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- Learn the functions, pros, and cons of various home theater components
- Understand digital video and audio and the sources that produce them
- Design a room that lets you get the most out of your home theater
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What Is a Home Theater?
A home theater is a consumer audio/video electronics system that delivers a movie theater–quality experience in your home, whether you’re enjoying movies, television, music, video games, or other types of media. Because there are so many potential components available, home theaters can vary widely. In that way, they’re customizable—they can be built to suit your specific needs and wants. A well-conceived home theater can drastically change the way you and your guests enjoy entertainment in your home.
Parts of a Home Theater
In its most basic form, a home theater consists of:
- Display: The display is the part of a home theater that shows the picture, or video. In recent years, bulky, old-fashioned CRT (cathode-ray tube) TVs have largely given way to other, more advanced types of displays, such as rear-projection TVs, flat-panel TVs, and front-projection TVs (see Home Theater Video).
- Audio: The audio components of the home theater generate sound. Although most displays have integrated speakers, in today’s home theaters, those are often bypassed in favor of an external, surround-sound speaker system (see Home Theater Audio).
- Source: A source is a component from which audio and/or video content originates. A home theater usually incorporates numerous sources (see Home Theater Sources).
- Receiver: The receiver amplifies video and audio signals, then outputs them to the display and speakers. A receiver isn’t an essential part of a basic home theater, but it’s necessary for processing surround-sound audio.
Types of Home Theaters
Home theaters cover a broad range of features, from simple to advanced. They also vary in appearance—they come in many shapes and sizes and range from sleek black to silver or white in color.
Simple Home Theater
A simple home theater is easy to put together—in fact, you may already have one. It consists of:
- A display
- Audio source(s)
- Video source(s)—usually both a digital video source, such as a DVD player, and a television source (preferably a cable provider)
Advanced Home Theater
An advanced home theater can get elaborate—if you have the option, you may even want to custom-build and engineer an entire home theater room in which both the electronics and the environment contribute to the overall theater experience. An advanced home theater usually includes:
- One or more displays: Advanced home theaters use a rear-projection TV, flat-panel TV, or projector. Sometimes more than one display is used.
- Surround-sound speaker system: Audio components in an advanced home theater can range from an all-in-one surround-sound speaker to a set of five, six, or even seven speakers that are built into the walls and/or ceiling of the room for maximum acoustics (see “What Is Surround Sound?” later in this section).
- Multiple sources: The number of media sources that you include in your home theater is limited only by the amount of money that you’re willing to spend. Sources include CD and DVD players, gaming consoles, satellite or digital cable feeds, home theater PCs, and more.
- A/V receiver: The audio/video receiver, or A/V receiver, is the core of an advanced home theater. It receives audio and video signals from their sources, then decodes, amplifies, and outputs those signals to the displays and speakers (see Home Theater Audio).
- Pleasing environment: The environment of your home theater is what can take it from average to extraordinary. High-end home theater rooms are custom-built to deliver optimal acoustics and display onscreen images at their best. Sound-muffling material may be integrated into the walls so that audio won’t carry through to the rest of the house. Lighting may also be customized to suit the onscreen image—too much light can cause a glare on the screen; too little light can create an eye-straining contrast between the room and the screen. Most commonly, the lighting is connected to a dimmer that lets you adjust the light level manually. You can even customize home theater seating, including ergonomic, high-tech chairs that mimic those found in movie theaters. High-end home theaters are often designed and installed by customization companies that do all of the work for you (for a considerable price, of course).
What Is Surround Sound?
Surround sound is a method of audio that uses multiple channels, or audio outputs (speakers), to create realistic sound that envelops the listener. Dolby® and Digital Theater Systems (DTS)™ are the two main sources of surround-sound decoding. These two similar formats send surround-sound information from its source (cable, DVD player, game system, etc.) to your A/V receiver. The receiver, in turn, decodes the signals and figures out which sounds to send to which channels.
It’s important to note that the source must transmit Dolby or DTS surround-sound information in order for your system to play it back in that format. Not every source will include a surround-sound format for your receiver to decode. This explains why, while watching broadcast television, for example, you’ll hear only some—not all—of the commercials in true surround sound.
Dolby or DTS?
Each of the two sources of surround-sound decoding has an array of versions and types, but the majority of DVDs and television broadcasts use Dolby rather than DTS.
Costs of a Home Theater
Depending on your level of ambition, a home theater can become a pricey investment. You could put together a simple and adequate home theater for less than $1,000, but an
advanced, professionally installed home theater can cost
you thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars or more.
- Cost of a display: A small, low-end CRT display can cost as little as $200. The most popularly sized flat-panel TVs (19–65") carry a retail price range of $1,000–6,000 or more. Larger flat-panel TVs, which can be as big as 103", may sell for $15,000 or more.
- Cost of audio: If you custom-build an audio system, the cost can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars—even tens of thousands for a high-end setup. (Some very advanced audio systems alone cost in excess of $100,000.)
- Cost of sources: The amount that you’ll spend on media sources varies depending on the types and amounts of components you choose. On the low end, an antenna costs $10 and provides limited entertainment through a handful of channels. On the high end, you can expect to spend more than $5,000 for all of your home theater’s hardware components. Don’t forget the recurring monthly fees for cable TV service and DVD and game purchases.
- Cost of extras: Extras include everything from cables and surge protectors (starting at about $10 each) to entertainment centers (starting at a few hundred dollars) for housing all of the components.
Home Theaters in a Box
A home theater in a box (HTiB) is an all-in-one system that takes the work out of assembling a surround-sound home theater. It includes an A/V receiver (sometimes with an
integrated DVD player), a set of five, six, or seven speakers, a subwoofer (the speaker that produces bass-line audio), and all the necessary cables.
Things to Consider When Shopping for a HTiB
There are a handful of things to consider when choosing an HTiB for your home theater, including:
- Budget: HTiBs run the gamut in price. A very low-end model can cost as little as $50, whereas high-end models can cost as much as $4,000. Most average HTiBs are in the range of $200–400.
- Room size: The bigger the room, the more audio channels and power you’ll need to distribute sound. HTiBs generally come with six, seven, or eight channels (including the subwoofer).
- Quality: Generally, the more money you spend, the higher the quality of the equipment. But it’s smart to check with an electronics salesperson or read critiques at product-review websites, such as www.cnet.com, or blogs, such as www.gizmodo.com, before you shop to zero in on high-quality options.
| Acknowledgments & Disclaimer |
