A Home Theatre is a dedicated room in your home that is designed and optimized for viewing movies, TV, music or video gaming. It can also be called a home cinema, screen room.
It is not a living room set-up with surround sound. These are generally called media rooms
Your Home Theatre will be optimized for high-performance audio and video.
These 7 key steps will walk you through what you need to think about and plan for as you design your home theatre:
The experience you receive from your home theatre will depend upon the room you select for your home theatre.
You need a square or rectangular room with minimal natural light. It shouldn’t have any windows because glass reflects sound and light. This will lessen your cinema experience.
It needs to be large enough for comfortable seating and appropriate viewing distance for the screen.
Your room needs to be in a location where noise from outside can be isolated or minimized. You may need to soundproof your Home Theatre to reduce noise interference. You will need to install acoustic wall panels to block out noise and carpet the room from wall-to-wall.
You are trying to replicate a cinema in your own home.
The room should allow for easy wiring for all your equipment.
You may be tempted to paint your walls red or add a splash of yellow to make the home theatre room lively. While bright colours do wonders in up lighting the atmosphere of a room, it does nothing for improving the viewing experience. Bright colours reflect light and distract you from truly admiring the movie’s setting.
Choose neutral colours such as cream and shades of browns over yellow or bright purple.
Speakers are the heart and soul of your Home Theatre. So you will need to buy speakers that suit the size and style of your room.
Speakers come in a variety of different sizes and shapes. Buying large floor-standing speakers may not be the best choice for a small room as they will take up space but could also lead to poor sound experience.
If you are short on space then surround sound may not be an option for your Home Theatre.
You will need to allocate space for a subwoofer.
Your sound system should be designed to enhance your viewing experience.
Your picture matters.
It’s essential to note that many retail store’s lighting might trick you into thinking certain TVs give clearer picture quality than others.
A guide to your different viewing options:
An LCD TV has a different light source behind the screen. The picture quality of an LCD TV is the same as an LED TV. LEDs (which are basically the same thing as LCDs) are the biggest sellers.
4K, also known as Ultra HD, refers to a TV resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels. That's four times as many pixels than in a full HD TV, a total of about 8.3 million pixels. Having so many pixels means a higher pixel density, and you should have a clearer, better-defined picture
In terms of picture quality and resolution- 4K or Ultra HD TVs are better than full HDTVs from this perspective. Full HD televisions have a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels while 4K TVs have a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. ... If you watch content from Netflix which has 4K content, a 4K TV is better for you
LED-backlit 4K UHD TVs (including Samsung's new QLED line) are technically really still LCD TVs with a higher resolution and are taking the name 4K UHD or 4K Ultra HD. 4K LCD TV is a more appropriate name. ... While OLED TVs are still more expensive than good 4K LED TVs, the gap has narrowed.
Maybe a high-end video projection system is for you?
The depth of colour and purity of the image is profound. The true testament to this is in the world of commercial cinema. Where film reigned supreme due to its superiority in colour rendering and resolution, digital cinema is now universal.
Today's home theatre projectors come in different fixed resolutions including XGA (1024 x 768), WXGA (1280 x 800), HD (1920 x 1080) and, every once in a while, 4K (4096 x 2160). HD is the most popular format.
Most 1280x720 projectors offer very good to excellent DVD video quality. ...1280x800: This is a hybrid resolution that can natively display 720p high definition video as well as standard computer resolutions XGA (1024x768) and WXGA (1280x800) without scaling.
Be sure you talk to your home theatre expert to select the right viewing platform for your home theatre.
Movies are created to be experienced in theatrical settings and scale and at rigorous performance criteria. This is the experience you can have in your own private home theatre with the right projection system.
Whether you are installing a TV or a display screen, you are likely to buy a big one for a lifelike viewing experience.
However, a huge TV or display screen, if not placed at a particular viewing distance, can do more harm than good to your movie-watching experience.
The optimum viewing distance is about 1.6 times the size (diagonal measurement) of your screen. So, if you are going to install a 55″ television, you should be sitting at a distance of 88″ (55″ x 1.6), or 2.23m
The optimum viewing distance will also change depending on the type of resolution as you start losing the advantage of the resolution at a particular viewing distance.
For example, if the viewing distance is more than 10’, the resolution won’t matter because your eyesight is not good enough to notice the difference between a 720p and a 1080p HDTV.
