To get a better idea of what you should be looking for when buying components for your home theater, along with getting a sense of what the home theater experience is like, I have included this section. Through this section you will be able to read the results of a Yahoo Answers survey I did along with a direct personal account of my experience with home theater systems both throughout my childhood and adulthood.
Yahoo Answers Survey
* The exact survey can be found at:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArnAB_w1TTizlcj0DB0GXM_sy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071018114641AAqziwb
There were two respondents for my Yahoo Answers Survey which asked: “What type of home theater system do you have and what has been your experience with it?” A summary of their answers are below.
Respondent 1
The first respondent said that their home theater system consisted of a PS3, (for both video game and DVD input), Logitech Z530 5.1 THX speakers and a Sharp 1080P LCD television. They felt that their setup was good compared to other systems that might be 2 to 5 times more expensive. Unfortunately, the respondent wasn’t clear as to whether he had an LCD flat screen television or an LCD rear projection television.
Respondent 2
The second respondent said they had a Sherwood 600w 5.1 home theater receiver, two Sansui 130w left and right speakers, a center channel Pioneer 100w bookshelf speaker, two Sony 120w left and right speakers with stands and a Sony 100w subwoofer. The respondent didn’t make clear what type of television they had. However, this setup in and of itself was enough to significantly enrich their sound experience when watching movies. In fact, the respondent says once you get a suitable surround sound system, you’ll never want to go back to the original way you may have watched movies. They added that it’s like having a “mini-theater” in your room. Yet, there is a downside. This downside is possibly angering the neighbors from the bass that comes from the subwoofers.
My Experience
When I was a very young child in the late 80s and early 90s, my family had a 30 inch television connected to what were considered to be state-of-the-art speakers. The speakers were front left and right and in tower-form. They were much larger than the slender speakers that are available today. However, they worked pretty much the same through a more primitive receiver.
Everything had been set up in our family room. While we didn’t have an elaborate home theater design, (a concept that may not have been as developed back then as it is today), we did have a set up that was effective and comfortable. I was so intrigued with our ‘home theater’ system that I spent more time in the family room than I did my own room when it came time to watch television.
Then in my early teenage years, (during the mid-90s), my parents began establishing a more genuine home theater system. They bought a projector and a manual projection screen. The system was somewhat expensive, but not excessive, even for back then. Once it was bought, my father set it up in the basement. The projector was placed on top of a cabinet and the projection screen was in a perfectly suited space. The speakers that were used were extremely large and had excellent sound quality.
The projector system was used to watch cable television, play movies and even play video games, (it was Nintendo at the time). The system impressed everyone that came to visit us. I remember my best friend being quite intrigued with our home theater, as we used it to watch movies all day during her visit. I myself loved the projector system. In fact, there was even a period of time when I would exercise on the treadmill while watching movies or television shows that were showing on the projection screen.
We even used our projector outside. At the time doing this was a bit cumbersome, so we only did it once that I can remember, but it was quite exciting. My father had set the projector up on a table and basically used the wall along the side of the house as the screen, (which can be done if the wall is clear enough). The movie that we watched was Death Becomes Her, a comedy that even today reminds me of the unique and wondrous outside movie experience I had with my family.
When we moved into our second house in the late 90s, we abandoned the projector system in favor of a big-screen CRT rear-projection television. No extra speakers were connected to the system, as the sound was controlled through the television. Although this setup was not as cinema-like as the projector system, it was still better than watching movies or television on a smaller television screen. The setup is still used by my mother, (my father can’t take advantage of it because he had passed away a few years back). She is surprised by the digital transition that will occur in 2009, but her television won’t be affected because it connects to cable. Additionally, she takes advantage of Tivo, a device that she absolutely loves. With it she is able to record all of her talk shows and watch them once she gets home from work.
Anyway, when I became an adult and moved out on my own, I wasn’t able to get any type of home theater system on my own. This was because I had been renting a room with my husband, so we were really pressed on space. Our television needs were satisfied through a smaller television set that was connected to the wall.
Then, once I became pregnant, we had to move into our own house so we would have more room for our growing family. Now we would have more room for a more elaborate home theater setup, except there was one problem. We are very much ‘bedroom’ people when it comes to our television habits. This was because since we had previously rented a room, we didn’t have a living room or basement in which we could watch television in. All of our television and movie watching occurred in our bedroom. So even with a three-story, three-bedroom house with a finished basement, we still wanted to keep our television and movie viewing within our main bedroom. And since our bedroom was a bit cluttered trying to house four computers, (two for my husband, one for myself and one for my now 3-year-old son), we needed a television set that wouldn’t take up too much space. For this reason we decided to invest in a Samsung 42-inch LCD flat screen television.
Speaker-wise we do not have any connection, though we do own a subwoofer and some front left and right speakers. The reason why they are not connected is because we live in a townhouse, and, (according to my husband at least), the system can get very loud. We don’t want to risk having the neighbors call the police, so we left them unconnected. However, should we move into a single family, we’ll definitely take advantage of our speakers, because they would significantly add to our movie and television watching experience.
As far as how we get movies and televisions, it is through a combination of cable, Netflix and Blockbuster. I personally use our cable the most. Through our cable we get HD television and what is known as on-demand programming. This is when you’re able to play a television show or movie any time you want even if it hasn’t been broadcast yet. Although this feature is not as extensive as Tivo, it’s a great alternative for those not interested in paying the extra costs associated with the Tivo system. With on-demand you can rewind or fast-forward through your movies or television shows. You also do not have to deal with commercials, (as they are shown before the movie or TV show actually starts). The cost of the on-demand service will depend on your cable provider, but for us it comes standard with our HDTV upgrade.
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