Home Theater Installation

Whether you’re a die-hard San Francisco 49ers fan or Kansas City Chiefs supporter, chances are you’ll be tuning into the Super Bowl on February 2. With more than 100 million people watching each year and a halftime show that is always off the hook. Most Super Bowl party hosts only think about the size of their TV when brainstorming the perfect setup for their guests. But, you must also consider the food and, of course, the sound.

Choosing The Right TV

For diehard football fanatics, having a good TV not only matters, but is absolutely and utterly crucial! For this reason, it is imperative that you choose the right TV to watch the game. Although LED TVs are the popular choice due to the price point, OLED TVs are the best choice for watching sports. Response time and refresh rate are important things to consider when buying a TV optimized to watch sports. Response time refers to the time it takes for each individual pixel to change states. Faster response time, means you’ll get less motion blur and fewer artifacts (this results in a better picture). And, the faster the refresh rate, the smoother things look and the easier it is to pick out details in fast-moving content like sports.

OLED TV (Response Time, Refresh Rate)

• Response Time: because OLED pixels combine the light source and the color in a single diode, it can change states incredibly fast
  • OLED TVs currently offer the fastest response time of any TV technology in use today
• Refresh Rate: OLED TVs can achieve rates of up to 1,000 times higher than LED TVs

LED TV (Response Time, Refresh Rate)

• Response Time: by contrast, LED TVs use LEDs to produce brightness, and tiny LCD “shutters” to create color
  • Although LED’s brightness can be changed in an instant, LCD shutters are by their nature slower to respond to state changes
• Refresh Rate: LED TVs are much slower

Getting The Right TV Mount

Between its wires, plugs, and sharp corners, a TV that is not mounted to the wall (properly) is an accident waiting to happen. Which is why choosing the right TV mount is so important. For anyone who has ever experienced a wall mounted TV falling off the wall, it can be devastating. Between the possibility of someone getting hurt, and the chance of something breaking, this is something you never want to experience for yourself. Some of the most common reasons for TVs falling off the wall includes mounting it on dry wall alone, not using the right anchors, and using a poor quality TV mount. So, to avoid this, it is worth considering how a professional TV installation company can help.

Adding Surround Sound

Don’t settle for a just okay Super Bowl audio experience. Make sure every bit of dialogue is clean, crisp and that you practically feel every bone crunching hit. Here are three of the most popular surround sound setups:

5.1 Setup

A 5.1 surround sound setup is when three speakers are placed in front of you (left, right, center), two speakers behind you (right surround, left surround) with a subwoofer somewhere in the same room (for low frequency effects).

7.1 Setup

A 7.1 surround sound setup delivers a cinematic experience through seven speakers and a subwoofer. With two added levels of depth that is produced by a left rear and right rear speaker. These rear speakers add intensity to the audio experience by further localizing sound effects. Make sure to place them behind your seating area at an angle of 135° to 150° from the center.

9.1 Setup

The 9.1 surround sound setup delivers a cinematic experience through nine speakers and a subwoofer. Adding to the 7.1 setup, the 9.1 setup makes use of two front height channels. These front height speakers add a vertical dimension to surround sound listening. For optimal sound, place these speakers directly above the front left and right speakers (facing the listening position). And, for maximum effect, they should be at least three feet above the front speakers.

Just think, you can take the impressive visual quality of 4K technology to its limit with a two-piece projection system that combines a 4K Ultra HD projector and a screen. See the details of your movies, TV shows, and football games with amazing, lifelike clarity. Plus, you can sit closer to the screen comfortably for a truly immersive experience.

Choosing The Right Home Theater Projector

While there are endless options out there, most of the time no matter what you are buying, you get what you pay for. For this reason, make sure you understand everything before you buy one. Here is what you need to know about home theater projectors. 

Projector Brightness

Brightness is measured by lumens; the higher the lumens, the brighter the projector will be at a given distance. Generally speaking, projectors start out at about 1000 lumens and range upwards to 2500 lumens and more. Important to make note of, your viewing environment is the deciding factor on how many lumens your projector will need. For example, a dedicated home theater does not require as much brightness as a space with ambient light like a living room.

Contrast Ratio & Resolution

A projector’s contrast ratio is the difference between the darkest and brightest areas of a picture. So, a home theater projector with a high contrast ratio will allow you to see clearly defined shadow detail and deeper black levels. And, the total number of pixels a projector is capable of displaying defines the projector’s native resolution. As you already might know, the more pixels you can fit in, the crisper and more detailed the picture will be. And, the higher the resolution, the closer you can sit to the screen, and visa versa.

Throw Ratio

The throw ratio tells you how wide your image will be when you place the projector at a certain distance. For instance, a 1.8:1 ratio will produce a 5 foot wide image when the projector is placed 9 feet from the screen (5 feet x 1.8). It is for this reason that calculating the throw ratio is especially important if you plan on mounting your projector permanently. This is an area where you will want to use some caution. That’s because if you cannot place the projector far enough away from the screen due space limitations, it’s likely you need a short throw projector instead of a long throw projector.

Projector Screen

The right high quality projector screen reproduces an image without losing quality. That’s because the screen reflects back light working together with your projector to make colors and images pop off the screen. Or put simply, it maximizes the light coming from the projector and in turn reflects the image on the screen. As a result, everyone in the room can see it clearly. Every projector screen is rated by how efficiently it reflects light (gain factor). And, the higher the gain, the brighter the image will be on the screen.