That’s why you need to consider the viewing distance in order to buy a suitable display screen. Make sure to measure the available width, length, and height because the display screen needs to be mounted at a particular height as well.
The screen distance can also be used the other way around – You can take measurements of the length of your room and calculate the size of the TV you need to purchase. So from above if you are sitting 2.23m from the screen then 2.23/1.6 = 1.39m or 55”
The display of your screen should be at your eye level. Too high and the TV hovers over your head, too low and you’ll be craning your neck.
Glass is a big no-no because it reflects, rather than absorbs, sound and light.
You may be tempted to flaunt fancy art framed in glass. Don’t do that. The dialogues will tend to echo.
If you do have windows, it is a good idea to black them out completely. Of course, you could use curtains and drapes to block sunlight but you’ll have to close and open them all the time.
Blacking out the windows is a better long-term solution.
The uninterrupted viewing of your movie is extremely important. To ensure you have no interruption or disruption you need to consider the following
Wiring
Not setting aside enough money for home theatres wiring accessories such as cables and surge protectors, is one of the most common mistakes that will ruin your home theatre experience.
Connection cables and speaker wires are the most important parts of your home theatre system. People often think that the cables that come with the home theatre equipment can do the job.
However, if you are looking for better and longer protection, you need to consider something that is a little more heavy-duty
Don’t fall for the high-priced HDMI cables, instead buy the ones that comply with the latest speed standard. For speakers, consider buying 16 or 18 gauge thickness wires
It is pertinent to buy a high-quality surge protector. These useful devices protect your home-based cinema from electrical spikes and surges.
You have more than five electronic devices fitted in the room. A spike in the electric current or a sudden power outage could destroy your TV, surround sound or projector. If your home isn’t fitted with a surge protection system, it’s time to find one for your home theatre.
Surge protectors block excess electric current by sending it to the ground
Wireless network
In an age where streaming movies via Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and HBO Go is the norm, investing in a strong wireless network can go a long way in making it an envy-worthy home theatre.
Wi-Fi can allow you to use your mobile or laptop to connect to your home theatre system and catch the newest season of your favourite series
To make sure you make the most of your viewing enjoyment don’t forget these items:
Seats and Seating Arrangement
One of the most common mistakes people make when setting up a home theatre system is to miscalculate the dimensions for placing recliners in the correct position. More often than not, people bring in the recliners only after completing the entire setup only to realize that they cannot be placed as planned.
It is, therefore, suggested to choose recliners that best suit your room’s dimensions as well as your budget, and provide the best comfort. Changing their placement over and over again to suit your home theatre’s setup can be frustrating.
One of the best parts of watching a movie on a large screen isn’t just taking in the magnificent performance of the actors on a massive display. It’s seeing motion pictures come to life on a lavish, cozy and slightly over-sized recliner.
Investing in a three, six or nine-seater recliner with metallic cup holders and storage space for magazines will do wonders in refining the 360-degree viewing experience. That and no one wants to watch a movie on sturdy, uncomfortable chairs.
Ignoring the Location of the Door
When considering the layout of your movie theatre, make sure to take into consideration the location of your door. Arrange the room so that viewers don’t need to move in front of the screen every time they want to step out to grab beer or popcorn.
A distraction-free environment
Much like the quality of sound, this essential attribute is also spurned by many. Most likely because a distraction-free environment takes planning, expertise and skill to produce.
Imagine the disappointment if during the long-awaited viewing of the latest thriller, at the precise moment where suspense has built and in that anticipatory silence, you hear water running through your home’s pipes. Talk about a spoiler.
Or because of poor lighting management, you fail to notice the subtle change in the colour of the sky as the sun sets on the heroine. A detail carefully orchestrated by the director in order to fulfil the emotional climax, to really tell the story.
These are the details that make great films. You should not have to miss them, so do not allow someone to tell you “sound isolation” isn’t necessary when in truth a quiet room is, and that lighting design will not matter in a dark room when pinpoint control is actually a necessity.
After all, it is your home theatre, and you deserve the best!
Not Reading User Manuals
Irrespective of your technical background, you must read the user’s manual before going ahead with the installation process.
You need to read the manual carefully, not just leaf through it. Make sure you have understood every detail given in the manual.
If you still have doubts, don’t hesitate to consult a professional.
If you follow these 7 steps when designing your Home Theatre then you should have no problems:
May you have many wonderful nights enjoying a cinematic experience in your own home.
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