These days, a good home theatre system can easily equal the quality of any local cineplex, and except for the screen size, it’s easy to exceed it!

But if you are thinking of dipping your toes into home theatre for the first time, you may be a bit daunted. It doesn’t help that most sales people don’t know, or don’t care about what they are talking about, as long as they get the sale. Unless you know someone who is already into home theatre, you may find yourself lost for good advice. Luckily, it really not hard at all.

First, here’s what you should not buy under any circumstances: A home theatre in a box.

My reason is a little different from most. In general they have a reputation for poor sound quality, due to the cheap speakers. In reality, some of them are actually not all that bad, if used in a small room. The real problem is build quality, I have seen so many of these broken very early if their lifecycle its not even funny. My advice is just don’t bother.

What you should do it purchase a decent receiver and speakers separately. It need not be the most expensive receiver in the store. In fact, for most casual users, the difference between a cheap receiver and an expensive one probably won’t be obvious. Just be sure that it has HDMI, and support for the latest sound formats, such as Dolby Digital HD, as these are used on current Blu-ray discs. Some good receiver brands are Denon, Pioneer, and Harmon Kardon.

The speakers are the most important feature of you home theatre, and what will contribute most to duplicating the theatre experience at home, not the TV! That being the case, do not cheap out, buy the best speakers you can afford. There are many fantastic, inexpensive speaker brands on the market. I am partial to Infinity, but take a look as Paradigm, Energy, and Klipsch, to name a few.

I suggest buying bookshelf speakers for home theatre and avoiding the fancier designs. This will allow your system to double as a stereo more seamlessly. A home theater has a minimum of 6 speakers to mains, a center channel (for dialog), two surrounds, and a subwoofer. Many modern formats use up to 8 speakers (adding a left and right rear speaker, and addition to the standard two surround speakers.) In my personal opinion, the difference of adding the two extra speakers is extremely subtle, and really only noticeable in a very large room. I recommend you save some money here, or put it towards your other speakers.

Make sure you don’t cheap out on the subwoofer, a good place to get an amazing sub for your money is SVS Subwoofers.

Now hook it all up to your TV and blast the floorboards away.

The Limelight is about living life creatively and finding inspiration to do so. It is not restricted to any one narrow focus, and so you will find articles here on topics ranging from money to food to photography, and anything else that contributes to living an inspired, creative life.

Jonathan Timar is a naturally creative person. Creativity is his life’s blood. He’s an actor and filmmaker, a writer and a photographer. He is also a graduate of broadcasting school. He is and avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction. His favourite novel of all time is Tai-Pan by James Clavell followed closely by Shogun, also by James Clavell.

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There also is new technology wherein such sound systems perform their own sound checks and optimize their sound capability based on the size of the room and the location of the speakers thereby eliminating the need for doing experimental sound checks and constantly relocating the speakers manually. It has also been slashing their prices to make it more affordable for people to purchase sets. Single or Double Chairs can now be bought for prices a bit over 200 dollars and there are some 4 seat sets that cost just over a thousand dollars. Most of this home theatre furniture has their own set of recliners, huge arm rests with great cup holders.

The feel of a home theatre is never complete without home theatre furniture. Big leather sets that recline along with their self contained TV trays, huge arm rests and cup holders almost makes one feel like they are on a first class section of an airplane, which for the most part can be true since the subcontractors for such seats are often the ones that do make it. Again, it is the economies of scale as making more of such seats enables the manufacturer to bring down their prices.

But even if one cant afford home theatre furniture, there is still that old reliable coach that is cozy enough for one to sit or even lie down to enjoy a great television show or better yet, a DVD movie.

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According to a recent poll by Ipsos for the Associated Press and AOL News, 73% of Americans prefer to watch movies at home, with only 22% preferring to see a movie in a movie theatre.

If there is any room in your house to paint a dark color, this is the one. If you have existing furniture that you will be using, pick a color that works with your furniture, but from the dark end of the paint sample card. There are also wallpaper borders available that depict movie motifs. Home Theatre Interiors (www.hometheatreinteriors.com) has a nice selection.

