Elijah James asked:


Nothing says modern status symbol like a quality home theater system. Having the gear to provide a movie theater quality viewing or gaming experience instantly tells visitors to your that you’re a person who has arrived.

There’s a lot of home theater systems out there though, and choosing the one that will provide the best quality and impress your visitors can be confusing. To help you get an handle on which home theater system best suits your needs, here’s a few basics:

Choosing the display type is the first step in selecting your home theater system. Flat panels, such as LCD and plasma displays, and rear-projection televisions can produce large, wide-screen, high-definition pictures. Front projector televisions can produce razor-sharp images in even larger screen sizes.

A good trick for choosing a television for your home theater system is to measure the distance between your couch and where you’ll be putting your television. Then, when you get to the store, stand that distance away from the television you’re looking at. This will keep you from buying a television that’s too large or small for your home theater needs.

Also remember that for home theater screens 30-inches or larger, you’ll get the best picture quality from high-definition broadcasts and DVDs if you buy the HDTV model. The display resolutions of HDTV sets vary; typical examples include 720p, 1080i or 1080p, 1366 by 768, and 1024 by 768. The display resolution of your new television may not matter much unless its screen is relatively large and you sit unusually close to it. The difference between 720p and 1080p resolution, for example, isn’t very noticeable on a 50-inch screen unless you sit within about 10 feet of it.

Good sound is key to a good home theater experience. However, getting your home theater’s audio just right can be tricky. Basically, you’re going to want a home theater stereo that has 5.1 sound. This means five speakers, center, front left and right, back left and right, and one subwoofer. Proper positioning of your home theater’s audio gear is key to ensuring quality sound. Your front speakers should be at least two feet behind the television, the center speaker should be either on or near the television, the subwoofer should face forward toward the center of the room with the mesh side open and the back speakers should be positioned in an area that maximizes their ability to add to the ambient sound quality of the home theater system.

Once you get all of this snazzy gear, making sure you install it properly is vital to ensuring all that money didn’t go to waste. Improper installation of a home theater system can result in crackling sound an unclear picture and looking like a tool when your friends come over to watch. Avoid embarrassment by picking up a few good do-it-yourself manuals before trying to make sense of all those red and yellow cables or by hiring a pro to set up your new home theater system.

A home theater system can literally project your status and taste to guests. Don’t make a mess of your chance to impress. Choose the right gear, put it in the right place and get the right people to set it up.

Debra Arko asked:


So you have decided you want a home theater system. You may even have made the decision of free-standing or in wall-mounted depending on your budget and room- size. Yet there are some many choices. How to you know which system is the best investment for you? Here are seven tips that my husband and I used to make our decision making a bit easier.

Ask yourself if you want to purchase a brand name you know or are the brands online or less known just as reliable? We found brand name did not always mean top-quality nor did it mean high prices.

So what do you need to know before you buy?

Even if you have already purchased a system and found that you should have done your own personal home theater review you can use these tips to make your home theater entertainment the fun-zone in your home.

To find out what style of home theater you want to buy, it’s best to do your research and we found that online saved us time and money. You too can spend less time researching online and then looking in your local stores. Doing a home theater review simplifies the research online for you if you desire an easy way to see what is available from brand names to the best pricing start online. For us we found once we knew what we wanted a visit to the local retail store just helped us see the home theater systems up close yet the price online saved us over twenty-five percent so we ended up purchasing online and even got free shipping.

Many local stores may have a great selection and offer online discounts if you buy through the internet with the same warranty. With a little digging I found out there is only a few places that provide the warranty-service for all home theater systems regardless of where you purchase them. The best deals aren’t always what are on sale many are the less-known brand online or the close-out only offered online through your local retailers online store.

Your home theater system is not something to purchase spontaneously. While it won’t increase the value of your home in most cases it will add to your enjoyment of your home. When you decide to sell your home the right look can increase selling power and a wall mounted system will add dollars.

It is essential to get precisely what you desire for your home theater. Research is the key to a good home theater review. Compare not only major brands of receivers but also the lesser known. Look at speaker packages and will your current TV work or should you include a new TV in the scope of your research and review? Find out what you exactly need, and what best fits for your lifestyle. Many websites give you an opportunity to build your system and see what you really want and what you thought you needed. When we did our home theater review it was surprising to find we missed a few things that would make our system sound better for less. This review can let you know exactly what you should get without having to purchase anything or get in your car and have a sales person ’sell’ you more than you really need. By building a system you feel you need you can have a better idea of the investment you would like to make and what you really want without purchasing extras you’ll never use.

So ask yourself, what do you need for your home theater?

In order to have a first-class home theater system that meets your budget you will need:

1. To have a screen or television that is fitting to your needs. So ask yourself how big is the room and how many people do you want to seat? Is the room going to be a true theater setting or a home entertainment room like a living room?

