Should I Get a Video Projector or a Television?

Posted on October 27, 2010 by admin

Picking out a new display for your home theater can be a difficult task. There are so many different displays out there to choose from. You can get a basic old fashioned tube television or one of the flat panel types. To make things even more difficult there is a huge range of sizes as well as the option to have a projector that will give you huge movie theater type images.  The first thing that you must determine when picking out a display is whether to go with a projector or a TV. There are benefits and drawbacks to both of these options.

A projector has fewer connections available than a standard TV does. It will be more difficult to hook up all of your home theater equipment on a projector. They also don’t come with antenna or cable connections which will make it more difficult funnel broadcast or cable signals to your projector.

While it will be more difficult to hook that projector up you will be able to get larger images than any TV you could realistically afford.  The drawback to that large screen is the poor image quality that you will get on it. HDTV and Blu-ray movies will look pretty good but anything less than that will be much worse quality than a television picture.  With a projector you also have to worry about replacing the bulbs every few years and they can be expensive.

If you are trying to build a home theater, a television will be a better value than a projector. You can use it more often without having to worry about replacing bulbs. You can also hook up your components more easily. If on the other hand you already have a room for normal television watching and you just want a room for special occasions like the Super Bowl then a projector might be the way to go. You will be able to have the largest possible screen size for the money and it might be more affordable than buying a huge TV just for those occasions.

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How Much Do I Really Need to Spend on a Home Theater?

Posted on August 29, 2010 by admin

When you’re trying to figure out how much money to spend on your home theater, several factors come into play. Your first decision is about how much you want your theater to do. Are you planning to have a 60-inch LCD TV with a Blu-ray player, or did you have something more modest in mind?

Any basic home theater setup as a TV (or projector), a DVD player, and surround sound. If you leave out any one of these items, you’d be hard pressed to call it a home theater.

Display

This is the one single part of your home theater that will have the biggest impact on price. If you already have a TV that you want to use, then adding the rest of the home theater components could cost less than $500. Otherwise, you could pay practically any amount depending on the size of your TV. Of course, the bigger the TV, the higher the price tag. Prices easily range from several hundred to several thousand dollars.

Surround Sound

Getting good sound is critical to having an enjoyable home theater. Unless you score a great deal on eBay, you shouldn’t spend less than $200 here. Depending on the quality and volume you want, prices for surround sound could range up to a thousand dollars or so. However, there are lots of great systems in the neighborhood of $500.

Media Player

The third primary component of a home theater system is your chosen media player. DVD players can now be had for as little as $30 with no significant loss of quality. If you step up to Blu-ray, you can now find many players priced just above $100.

Surge Protector

Although not technically part of your home theater, you shouldn’t be without a good quality surge protector. You can buy plenty of protection for $20 to $40.

So what does this add up to? With your own TV, you could probably be happy at $350. At the high end, you could spend around six grand. However, this doesn’t include any media furniture or improvements to the room where you’ll install this gear.

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What Is Meant by a “Home Theater-in-a-Box”?

Posted on August 15, 2010 by admin

The term home-theater-in-a-box refers to a complete system that contains all the basic home theater equipment required. The idea is that you can open the box, hook everything up and start enjoying your new system. These all-in-one solutions normally include a home theater receiver with built-in DVD player, speakers, a subwoofer and all necessary cables and wires. Buying this sort of system is perfect if you’re just getting started with home theater. Everything in the box should be compatible and well-matched, eliminating any need for decisions or choices.

One thing that makes the home-theater-in-a-box so attractive is its price. Most of these systems are very affordable simply because they are built to appeal to novices. Since everything is included in the box, there are no hidden costs or unexpected purchases. You can choose the level at which you want to enter the home theater game by choosing the most comfortable box price.

Most of these simple systems are compact. By combining several functions into a single control unit, stacks of components and mazes of wiring can be eliminated. The speakers included in the box tend to be small, at least compared to some high-end systems. That makes it much easier to integrate the home theater setup into an existing room.