Do you have windows in this room? You will need room darkening window treatments, whether shades, drapes or a combination of the two. Many custom drapery and shade fabricators offer blackout lining as an option. You can find a wide selection of blackout lined curtain sizes at HTmarket.com, with over 30 fabric colors to choose from.

There are several types of lighting you can use to enhance your home theatre experience. For “raising the house lights,” recessed lighting on a dimmer switch will allow you to have overhead lighting where you can control the brightness. If you set up a counter/bar area (or for the purposes of this article a “concession” stand) you can use a couple of pendant lights on a separate switch, so at “intermission”, people can see what they are eating and drinking. Sconces spaced along the walls will add that theatrical touch. Cinema Shop (www.cinemashop.com) has wall sconces with movie themes, as well as other lighting, that is functional while enhancing the décor.

Movie posters can be found at many sites on the internet. You may be able to get some for free at your local movie theatre; ask if they have any they are going to throw away. Poster frames can also be found on the internet, at very reasonable prices. Frames-Direct (www.frames-direct.com) has a large selection to choose from.

You can also find movie reels at online auction sites that you can either hang on the walls with your posters, or use them to make other home theatre accessories. For example, a couple put together can become a wine rack; one laid down on a coffee table or counter area could hold small bowls of nuts, candy or dip. Several of the websites listed have signs, lighted and unlighted, that you can personalize for your theatre or place in your “concession” advertising your favorite drink. To really bring the drama home, you can put up velvet drapes on either side of the television.

If you do need furniture, many stores and warehouse clubs offer theatre seating. Cinema Shop, amongst all the other items it carries, also offers theatre seats, as well as cinema loungers. La-Z-Boy (www.la-z-boy.com) offers a line called “Matinee”, which has a wealth of choices in fabric and leather. From Home Theater Mart (www.htmart.com) you can find studio chairs, which are the height of a bar stool, for your concession/bar area. These chairs can also be used as extra seating, and can be folded up and stored when not in use. There are coffee tables, side tables and DVD storage shelves that have a movie reel look to them.

You can also find those little finishing touches at many of the businesses listed in this article, such as pillows, throws and area rugs keeping with the home theatre theme. The possibilities are endless.

Finally, pop some popcorn, pour yourself a soda and get comfortable – it’s show time!

Kathy Passarette is a Certified Interior Decorator and Affiliate member of the Interior Design Society. She is the owner of Creative Home Expressions located on Long Island, New York. You can contact Kathy through her website at http://www.creativehomeexpressions.com

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Now with the advancement of technology it is possible for anyone to set up their own “home movie theatre” easily with little knowledge. Most people think that it is an expensive affair. But I am going to show you how easy it is to set up your own system even if you are tight on budget.

The secret behind this is simple! All you have to find out that what are the elements of a real theatre that create that dramatic effect and replicate them in your home on a smaller scale or at least on a scale that your budget will allow.

So what makes the difference?

1) The picture quality

2) The sound system

Let’s have a closer look

1) The picture quality – The TV that you use for a home theatre decides the picture quality of you theatre. In a real theatre this creates big impact. Imagine Spiderman flying around on New York streets! with larger than life images. It feels real and thrilling. So picture size is important here.

Now obviously this does not mean that you must go out and buy the largest TV in the market. Big is not always the best for a home theatre.

Why is that? Because in a real theatre the size of the theatre room itself is bigger too. A real theatre is designed in a way to accommodate a large group of people easily, so that must have a big projection screen. A home theatre is a private affair and you don’t have a big TV to get that experience. However as a recommendation a minimum of 27inch TV is fair enough for your own system.

2) The sound system

This is the second factor that decides the thrilling environment in a real theatre. A home theater system will come with 3-4 speakers to create the same effect. If the room is bigger then even 6 speakers that contain a subwoofer for finer effects can be used. These speakers are detachable and are arranged in all corners of the room for creating a “surround sound” effect.

