Home Cinemas

How to Get the Best Home Cinema for Your Money

Choosing a home cinema can be a difficult task as there are so many brands available. This will help you gain a little insight as to how to choose the best home cinema for you within your budget.

Display - It seems that the most popular and least expensive option is to choose a CRT TV. Many experts agree that this option will give you the best picture quality. A 28 inch screen is best. However, realize that other options are available.

DVD player - Make sure that you get a good DVD player, and make sure that it is able to read most disc formats. Be wary of inexpensive DVD players and brands that you have never heard of.

Sound system - If you do not know what you are doing, it may be very difficult to attain the perfect sound. The best solution is to get a theater-in-a-box.

They are not only easy to install, but you will have all of the necessary sound components. If you are buying each component separately, you have other factors to consider.

Where exactly will you be putting your sound system? Is your room big enough to accommodate large speakers and a heavy subwoofer? Will it blend in with the surroundings ?

About the speakers - The only thing you need to know is that you must have a center speaker, at least two rear speakers and also a subwoofer.

Where will you buy your home cinema - The first thing to do is to make use of the Internet to check out different prices. Check for stores around you and see if you can get a demonstration of a home cinema.

Shop around and you will surely be able to find the best home cinema that is within your budget. Read more...

A Common Problem with a Home Cinema

The home cinema will certainly keep you home more often. You can forget about those long ticket lines and sitting in a large crowd.
However, there are some common problems that can be run into when you have a home cinema. Here is just one of them:

Sound quality - If you are experiencing poor sound quality, does this necessarily mean that the merchandise you bought has a defect? No, not all of the time.

The first thing you should do is check the speakers wiring to make sure they are properly connected at both ends. If that proves that nothing is wrong, then you may have a problem with the speaker or the amplifier.

The best way to determine the problem is to hook up the speakers to the stereo. If the sound comes out great, then you have a problem with the amplifier. If there is very little improvement, your problem is with the speakers.

Another reason that you may be having a sound problem is that the system is not compatible with the television that you have. This should have been checked out before you bought the system, but since the problem is there, you should have a professional take a look.

It just may be that your speakers are grounded. You cannot miss this problem because there is a hum coming out of your home cinema system.

There are several reasons this can happen: ground loops, bad cables, improper grounding and faulty equipment that is caused by an electronic motor or a dimmer.

Poor wiring or speakers, grounding or even incompatibility are just a few of the problems you may run into which can affect the sound of the home cinema system. The minute you notice any problems, do not panic, but instead try to isolate the problem.
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Setting Up your Projector for your Home Cinema

In order to capture the greatest cinema experience, you should give some thought as to where you shall place the projector.

There are basically three ways that you can set up your projector. They are: table top, ceiling mounted or wall mounted.

Make sure that when you buy your projector that it is able to be mounted as you want.

Table top - Does the projector match the decor? Is the noise that the projector makes low enough? Do you think that the projector will be suitable for the screen size?

Ceiling mount - You must first make sure the mount fits the type of ceiling you have - vaulted or flat. Is it fairly easy to install the cables and the power that is required?

Do you need to have a mount with a quick release? Are you able to move the mount in various positions? Mounts will vary in drop height from the base. This may give you some idea as to how low from the ceiling your projector must be.

Wall mount - This can be similar to a ceiling mount or you can have a special AV rack.

These are some things to consider when you are wall mounting:

- Can the mount support the projector's weight?

- Is it able to be adjusted for sideways and height movement?

- Will the mount fit in with the decor of the room?

- Will the location you have chosen for the projector produce the desired screen size?

When building your home cinema, positioning the projector is critical in order to you to have a wonderful experience. Read more...

What is a Home Cinema Composed of?

Your home cinema is basically composed of receivers, a screen, speakers and amplifiers. We will look at each component in depth.

Receivers - This is the very heart of your home cinema because all of the other parts are connected or wired to it. The receiver works as your controller.

If you select a low-quality receiver, this can jeopardize the pleasure of your home cinema system. The receiver should hold digital or optical audio ports and should even be able to adapt to the older style cabling.

The price of your receiver will depend upon its amplifier supremacy as well as its detailed feature set. You want to make sure to always buy a good quality receiver. This will ensure that you have a wonderful home cinema experience.

Screen - Another vital component of a home cinema system is the screen. There are basically four types of screens: permanent, portable, manual pull down and electric. Each screen has its good and bad points.

Speakers - The speakers for your home cinema convert electric signals into sound. You will be able to reproduce quality audio by having a hi-fi surround system.

Amplifiers - Another way to look at your amplifiers is by saying they are the minds of the home cinema.

Most amplifiers can be distinguished by several characteristics such as gain, slew rate, settling time and aberrations, output dynamic range, bandwidth and rise time, noise and efficiency and linearity.

There are a lot of different model to choose from so be careful when you make your selection.

These are the basic components that you will need to have when setting up your home cinema.
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The Makings of a Home Cinema

You home cinema should combine the features of a video and an audio system in order to replicate an actual movie theater in your own home. The home cinema is becoming increasingly popular today.