2. You want to decide how big you want the picture to be, and whether you should use a television or a screen with a projector based on your answer to the above question. Each choice has benefits and should be found at your local home theater store. A television has more options, while a projector and screen can cover a bigger space.

3. With a screen, you will need to have the projector and get it set up. If you find that a television like a HD or plasma is what you are looking for you will need to have the correct cable and various plug-in types for a DVD, CD and other entertainment.

4. Do you want to add a DVD player or a cable hook up for your input? Be sure to check out the audio wireless home theater systems in your review. You must also use a home theater review for parts like cables to ensure best quality. It is up to you as a consumer to review all of the components you will need and make the best decision for you.

5. Next is our readers’ favorite the correct speakers and hook-ups for the speakers. A great screen and receiver are nothing with cheap speakers. Your speakers should provide a surround sound type of atmosphere, so you should be sure to get all of the correct types of speakers that you will need. Most times a minimum of 5 speakers is needed to get the sound dynamics you want.

6. When doing your home theatre review make sure you can find out where you can also purchase home theater pieces. Today you can have a wireless speaker system and a sound expert will be able to help you make these kinds of decisions. You should be able to find someone with sound expertise wherever you purchase your home theatre system even online most stores have a toll-free number to assist you when you are ready.

7. While most people already have their living room ready for entertaining there is a numerous movie-style seats, chairs and so on to add to the experience. You will also want to make sure the lighting works for both theater style movie viewing and perhaps gaming on your system. So in the end you will want to look at your setting and build upon what you have and how you plan to entertain in your home theater.

Entertain and show your new system off!

Finally you have your home theater system setup and ready to go by doing a stellar home theater review, don’t forget the most important part. In order to entertain and show off your home theater you will need to load up on pop-corn and other fun foods. Host a pot-luck or even a game night with your favorite concert playing on DVD in back ground. A home theater and how you can now entertain friends or just enjoy your home with a special person are now at fingertips. From watching your favorite movies, listening to music or playing video games in a big way are now up to you!

Jeff Saunders asked:


HOME THEATER

Nothing beats having a killer home theater system. Big screen TV with high-definition, surround sound where I can plug in my iPod Nano, the latest DVD technology, video on demand, an Xbox 360, a hookup for my digital camcorder – the list goes on and on. Man, I’d love to have an awesome home theater inside my house. I’d never go outside if I did! And there’s just some much stuff to choose from when it comes to building your own home theater. Seating, systems, design, brand names, video games; I could easily spend thousands of dollars creating my dream home theater system. Of course, I don’t have thousands of dollars to spend, but I can still dream about it!

My perfect home theater system would be completely wireless. No cables or cords whatsoever. And it isn’t as far fetched as it sounds. More and more home theater systems are being built and designed to be wireless. That doesn’t just include the home theater itself. That includes other aspects of the home theater like video games, PVRs, DVD players, video cameras and more. Pretty soon, the home theater cable connection won’t even have a cable to connect! Now how awesome is that?

I’d have a big screen HDTV with crystal clear surround sound that would blow my mind. And when I got my home theater installed, up and running, I would plop myself on the couch with a seven-pound bag of popcorn and watch anything and everything that I can. Hey, that’s the point of having a great home theater sound system, to watch stuff! The images would be clear, the sound immaculate and it would all work with only one remote control. Now that’s a great home theater!

Of course, I would have an Xbox 360 or Playstation hooked up to this bad-boy. High-definition games played on a massive, high-def screen? I’d have every video game humanly possible and would completely immerse myself playing them!

A home theater allows you to experience TV rather than just sit and watch it. Imagine watching a hockey game where a hard body check on the boards rattles your bones too. Or watching war movie thinking you’re going to be shot at. Or watching your home-movies on such a screen that it makes you feel like you’re at the event all over again! Or playing the hottest and coolest Xbox or Playstation games! With your own home theater, seating is always at a premium and it’s an experience like no other. And when you want to listen to music, just hook up your stereo system to your home theater. Imagine listening to Dark Side of the Moon on high-definition, high fidelity surround sound speakers? Any music fan will tell you that it would be the ultimate audio experience, and a home theater allows you to enjoy just that!

In the early 1990s, people decided to cocoon, or stay home rather than go out. Not so far after, home theaters got more and more complicated and detailed. Home theaters used to be exclusively for the super-rich, and their home theaters are actually movie theaters right at home, with home theater seating and everything. But with some careful saving and research, anyone can have a great home theater to fit their budget, lifestyle and space. As for me, one day I’ll have an awesome home theater of my own, with a huge TV, amazing sound – all wireless of course! Until then, I’ll just keep on dreaming about it!