Home Cinema
Many a couple will have spent time arguing about where in the Drawing Room to place the television before banishing it to the corner to avert relationship meltdown. The main substance of this argument stems from the size of televisions and the simple fact that when they are not in use, they dominate the room! The larger the screen size, the bigger the box! Even storing televisions in cupboards does not always solve the problem; the cupboard itself needs to be almost two feet deep and trying to manipulate a TV inside a cupboard to achieve the best viewing angle is virtually impossible. And then there is the other side of the coin where size does matter! Televisions are finite in size due to the limitations of their glass screen and tube technology. The simple answer to all of these problems is the modern ‘Home Cinema’. Riding firmly on the back of the release of DVD Video Discs, home cinema has become a hugely popular form of home entertainment. What might have cost a Superstar many tens of thousands of pounds twenty years ago can now be installed in your home for a fraction of the cost. The art of creating a home cinema lies in the acquisition of knowledge to help assemble the most suitable blend of audio, video and display components that enables every home cinema to be specifically tailored for each end user. By utilising the highest quality products affordable, the resulting sound and video image will be as close to a true cinematic experience as possible. Gone is the unsightly box to be replaced by ultra-thin Plasma Screens built into walls or high-definition projectors mounted on ceilings or hidden away in coffee tables. These display devices can be adapted to almost any environment without the need for cumbersome furniture. And if considered early in designs for the refurbishment of a house, they can be installed to leave them totally hidden when not in use: plasma screens can be hidden behind pictures and projection screens can retract into ceiling voids. With a little imagination, anything is possible in the never-ending quest to bring large-scale sound & vision off the high street and into our homes.
While designing and installing a home cinema are critical stages of the overall process, there is one aspect that, if overlooked, can baffle all but the most avid readers of ‘Home Cinema’ monthly; that of control. Like most things in our lives, if something is difficult to understand and use, it will eventually be put to one side and left to gather dust. With a remote control packaged as standard with every piece of domestic audio & video equipment sold, remembering how to play this or record that or even just turn on to BBC1 can prove infuriating. The cure to such potential problems can be found in multi-functional remote controls or programmable touchscreen displays such as those shown here. Imagine falling back in the sofa after dinner and with the press of a single button, the projector starts lowering out of the ceiling; the screen starts rolling down the projection wall; the amplifier turns on and the DVD player starts spinning its disc; and all this while the lights are fading gently to black and the curtains or blinds are gliding to their closed positions. Life really can be this simple! An intelligently designed home cinema system does not have to invoke a second mortgage and should be as much fun to use as it is to design and install. And while there are many aspects of the design process not covered herein, it is extremely important to think about equipment location and aesthetic integration long before placing the order. At the end of the day, you’ll know whether or not you’ve achieved your home-grown Odeon when the water glass on the screen is not the only one moving across a table!
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