So from users point of view if you are looking for some help on setting up a home movie theatre, than always remember that spending more money is not always the best option. If you want to at all spend some money on then investing in good quality sound systems is a great option.

Alternatively also consider enhancing the effect from “interior design” point of view. If you have a separate room, then decorating this room for some extra mood creation goes a long way as far as final experience is concerned.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

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For some individuals the task becomes so daunting that they choose to hire professionals. It is possible to put together a great home theatre design, but there are a few things to consider in the planning process.

One thing right off the bat is to decide whether or not to use a professional. There is nothing wrong with using a professional, in fact this industry has been booming because these individuals are trained to design a home theatre so that the sound and quality is the most efficient. One prime example of how expertise can help is how the speakers are set up.

Most individuals who set up their system have the speakers integrated near the television, as opposed to actually setting the speakers around the room to play surround sound. Many individuals think they have a nice set up, and then jump half way to the ceiling when they hear surround sound for the first time and that creak behind the character sounds like it’s coming from right over your shoulder behind you!

For others the problem with designing a home theatre starts in the beginning during the planning process. One of the most important details that can not be overlooked for a perfect home theatre is making sure to choose the perfect room for it. Maybe you have a furnished basement that works perfectly, or maybe it’s too cramped. The living room sounds like a good idea, but how often is a living room designed well for a home theatre?

The room design for your home theater is much more important than many people might think. Looking good is important, but it’s not nearly as important as having a system that is tuned in perfectly to blow away company with its awesome sound once the DVDs start playing.

The placement of furniture in the room is important as well. The location of the speakers, television, and even the furniture all add to the home theater experience. Where the speakers should be set up is partially determined by what type of chairs or couches you have, and where they are located in the room, as well. Sure you want comfortable furniture, who doesn’t? But make sure they are comfortable and the right size to situate around the room, or else the home theatre you choose will not have its full effect. Designing a home theatre system can be difficult, but if you mind the details and do your homework, the experience will make all the hassles worth the reward.

http://www.hometheatrefun.com brings you the latest on the home theatre. Home theatre’s are very popular, and we want to bring you the most up to date information online! Be sure to check out our latest information page on home theatre designs.

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In recent years, more people have been taking advantage of innovative technological developments that allows them to create a spectacular home theater system. When creating your own home theater, you have a variety of features to choose from such as the video projector. If you are designing and building a home theater, you have to consider what type of projector you should acquire.

There are three types of main home theater projectors that include LCD, DLP or LCoS. LCD projectors consist of two types: models that utilize a single LCD to produce the picture, and models that use a blend of three LCDs. The difference between the two is that the projectors that utilize three LCDs normally create higher contrast pictures and higher quality color distribution.

The benefit of using DLP projectors is that they create richer colors and higher contrast ratios. Quality DLP projectors use three DLP chips to create the picture which allows the projectors to determine greater degrees of color and shade. DLP projectors normally cost more than LCD models

LCoS utilize liquid crystals to produce the picture. LCoS projectors are well known for creating the best quality images. LCoS models are more expensive than DLP and LCD models.

If you are mainly using HDTV programming, most experts will advise that you use a 16:9 projector on a 16:9 screen. This combination will give the best picture viewing. Most people will select a 16:9 screen as it fits with many different movie formats. Many DVD movies are wider than 16:9. When you play these movies on a 16:9 screen, there will be black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. In this instance, you may want to use a 4:3 format screen.

The best benefit of having a 4:3 screen is that it will usually permit you to display the largest picture. The 4:3 screen format provides one with more square footage of the total screen area for any particular screen width. This is useful when watching older films in a large format. If you are going to create a home theater for large scale 4:3 display, experts recommend, “that you use either a 4:3 projector or a 16:9 projector with a powered zoom lens of at least 1.3x zoom range.”

