THINGS YOU NEED TO CONSIDER FOR YOUR HOME CINEMA INSTALLATION

Transforming living space in your own home into astonishing entertainment spaces, like your own home cinema, has been increasingly popular among luxury homeowners. Your decision to create a dedicated cinema room for getting the true cinema experience right in the comfort of your home can look like a tough process. However, there are a few pointers that could help you get the best out of your space. We’ve compiled a list of 7 things you could focus on for your home cinema products investment.
1. DO I NEED A DEDICATED ROOM FOR A HOME CINEMA ROOM?
One of the biggest decisions you will need to make for your home cinema will be choosing a location in your home to watch your favourite movies. Many homeowners prefer converting their unused spaces such as attic or basement into a dedicated home cinema room, but if you do not have a space to give over to a home cinema you can also have a dual-purpose room that transforms into a cinema room with automatic blinds and a drop-down screen.
It is now also a popular option to create a new build with a fully bespoke system to create a luxury home cinema. However, whether you want conversion, transformation or a new build, there is always the perfect system available for your cinema room.
CHOOSING A SPACE FOR YOUR HOME CINEMA ROOM
When it comes to choosing a space for your home cinema room, several factors come into play to ensure you get the best experience possible. First and foremost, the room should be large enough to accommodate a projector screen, comfortable seating, and a high-quality sound system. A rectangular-shaped room is ideal, as it allows for better sound quality and a more immersive viewing experience. This shape helps in distributing sound evenly, enhancing the overall audio experience.
Location is another critical aspect. Ideally, your cinema room should be situated in a quiet area of the house, away from external noise and distractions. This ensures that you can enjoy your movies without interruptions. Additionally, the room should have minimal natural light, as too much light can affect the viewing experience. Blackout curtains or blinds can be a great solution to control the light levels.
By carefully selecting the right space, you can create a home cinema room that offers an unparalleled viewing experience, making every movie night special.
DESIGNING YOUR CINEMA ROOM
Designing your cinema room is where you can let your creativity shine. Start by choosing comfortable seating that is specifically designed for a home cinema room. Reclining chairs or sofas with built-in cup holders can add a touch of luxury and convenience. The seating arrangement should also consider the viewing angle to ensure everyone has a great view of the screen.
Lighting is essential in creating the right atmosphere. Use dimmable lighting to create a cosy atmosphere. Floor lamps or table lamps can add ambiance and make the room feel more inviting. When it comes to the colour scheme, opt for dark and rich colours like black, grey, or brown. These colours help to create an immersive viewing experience by reducing light reflections.
Don’t forget to add personal touches to your cinema room. Decorate with movie posters, film reels, or vintage cameras to create a unique and personalised space. These elements not only enhance the aesthetic appeal but also make the room feel more like a true cinema.
2. ROOM SIZE AND SHAPE?
If you are trying to decide which room in your house might work best for your home theatre room project, here are some points to consider:
- To experience audio at its best in a luxury home cinema giving perfect acoustics, a rectangular room would be your ideal solution. Rectangular rooms offer a better advantage in terms of sound quality and acoustics compared to square rooms.
- Although a room with only one door should represent no problems, having a second door for cinema rooms can be safer for entry/exit.
- Retrofitting an existing space with a home cinema can offer advantages such as lower installation costs and less construction work.
- Some homeowners prefer building dedicated home cinema rooms as an extension to their home. This option might appear costly and complex. However, choosing this route would enable you to create a truly dedicated space with perfect size, shape and acoustics.
3. SEATING OPTIONS FOR HOME CINEMA ROOMS
Possibly the most important factor in establishing the seating options in your new home movie room will be the viewing angle. The viewing angle is determined by drawing two lines from the planned seating positions to the screen’s edges. For the ultimate viewing experience, an angle greater than 40° is recommended. Any angle lower than 30° will limit your peripheral vision.
Based on your request and room specifications, the seating can be arranged either level or tiered. Tiered seating requires higher ceiling height, however it’s also the best way to ensure a high viewing angle for all viewers.
There is a wide variety of seating available for home cinema projects. The best home cinemas tend to have individual recliner chairs. Bespoke seats from Fortress, for instance, can be custom-made to offer special leather, armrest and electric recline to be incorporated into your home cinema.
ENHANCING THE VIEWING EXPERIENCE
Enhancing the viewing experience is crucial to creating an immersive and enjoyable home cinema room. Start with investing in a high-quality sound system that includes a surround sound system and a subwoofer. This setup will ensure that you get the best audio experience, making you feel like you’re right in the middle of the action.
Next, choose a high-quality projector screen that is designed specifically for home cinema use. The screen size and quality can significantly impact your viewing experience, so it’s worth investing in a good one. Comfortable seating is also essential. Opt for seating that is designed specifically for a home cinema room, ensuring that you can enjoy long movie marathons without discomfort.
Lighting is another important factor. Use dimmable lighting to create a cosy and intimate atmosphere. This not only enhances the viewing experience but also makes the room feel more inviting. By focusing on these elements, you can create a home cinema room that offers an unparalleled viewing experience.
4. TV VS PROJECTOR
TVs are able to offer crisp images and are less prone to being affected by external lights. However, due to size limitations of the available TV screens, they might not work best in large rooms where the distance to the screen is great.
- Plasma screens, although offering much better action scenes, are losing their advantages against newer technologies such as LED TVs.
