Are you going to set up your dream home theater? If so, you have to put some thought into how you are going to set your home theater system up. In order to set your system up properly, you have to think of the room as part of the system. The size, shape and materials that make up your room will affect both the sights and sounds your system can give you tremendously. You will have to make a series of decisions based on your viewing habits, your viewing interests, and the room you wish to convert into a home theater area.
The first thing you have to decide is how you like to watch movies and TV programs. What is the most important thing to you, size of the image, or that the equipment integrates well into your TV room? Chances are if you really love movies, you’ll prefer a projector to a flat panel TV. Flat panel TVs are getting bigger as fast as they are getting cheaper. But they still can’t give you a real movie sized screen. Projectors, simply put, can. And they are getting better and cheaper too. Chances are that if you really care about TV and movies, you’ll want a projector rather than a flat panel TV. Now that’s sorted, time to look at the room.
The first thing you need to do is measure the height of your ceiling. As odd as this may seem at first, your ceiling height determines your screen height. Screen height, in turn, controls screen width. Screen width, in turn, determines how far back your projector must be, and how far back you’ll need to sit. Here’s how it works: your screen should be at least three feet off the floor, so the audience is looking up slightly (like in a real theater). This will also help you and your family and friends see past typical obstructions in the room—like the furniture. Once you know your ceiling height, subtract three feet from it and that is your maximum screen height. It may be larger than what you want. Remember, it is only a maximum; you can make it smaller if that is too big.
Once you know the maximum height, the maximum width is pretty simple. All you have to do is decide the aspect ratio of your screen. The aspect ratio is the ratio of the screen’s height to width—it’s shape. If you are using a projector mostly for non-HD TV and old movies, then you will want a 4:3 aspect ratio screen. If you watch a lot of movies or have HDTV, you will want a 16:9 aspect ratio screen.
Once you decide the aspect ratio you need to think about the screen type, screen placement, and projector placement, as well as the placement of your speakers. Projector placement is determined by throw ratio. That is, how far it can project light. That determines where you can mount the projector on the ceiling.
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