Home Theatre Options with HDTV: Part 2

Last week I went over basic considerations for turning a video viewing room into something that can be accurately described as a home theatre. This week I’ll cover options for screens, equipment placement, and wall/ceiling treatment.

In home theatres, video projectors are often mounted to the ceiling, but you may prefer the flexibility of setting it on a table or shelf so it can be portable. If your situation permits, you can cut a hole in your back wall and use the next room as a “projection booth,” just like a real theatre.

Commercial movie theatres have perforated screens so they can mount the speakers behind the screen, but their screens are typically ten to twenty feet tall and fifteen to fifty feet wide, with the front row about ten to fifteen feet back from the screen. Optimal viewing distance is one to two screen widths away from the picture, whatever the size of your screen. At home viewing distances of only four to perhaps twenty feet you would see the holes in the screen, so you’ll need a non-perforated screen with the speakers set up on each side and/or below it.

There is no need to invest hundreds of dollars for a premium screen unless for some reason you need one that automatically rolls up and down. A smooth wall painted matte white makes a great low-cost screen for any sized picture. A good substitute is a four-by-eight or four-by-ten sheet of matte white wall paneling, nailed or glued to a wooden frame to hold if flat. That can be mounted directly to the wall or suspended from the ceiling by a couple of hooks and chains. Just buy the lumber and hardware and do it yourself.

For a professional look, place black flannel or velveteen fabric around all sides of the screen to mask off its mounting framework and fit the size of your picture. Be sure that at least your side masking is moveable, so you can adjust it to fit whatever size image you are projecting.

A four-by-eight screen, for example, can be permanently masked to three feet four inches high, the height of a 2.4:1 “scope” image projected eight feet wide (which would require a 110-inch flat-panel screen to achieve). The side masking should be able to move in and out equally to show a picture at any size between four feet and eight feet wide. Your “native 16x9” picture will be six feet wide (equivalent to an 82-inch diagonal display), and you simply reset the side masking and/or the zoom lens to display all movie aspect ratios at the same height. Those few ratios wider than 2.4:1 will still appear slightly letterboxed.

Complete the theatrical appearance by adding a decorative drape on each side of the screen, and if space permits, a matching valence above. If you have the inclination and money to make it more fancy, install motorized drapes, and/or motorize the top, bottom, and side masking.

Some people like the speakers exposed to show off to their audiences. Others prefer to hide them behind extended screen masking or drapes (you will need a lightweight fabric if you choose this option, to avoid muffling the sound). Surround speakers may be mounted on the walls, inside the walls, or inside the ceiling, depending on your room and the type of speakers you get. They might instead be placed on shelves, tables, or pillars that are ear-level or higher, rather than permanently mounted.

To achieve a theatre look rather than the home TV room look, amplifiers, video players, TV tuners, etc. should be out of sight: hidden by black fabric under the screen, located at the side or rear of the room, or in an adjoining room with your projector.

Dimmers are a good idea for the lights. You’ll create a more theatrical ambience with wall sconces and by painting the ceiling a matte black or navy blue (which also makes a black ceiling-mounted projector less distracting). If your ceiling is not already acoustic tile, you’ll find a rough textured surface better for your audio than a smooth shiny surface.

For the side and rear walls you can spend huge amounts for expensive acoustic paneling designed for home theatres, or you could simply hang some drapes to help absorb sound. Partial or complete wall carpeting is another option.

If you have the luxury of designing a home theatre into a new construction or unfinished space, it’s much easier to hide wiring in the walls or above the ceiling. It’s also perfect for installing projection ports in the back wall so your projector can be in the next room. Be sure to look into soundproofing options, or at least ways to minimize sound leaking into or out of your theatre room. Soundproofing an existing room is likely to be prohibitively expensive.

In a room large enough to include a walkway behind your back row of seats, you might decide to install floor-to-ceiling shelves on the rear wall designed to hold your projector, amplifier, surround speakers, and/or DVD/BluRay collection.

Drapes covering side and rear walls will give your theatre the modern multiplex look, but incorporating decorative wall patterns and architectural ornaments you like will give some distinctive style to your theatre (Art Deco, Neoclassical, Egyptian, Mayan, Persian, Chinese, Medieval Gothic, etc.). Many people also put up framed posters, movie stills, old film reels, or other memorabilia around the room. Don’t forget the popcorn!

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