Contractor Tips Blog

May
27

Home Theater Design

Posted in Home Theaters

So you have decided to put in a high tech home theater in your basement. After looking through hundreds of ideas on the Internet, how do you even know know where to begin? It is a good idea to the professionals at a home theater business help you. Choosing a company that has been designing home theaters for a number of years in and around your area is highly recommended. They will understand the ins and outs of making a home theater worth your time and money in your specific area. 

When designing a home theater, it should always be done on an individual basis. One must take the room dimensions, where the room is located in the home, acoustic design, and desires of each of client into consideration when designing a home theater. An expert home theater design team will help you choose the best components for your given budget and desires in order to develop the perfect home theater for your home. Many people believe that simply purchasing high-end electronics will automatically make their home theater something special, but a professional home theater design company knows that it takes much more than a good sound system and movie projector. 

Proper design, layout, and functionality are all important when designing a home theater. With our years of experience, a quality home theater company knows how to deliver results that take their customers by surprise each and every time. If you are searching for a company to trust to help you design your home theater, call begin by interviewing recommended companies in your area. You need to find the one that can take your desired entertainment components and your personal design ideas and make them work together to create an atmosphere that will make your personal home theater worth every penny.

Posted on behalf of Callaway Home Theater

Mar
28

The Benefits of a Custom Home Theater or Media Room Design

Posted in Home Theaters

A high quality home theater or multi-purpose media room system is much more than a bunch of high priced electronic equipment purchased either online or at the nearest big box retailer.  Often people become fixated on the brand name and price of the equipment, while ignoring the heart of the system, which is the design.  Even the best equipment in the world will not provide the level of audio and visual performance required, unless the entire system is well designed! 

The home theater design will incorporate a number of factors including room dimensions, room layout, seating layout, acoustic layout, projector location, screen location and component selection.  All of these factors must be considered together and integrated to provide the homeowner the best possible value and performance of the system.  

In some homes it may not be possible to have a home theater room due to space constraints, but it is possible to design a multi-purpose media room, which will provide as much enjoyment as a home theater.  The design of the multi-purpose media room will incorporate the design criteria as a home theater, but will also include provisions for concealing the audio and video components of the system so they do not dominate the room’s décor or use. 

A well designed home theater room or multi-purpose media room will provide years of enjoyment for any family.  The audio and video technology today is truly amazing and it has never been easier and more affordable to enjoy a movie like experience in the comfort of your home!

Posted on behalf of Callaway Home Theater

Jan
17

Elements Of The Perfect Home Theater Room

Posted in Home Theaters

A well designed home theater takes planning and expertise to get the right combination of visual and audio effects. While the electronics are important components, they alone are not what turn a good home theater into a great one. Whether you want a room to watch your favorite sports team or to enjoy movies with your friends and family in high definition splendor, how the room is designed and set up can play a major part in the quality of theater room you will end up with. 

Home Theater Design Elements

While any room could potentially turned into a home theater, there are certain aspects that need to be considered. Just adding a large television and sound system will not necessarily create the theater room you had in mind. Some elements to consider when designing your home theater include: 

  • Size – The size, dimensions and shape of a room can determine how the acoustics will perform.
     
  • Lighting – Most theater rooms will have no windows to create the perfect dark room for viewing.
     
  • Seating – Where you place your seating can effect both how the audio and visual effects are experienced.
     
  • Sound proofing – Depending on where your theater room is located, you may need sound proofing to keep outside sounds from disturbing your viewings as well as isolate the sound coming from the theater room. 

Many elements of creating a professional grade home theater room are complicated, requiring the expertise of a home theater designer. Since this is a sizable investment into your home, using a professional home theater design company to help you plan and build your room can make sure that it turns out exactly the way you envision.

Posted on behalf of Callaway Home Theater 

Jul
3

Which Type of Flat Screen TV is Best for You? Part I – Plasma TVs

Posted in Home Theaters

The most important component of any home theater system – for most people, anyway – is a flat screen television. But if you’ve done any shopping for a TV lately, you might be a little baffled or even downright confused by all the choices out there.