You classic home cinemas should consist of a large, high-class HDTV - capable television. You may rather have a video projector.

The quality audio system is achieved with a high fidelity surround sound system. It contains at least 4 speakers as well as a subwoofer in order to have the proper sound effects.

Your home cinema consists of a proper arrangement of a TV, DVD, VCR and a set of speakers. The home cinema is supposed to mimic the natural movie house situation.

There are all types of home cinemas on the market today which differ in size, capacity and, of course, price. You should do a thorough assessment first and then purchase your home cinema system.

The sky can very well be the limit as far as home cinemas go, so make sure that you stick to your budget.

You can get a great deal of information about home cinemas on the Internet. This Information Highway will get you full information regarding different models, different makes, features of different models and much more.

Before actually purchasing a home cinema, you should know about the different components that you are going to need for your home cinemas such as a TV, screen, receivers, amplifier, speakers and more.

There is a great deal to consider when you are thinking about constructing a home cinema within your house. The best advice to follow is -Think before you leap!-
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Home Cinema VS Movie Theater

Let's face it; we all love to go to the movies. What would the advantages be of having a home cinema over going out to the movie theater?
Here are several for you to think about:

Ticket cost - The price of a movie ticket these days seem to be like the gas prices - they are constantly going up.
A family of five is going to have to part with about $40 just to see a movie once!

Food cost - You can add a minimum of $20 for just the basic popcorn and drink. In your own home cinema, you can have whatever snacks and drinks you wish and not have to worry about the inflated beverage and food surcharges.

Cleanliness - The floor at the local movie theater is littered with popcorn kernels, sticky soda pop residue and you may even find wads of bubblegum on the chairs and the floor just waiting to be sat in or stepped on. Your home cinema can be as clean as you like it.

Comfortable seating - Seating at the theater is space for attendance and not for comfort. In the typical home cinema, comfort is the key.
You can lean back in an overstuffed leather theater recliner and not have to worry about rubbing elbows with your neighbor!

No cell phones - I am sure you have been to the movies and seen some teens chatting on their cell phones. Even though the theater asks you to turn off all cell phones and pagers, you can hear someone's phone ring at just the critical part of the movie. There will be none of that in your own home cinema.

These are just some of the advantages of having your own home cinema. Can you think of any more? Read more...

Home Cinema Seating

When thinking about your home cinema, you want to make sure that you and your guests are comfortably seated before the movie starts.

You certainly do not want to be sitting in a hard, straight backed chair or a sofa that you sink up to your eyeballs in! The most important feature to consider when picking out your home cinemas accessories is seating.

Once again there are many styles and colors to choose from. Some seating can be quite pricey, so, again, you must work with what your budget will allow.

When you are choosing seating for your home theater, you should also consider whether you would like to have cup holders or not.

It is certainly a convenience to have a cup holder, but wouldnt it be possible just to set your drink on the floor? Ah, yes, then there is the inconvenience of having to bend over to pick up your cup and missing a critical part of the movie!

If you are not concerned about the price, you could consider getting a cushioned rocker. You can purchase either a velour or Nusuede rocker for about $1,250.00, and a leather rocker will run you about $1,800.00 for a single chair.

If you may be considering alternative seating, especially for some of your more rotund guests like me, you may want to go with an Apollo or Aurora ottoman in either doeskin or leather.

The price of the Aurora is about $370.00 which would be easy on the pocketbook if you are on a budget. The price of the Apollo is somewhat more at $912. Leather will cost you a little more.

There is a wide range of seating choices that you can find on the Internet. Make sure that you find seating that is totally "you'! Read more...

Going "In" to the Movies

Home cinema is a term used synonymously with home theater. It helps to make you feel just as if you were in a movie theater as it seeks to reproduce cinema quality picture and sound.

Technically speaking, a home cinema could be as easy to arrange as a television, DVD and some speakers.

It is fairly hard to specify what the difference is between a "home cinema" from a regular television and stereo.

Most consumer electronics experts agree that a "home theater" integrates a high-quality picture with surround sound.

If you happen to have a home cinema, you are trying to capture a real "cinema experience". Therefore, you would need a higher sophistication and quality set of components over that which an average television can provide. Setting up a home theater would include getting the following parts:

1. Input devices - You should have one or more video/audio sources. HD DVD or Blu-ray are preferable.
2. Processing devices - A stand alone AV receiver can be chosen or perhaps you would prefer a Preamplifier and Sound Processor. The choice is yours.
3. Audio output - You must have anywhere from 2 to 11 speakers with an additional subwoofer.
4. Video output - You must have a large HDTV display. There are several options to choose from: Liquid crystal display television, plasma TV, video projector, CRT TV or a rear-projection TV.
5. Atmosphere - In order to improve the cinema feel, you should have comfortable seating and organization.

There you have it! These are the basic things to have when you consider having a home cinema. Pretty soon you'll be saying, "Let's go in to the movies!" Read more...