Do you often find yourself in movie theaters with uncomfortable seats, or annoying co-moviegoers that make you want to dump your bag of popcorn over their heads? Wish you could have a space where you can invite people you truly enjoy watching movies with? Find movie tickets ridiculously expensive? One can have various reasons for wanting to bring the cinema experience with them at home, but people often stop at merely dreaming and fail to realize that setting it up could actually be easy. If you are craving for that home theatre experience, read on:
Step 1: Location
First, you need to choose which part of your house you want to transform into a movie theater. Having a TV room or a den will make things easier, but in case you don’t have one, find a space that is at least 20 feet long and 13 feet wide (but this really depends on the size of your equipment). Choose a location that is relatively isolated from the rest of your house as you don’t want the sound to disturb anyone. Remember to also sound-proof your room. It can be done by buying 12x12 acoustic foam panels or adding carpeting to your floor. You can find other useful tips here.
Step 2: Sound
Speaking of sound, you will find that high-quality speakers are a huge part of what defines a home theatre so it is important to invest in them. LG has different home theatre systems which will give your ears the vibrant sound it deserves. These LG Smart 3D Blu-ray ™ Home Cinema Systems will not only give you the latest in sound engineering, but will also allow you direct access to multi-media content around the world. Best of all, you need not worry about wires running around your floor as the speakers have an integrated wireless design, and connects seamlessly between your personal computer or other media sources.
Most home theater systems have 8 speakers, one subwoofer and seven channel speakers: left, right, center, two side surrounds and two rear surrounds. Mark the areas of your room where each speaker should go; the center speaker should go above or below the viewing screen, the left and right speaker should go on either side of the display and should be of the same height, the side surrounds on your side walls (keeping in mind its relative distance to your seats) and the rear surrounds should be placed at the back of your room and spaced evenly.
Step 3: Projector or Giant TV screen?
One of the hard decisions that you have to make is to choose between a projector and a Giant TV screen for your video input. The information below will help you make a smart choice.
Large Screen Television Technology
Giant TVs have been introduced into the market in the late ‘90s and 2000s and its technology is continuously developing. So far, 3 types have been released to the public: the LCD (liquid crystal display), the PDP (plasma display), and the DLP (digital light processing) or otherwise known as the LED (light emitting diode).
When choosing one, it is important to consider the following:
- its price (the cheapest type are LCDs),
- screen resolution (the higher, the better),
- contrast ratio (or the ability to display bright and dark images at the same time; again, the higher the ratio, the better),
- how well it handles fast movement (plasma TVs are the best in this area although technology for LEDs and LCDs aren’t that bad at handling motion),
- its lifespan (plasma screens have the lowest lifespan, while LEDs last the longest),
- how much power it needs to run on (LEDs run on the least amount of power among the three; plasmas will cost you 50 percent more than LCDs),
- other additional features.
Projectors
Projectors help bring images to life and are larger than their 40 to 50-inch TV counterpart. There are also 3 types of projectors to choose from: the DLP (digital light processing), the LCD (liquid crystal display), and the LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) which is a hybrid of the DLP and the LCD. The things you need to be looking for in a projector would be the same as those we’ve highlighted for the giant TV—its price, contrast ratio, ability to project scenes of action, and others.
Each technology has its own pros and cons. When it comes to expense, LCDs will save you money. The LCoS wins when it comes to contrast ratio followed by LCDs and then DLPs. LCD and DLP projectors exhibit a brighter resolution than ordinary LCoS projectors; although newer (but more expensive) LCoS models provide brighter resolution than old ones. Color accuracy varies with the projector model so make sure to research on a specific brand after you’ve decided what kind of technology to use. A DLP projector shows a sharper and more-detailed image during fast motion but this does not often compensate its bad contrast ratio.
When you do go the projector route, you have to buy a projector screen as well. These come either as a drop-down or a fixed one. Drop-downs are great if you plan on making your set-up mobile, but if you’ve decided to make the screen placement permanent, opt for the latter as it will make your home theatre look much like the interior of a cinema.
You need to be able to control the lighting conditions at your home in order to use your projector effectively. No matter how bright your projector is, sunlight or artificial light can drown images out so you can’t watch movies with the lights on or with your window shades or curtains up. Projectors also create a fair amount of heat and noise but these vary on the model you buy. Most projectors also use a lamp to create light and have to be replaced often.
Step 4: Design Your Space: Look for Comfortable Furniture and Personalize
All of the hard work you poured into buying equipment will be in vain if you don’t design the room to make it look like a movie theatre. Paint your walls in a neutral color and avoid bright tones for better light reflection. Decide on what kind of chairs or furniture to use but make sure they fit accordingly to the location of your speakers or the size of your screen. It’s really up to you! Check out design magazines and sites like Pinterest for more ideas.











