service is not the same as HD Cable Service. Most digital service is still standard definition. You must purchase service that is specifically marketed as HDTV to get HDTV programming.

Getting HDTV Through Satellite

If you have an unobstructed view of the southern sky, you can get your HDTV programming from one of the major satellite systems. DISH Networks, DirecTV, and VOOM are the major players in this market. Each offers a growing collection of HD channels and, if you live in a remote area, they may be your only option.

To get satellite programming you need to get an HD compatible satellite dish, an HD compatible receiver, and subscribe to an HDTV satellite programming service. Usually you can get all three as part of a package. If you have existing satellite service you may need to upgrade your hardware to become HD compatible. Check with your service provider to determine what upgrades you’ll need and if they are offering any special incentives to upgrade to HD.

Enjoy Your New View

Once you’ve got true HDTV running through your digital home theater, you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes in your entertainment experience. You may find yourself skipping your favorite standard definition program just to watch anything in HD – it’s that beautiful.

By: Andrew Seltz

Home Theater Systems » Video Projectors

Home Theater Room Lighting – Control and Ambiance

Getting HDTV Into Your Home Theater