What Is Home Cinema?
04/09/2011
Home cinema, sometimes also called home theater, is a type of home entertainment set-up that tries to reproduce a movie theater or public cinema experience and mood in a private home, usually with the use of specialist video and audio equipment.
Home movies first became popular in the 1950s as film projector equipment became affordable to ordinary people. In the 1980s, multi-channel audio systems and laser discs took home cinema to new levels. In the early to mid 90s, a typical home cinema setup would probably have had a laser dice or VHS player fed through to a large television set, although some people were already using expensive front projectors in a darkened room. Since then home cinema technology has progressed rapidly with the development of DVD videos, surround sound speakers, high definition television, 3D televisions and Blu-Ray discs.
In 2011, the term "home cinema" covers a wide range of systems designed for watching films at home. A basic setup, by modern standards, would be a large screen television with at least a 27" screen, a DVD player and a surround sound speaker system. More expensive setups might include Blu-ray disc players, a home theater PC or HTPC computer (or similar digital receiver streaming devices), a high definition (HD) video projecdtor and a projection screen, five to seven surround sound speakers and a subwoofer for bass effects. The most advanced home cinema sytems are 3D enabled, using 3D television sets and projectors as well as Blu-ray 3D players which use special glasses so viewers can see 3D movies.
Home theater means different things to different people. Home cinema designs and layouts are personal choices and the only known minimum set of requirements for a home theater are a television or projector, speakers for surround sound and some form of DVD player (sometimes a dedicated machine, but it is common in lower budget setups to have multi-function devices which also play DVDs, such as personal computers or games consoles).
High end home cinema setups, which can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, have expensive digital projectors and projection screens, and often custom-built screening rooms which include cinema-style chairs and top-grade sound equipment designed to mimic commercial cinema performance.
If you are interested in home cinema setups and would like to speak to an expect on the subject, consider visiting www.grahams.co.uk.
