How to Turn Your TV Room Into a Home Theater

If you bought a 50" plasma and receiver with surround sound a few years ago and you want to kick it up a notch for the upcoming football season here's an idea...

Thanks to the fact that HDTV projectors are far less expensive than they used to be, you can turn your TV room into a full blown Home Theater for as little as $3,000.00. Here's the concept....use your plasma for most TV shows and when it's time to watch the big game or movie, turn your room into a home theater by sending your HDTV signal to a projector that shoots an image 120" diagonal on to a screen mounted in front of your plasma.

How to Do It

Screen: You are going to mount a retractable HDTV screen above and just in front of your plasma and mount a HDTV projector in the back of the room. The most common size screen is 120" diagonal. Determine what screen size you should purchase, go to mountsandmore.com

Projector: Sony is the biggest player in the front projector market. Two favorites are:

Sony VPL-VW60: Home Theater magazine says the "SonyVPL-VW60 is a" great projector at a great price". It projects a beautiful1080P image and sells for about $5,000.00.

If you're tight on money, the Sony VPL- AW15 is an incredible deal at about $1,100. No kidding, no typo! Although this model is only capable of projecting an image in 720P format, (1080 is best) Home Theater Magazine says "No rear projector or flat panel at anywhere near the cost can offer a big screen experience like this!"

Projector Mount: Due to variables like ceiling height, you're going to need a little help here. I suggest contacting projectorpeople.com and have them help you determine the correct projector mount.

Connections: Your HDTV projector only needs two connections, power and HDMI (high definition multi media interface).

Power: If you can afford it, have an electrician install a power outlet near the location you will be installing your projector. If you don't have the budget, just buy an extension cord that closely matches the color of your wall and run the wires as cleanly as possible to the nearest outlet.

HDMI: You will need to run a HDMI cable from your receiver to your projector. It looks best if you run your wires in the wall or under the carpet. You may want to have a home theater installer handle this for you.

You will need to purchase a HDMI switch as most receivers have only 1 HDMI out connection.

Black Out Curtains: The black in a projected image comes from the black in the room so you need to keep your room as dark as possible when you are in Home Theater mode. I suggest logging on totarget.com/ where you can purchase black out curtains and rods for as little as $29.99 each and install yourself.

If you're a do-it-yourself person, you can save some money installing yourself. If not, I recommend contacting finding pre screened contractors through the use of an online service called servicemagic.com/ Service magic is an on line contractor referral service that will get you three bids on anything you need to get done.

Project Specifications and Budget

HDTV Projector:
Model 1: Sony VPL AW15
Price: $1,000.00
Model 2: Sony VPL VW 60
Price: $5,000.00
Where: shopzilla.com

Screen:
Model: Da-Lite Model C - Video Spectra, HDTV Format 119" diagonal
Price: $480.00
Where: mountsandmore.com

Projector Mount:
Model: Varies by application
Price: Varies by application ($250.00 - $500.00)
Where: mountsandmore.com

HDMI Cable:
Model: HDMI 1.3
Price: Varies by length ($50.00 to $100.00)
Where: mycablemart.com/

HDMI Switch:
Model: 3 port Enhanced HDMI switch
Price: $50.00
Where: mycablemart.com/

Black Out Curtains:
Model: Target Eclipse Suede black out curtains
Price: $300.00
Where: target.com

Installation:
Price: Varies by application ($500.00 - $1,000.00+)
Where: servicemagic.com

For more on how to build an affordable Home Theater go to
http://www.BuildYourOwnTheater.com

John Swanstrom grew up in Los Angeles California. He has 12 years experience in the Commercial Interior Design business working with customers including Disney, Warner Brothers and Paramount Studios on many large and complex projects. In his spare time, John has used his experience to build affordable Home Theaters.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Swanstrom

How You Can Increase the Lifespan of Your Projector Bulb Or Lamp

The replacement of projector bulbs is an all-too-frequent occurrence for anybody that has owned a home theater projector for any length of time. While a two thousand hour lifespan may sound like a lifetime to some people, rest assured it is not long before the projector lamp will need replacing. There are however, some general tips that can help to expand the life of a headlamp for the projection unit.

Do not touch the lamp with bare hands

One of the most frequent problems encountered is people replacing the bulbs with their bare hands. While this is fine for an ordinary light bulb, it is not a good practice for a projector lamp. The lamp in a projection unit burns much hotter than any regular light bulbs. The effects of touching it with bare skin are equally magnified and problematic.

Touching a projector bulb with the bare skin leaves traces of oil on the lamp surface. While this may seem a very minor detail, it is detrimental both to the bulb and the quality of the resulting multimedia display. The oils will get burnt onto the lamp and drastically reduce the lifespan. As the oil is baked into the surface, it actually diffuses the light being projected, reducing the lumens actually being sent to the refractive surfaces. The light will not be enough to project the image that has come to be expected from the home theater projection system. While the problem may not be noticeable at first, over the course of a little time, the quality will degrade to the point of not being viewable.

