How to build a home theatre

If rising ticket prices and uncomfortable seats at film theatres are a turn-off for you, here's how you can build a theatre at home. The one-time investment may be expensive, but the big-screen experience will last years.


Components

Projector & screen

A projector can output a display ranging from 30-300 inch diagonally, depending on the distance at which it is kept from the wall. So, the projector will depend on the size of your room. As the resolution plays an important part, go for a full HD projector if you have the money. We recommend ViewSonic's Pro 8200 (Rs 82,000), which offers full HD resolution, multiple inputs, dual 10 W speakers and a screen size limit of 300 inch. If you don't want to spend so much, check out Epson's TW480, which has a 720p HD output, but costs Rs 48,000.

The surface on which you project also matters. Ideally, you should use a screen built for this purpose rather than a white wall as it's hard to get a perfectly smooth wall and the screen will show more accurate colours with better brightness. You can choose different screen sizes and types (higher reflectance, motorised or manual, etc), depending on the budget and space available.

Speakers

There are two broad options for speakers. You can either get a complete set in a box or purchase separate speakers and amplifier. Buying individual components will give you better sound, but usually cost more. As a starter set with discrete multi-channel sound, we recommend the Logitech Z906 speaker set (Rs 25,995). It offers THX certified 5.1 surround sound speakers, 500 W RMS sound output, a wireless remote control, and analog and digital inputs.



If you want a home theatre set-up with a DVD player, you can consider the Sony BDV-E490 BluRay 5.1 Home Theatre. It costs the same, supports multiple formats, has built-in Wi-Fi and comes with two tall speakers for easy placement.

Media centre

If you want a basic Blu-Ray player, you could pick one from Panasonic, Samsung, Sony or any big brand. However, for more features and future expansion, we recommend building a media centre. Assemble a computer with a dual core Intel or AMD processor, with at least 2 GB RAM, 1 TB storage, a Blu-Ray drive and an entry-level video card with HDMI (AMD 6670 or Nvidia GT 630).

Make sure to add a USB Wi-Fi dongle for Internet connectivity. Load it with Windows 7 and install XBMC on it from xbmc.org. XBMC is a customisable home theatre interface that displays movie information, trailers, and so on, for your entire movie collection. The entire set-up should cost around Rs 25,000.
Accessories

Cables

Cables can play a significant role in a home theatre set-up. In case a speaker cable is short, don't cut and join two cables to increase the length as it deteriorates the signal quality. Always use a single, high-quality, oxygen-free copper speaker cable to connect your speakers to the receiver/amplifier. Since HDMI cables do not have this issue, you can use these to connect various components. If you use individual components, we suggest using optical (Toslink) cables (Rs 149 onwards) for audio signals. They deliver the best 5.1 surround sound.

Remote

There are two options to remotely control your home theatre depending on your choice of Blu-Ray player or media centre. For a Blu-Ray player, you can choose a universal remote control like the Logitech Harmony 650 (Rs 6,199).

This can control up to five different devices (TV, Blu-Ray, set-top box, DVD, etc) and has a colour display for ease of use. If you opt for a media centre, you will need a wireless keyboard and mouse since you are essentially controlling Windows. A good option is to go for a wireless keyboard with a built-in trackpad, such as Amkette's Wi-Key Touch (Rs 2,495) or the Logitech wireless touch keyboard K400r (Rs 2,695).

Surge protectors

Your home theatre room will require a number of power points to connect all the components. So, you should buy a good surge protector to safeguard your devices from random voltage spikes. There are various unbranded and fancy protectors that cost a few hundred rupees. However, we recommend surge protectors from Belkin. They are priced a bit higher (Rs 499 onwards), but offer excellent build quality, support different power plugs, offer LED indicators and have an inbuilt safety shutter to protect against high voltage spikes.

Setting it up

Placement of projector

Depending on the space available, you can either place the projector on a table/stand or mount it on a ceiling. Most projectors display an image that inclines upwards from their lens, so if you are mounting it on a ceiling, it needs to be placed upside down. Projectors usually have settings to invert the image so that this is possible. Since the distance from the screen defines the size of display, make sure you do not mount the projector too close or too far away. A test run is ideal.

Placement of speakers

Assuming that you opt for a 5.1 speaker set-up, we recommend keeping the front speakers on either side of the display. The central speaker should be kept just below or above the screen, while the rear speakers should be placed opposite the front speakers in a straight line. If your room is not perfectly rectangular or the system is being installed in a smaller section within a larger room, you may need to experiment with the placement for the best surround sound. The subwoofer can be kept in any corner of the room, though some units offer specific placement instructions.