Create The Ultimate Home Theater

Media rooms are a fantastic gathering space for household movie night, for a little intense competition in the ultimate gaming experience, or merely some place to kick back, listen to music and surf the Internet. Here are a few hints in relation to setting up your ultimate Music and Home Theater atmosphere.
What you'll need
You can have an entirely affordable Home Theater with a setup as straightforward as a TV set, a pair of stereo speakers, and a DVD player. But typically a Home Theater is a little more elaborate if your goal is to duplicate
(on a lesser degree, of course)the integration of picture, drama, and sound that you experience in a movie theater.

Surprisingly, even a rudimentary home theater system can deliver remarkably enhanced playback of DVDs, videotapes, and even TV shows like "CSI" or "NCS" that are recorded and broadcast in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.

A fundamental home theater system consists of a couple of front speakers on either side of the TV, a center-channel speaker on top (or beneath) the TV set to anchor the actors' dialogue at the TV screen, a pair of smaller surround speakers to either side of your seating that incorporate all the effects and ambient sound of a movie or TV show, and the movie score. Most home theater systems add a subwoofer for the deep bass sounds. That's six speakers in all, but they don't need to be huge. You should add a Dolby Digital Surround Sound Audio/Video receiver, which contains all the essential circuitry.

Electronics stores are happy to help you figure out what will perform best in your home..
The important Question: What type of TV?
CRT "direct-view": The original TV technology set has been refined over the past half-century to an impressive and affordable level. However, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ruled that all TV broadcasters in the US must convert to digital broadcasts and turn off their analog transmitters by 2009. Your old CRT TV set will not receive those digital broadcasts without a special set-top adaptor. Digital CRT sets deliver stunning high-definition images, although maximum screen size is restricted to approximately 40 inches. Most digital cable boxes and small dish satellite tuners have the option of HDTV reception (with an upgraded dish). Big-screen CRT sets use rear-projection (RPTV), which looks best in dimly lit or darkened rooms, although new RPTVs are remarkably sharp.

Plasma panels: Three to five inches thick and from 42-60 inches in diagonal screen size, flat plasma panels are so bright you can watch them in a well-lighted room, and they stay clear and bright over a broad viewing angle. However, they consume a lot of power, run somewhat warm and are subject to burn-in if you're not careful (an image permanently imprinted on the screen).

LCD flat-panel display: An LCD flat panel is similar your PC screen, with a maximum screen size of about 40 inches. LCD flat panels are capable of very accurate color and HDTV clarity, but LCDs still have trouble producing a true black, and they aren't viewable over as widespread an angle.

DLP rear- and front-projection TV: The very latest. DLP is remarkably compact and capable of bright images with blacks that are the equal of plasma and better than LCD-based displays. DLP is still an emerging technology and a number of images can be subject to a "rainbow effect".

Select the correct Screen Size for your Room
Wherever you sit determines the clarity of the picture on the TV. If all you watch are true HDTV images, then you can sit as close as twice the diagonal screen size ' about 8 feet away for a 46-inch or a bit more for a 50-inch diagonal screen. However, until the final conversion to all-HDTV broadcasting is complete, a proportion of your TV viewing may possibly well be traditional analog TV, and those images may possibly look awful up close.

If you watch regular non-HD TV sitting too close to a large screen, you'll notice all the flaws. Figure on three times the diagonal screen size as a minimum viewing distance from standard TVs. So if you choose a 60-inch diagonal screen, you ought to be 15 feet away to watch regular TV and still be satisfied with the picture. For HDTV or DVDs, the picture will be good at that distance.
Comfortable seats
Of greatest importance in your media room is the quality of seating. You know you'll be sitting there for at least the duration of the game or movie. And it's often the place you will go to chill out, so make certain couches or dedicated theater seats allow you to watch the screen in the way that's most comfortable for you.
A suggestion of caution with media room furniture:
When you locate a tower speaker (or a bookshelf model) inside a wall unit, credenza, or entertainment center, the way the sound bounces off the surfaces in the wall unit's cavity could create certain sound anomalies and unmusical colorations. Of course, if your partner detests seeing large speakers and wants them hidden away, you'll probably never even notice the slight difference in the sound.
Have fun.
I have a acquaintance with a dedicated home theater, complete with gold twisted cord at the entranceway and a red velvet curtain that swishes away to expose the enormous screen. It's really an experience lounging on those plush couches and watching "CSI" . . . And the popcorn is complimentary!