A large projection screen in a media room. Projection screens are installations consisting of blank surface and a support structure used for displaying a projected Image for the view of an audience

Home cinema, also called home theater, are entertainment systems that seek to reproduce cinema quality video and audio in a private home. Cinemaaustraliajpg|thumb|A movie theater in Australia ]]A movie theater, movie theatre, picture theatre or cinema is a venue In the 1950s, home movies became popular in the United States with Kodak 8 mm film projector equipment became affordable. Eastman Kodak Company ( is an American multinational Public company which produces imaging and photographic materials and equipment 8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the filmstrip is eight Millimeters wide The development of multi-channel audio systems and laserdisc in the 1980s created a new paradigm for home cinema. The Laserdisc (LD is an obsolete Home video disc format and was the first commercial Optical disc storage medium The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. In the early to mid 1990's, a typical home cinema would have a Laserdisc or S-VHS videocassette player fed to a large rear projection television. Introduced in Japan in 1987, S-VHS ( Super VHS) is an improved version of the VHS standard for consumer Video cassette recorders In the late 1990s, home theather technology progressed with the development of DVD, Dolby Digital 5.1-channel audio ("surround sound"), and High-Definition Television. Dolby Digital is the marketing name for a series of lossy audio compression technologies developed by Dolby

In the 2000s, the term "home cinema" encompasses a range of systems. The most basic system could be a $50 DVD player, a standard CRT television($200), and a $100 "home theater in a box", a 2. DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic 1 speaker system with left and right speakers and a small 8" subwoofer cabinet. For the Marty Friedman album see Loudspeaker (album A loudspeaker, speaker, or speaker system is an electroacoustical An expensive home cinema set-up might include a High-Definition DVD format such as Blu-ray, a 60" High-Definition Television with a "cinema-style" 16 X 9 format, a several thousand-watt home theatre receiver with five to seven surround sound speakers, and a powered subwoofer with a 12" subwoofer. 51, Multichannel audio, Multichannel music Surround 3D Surround 5 The most expensive home theater set-ups, which can cost over $100,000 US, have digital projectors, expensive screens, and custom-built screening rooms which include cinema-style chairs and audiophile-grade sound equipment.

Design

Today, "home cinema" implies a real "cinema experience" and therefore a higher quality set of components than the average television provides. A typical home theater includes the following parts:

1. Input Devices: One or more audio/video sources. High quality formats such as HDTV or Blu-ray are preferred, though they often include a VHS player or Video Game Systems. High-definition television (HDTV is a Digital television Broadcasting system with higher resolution than traditional television systems (standard-definition Some home theatres now include a home theater PC to act as a library for video and music content. A Home Theater PC ( HTPC) or media PC is a convergence device that combines the functions of a Personal computer and a Digital video recorder.
2. Processing Devices: Input devices are processed by either a standalone AV receiver or a Preamplifier and Sound Processor for complex surround sound formats. AV receivers or audio-video receivers are one of the many Consumer electronics components typically found within a Home theatre system A preamplifier (preamp or control amp in some parts of the world is an Electronic amplifier which precedes another amplifier to prepare an electronic The user selects the input at this point before it is forwarded to the output.
3. Audio Output: Systems consist of at least 2 speakers, but can have up to 10 with additional subwoofer. A subwoofer is a Woofer, or a complete Loudspeaker dedicated to the reproduction of bass audio frequencies, from perhaps 150 Hz down
4. Video Output: A large HDTV display. High-definition television (HDTV is a Digital television Broadcasting system with higher resolution than traditional television systems (standard-definition Options include Liquid crystal display television (LCD), video projector, plasma TV, rear-projection TV, or a traditional CRT TV. Liquid-crystal display televisions ( LCD TV) are Television sets that use LCD technology to produce images A video projector takes a Video signal and projects the corresponding image on a Projection screen using a lens system A plasma display panel (PDP is a type of Flat panel display now commonly used for large TV displays (typically above 37-inch or 940 mm Rear projection is a type of large-screen Television display technology Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic
5. Atmosphere: Comfortable seating and organization to improve the cinema feel. Higher-end home theaters commonly also have sound insulation to prevent noise from escaping the room, and a specialized wall treatment to balance the sound within the room.

Home Theatre Flow Diagram

Flow Diagram

Component systems vs. Theater-in-a-Box

High-quality home cinemas are assembled from component pieces purchased separately to provide the best combination of equipment for the cost. It is possible to purchase home theater in a box kits that include a set of speakers for surround sound, an amplifier/tuner for adjusting volume and selecting video sources, and sometimes a DVD player. A " home theater in a box " (HTIB is an integrated Home theater package which "bundles" together a combination DVD Though these kits often pale in comparison to a custom-built home cinema, they are inexpensive and easy to set up; one needs only to add a television and some movies in order to create a simple home theater. This makes them popular in the public's eyes.

Dedicated home theaters

A home theater with video projector mounted in a box on the ceiling. A video projector takes a Video signal and projects the corresponding image on a Projection screen using a lens system

Built-in shelves provide a place for movie decor, DVDs, and equipment. Note the component stack on the right, where the audio receiver, DVD player, secondary monitor, and video game system are located.

The same projection screen as at top, without image.

Some home cinema enthusiasts go so far as to build a dedicated room in the home for the theater. These more advanced installations often include sophisticated acoustic design elements, including "room-in-a-room" construction that isolates sound and provides the potential for a nearly ideal listening environment. These installations are often designated as "screening rooms" to differentiate from simpler installations.