Turn off the projector power after turning off the lamp

It is highly recommended to turn the power on the projector to the "off" position only after having turned off the lamp and allowing it to cool. This will allow the cooling fans to do the job they were designed to do. While rapid cooling and heating result in repeated contractions and expansions of the bulb filament, it is much better that it be done more quickly with the cooling fans. Likewise, turning the projector on and allowing the cooling fans to run for a moment before turning on the lamp will help as well. This will add hours to bulb life expectancy and allow for longer hours of viewing pleasure on the home theater projection system.

Constant Movements

Constantly bumping or moving the projector, especially while it is hot can be very detrimental to the projector lamp. The filament in the bulb loses almost all tensile strength when it is heated during normal usage. It is much the same as the filament in a camp lantern. The principle is the same; the filament effectively becomes almost the same consistency as ash, making it extremely vulnerable to damage when it is hot. Even after proper cooling, the lamp filament is very sensitive. Care should be taken when moving the projector for whatever reason. While it is always a good idea to be careful with electronic equipment, some aspects of the home projector are actually a bit more sensitive.

It will usually be necessary to move the projector when cleaning the filters. As always, it is a good idea to move it carefully without jerking it around or bumping it any more than needed. Taking an extra moment or two to check the projector mount and make sure it is still securely fastened can also be beneficial and prevent slips and movement which may otherwise be harmful.

With a little care and a little preventative maintenance, the projector lamps will still need to be changed, but not nearly as often.

Note: This article may be republish for use in websites as long as the author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact.

Clifford Tan, a Home Theater enthusiast and owner of the website Home Projector Advisor offering projector reviews, advice and many useful tips and hints to business and home consumers looking to purchase a home projectors. He is a System Administrator by profession with more than 10 years experience in the IT industry. He is very passionate about Trends & Technology, especially when comes to mobile gadgets. He is also an internet marketer, having several websites on various computer niches. The most recent website he own was designed to help anyone who needs help on computer problems caused by registry errors. Go and check the website on http://www.registryrepairinfo.com/best-registry-cleaner.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Clifford_Tan

Bose Brings the Future of Home Entertainment to the Present With the Bose Lifestyle System Series

Creating a complete centralize home entertainment systems has always been a challenge for most of us due to factors like the number of rooms in the house, the massive amounts of equipment and wiring required, and not to mentioned the cost involved. Being able to create a network of audio and video equipment where all the components interact well with each other has for the most part been within reach of only a very privileged few.

Bose, the audio and video company known for cutting edge innovations, has created a solution with their Bose Lifestyle DVD Series, so advanced that it seems like it was ripped right out of a movie.

To start with, the Lifestyle DVD System delivers excellent home theater sound using their arrays of patented Jewel Cube speakers, a nice looking horizontal center channel speaker and a set of high-performance acoustimass modules, all included in the package.

This system in a nutshell, allows you to create a complete home entertainment network with top of the line components and smart technologies built right in to it. To get a better view of this advanced entertainment system, let 's begin with the brain of the network which, is the audio processor and DVD player . This component on the surface has the usual capabilities like the ability to play DVDs, VCDs, CD, MP3's, AM/FM tuner. It also allows you to record MP3s and comes with a connection to a your TV set through an HDMI port.

Underneath, however this system comes equipped with a unique Bose patented technology called ADAPTiQ and what this does is, it monitors the dimensions of your room and the placement of your speakers, and automatically calibrates the sound quality based on the acoustics of the room to achieve the best possible sound. So no matter what the shape and dimensions of your room are and where you place the speakers, ADAPTiQ will automatically calibrate the sound for you to achieve the best possible sound quality.

The second feature in this system is something called Bose Link Technology, and this is what allows you to establish the audio and video network throughout the house. BoseLink allows you to wirelessly link the main system to as many as 14 different rooms , so you can play a CD in the living room and deliver the sound to any of the other rooms, with each area having the ability to independently control the volume. What's more you can have a second audio stream, let's say an IPOD, and deliver that stream to any of the desired locations, so you can watch your TV in one room, while someone else listens to an MP3 somewhere in another room, all coming from the main hub.

As you can see the Bose Lifestyle system comes as close to completing a home audio and video network as you can get. The basic system comes with the main components and enough equipment to set up the main room, and speakers for any additional room would need to be purchased separately. However with the main system set up, you can expand the entertainment network to accommodate up to 14 other rooms.

Hugo Valle is an Affiliate Marketer and Expert In Consumer Electronics http://boseaudioonline.com/

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