- 2015 is expected to bring widespread 4K adoption by many manufacturers with 4 times the resolution of Full-HD displays. With more available content, we will be seeing 4K becoming the industry norm in the coming years. Therefore it would be mindful to invest in a 4K display for future-proofing.
For larger rooms where TV display limitations factor in, projectors offer much better viewing angles and screen sizes. Determining your desired screen size could help your installer make the best selection available.
- Light levels a projector can offer are very critical in terms of achieving the true image on the screen. Therefore the help of an expert with extensive knowledge of the most suitable projector models might be useful.
- Although projectors are highly useful for dedicated home cinema systems, if you’d like to use your screen daily for other purposes, TVs may be more appropriate.
With projectors, there is also the option to accommodate a drop-down ceiling mechanism to hide the projector when not in use. The latest projector models offer higher-definition images with 4K capabilities.
5. INTEGRATED LIGHTING
A room free from outside light helps create the correct lighting setup for watching films. However, if there are windows in your desired room location, you can opt for blinds that automatically close down for film mode creating a cosy space. Lighting is a very important aspect of the home cinema experience, it needs to be just right so that you can enjoy your film free from screen glare.
Materials like carpet and acoustic panels can absorb sound and enhance the viewing experience by minimising sound reverberation and improving overall acoustics in the cinema room.
With the help of integrated lighting systems, it is possible to attain true cinematic experiences where lighting plays an important part in ensuring true immersion. Automated systems like Lutron enable you to pre-define lighting modes such as cinema, reading, chilling and socialising. For example, the cinema mode can automatically dim the lights and turn on the ambient lights.
For a more personalised lighting experience, you might want to consider using fibre optics. Some homeowners utilise fibre optic lighting to create starfield patterns in their ceilings that give home cinemas a theatrical touch.
Smart Home Integration and Automation
Smart home integration and automation can take your home cinema room to the next level. Imagine controlling the lighting, sound, and projector with just the touch of a button. Investing in a control system can make this a reality. These systems allow you to create custom settings for different activities, such as watching a movie, playing games, or listening to music.
Voice control is another exciting feature to consider. Integrating voice control into your home cinema room allows you to control the system with simple voice commands. This adds a layer of convenience and futuristic appeal to your cinema room.
Automation can also enhance your experience by automating tasks such as turning on the lights, adjusting the temperature, and starting the movie. With smart home integration, you can create a seamless and enjoyable home cinema experience that is both convenient and impressive.
6. ACOUSTICS AND THE HOME CINEMA SYSTEM
A perfectly isolated ultimate home cinema room offers fantastic audio distribution where speakers are well-placed and interior design is carefully crafted to prevent the sound from reverberating around the room.
Acoustic wall panels can appear like a big investment. However, they are one of the best options to soundproof the home cinema. In addition to this, furniture choices such as big comfortable seating, upholstered walls and plush carpets can offer practical acoustic benefits with their soft surfaces.
Another thing to ensure regarding acoustics is the speaker setup and calibration. Regardless of how much you tackle room acoustics, sub-par quality sound systems and bad speaker calibration could fundamentally influence the way you experience film, TV shows and music on the big screen. Latest technologies such as Dolby Atmos are designed to deliver true surround sound effects, especially with fast-moving objects in action movies giving a truly immersive experience. Investment in such top-quality equipment will help future-proof your system audio.
7. MEDIA AND CONTENT SOURCES
With the availability of online content services such as Netflix, iTunes and Spotify; it’s now easier than ever to have your desired content within reach at any time in your media room. However, the variety of source options available may also require different component options to have access to these benefits.
For online media, for instance, devices such as Apple TV offer a variety of movie selections with the ability to directly stream off the internet at Full HD quality.
If you have a wide DVD/Bluray collection, there are also options that can help you incorporate your movie collection into the big screen experience. You can still use your regular DVD and Blu Ray player in your brand new home cinema. However, if you want a truly hassle-free experience, Kaleidescape Cinema One might be a better option. Apart from the ability to play DVDs and Blu Ray discs, with the help of extensions, Kaleidescape can either store your DVDs and Blu Ray disks in its vault, or provide access to its movie server with lossless quality films. This way, you can play your films or TV shows without having to manually change disks.
Finally, your media rooms can offer equipment to access cable services like Sky. A home automation system provided by Control4 or Crestron can enable you to switch between content sources, lighting and audio settings automatically right from its dedicated remote or even your iPad.
BESPOKE HOME CINEMA INSTALLATION
Installing a bespoke home cinema, although sounds easy in theory, often comes with a bundle of challenges; especially in the right hardware choice, system calibration and post-sale support. We have a team of experts who can take you through the whole design process from design, to installation. We work with your preferred interior designers if needed to ensure every aspect of your bespoke design project falls into place, even down to the small details.
The home cinema room cost can vary significantly based on the desired features and level of luxury, with basic setups starting around £2,000 to £3,000 and more extravagant options reaching into the hundreds of thousands.
We have the experience to know the issues our clients might face and the know-how to ensure we can achieve the best results for you. Finite Solutions install home cinemas that transform the home, add value to your property and give you a unique space to impress you, your friends and your whole family.
SPECIALISTS IN BESPOKE HOME CINEMA INSTALLATIONS
We are specialists in whole-process bespoke design home cinemas. Let us help you make the best of your home cinema installation investment. Exploring various cinema room ideas can provide valuable inspiration and help you shape your design choices. Speak to us today for a FREE first consultation.