Before you select a video projector, you should mark on your wall where the screen will be located. You can then position your seat to determine what size screen will be suitable. You can take such considerations as the distance you will be sitting away from the screen and the best spot where you won’t be straining your eyes or working them to view the picture. The size of the image on the screen will be chosen on the basis of how comfortable you are with viewing the picture. You do not want to have to be moving your eyes back and forth and up and down to watch a movie.

Everyone has their own preferences on viewing screens. The greatest benefit of creating your own home theater system own home theater is that you can customize the projector and screen to meet your own personal needs. It is important to consult with a salesperson and read reviews about projectors for help with choosing the most ideal projector for your home theater system.

Whether it’d be for business purposes or personal use, the need for projector rentals in Vancouver is growing. Laptop rentals are also important to assist needs such as event planning. While it offers exceptional performance, there are laptop rentals in Toronto.

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If you go to your local home theater store, you may be confronted by a variety of “extreme” sounding names for cabling: Mega Cables, Monster Cables, Uber Cables… the proliferation of “boutique” cabling is always a source of controversy in home theater and audiophile circles. The question is, how much difference do they make, and are they worth it? Well despite the perils involved in even mentioning this topic, I’m going to attempt to add something to the discussion.

The most important thing to recognize is that a cable cannot improve the sound of a home stereo system any more than an electrical wire can create extra electricity when you plug it into the wall. That’s actually a very good example, because when you’re listening to audio for instance, what we’re hearing is an electronic representation of acoustic sounds – that is to say, the actual sounds have not been captured and stuffed into a compact disc like fireflies in a child’s jar – they have been copied, imitated, and a representation stored on the disc as a series of numbers.

These numbers are then read and translated into electronic signals, which are sent to the speakers in order to approximate the actual sounds. With that in mind, it makes sense that poor quality wires don’t physically change the sound – instead it’s like a game of ‘telephone’, in which the band tells the CD, the CD tells the player, the player tells the wires, and the wires tell the speakers, with something being lost at every step so that the message “Aunt Betty baked a pie” is altered to “Fat Eddy wants to cry” or what should be a great live recording sounds tinny, distant, or otherwise just plain wrong.

A good cable will change the signal as little as possible, but all cables do damage your signal a bit – it’s simply a matter of degree. As far as which cables are the best? That’s up to you or your local audio guru to decide – much is up to personal preference, with the rest probably being left up to your budget to decide.

Warren Thompson is fanatic about his new home theater system. He is also a contributing writer for hometheaterfocus.com – an immensely informative guide to home theater technology, with information about speaker positioning, home theater lighting, projection systems and more.

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In the movie “The Wedding Singer,” Drew Barrymore’s fiance comes home with his latest purchase, a CD player. He’s very happy with his accomplishment because, being the materialistic kind of guy that he is, he’s proud of thee fact that it cost about $700. Of course, the joke is on him and the entire audience knows it, because the average price of a CD player today is only a couple of hundred dollars. Still, in 1985, the year in which this movie is set, I’m sure that $700 for a CD player was a good deal.

All electronics, from computers to alarm clocks, are prohibitively expensive when the first come on the market, but they become more affordable as time goes on. Home theatre audio systems have been no different. What was once a luxury item that only people like Donald Trump could afford is now something that tens of thousands of Americans have in their homes. The market has been, and continues to be, flooded with new and cheaper audio systems, especially those of the HTiB, or Home Theatre in a Box, variety. But again, as with all electronics, you get what you pay for, and not all of these systems are created equal. When selecting a home theatre audio system, there are several factors that need to be balanced, including quality, price, and size.

If you’re in college, don’t have a lot of disposable income, but simply must have a home theatre audio system, chances are you’re going to end up with a budget-priced HTiB. These systems, which usually feature small satellite speakers and subwoofers, have an inclination toward spotty sound quality and lack sheer oomph. To quote Napster in The Italian Job, a budget-priced HTiB will never be “loud enough to blow women’s clothes off.” But while Napster might disapprove, such systems have their upsides. They are, as mentioned, affordable for the average individual, and they also tend to have the advantages of being compact and comparatively easy to assemble.

