Incentives for Proper Home Theater LightingWritten by Jon Martin
One of most crucial elements to consider in building a home theater system is also one of most over-looked. The lighting used in room has an incredible effect on movie viewing experience. It can make difference between a pleasurable experience and a mediocre one. Better Viewing Environment Believe it or not, complete darkness is not best way to watch movies. This is in complete contrast to what most people actually do. You can even see this in practice at many movie theaters; lights along sides of theater are kept very dim during film but they are still on. The dim lighting helps to prevent eye fatigue that results from staring at a bright light source in complete darkness. If you have ever had a headache after watching a long movie, it may have been caused by eye fatigue. Atmosphere Lighting creates a certain atmosphere inside a room. This is true whether or not atmosphere created is one that you had intended. When was last time you walked into a theater that used overhead fluorescent lights? What kind of feelings would that evoke? Would you really feel like you were there to watch a movie or would it feel more like you were about to sit in on a seminar? Positioning, color, and intensity all play a role in ambiance home theater lighting produces. Decide on exactly feelings you would like to produce with your home theater lighting. What emotions would you like to evoke as people walk into your home theater? Warm? Relaxed? While different colors elicit different emotions from different people, there are some colors that seem to be associated with certain feelings. Choose shades of color that is associated with feelings you want to elicit from your home theater audience. The position and intensity of your home theater lighting will be determined by placement of viewing screen. Direct lighting should be avoided during movie. Using fixtures that reflect light off of walls will help to avoid glare while reducing harshness of light. Dimmer switches are also a necessity if your home theater room is not equipped with central lighting control. They will provide you with ability to customize intensity of your home theater lighting to your own tastes.
| | Transmit Clean Digital Audio with Digital Coaxial CablesWritten by Jon Martin
In world of digital audio, there are two types of cable to choose from; optical cables which use light to transmit signal and digital coaxial cable. These audio cables will enable your home theater system to transmit digital data between components. This will provide you with superior sound quality over typical RCA audio cables.How Digital Coaxial Cable Works Digital coaxial cables employ same principles as other coaxial cables. The inner conducting layer is surrounded by an outer conductor as well as rubbery insulating layer outside cable. The digital signal is sent through inner conductor as it travels between components. During course of its transmission, signal routinely comes in contact with outer conductor. The outer conductive layer is created with materials that act as a reflector for signal, thereby bouncing it back off of its surface. The signal will continue to reflect within confines of inner conductor until it reaches receiving component. Dedicated to Digital Audio Digital coaxial cable has only one purpose; to deliver digital audio between components. This is in complete contrast to RF coaxial cable which transmits both video and audio along same path. As you may suspect, dedicating entire bandwidth of cable to sending only digital audio has excellent ramifications for your home theater’s sound quality. This practice results in greater signal fidelity between transmitting device and receiving component. Greater signal fidelity means that sound you hear from your home theater speakers will be truer to way sound was originally recorded.
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