Ease of setup is probably the number one reason that people choose to buy a home-theater-in-a-box. It doesn’t get much easier than just pulling everything out of a carton and hooking it up. When you put together your own system, you have to check for compatible inputs and outputs. You have to make decisions on the best cables to buy and how long you want them. But a total solution in one package eliminates the need for any decisions in this area. And the instructions can be crystal clear because the author will know exactly which items you’ll be working with.

With all these benefits, you might be wondering if there’s a catch. Well, these complete systems might not offer the super high quality that you might get in a custom system. But since you’re most likely a newcomer to the home theater arena, chances are the extra measure of quality might not be that noticeable. A home-theater-in-a-box is an excellent way to get started in high-quality home entertainment without stress or the need for lots of research and shopping.

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Pros and Cons of Wireless Home Theater Systems

Posted on July 17, 2010 by admin

If you’ve done any shopping at all for home theater systems, then you’ve probably seen a few wireless home theater setups. They have become increasingly popular, especially when it comes to home-theater-in-a-box type systems. What are the advantages of wireless home theater systems, and is there anything you should watch out for if you’re thinking of going wireless?

The first advantage of wireless home theater is that there are no complicated speaker hookups. This may not be an issue for you, but there are many people who are completely intimidated by the tangle of wires involved in setting up surround sound speakers. Wireless systems eliminate the need for figuring out which wire goes to what speaker. Just unpack the box, position the speakers and you’re ready to go.

Related to this is the fact that going wireless means there will be no messy speaker wires running through your living room or dedicated home theater. For many of us, wires are beautiful, not messy. But that isn’t true for everyone. Wireless means there’s no need to hide the speaker wires as they travel back to the rear speakers. This can be a big advantage, especially with 7.1 systems.

The only disadvantage I’ve heard about with wireless systems is complaints about the quality. Audio purists have complained loudly about poor quality sound, but improvements have been made. The only way to be sure that you will like what you’re buying, never buy a system without listening to it. Remember, you don’t have to buy a system just because you listen to. This is your time to choose the system you want. Shopping for price is a separate step.

Finally, don’t be afraid to return your system if it doesn’t sound right in your house. Many stores have highly optimized listening rooms that may enhance the sound of a bad system. Come to think of it, this may be one final advantage of wireless systems-it’s much easier to put them back in the box if it comes to that.

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Is HDTV Really Necessary for a Home Theater?

Posted on July 3, 2010 by admin

If you build a home theater without an HDTV, is it really a home theater? Well, I suppose it can be if you’ve built a comfortable area specifically for viewing video entertainment. And you can certainly have high quality audio without an HDTV. However, if you really want to create a totally immersive experience, you’re going to need to upgrade your TV at some point in the process.

HDTVs offer the clearest and sharpest video that is currently available with today’s technology. The screen is normally large and flat, mimicking the look of a theater screen while providing excellent viewing from several different angles. The picture it displays is also a much higher resolution than anything a normal television can reproduce.

An HDTV can also display older media in something very close to high definition. Obviously, to get the most out of your system, you would need to feed it high definition material, either HD channels from your cable or satellite, or Blu-ray content from your disc player. However, many disc players can “up-convert” normal DVDs to look very much like HD quality.

Of course, if you do have a Blu-ray disc player, then having an HDTV is essential for getting the most out of your Blu-ray discs. The Blu-ray format is specially designed to fit more data than ever onto a single disc. So not only do you have stunning picture quality and high-quality surround sound audio, you can also access more special features than ever before.

Most cable systems and satellite subscriptions now offer a full range of your favorite channels in high definition. This means that not only will you be able to view dramatic entertainment more clearly, you can also experience sporting events in a completely new way. Building your home theater around an HDTV ensures that you are able to display your entertainment as close to the vision of the director or broadcaster as possible.

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