Setting Up My Home Theater
Should I tell my cable or satellite company when I buy a new TV?
You should tell your cable or satellite company that you have a new TV, especially if you want to enjoy high definition. If you don't let them know, you will not have a high definition service. You need to get a new tuner box for your equipment. You need to need to pay a premium to your cable or satellite company for a high definition content at this point in time. Without notifying those providers you're not going to see anything different on your screen.
How should I decide where to put my new TV?
You should put your TV where you want to watch it. There is no set location. We have installed TVs in some of the most unusual places. We've done outdoor TVs over hot tubs, off of ceilings, off of walls and over fireplaces. There is no one set place to put a TV. One of the big advantages of the newer technologies is that flexibility. There no longer needs to be a dedicated spot for the TV. You can put it anywhere you'd like. One of the factors to consider when you're trying to place your TV is light. For example, will the sun be shining directly on the TV? You generally want to try and avoid that kind of situation. You also want to think about where you watch the most TV. Do you watch it sitting in the family room? Do you watch it standing in your kitchen? If you're going to stand in your kitchen and watch TV, is the TV location good? Do you want to be able to move it around or to point it in other directions? Those are some of the basic factors to think about when placing your TV.
How far away from my TV should I sit?
One of the big advantages of the newer technology of newer TVs, is that you can actually sit closer to the TV than you used to be able to. The newer TVs have nothing to do with radiation. It has everything to do with the ability since the resolution on the newer TVs is better than on the older style TVs. You can actually sit closer to the TV and continue to see the detail on the screen. So recommended viewing distances for TVs typically are three to four times the height of the TV. So for example, if you have a 50-inch TV, it typically is around 30 inches tall. So the recommended viewing distance on that TV is between 90 and 120 inches.
Do I need a professional to mount my new TV on my wall?
You should consider professional installation of your TV, especially if you're going to be mounting it on the wall. If you mount it incorrectly, it can fall off the wall, flat-out, and that's an expensive mistake to make. No warranty covers that. Also, given the fact that it is new technology and there are new types of connections to be made, it makes sense, it'll save you some time and a lot of frustration if you have a professional come out and help you out with the process. Generally speaking, we run the cables first. We get all the cabling in place, then we connect up all the components; the receiver, the DVD player, and we get all those in place and situated correctly. The last thing we do is the hanging of the TV. The primary reason for that is because, if the TV is in the wrong position, we want to be able to reposition the mount and do those things before we've hung the TV up, because afterwards, we have to take everything down and take it all apart again.
Is it safe to mount my new TV over my fireplace?
Aesthetics aside, there really is nothing harmful about hanging your TV over the fireplace, as long as in the process of hanging it over the fireplace, you respect the insulation that is sitting around the flue. If you break into the flue, or if your installer breaks into that flue, you really have some serious problems on your hands. So that is something to be careful about when you're mounting a TV over a fireplace.One of the checks that we always do when we're mounting a TV over a fireplace is actually to do heat measurements at the bottom of the TV. And the reason for that is, there's always some heat that escapes from the fireplace when you have it on, and you want to make sure that the bottom of the TV doesn't get much above 110 to 115 degrees for extended periods of time. Most of the time, most modern fireplaces, it's not a problem. But on some older fireplaces, especially those that have no ledge sitting over the fireplace, it could create a problem and it's just something to consider when hanging it.
How can I soundproof my home entertainment room?
There are a number of ways that you can soundproof your home entertainment room. They range from the relatively inexpensive to the extraordinarily expensive. The best way to soundproof your room is to isolate it from the rest of the room, which essentially is building a box within a box. A lot of times, you'll see that in a studio setup where they need complete sound isolation; there will be a new room inside the original room. Most home theatres that we build don't go to that extent. We use sound treatment materials. We use carpeting, for example, special wall treatments, and different types of fabrics to help contain the sound. When you're doing sound treatment, you don't want to kill all the audio in the room; you don't want to over-treat the room so that it deadens the sound. Part of what makes an effective home theatre is to have a little bit of liveliness in the audio, and to do that, you need a little bit of reflection. The key is to get the reflection so that it makes it sound lifelike, as opposed to very numb and dead.
What kind of cables should I use to connect my home electronics?
The primary cable that you're going to use to connect up all of your home audio/video equipment is a component video cable, what they call a coaxial cable. It has an RCA end on it, and that's the most frequent cable. You use it for audio, you use it for video, you use it for some types of digital audio.The second most important cable you're going to see out there is a what they call toslink, which is an optical cable that's used to transmit an audio. It has an interesting little connector on it, and it essentially transmits audio via laser light. So when you plug those into your receiver, they'll glow red on the ends. Don't look at them because you could burn your eye.The third type of cable that you'll see out there is what they call HDMI, which is the high definition media interconnect which you'll need. It's not an option, you'll need to be able to view the highest definition content and material. Those carry both the audio and the video. Another type of cable you'll see out there but it's fading away a little bit is what they call DVI, which is a digital video interconnect. It's only video, it does extrordinarily high rates of video transmission, but, it is not used as frequently anymore because of the size and the bulk of the cable.
What is the proper order for connecting my electronic components?
There is no particular order for setting up your electronic equipment. Generally speaking, we run the cables first, then we connect up all the components - the receiver, the DVD player. We get those all in place, situated correctly, and then the last thing we do is the hanging of the TV. The primary reason for that is that if the TV is in the wrong position, we want to be able to reposition the mount and do those things before we hang the TV up, because afterwards we take everything down and take it all apart again.
What is the best way to position speakers in my home theater?
We highly recommend when you're trying to place speakers, especially in a home theatre setup, that you give a call to an expert; an experienced professional, who has training and experience in sound and audio engineering. That'll give you the best results. Generally speaking though, for a home theatre system that is a surround-sound system, you're going to have three speakers in the front for your centre channel, and your front left and right channel. You're also going to have two speakers in the rear for your surround audio. You'll also have one subwoofer in the front, located in a position that'll give you the best bass or low frequency. The best way to position your speakers is to go through a fairly rigorous audio check of your room. A lot of the newer systems actually have that capability built into them. What you want to look for, if that's important to you, is that capability. It comes with a microphone, and you plug it in. There's a setup procedure for doing that. Where exactly do you place the speakers? It varies from room to room.
Can I stack my VCR, DVD player, DVR and stereo components?
If you stack your components together in a cabinet – and that happens frequently because you have a certain size cabinet and you have a lot of equipment to put in there – you can do it. What may happen is if there's not enough ventilation, there will be heat build up that will shorten the life of those components.