Or perhaps you own a downtown loft in a high rise somewhere and you want a theatre audio system that coordinates with such an ambiance. Some HTiB manufactures offer systems that feature style and are overtly sleek in appearance. A home theatre audio system that goes this route will often have very petite satellite speakers, or perhaps “tallboys,” which are very slender but as much as sixty inches tall. The advantage of a style-centric HTiB, in addition to its elegant appearance, will probably include lots of features and simplicity of set up. The disadvantages? Such a system will probably have limited bass output and limited connectivity options.

Some manufactures are now offering component packages, which are built around separate components. These systems, while forfeiting the traditional HTiB advantage of compactness, usually have the benefits of solid build quality and variety of features. However, as mentioned, such a home theatre audio system will probably be fairly large and clunky, which won’t work if you need to fit it into your studio apartment.

Finally, if you want to go cutting-edge, there are wireless HTiB systems that utilize the very latest in audio technology. These are great if you can afford them, since they save space while maintaining high quality. But as mentioned, they can be extremely expensive and in some cases, you’re better off buying separate components.

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With the help of latest technology, so many things have been made to come true which were not even dreamt earlier. In the similar manner, earlier we used to go to the theatres to watch movies, but now the time has come to bring theaters to your home and enjoy the real and original fun of theatres at home.

There are many factors that influence the designing of the home theatres. The most important one is its seating because the spurious and authentic fun of home theater can be felt only if there is full comfort and easiness.

Tips To Select Home Theatre Seating

It is really good to have a surround-sound home theatre system, but it will be of no use if there is no comfortable seating in order to enjoy and relax after having a hectic daily schedule. There are so many things to be kept in mind before going to select home theatre seating. For example, it should suit your decor, should be fully comfortable, etc.

There is a wide range of home theatre seating from the movie theatre seats to the home theatre couches with footrests. The numerous designs and varieties of home theatre seating are offered by different companies that generally make the customers perplexed. The following tips can assist you in choosing the perfect home theater seating.

Home Theatre Seating Tip #1

The first thing to be considered while choosing the home theater seating is the number of persons to be seated in the room possessing home theater as the arrangement of seating will be done accordingly.

Home Theatre Seating Tip #2

It is always recommended to have a spacious room for your home theatre. In as spacious room, the seating plan can be done properly avoiding congestion and preventing overcrowdedness.

Home Theatre Seating Tip #3

The most important feature of the seating is the comfortability and the easiness as one has to sit for approximately 2 hours to watch the full length movie. The seats should possess wide armrests to maintain the right balance and the sliding footrest should extend before as the backrest reclines. This will help in giving the support to the body.

There should be a proper stability and flexibility at the seat and back, and the seat should possess high density foam cushions in order to offer extreme comfort and back support. The seats should be capable of providing support from head to toe. Therefore, only those seats should be selected that are fully comfortable in each and every manner so that it should become relaxing and entertaining to watching film.

Home Theatre Seating Tip #4

You should always opt for that type of home theatre seating which suits your decor and should embellish your home theatre. There are different types of seating like upholstered home theater seating, the timber’s natural woodgrain brightened with an oil finish, etc. with a wide range of colors like pinks, browns, etc.

Home Theatre Seating Tip #5

The home theatre seating should consist of strong and durable couches and seats.

Home Theatre Seating Tip #6

The most important thing to be kept in mind is the budget. You should first set your budget as there is a wide range of prices. For example, a three-seater Rodeo Leather Lounge with built in wireless bass shaker, recliner, footrest, and wide armrest rolls that costs around $4700 is the best.

Therefore, the most important thing to be considered before planning to have a home theatre is its seating.

http://www.hometheatrefun.com brings you the latest on the home theatre. Home theatre’s are very popular, and we want to bring you the most up to date information online! Be sure to check out our latest information page on home theatre seating.

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