This idea can go as far as completely recreating an actual cinema, with a projector enclosed in a projection booth, specialized furniture, a piano or theatre organ, curtains in front of the projection screen, movie posters, or a popcorn or snack machine. A theatre organ is a Pipe organ originally designed specifically for imitation of an orchestra but in latter years new designs have tended to be around some of the sounds and Popcorn or popping corn is a type of corn which explodes from the kernel and puffs up when heated More commonly, real dedicated home theaters pursue this to a lesser degree. Presently the days of the $100,000 and over home theater is being usurped by the rapid advances in digital audio and video technologies, which has spurred a rapid drop in prices. This in turn has brought the true digital home theater experience to the doorsteps of the do-it-yourself people, often for less than what you would expect to pay for a low budget economy car. Current consumer level A/V equipment can meet and often exceed in performance what you would expect to experience at a modern commercial theater.

Home Theater Seating

Home theater seating consists of chairs specifically engineered and designed for viewing movies in a personal home theater setting. Most home theater seats have cup holder built into the chairs' armrests and a shared armrest between each seat. Some seating is movie theater-style chairs like those seen in a movie cinema, which features a flip up seat cushion. Other seating systems have plush leather reclining lounger types, with flip-out footrests. Additional features like storage compartments, snack trays, tactile transducers (nicknamed "Bass Shakers"), or even electric motors to recline the chair are available, depending on the model.

Backyard theater

In places that have the proper outdoor atmosphere, it is possible for people to set up a home theater in their backyard. Depending on the space available, it may simply be a temporary version with foldable screen, a projector and couple of speakers, or a permanent fixture with huge screens and dedicated audio set up poolside. Due to the outdoor nature, it is quite popular with BBQ parties and pool parties.

Some people have built upon the idea, and constructed mobile drive-in theaters that can play movies in public open spaces. A drive-in theater is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor screen a projection booth a Concession stand and a large parking area for automobiles Usually, these require a powerful projector, a laptop or DVD player, outdoor speakers and/or an FM transmitter to broadcast the audio to other car radios. ^[1][2]

History

1950s and 1960s

In the 1950s, home movies became popular in the United States and elsewhere as Kodak 8 mm film (Pathé 9. Eastman Kodak Company ( is an American multinational Public company which produces imaging and photographic materials and equipment 8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the filmstrip is eight Millimeters wide This article deals with the Pathé movie company For their music business see Pathé Records. 5 mm in France) and camera and projector equipment became affordable. Projected with a small, portable movie projector onto a portable screen, often without sound, this system became the first practical home theater. This article is concerned with technical aspects of moving film projection They were generally used to show home movies of family travels and celebrations but also doubled as a means of showing private stag films. Home movies are motion pictures made by Amateurs, often for viewing by family and friends Pornography or porn is the explicit depiction of Sexual subject matter with the sole intention of sexually exciting the viewer Dedicated home cinemas were called screening rooms at the time and were outfitted with 16 mm or even 35 mm projectors for showing commercial films. These were found almost exclusively in the homes of the very wealthy, especially those in the movie industry.

Portable home cinemas improved over time with color film, Kodak Super 8 mm film film cartridges, and monaural sound but remained awkward and somewhat expensive. Super 8 mm film, also simply called Super 8, is a motion picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the Monaural (often shortened to mono) sound reproduction is single-channel The rise of home video in the late 1970s almost completely killed the consumer market for 8 mm film cameras and projectors, as VCRs connected to ordinary televisions provided a simpler and more flexible substitute. Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or hired for home entertainment

1980s

The development of multi-channel audio systems and laserdisc in the 1980s added new dimensions for home cinema. The Laserdisc (LD is an obsolete Home video disc format and was the first commercial Optical disc storage medium The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. The first known home cinema system was installed as a sales tool at Kirshmans furniture store in Metairie, Louisiana in 1974. They built a special sound room which incorporated the earliest quadraphonic audio systems and modified Sony trinitron televisions for projecting the image. Many systems were sold in the New Orleans area in the ensuing years before the first public demonstration of this integration occurred in 1982 at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, Illinois. Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Peter Tribeman of NAD (USA) organized and presented a demonstration made possible by the collaborative effort of NAD, Proton, ADS, Lucasfilm and Dolby Labs who contributed their technologies to demonstrate what a home cinema would "look and sound" like.

Over the course of three days, retailers, manufacturers, and members of the consumer electronics press were exposed to the first "home like" experience of combining a high quality video source with multi-channel surround sound. That one demonstration is credited with being the impetus for developing what is now a multi-billion dollar business.

1990s and 2000s

In the early to mid 90's, a typical Home Cinema would have a Laserdisc or S-VHS player fed to a large screen: rear projection for the more affordable setups, and LCD or CRT front projection in the more elaborate. Introduced in Japan in 1987, S-VHS ( Super VHS) is an improved version of the VHS standard for consumer Video cassette recorders In the late 1990s, the development of DVD, 5.1-channel audio, and high-quality video projectors that provide a cinema experience at a price that rivals a big-screen HDTVs sparked a new wave of home cinema interest. Dolby Digital is the marketing name for a series of lossy audio compression technologies developed by Dolby In the 2000s, developments such as High Defnition video and newer HD display technologies enable people to enjoy a cinematic feeling in their own home at an affordable price.

See also

For more information on connectors like HDMI, component, et cetera:

Main article: Audio and video connector

• Domotics
• Haas Effect
• High fidelity
• Matrix decoder

References

1. ^ Guerilla Drive-In
2. ^ Mobile Movie