Follow our guide to create a space to enjoy your favorite movies and music year-round.
SEE ALSO: Check out our smart home demo
GO BIG AND GO 4K
No matter what size or type of display you opt for in your media room, you want to make sure it’s capable of handling 4K UHD videos. 4K UHD has a resolution four times greater than 1080P HD displays, allowing for much sharper detail, stronger colors and shadows, and less motion blur. The amount of 4K video content is growing every day, and the price of a 4K TV or projector has dropped a great deal recently.
You’ll also want to pick a display that’s suitably large (but not too large). The general guideline when it comes to screen size is that the distance between the audience and the display should be about 1.5 to 3 times as big as the screen. As an example, if your seats are about 15 feet away from your display, the biggest screen you can have is about 10 feet.
DON’T FORGET YOUR SPEAKERS
Getting quality sound is just as important as the visual when it comes to watching a movie. To that end, you’ll want to install a surround sound system in your media room.
You’ll want a minimum of five speakers and a subwoofer to get a proper surround sound experience. The first three channels are your center, left, and right channels, while the other two channels can go behind the audience, to the side, or be mounted in your ceiling. The subwoofer can be placed more or less anywhere because bass sound waves are omnidirectional, but placing it along the wall or on the floor in front of the primary speakers are your ideal options.
BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
The distinction between a media room and a home theater can be blurry, but home theaters are usually designed for a dedicated space while media rooms are usually placed in a common area in the home. What this means for you is that your media room may be exposed to a great deal of natural light.
To avoid glare and other issues, you’ll want sufficiently dark shading in and around your media room. We would recommend installing a full lighting control system, as this will help solve your glare issues in addition to making life more pleasant at home and saving you money.
GET A PROFESSIONAL INSTALLATION
It can be tempting to build a media room by yourself, if for no other reason than to save some money. However, we strongly recommend you find a professional integrator to design and install your system. The components of a media room can be tricky to place and calibrate, and you’ll want to be sure every component is communicating well with the other devices in the room.
Elevated Integration is well versed in the field of smart home automation. To learn more about our services and how can we build the media room of your dreams, call us at 212-634-9091 or visit us online.