What Do I Need to Know to Choose my Home Theater Setup?

If it is time to upgrade that old TV and home theatre audio system, you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the new choices and technologies to decide on. Whether you use the TV to view sports, game on, or just for cozy family movies, you probably want to make sure you are choosing high quality video and audio options with your home technology products. Here is some information that will help you with making these choices and quickly get to the entertainment.

TV Considerations

Depending on when you last purchased a TV, you may have heard terms such as “high definition”, “720P” or “1080P”. You also may have heard things like “LCD” and “Plasma”. Since those days, there have been some changes in modern TVs.

Many TVs are now “smart TVs”. A smart TV, in simple terms, has a computer built in which allows the TV to connect with the internet, and work with a variety of different apps and programs. For example, smart TVs are able to directly connect with Netflix and other streaming services, allow you to stream audio, connect bluetooth devices, USB devices and so on. You definitely want to make sure you go with a smart TV.

When looking for high quality video, you may hear some terms such as “4K” and “HDR”. 4K refers to the resolution, or number of pixels that a display has. With older 1080P TVs, the resolution is 1920x1080, or 1920 pixels across, and 1080 pixels up and down. 4K has a resolution of 3840 pixels across by 2160 down. This is effectively 4 times the number of pixels on the display. Keep in mind that to get this benefit, you need a 4K video source, but many streamers such as Netflx now offer 4K services, as do certain cable channels. Modern gaming consoles also have 4K output as well.

More confusing to most people is this term referred to as high-dynamic range, or HDR. To fully explain what HDR is, there would need to be an entire article dedicated to it, but a simple explanation is the HDR allows for displays to offer a wider range of colour details, and brighter highlights, giving you a much higher quality and more true to life picture.

Audio Considerations

To get the full entertainment experience, you will want to choose a great audio system to go along with your TV. When choosing speakers, there are a few options to consider. First, you may decide to go with a sound bar. This is a single long bar that is usually mounted below the TV. Some sound bars may also come with an additional subwoofer which will need to sit on the floor. This is a great choice and this setup is simple to install, and high quality sound bars can provide a quality listening experience.

For those who want to go with something closer to the complete cinematic experience, you may want to go with a full surround sound system. The “big box” sound systems are usually cheaper quality speakers, so you will want to go with a custom system that combines a high quality amp with high quality speakers. Generally, this setup will include a front left and right speakers, a center speaker, rear left and right speakers, and a subwoofer, to give a full surround sound experience.

Building the perfect home theatre system comes with a lot of choices, and when making this big investment, it is best to talk to experts who can help you through each choice, and make sure you not only pick the correct home technology product, but also have it properly installed and setup. Devise Integration is there to help you out.