EXPERT HOME CINEMA SETUP VS PROJECTOR HOME CINEMA

The ideal cinematic experience is different for everyone. Some people love visiting the commercial cinemas for that special atmosphere: the feeling when the lights start to dim before the film starts or the rumbling and vibrations of the surround sound as it travels behind you. This is an experience that can be captured just as well with an expert home cinema. However, home cinema has a different meaning to different people. This could be a dedicated and professionally installed cinema room or a simple projector setup in the living room. We’re going to be looking at the key differences and why an expert home cinema delivers the best experience.

WHAT MAKES AN EXPERT CINEMA SETUP?

An expert cinema setup will be a bespoke one, specially designed to deliver a cinematic experience. Every home cinema project is different whether that’s the size and shape of the room or the vision and requirements you have for it when it’s complete. However, every expert home cinema project will have the following in common.

SPECIALIST LIGHTING DESIGN

The best home cinemas have lighting installed in deliberate spots of the room to provide that quintessential cinema experience we’re used to. It’s not about simply installing some lights in the ceiling and dimming them. Lighting is one of the most important parts of creating an ambience for your home cinema and shouldn’t be overlooked.

INTERIOR DESIGN

A professional home cinema setup shouldn’t just consider the interior design of the home, it should work with it in detail. As such, we’re not just talking about matching the cinema seats with the wallpaper, we mean making sure that the equipment is meticulously embedded into the room without it looking out of place.

HIGH-QUALITY AUDIOVISUAL EQUIPMENT

An expert cinema setup is nothing without high-quality audio and visual equipment that fits your room and requirements. Especially if you’re wanting to be fully immersed in what you’re watching!

CINEMA SEATING

Is it even a cinema if it doesn’t have cinema seating? The kind of seating that is comfortable, has drink holders and delivers that VIP feeling. An expert cinema setup will have dedicated (and possibly tiered) cinema seating to really complete the experience. And from now on, you won’t always be sitting behind the world’s tallest person whilst trying to enjoy your film.

THE TRANSFORMATION

All things considered, what truly makes an expert home cinema set up is the level of transformation from before and after. Whilst a projector in your living room allows for a larger viewing area, an expert home cinema revolutionises how you experience entertainment from now on.

MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EXPERT AND DIY HOME CINEMA SETUPS

The key difference between an expert home cinema and a projector you’ve installed yourself is the overall viewing experience you have. If your cinema has been installed by qualified professionals who have been working in the home cinema industry for many years, you’re going to have the best experience.

A team like Finite Solutions will know what sound equipment is ideal for the acoustics of your cinema space. They’ll be able to recommend projectors or screens for you that balance your project’s budget and the cinema experience you really want – and from reputable and trusted brands within the home cinema industry.

A home cinema setup will require a full or partial room conversion, meaning building work will be required. However, with a full team working on it, it would be much quicker than trying to do it yourself. Moreover, everything will be skillfully installed to perfection as the cinema room will be dealt with by trained and experienced experts who know how to make your vision a reality.

The cinema room can even be merged into one easy to operate system (sound, visual, projector, lighting, heating) as part of a smart home system.

Whereas a cinema room will be a dedicated space, a DIY home setup with a projector will likely be a case of fitting it into an existing space. When you’re trying to squeeze things in, there is less room for the other equipment required such as speakers and no consideration for lighting or interior design.

A simple projector setup might be an attempt to deliver a cinematic experience at home but might fail to capture what you really enjoy about the cinema. You might have the ideal home cinema in your head but struggle to realise it due to insufficient knowledge or skill.

Even if you do have space for equipment, there might be things you don’t think about such as connecting the equipment to work together and optimising it. There’s also an assessment of the room’s acoustics to think about and how to adjust the room accordingly.

EXPECTED COSTINGS BETWEEN EXPERT AND DIY

A DIY home cinema project can cost you however much you want. It depends on what you want to achieve. Is a projector in the living room going to deliver a commercial cinematic experience? No. But is the experience you want? Well, then it might not cost that much. You can find projectors online for less than £100, but remember, these will require installation and calibration with your other equipment.

With a DIY project, there’s also the potential for costs to escalate in the wrong direction. If you go wrong or choose incompatible products, you may have to pay to patch up your mistakes. You may also end up purchasing more than you realise if you don’t budget correctly.

If you want the true cinematic experience we all know and love, you’ll likely be looking at a full room conversion with all the best tech, which will evidently cost more. With a professional home cinema installation by a team of experts, there is a fixed cost. This cost is estimated at the initial stages of your project when you sit down and talk through the vision for it. Usually, this is upwards of £10,000 but may include lighting, acoustics, seating, structural work, automation and more. As a bespoke home cinema installer, each project is different.

LIFESPAN & GUARANTEES BETWEEN EXPERT AND DIY CINEMAS

Projectors and other equipment that are commercially available on popular websites are more likely to be designed with an expiry date. Much like mobile phones are designed to become obsolete after several years, these home cinema gadgets will likely be similar. They will likely come with a short guarantee as well.

When you choose an expert home cinema, however, you’ll be able to access aftercare services like ours which mean the equipment is regularly updated and proactively maintained. If there are ever any issues with the equipment, we are a call away.