Home Theater: An Introduction by Your Home Theater Design

Your Home Theater Design Presents...
Your Introduction to the World of Home Theater

Are you new to home theater? Don't know what it is to begin with? Well, first of all welcome to the community!

Don't be afraid to ask the questions or admit that you simply don't know, because we all started there at some point! While the name is fairly intuitive as far as what it means, the umbrella of home theatre really covers anything and everything that is related to mimicking a movie theater environment within your home. The phrase also continues to take on other connotations and expand on it's already broad reach as technology continues to evolve and home theater's become more muilt-functional (ex., used for gaming or other forms of media entertainment).

Home Theater Speaker

While "home theater" is the generally accepted term used for an area in your home dedicated to fulfilling this purpose, many often use other phrases such as media room and entertainment center interchangeably within our community. So don't be confused when someone is talking about their media room -- they're simply referring to it in another way.

The popularity of home theaters continues to grow exponentially and there are several contributing factors to why this is so. Technology is by far and above the biggest catalyst, as manufacturers are doing things better and cheaper than they have ever done before. Televisions are produced with larger screen sizes while toning down (getting thinner) and losing weight (sounds like I'm talking about a person here!) -- and capable of producing images several times the quality of yesteryear. Slowly disappearing are the big, fat, CRT televisions, usurped by sleek and elegant Plasma and LCD TVs. Projectors, once the staple of high-end, expensive media rooms are now much more affordable and produce even larger images with exceptional quality. HTIB (home-theater-in-a-box) packages are widely available to help make buying an integrated system easier, in addition to a more streamlined setup and installation. I could go on and on.

This whole home theater thing is starting to sound like a "no-brainer" to me....

Digital media such as DVD's and "next generation" DVD's (i.e., Blu Ray and the for-all-practical- purposes defunct HD-DVD) now set the gold standard for movies, producing crystal clear images backed by explosive surround sound as compared to its predecessors. And need I add that they can be had for prices similar to a ticket to a movie theater? ...Which you get to keep and enjoy for many years in the comfort of your own home?

This ties into the second major factor contributing to the rise of home theatres: affordability. Entire systems can be put together for as little as a few hundred dollars (or less). Movies can be had for cheap, especially if you're not compelled to buy on release week.

Lastly, as life itself becomes more complicated and our time for leisure becomes more difficult to manage, we continue to look to bring more convenience into the mix. Cell phones to fast food joints to wireless computing -- among other things -- make life easier and in many cases allow us to multi-task more than ever before. A home entertainment center naturally brings convenience to the table -- and at a cheaper price. When you can rival a movie theater in your own home (except for the "big screen", obviously), why take the time to travel to see a movie? More people are questioning this very thing (I seldom go to the movies myself unless it's something that I'm absolutley dying to see -- like the new Indiana Jones movie!). You can own the movie for a fraction of the price, while cutting down on the expense of gas to travel to the theatre and exorbitant price for popcorn, soda, and candy.

OK. So now that you know the overarching theme and why it has become so popular, now it's time to talk a little about the major areas of home theater. Essentially, we can break it down into 4 major parts:

Design Concepts, Strategies, and Techniques

This was primarily what our site is all about, so here's my quick sales pitch...Please have a look around the rest of our site! Really, home theatre design is just one of the broad segments that you'll be learning about within our site. This area focuses on aspects of taking your dream from concept to fruition, including such topics as planning, construction processes, building strategies, room layout considerations, and decorating, just to name a few. If you're interested in jumping in and learning all there is to know about design tips and trends, take a look at some of the articles on our site.

System Composition and Other Product

Now that we've talked about the concepts of design, now it's time to talk about what you're going to need to create the experience you've been looking for. The second major theme of home theater relates to the composition of your system and how to go about making your equipment selections, including peripherals and accessories. Many considerations need to be made as you go through the process of deciding what to purchase to fulfill your audio (speakers, subwoofers) and video (Plasma or LCD televisions, projectors) needs. Additionally, you'll have other considerations to make about creating the right environment for both you and your guests such as seating and lighting, and a whole lot more. Here's a sampling of pages that you will want to visit to get you started:

Setup

OK....The room is now built and you've bought all of the components of your new system. Now what?... The third major facet of home theater is taking the steps necessary to bring all of the pieces together as a single, cohesive, functional system. It's like creating a symphony of harmony among your electronics. But let's not overlook that a lot complexity is inherent in this process. Instruction manuals are thick and filled with lots of jargon and vernacular that you might not be familiar or at ease with. The back of a receiver has many different connection points, making it difficult to choose not only the best options, but the right options.

So if you've made it past the first hurdle, now you want to tweak your system so you get maximum performance. Talk about another difficult task! Some systems are making it easier for you to do this by providing some calibration tools, but if you really want to be in control of how your systems looks and sounds you need to understand what each option is and how to differentiate which options are the best for you.

Our site hasn't focused much on this segment yet, but we'll be getting there soon enough. Keep checking back with us to follow our updates in this area.

Emerging Technologies

Technology is changing so rapidly, it's become more difficult to keep up with it. Home theatre is no different. New sound formats and advances in high definition video are just a couple of things changing in this dynamic arena we find ourselves immersed in. Our site will eventually bring this information to you as well, but right now we're focusing on the rudiments of home theater to build the foundation and "set the stage" for deeper, more in-depth coverage of the industry.

Our Commitment to You

While our site is geared primarily around home theater design, we will eventually dabble into all areas of home theater. Please bookmark our site and visit us often as we will continue to flesh out our site to deliver a reliable source of information that is both broad and balanced with an appropriate level of breadth. We want you to have a resource that provides you with comprehensive information at your fingertips, but not too detailed as to lose sight of the bigger picture. We hope you find our information to be both useful and practical.

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