Is there really a big difference between a LCD TV and a plasma TV? And what is an LED/LCD TV anyhow? 

Plasma

Plasma is a relatively new technology in TVs. When they hit the market in the late 1990s and early 2000s, plasma TVs were considered a status symbol, as they were very expensive, some fetching $45,000 or more. Prices have since come way down, and now it is possible to buy a plasma TV for less than $1,000. 

With this type of TV, the screen is built from two plates of glass with neon or xenon gas in between. When the gas is exposed to an electrical field, it glows, producing a picture.  

Plasma TVs are only available in 42″ screens or bigger, and from just a small handful of manufacturers. They have a great all-around viewing angle, vibrant color and great definition, but aren’t quite as bright as LCD or LED TVs. 

Plasma TVs are also very susceptible to damage. If they are hit with a hard object, it could break some of the gas filled pixels, eventually leading to a distorted screen image. So when purchasing a plasma TV, many people opt for an extended warranty or some sort of insurance. 

 

Feb
13

Tips for Buying a Home Theater Projector

Posted in Home Theaters

An important element of home theater design is the display system. Life-like, immersive visuals are one of the hallmarks of any great theater experience and you will need a good video projection system to achieve this in your home theater. Understandably, aside from the quality of the display, factors like cost and portability will influence the type of projector you ultimately choose. Here are some things you need to know to ensure the quality of your home theater projection system.

1)      Projector type

Currently, there are three types of video projectors for home theaters on the market: digital light processing (DLP), liquid crystal display (LCD), and cathode ray tube (CRT). In terms of the brightness of the display, DLP projectors have the brightest display and older CRT projectors are the least bright; however, with LCD projectors, the images are sharper.

Cost-wise, LCD projectors are the least expensive kind of projector you can buy; however, with DLP projectors, the replacement bulbs can cost up to a few hundred dollars.  This goes for LCD projectors as well.

Where portability is concerned, LCD and DLP projectors are lightweight and small and so you can use them in other settings beside your home theater. CRT projectors on the other hand are larger and quite heavy; they usually require fixed installation.

2)      Resolution

The higher the resolution on a home theater video projector, the more detailed and vivid the images on the screen with appear. Also, the higher the resolution, the more expensive the projector will be. “High-definition” is the term used for displays with a very high resolution, 1920×1080 pixels being the ideal. XGA resolution (1024×768 pixels) ‎ and WXGA resolution (1280×768 pixels) are considered standard for an optimal movie-viewing experience. SVGA (800×600 pixels) resolution and VGA resolution (640×480 pixels) are the best bet if you’re working with a low budget.

Oct
12

The Advantages Of A Home Theater

Posted in Home Theaters

With the amazing high definition technology available to the home viewing audience today, there’s no reason that you shouldn’t invest in a home theater but a whole host of reasons you should:

  • Movie tickets keep going up in price and taking the whole family to the theater is now a major expense.
  • The cost of popcorn and a few soft drinks at movie theater are ridiculous, imagine how much you could save by staying at home and enjoying a movie instead.
  • It’s easy to get a fully immersive surround sound system in your home today, all you need to do is contact a professional home theater company to help you work out how to make the best of your space.
  • With Blu-Ray technology the picture you get at home is the same picture you get in a movie theater and there will be no one else talking through the movie as you sit back and relax in the comfort of your armchair and taking in the scene.
  • You control the volume so no missed lines and of course if you get distracted for a second or two you can always skip back to catch up on what you didn’t see.
  • If you’ve got young children there’s no need to arrange for a baby sitter when you want to see something that’s on past their bedtime
  • You can afford to go to the cinema every single day, whenever you want without ever having to leave your home – it’s even kind on the environment because you won’t be driving when you’re watching.

Given all the fantastic benefits of a home movie theater isn’t it time you got in touch with a custom home theater design company to start planning your perfect viewing experience?

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