An audio/video entertainment center that has a large-screen TV and hi-fi system with three speakers in the front (left, right and center) and left and right speakers in the rear. Starting in the early 1990s, video inputs were added to stereo receivers, turning them into audio/video (A/V) receivers. Today, almost all home entertainment hardware vendors make A/V equipment for both listening and viewing (see A/V receiver).
Audio - Just As Important
A good sound system is as critical as the video display in a home theater setup. Realistic, high-fidelity sound greatly enhances movie watching, and in many homes, the audio is the more elaborate and costly part of the system. Although it might seem contrary, people have always been more sensitive to audio glitches than to video. Tests have proven that occasional interruptions in the sound stream of a movie are far more annoying to most people than blips in the video frames. See home theater in a box, soundbar, 5.1 channel, Dolby Digital, digital media server and audiophile.
Home Theater Components
These are the typical components in a 5.1 audio (5 speakers/1 subwoofer) system. More speakers may be used (see 5.1 channel), and rather than an A/V receiver, a separate preamp and amplifier are found in high-end systems. If the TV is rear projection, it cannot be wall mounted. Except for the subwoofer, which always takes up some floor space, speakers range from tiny, wall-mounted units to floor models containing several speakers.
Wide Screen Home Theater!
Just as exciting as today's LCD and plasma TVs were the first "wide screen" CRTs in the early 1950s. Screen sizes jumped from 10" and 12" to the huge 16" screen you see in this 1951 Zenith floor model. Monochrome TV, of course. (Equipment courtesy of World Wide Stereo, www.wwstereo.com)
Audio - Just As Important
A good sound system is as critical as the video display in a home theater setup. Realistic, high-fidelity sound greatly enhances movie watching, and in many homes, the audio is the more elaborate and costly part of the system. Although it might seem contrary, people have always been more sensitive to audio glitches than to video. Tests have proven that occasional interruptions in the sound stream of a movie are far more annoying to most people than blips in the video frames. See home theater in a box, soundbar, 5.1 channel, Dolby Digital, digital media server and audiophile.
Home Theater Components
These are the typical components in a 5.1 audio (5 speakers/1 subwoofer) system. More speakers may be used (see 5.1 channel), and rather than an A/V receiver, a separate preamp and amplifier are found in high-end systems. If the TV is rear projection, it cannot be wall mounted. Except for the subwoofer, which always takes up some floor space, speakers range from tiny, wall-mounted units to floor models containing several speakers.
Wide Screen Home Theater!
Just as exciting as today's LCD and plasma TVs were the first "wide screen" CRTs in the early 1950s. Screen sizes jumped from 10" and 12" to the huge 16" screen you see in this 1951 Zenith floor model. Monochrome TV, of course. (Equipment courtesy of World Wide Stereo, www.wwstereo.com)
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Westinghouse SK-32H640G
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- Discussion threads 2009-11-27
- Gateway DX4300-11
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- Product reviews 2009-11-20
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- Blog posts 2009-11-19
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- Product reviews 2009-11-18
- Full Wal-Mart Black Friday ad hits Internet, complete with Samsung, Sony HDTV deals
- If you read yesterday's post, you already know about a few of Wal-Mart's Black Friday home theater deals, including a $78 Blu-ray player. At long last, Wal-Mart's full Black Friday ad has hit the Web, and it includes some of those brand names that the earlier deals lacked. ...
- Blog posts 2009-11-18
- Zvox Z-Base 575
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- Product reviews 2009-11-16
- Newegg offers some early Black Friday deals on LCD HDTVs
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- Blog posts 2009-11-16
- Dell's answer to Apple's Mac mini - The Inspiron Zino HD
- People Actually Buy These Things?Almost a $1000.00 for a cutsey, low powered designer computer? Do people actually buy these things? Maybe they should check out your Very Best Kit list.adrian please 959$ you dont put 959 for a low-end entry level machine you can have...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-16
- Best Buy Black Friday ad leaks online. Here are the HDTV and Blu-ray deals.
- For electronics fans, the Holy Grail of Black Friday ads is the one from Best Buy, which can list more deals on laptops and home theater stuff than general retailers like Wal-mart and Target can squeeze into their circulars. Unfortunately, those deals are never as good as you hope—is this...
- Blog posts 2009-11-14
- Intel to pay AMD $1.25 billion as companies end litigation war; Is it a new chip era?
- Inhell got off cheaplyProbably AMD needed the cash now because it would have gotten a lot more in a trial.This is good news for computer usersGood news all around. The cross licensing will allow advancements with a minimum of lawyer intervention.Won't matter, AMD is toastThey haven't produced a CPU worth...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-12
- Zvox Z-Base 525
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- Product reviews 2009-11-11
- Sony to charge $24.95 for Bravia owners to rent "Chance of Meatballs" before DVD release
- Leveraging some synergy between its electronics arm and its movie studio, Sony announced today that it's going to offer its hit kiddies flick "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" to owners of select Bravia home theater gear a full month before it's released on DVD. The price for this privilege—and...
- Blog posts 2009-11-09
- Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for Nov/Dec 09
- These are consistently your most useful columnsI really look forward to these, especially since I'm thinking about building a new video editing machine. One that can handle full frame 1080 24p h.264 video. I can transcode it with cineform but unless you're doing a lot of color work, it's...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-03
- Holiday Gift Guide 2009: Blu-ray Players/Home Theater Systems
- With prices for both players and discs plunging, this may be the holiday season for Blu-ray. Already online movie streaming is making inroads—even on Blu-ray players themselves. Some of these picks are integrating on-demand video services into their feature sets, hoping to keep themselves relevant in...
- Blog posts 2009-11-01
- Onkyo SKS-HT870
- Onkyo is known for having speaker expertise, even though it's not primarily a speaker company. That's because of Onkyo's success selling home-theater-in-a-box systems HTIBs, which combine a speaker system and an AV receiver in a single box, taking some of the confusion out of putting together your own system. The...
- Product reviews 2009-10-30
- Adesso WKB-3100UB wireless keyboard with trackball
- The $80 Adesso WKB-3100UB wireless keyboard is a good mini keyboard for surfing the Web from your sofa, but it's a nightmare to use as an everyday keyboard and trackball. The keyboard is usable most of the time, but its inaccurate trackball, poor button press recognition, sticking keys, lack of...
- Product reviews 2009-10-29
- (Onkyo HT-S7200 photos)
- ...home theater system for the price.......and that price would be what exactly..??Amazon have it at.......around $800. It's anywhere up to $900 elsewhere. I agree. It would have been nice to have this info in the original article though.
- Discussion threads 2009-10-28
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