What is Home Cinema?

What is Home Cinema?Home Cinema is the name given to an audio visual system that recreates, or attempts to recreate the big screen, surround sound experience found in a commercial cinema, in your own home.

Whilst there is no particular type of equipment that is actually mandatory in a home cinema system (sometimes called a home theatre), there are some vital elements that every system will need for it really to be considered a home cinema:

  • Surround Sound: This creates the sound effects that gives the impression of being in the middle of the action and help creates an immersive engaging experience. It is normally achieved through a total of five speakers (three front speakers and two rear/side surround sound effect speakers) and a subwoofer to create the well known 5.1 surround sound. However, this is not a pre-requisite and many systems are capable of producing a virtual surround sound effect through one, two or three speakers;
  • Screen: The screen is the other vital part of a home cinema system, whether it be a plasma, LCD, CRT or a full projector set up. The actual size of the screen is not particularly important – it is much more relevant to consider how close you actually sit to the screen, and the quality of the source. For example, a 32″ screen may seem small to some, but in a bedroom from 4′ away it would it could look massive!
  • Source: The last vital part of the system is actually a source and this can be anything from a DVD Player or Blu-ray player, to older sources like VHS and laser-disc, or non physical mediums like Wi-fi media streaming.

To create your own home cinema can be a relatively straightforward process of simply adding an inexpensive £100 all in one system to your existing television, or you may want to go the whole hog and invest in a complete separates system – the choice is up to you, and your budget!

We have plenty of articles that may help, including a guide on getting started in home cinema, and more compelling reasons on why you should buy your own system and even how it can save you money!

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