Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Home Theater Display Considerations

When designing a home theater, one of the toughest decisions to make is which screen to choose. There are many options to consider when deciding on a home theater display. I will only cover the most common home theater display types in this article.

Flat Panel HDTV
One very popular choice for starting a home theater is the flat panel display. Smaller size options and reasonable prices make this home theater display an appealing choice for budget conscious and space constrained home movie enthusiasts.

Some of the benefits of LCD/Plasma Flat Panels include:
- Flicker Free Higher Contrast Display
- Better backlighting with newer LED creates enhanced black levels
- Smaller options for media rooms that cannot accommodate a large projection TV or projector
- There is a wide variety of display options for almost any budget or room size. Plasma TV’s have come down significantly in price and there are many affordable LCD options that are very comparable with plasma displays
- Flat panel home theater displays are easier to setup and configure

Some of the disadvantages for home theater designs include:
- To get a home theater display size as great as a home theater projector is significant
- Lacks the true movie theater feel of a quality projector
- LCD home theater displays can show some blurring on fast action scenes. Advances in refresh rates and panel response can help.

DLP Projector
The best way to bring the theater experience home is with an HD projector. The most common type used in a media room design is a DLP projector. Due to recent drops in prices, DLP projectors have gained significantly in home theater design popularity. There are many 1080p DLP projector options available for under $1000. When shopping for a projector pay attention to the lumens rating. The higher the lumens rating, the more ambient light the projector can absorb without compromising picture quality too much. I suggest starting with at least a 1700 lumen rating on a projector and going up from there. Ideally, a DLP projector will be in a room without any ambient light.





Some of the advantages of DLP projectors include:
- Quality on par with Hollywood
- Faster video performance... no blurring on fast moving scenes
- Image consistency and reliability... no degradation of color over time

Some disadvantages of DLP projectors:
- You will need a big room. Watching a 100 inch screen from a few feet away be a challenge.
- May be difficult to configure... Wiring the display may be a challenge.
- Ambient light can cause a washed out picture
- Research cost of replacement lamps

Some other options for your home theater room display include rear projection DLP HDTV’s. These TV’s are very affordable big screen home theater display options and are often 3D ready without the additional 3D price tag. For example, the Mitsubishi DLP projectors have been 3D ready for years now and a new 3D ready 1080p 65 inch display can be purchased for about $1000.

Visit http://mediaroomdesigns.net and http://mediaroomdesigns.net/home-theater-display.html for more information.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Popular Surround System Configurations Used in Media Room Designs

2.1
The 2.1 channel surround system is one of the simplest setups you can use in your media room design. This configuration uses a front left, front right channel configuration and a subwoofer. This design requires minimal wiring and setup time, but lacks the full surround effect created by having separate rear speakers.
Sound Bar With Subwoofer A sound bar is another simple and attractive media room design speaker solution. It uses virtual surround sound to fill the room with sound and simulate the surround effect. A subwoofer my be used to deliver the low frequency sounds.
5.1
The 5.1 is the most commonly used configuration in media room designs. The 5.1 channel configuration is slightly more complex to implement in a media room design. This setup uses a front left, front right, rear left, rear right, and center channel speakers with a subwoofer. Incorporating this solution into your media room design will take a little more planning, wiring, design, and patience. The front surround speakers should be angled toward the middle of the main listening position between 22 and 30 degrees. The rear surround speakers should be behind the listening position and angled toward the middle of the listening position between 90 and 110 degrees. As I said, the 5.1 setup is the most common, but it fails to deliver the full immersive sound that a 7.1 system delivers. 

5.1 Media Room Surround Sound Layout
7.1
The 7.1 is one of the more advanced configuration for media room designs. The 7.1 channel configuration is slightly more complex to implement in a media room design than a 5.1 setup due to the additional speakers. This setup uses a front left, front right, rear left, rear right, left surround, right surround and center channel speakers with a subwoofer. Incorporating this solution into your media room design will take a little more more planning, more wiring, more design, and more patience than the 5.1 setup. The front surround speakers should be angled toward the middle of the main listening position between 22 and 30 degrees. The left and right surround speakers should be to the side of the listening position and angled toward the middle of the listening position between 90 and 110 degrees. The left and right back speakers should be behind the middle listening position at an angle between 135 and 150 degrees. 
7.1 Media Room Surround Sound Layout

Monday, January 24, 2011

Ten interesting media room design pics posted at http://mediaroomdesigns.net/media-room-design-examples.html

Take a look and let us know what you think.

Welcome to Media Room Designs .Net!

Welcome to the MediaRoomDesigns.Net blog... The site about Media Room Designs. In our site we will attempt to make the challenge of designing a media room less daunting for those just starting out and show some examples of media room designs that we have come across on the internet. The site is just getting started so check back often and watch as we grow.
Media rooms have become more and more popular over the past several years. With media room hardware prices coming down over the past few years, media room designs are more affordable and no longer for the affluent. Designing a media room gives you the ability to watch a movie in your media room the way that the producer intended. A well designed media room also gives you the ability to watch a movie in your media room without disturbing others in the house. In the media room I designed, I can watch a movie without waking up the kids at night. With a little knowledge, preparation (and money of course!) you can design a nice media room.
As I mentioned earlier, media room designs have become very popular and can cost as little as $1000 and go up to just about any price. You can design a nice media room on a small budget. In this site, you will find a few tips on media room designs.
The way you design a media room will depend on many things including: the equipment you already have, the budget you have to work with, the size of the media room. There are a few things you should consider when selecting your media room. First of all, the room should be as dark as possible with no windows if that is possible (especially if you plan to use a projector). There should be some sort of carpet on the floor (hard surfaces will cause problems with the sound and mess up your media room design. Finally, make sure there are not too many of the other things in the room that can reflect sound (i.e. media cases, furniture, etc). It may be useful to line the walls in your media room with a material that absorbs sound. This accomplishes two things: It keeps the sound from bothering others in the house and it prevents the sound from bounding around the room making it more like a real movie experience.
Designing a media room may seem daunting at first, but once you are armed with a little knowledge and have identified a room, designing your media room can become a fun and exciting project.
Hopefully, we will be able to help you understand some of the basic and intermediate concepts to designing a media room that is right for you.

visit http://mediaroomdesigns.net for more information