The 6 elements of a perfect high definition home theater
Sure, you’re off to a good start when you have an HD projector. But that’s just one part of the equasion.
How’s that?
Well, there are actually 5 elements that determine whether you will have high definition images in their full glory on your screen.
Or whether you are not really using your projector to its full potential.
So what do you need:
1. The source
2. The medium
3. The player
4. The cable
5. The projector
6. The screen
Now, let’s look at each one in detail:
1. The source
The source is where it all starts. And with “source” I mean the material that you actually want to get onto your projection screen. So it can be a concert, a movie or a family video. For now, let’s just call it a movie.
If the movie you want to watch originally wasn’t in HD, you won’t get a razor sharp image on your screen. Unless there has been significant work done to transfer the original to a high definition version. If not done properly, there can be issues such as bad colors and weak contrast.
Not the sort of thing you associate with high definition. So if you have a favourite old movie you want to see in HD, check forums or reviews to see how well the transfer from the original was done.
And if you want to know how much work goes into this, you can read more here.
2. The medium
With the medium, I simply mean a disc or hard drive that has the capacity to store high definition material.
You see, not all media are even digital, like your old VCR. Play a tape and project it onto your big screen and you’ll see a big difference. The same goes for regular DVDs. These don’t have enough capacity to store all the data that is required for HD.
That’s why Blu Ray discs are more and more popular. These have the capacity to store a full HD movie. You’ll pay a bit more too though..
3. The player
The player has to be capable to read HD data and output an HD signal. You can put an HD disc in a regular player, but that means it won’t be able to read the disc, let alone send out a signal in full HD.
Your player should also have the connectors that allow HD signals to be sent out. These can either be component or HDMI / DVI.
Which brings us to the next part: the cable
4. The cable
This is an often forgotten element. An afterthought almost when it comes to setting up an HD home cinema.
Yet, if your cable isn’t able to transmit an HD signal, there will not be a HD movie on your screen.
The main cables that are used for HD signals are:
1. Component
2. DVI
A component cable has 3 connectors: red, green and blue which are connected to your player on one side and your projector on the other side.
A newer type of cable is the DVI cable, which has only 1 connector. A big advantage is that this single cable also carries an audio signal. The component cable can only transmit a video cable.
That’s why a DVI cable makes your installation a little bit easier and reduces the cable mess that you so often see.
5. The projector
The projector is important, because once the HD signal reaches it, it’s up to the projector to get it onto the projector screen in its full glory.
These days, a full HD projector is a lot cheaper than they were a couple of years ago. However, the prices still vary enormously: starting from around $1500 all the way up to 100′s of thousands (and yes – that’s for residential ones!)
There are a lot of things you can look at when it comes to the specifications of the projector. The most important ones are the light output (ansi lumen) and the contrast (always expressed in a ratio of 1 : x, where the higher the x-value, the better).
Something practical to look at is the type of connectors the projector has. Make sure these match the connector types of your source player.
For a more complete full hd projector buyers’ guide please go here.
There’s one element that will have the most dramatic impact on the performance of your home theater. And it’s this one.
