Wireless technology

Wireless home theater setups are something I haven’t yet experimented with. But I will. The advantage is overwhelming. No wiring. The disadvantage is worrisome though. Loss of quality of signal.
Great advances have been made over the past 10 years in wireless home theater technology. Typically the rear speakers in a home theater setup, those behind the viewer, have wireless offerings. They are typically the speakers which would require the most wiring and also involve wiring which needs to be run under the floor, through the wall, or through the ceiling to be hidden and reach the rear of the room. Running loose wires on the floor and under the couch is not an alternative here!
If you’re reluctant to make the investment to open the walls, floor, or ceiling of your television room, buy a home theater receiver with wireless rear speakers. Avoid the headache. Avoid a second headache and ensure you review the best brands and models BEFORE buying.

Projector Screens

For projector setups it is simply not satisfactory to project the image onto a blank wall or a white sheet you got from the closet. The screen needs to do 2 important things. The first is that the screen material must properly reflect and reproduce the colors being projected onto it. Many materials reflect light differently than the light being transmitted to them. Secondly, the screen material must minimize the loss of brightness of the image being projected onto it. Many materials allow a great deal of light to pass through them and thus decrease the brightness of the image.
Proper projector screen material can easily be found online (eBay is a great resource). Most good material providers will also supply details and instruction on building your own custom frame and installing the material on that frame. If not, ask them. I made my own frame and mounted my own screen material 10 years ago. I’m still using the same screen today.

Older technologies

Don’t buy a combo VHS-DVD player. They’re actually overpriced. Spend your money on a nice progressive scan or Blu-ray player and then have a professional transfer your VHS home videos to DVDs. If you have any movies on VHS, just throw them out. You probably don’t watch them anyways and if you really will miss them, buy a DVD copy.

Room layout

The layout and dimensions of the home theater room are extremely important when considering your system. A home theater setup with a projector requires a relatively dark room so it is best suited to basements or setups that will only be used at night time. Home theater setups in family rooms need to be relatively simple to operate so that children are able to operate it. Setups in high traffic areas are typically not a good idea.
Is your basement unfinished? Why not spend some time and create a dedicated television room? Starting from scratch with a clean slate you can create the room you want.

Television size

I’ve been in too many living rooms with a nice high definition television, beautiful home theater components, and I can’t see the TV because it is 20 feet away. On the flip side, I’ve been in just as many living rooms where the television was much too close to the sitting area. Research what you need BEFORE you buy.

The size of television you choose for home theater setup is EXTREMELY important. You need to match it to the room in which it will be and the distance to the sitting area from where it will be located.

Too big of a television will cause headaches and a sore neck from turning your head and shifting your eyes too much! Too small of a television, well, it’s just disappointing and a waste of money. Why did you waste your money on high-definition if you can’t see it?
Human beings will always spend more than they should and buy too large a television than they need. That’s fine. That’s unavoidable. However, if you’ve overspent on more television than you need, you should likely reconsider the location in which you were going to install it.

Inviting friends over

If you are very sensitive with who touches your home theater system and how they touch it, let them know up front. If you have a friend who breaks everything, tell him the system is very complicated and it took you several weeks to get it configured just right. If he spills beer on everything, make him pay for it. I’m of course speaking from personal experience here.

High definition

I need to explain something to 50% of the people I know, and likely 50% of you reading out there.

          1. A high definition television combined with standard cable, satellite, or DVD technology (Blu-ray) does not equal “I have high definition at home”.

          2. High definition cable, satellite, or DVD technology (Blu-ray) combined with a standard, non high-def television does not equal “I have high definition at home”.
I’d like to say to those people, try putting 2 high definition components together. You’ll see the difference.

DVD players

After squashing the VHS (what is that?) market 15 years ago, little has changed in the DVD player market besides the introduction of progressive scan models, and the introduction of Blu-ray high-def technology. Not insignificant events, but really just improvements on an already excellent technology.
Market professionals see little the DVD technology can do to advance over the next few years beyond perhaps shrinking the standard disk size and increasing the media storage capability. You could expect however that the demise for the DVD technology is on the horizon with the eventual move over to completely digital, electronic media.
Blu-ray pricing has dropped greatly in the past few years and will continue to drop. Availability of Blu-ray movies in the local movie store has steadily increased. In 5 years expect Blu-ray to push standard DVD out of the picture much as standard DVD had done to VHS 15 years ago.

Cables

I think I’m likely in the minority on the use of ‘high performance’ cables in home theater setups. I think it’s ridiculous that you can spend more on wiring and cables from some manufacturers than you likely spent on your receiver or on your speakers. Why on earth would I need to spend $175 on a cable to connect my television to my DVD player when I only spent $1200 for the TV and $125 for the DVD player?
I’ll take the $25 option and then challenge you to tell me which one I bought (the high performance cable or the standard cable) after I install it.
I do advise that you keep your spaghetti mess of cables under control with very inexpensive cable clips or cable organizing systems on the market. You can get that cable mess sorted out for under $15 with the right product. A $3 pack of plastic zip ties can do the trick as well.

Maintenance

Due to the complexity of most home theater setups, there is always the issue of stacking components on top of one another, or the issue of housing them in entertainment units. Both present problems with regard t the proper ventilation and cooling of the components. All electrical components generate heat. Some have fans and cooling systems to control that heat. You negate that cooling ability when you block the fan or stick the component in a shelf in an entertainment unit.
Aside from regular dusting, most components require little maintenance. Spills should be cleaned immediately after unplugging the component. Never open or attempt to take apart electrical components. You’ll likely void the warranty and/or make things worse.