 Interview With Home Theater Rooms Expert - Robert Silva
1. Robert, thank you for sharing your time with us. You write a comprehensive website and blog on home theater. Please tell us a little about yourself and the Home Theater Guide.
When I was a child I was a big fan of science fiction and monster movies and was enthralled when Godzilla destroyed Tokyo and the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms destroying Coney Island. Couple that with when my parents bought one those console-type stereo systems and I was sucked in with big movies and great sound.
Then as an electronics major in high school, I become an audiophile hobbyist, and then, after college in the 70's I got sucked in by the availability of the VCR, then laserdisc, then surround sound, and on and on, to where now I make my living with what was once just a hobby. Along the way, I also had the opportunity to work on the creative aspects of entertainment by also working in a company that pioneered film colorization and some aspects of computer animation.
Beginning in late 1998, I started writing for About.com and covered the general subject of Home Electronics, but, since the year 2000 I have focused on the topic of Home Theater, covering important home theater related news and events, as well as writing product reviews and reference articles.
My current goal is to share the excitement of the home theater experience by empowering consumers with informative news and easy-to-understand resources.
2. You've been interested in home theater for a long time! What are the biggest changes you have seen since you've covered the topic for About.com?
The biggest changes in the home theater landscape that I have been influenced by is the fast demise of the traditional CRT (tube) Television, coinciding with rapid acceptance of LCD and Plasma televisions, and also the quick rise and gradual decline of the DVD recorder.
3. Some of our readers are considering converting their basement into a home theater. You say that darker is better as far as room lighting goes, so do you think basements are well suited for this purpose?
In terms of space and light, a basement can be a perfect space to convert to a home theater, especially for use as a video projection room. On the other hand, in my opinion, basements can also be a big challenge in terms of acoustics. For instance, if all the walls and floor are concrete, there may be too much reverb and sound reflection. In others words, you need to "deaden" the room somewhat with false walls or acoustic treatments so that any wall reflections are more appropriate for home theater use. You don't want to sit inside of "barrel". Also, you also want to make sure your basement is ventillated as a large home thater system can generate a lot of heat, as well as the heat generated by you, your family, and friends.
4. On your site, you list a number of common mistakes people make with home theater? Which of these would be the costliest mistakes to make?
This is a good question as it really depends on how big a home theater setup project you are taking on. For small systems, I would say that buying the wrong size TV for your space could be a very costly mistake, or at least a big hassle to return to the dealer.
Another costly mistake is finding out you didn't budget enough for a good set of speakers. Many consumers think of speakers as after thought, when they are actually just as important as your TV. There many consumers that have great looking, expensive HDTVs with the lastest technology, but then go down to a local retailer and buying that bargain home theater-in-a-box system that is on sale without even listening to it first.
On the other hand, on a big project, I would say that the costliest mistake would be to not calling for professional help when you need it, especially if you have to cut into walls to run cable or place speakers. A reputable home theater installer can take into account the other things running through wall, such as electrical wiring, as well as how and where to place in-wall speakers so that they will sound best with reference to you seating position.
For more examples of home theater mistakes, refer to my article:
Top 10 Home Theater Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
5. Electronics has been a keen interest of yours since high school - no doubt that means you're pretty handy around the modern home! Do you think homeowners can realistically do some of the work themselves towards constructing a home theater?
If you are going to cut into walls, you need some knowledge of how run electrical wiring, carpentry, and know how your home infrastructure is laid out. If you don't have access to your original house blueprints or architectural records, I would consult and installer, or contractor to assist you.
Also, plan everything out you want to do well ahead of time. If you are doing to everything at once, make sure you know where everything is going to go and especially where you will be sitting in relation to your TV or projection screen.
One tip for choosing the right size projection screen that is helpful is to get sheets and "create" the proposed size screen and try it on the wall and make sure it will fit and will be comfortably viewed from your expected seat position. Then, decide where you are going to put the projector and then see if you can find a projector that project that size image. In addition, decide where you will put all your other components (receiver, Blu-ray, DVD, CD player, game console, speakers, etc...)
By doing this all before hand, you will a avoid the problem of installing everything and then finding out it won't work for you.
There are many other things to take into consideration, such as how many cables and speakers wires you will be running, and even what decor, if any, you want to have.
If you have the time and have a good idea what you want to ultimately accomplish, doing it either all-at-once, or a little bit at time (starting with either a TV room or music listening room setup) "building a home theater" can be quite rewarding.
For an example of a DIY home theater, check out this great time-lapse video that is posted on YouTube. Notice the fake wall and ceiling additions, the added acoustical treaments (the rectangles placed on the wall), how the wiring is routed, and where the components are placed):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwK5cEgO5GM
6. So, what is your own home theater like? Have you converted an existing room or was it an addition?
You would think that I have some sort of "ultimate" home theater myself - but not quite. Due to the fact that I need flexibility to take things apart, move things around, and connect and reconnect components and speakers for conducting product reviews, I don't have an installation where everything is neatly inside walls and room is decorated like a movie theater. All my components, except for speakers, are on mobile racks so they can be can be accessed from all sides and repositioned as needed. My home theater room is more like a test lab.
On the other hand, I also work with two other colleagues that have permanent installations that I use when reviewing video projectors. One of the rooms I use is interesting in that I assisted in converting it from 16mm film projection to video projection and also added 7.1 channel surround system system with two subwoofers. The room was originally a basement many years ago.
Check out this photo:
7. Robert, based on your long-standing interest and experience, what do you see as future trends in home theater - what new things will we be seeing over the next ten years?
Ten years is an eternity in today's home theater timeline, but here it goes:
A. The disapperance of physical media as a primary content holder. No more CDs, no more DVDs, even Blu-ray may be on the out in ten years. Everything will either be stored on a home server or downloaded off the internet. However, don't throwaway your CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs quite yet - you will be able load them into your home server.
B. High Resolution 3D will be commonplace in home theater. Although there are currently conflicting standards for home use, 3D is becoming more accepted in the movie theater setting and will definitely make its way into the home theater with just as good a result.
C. No more wires for anything, except power (and I wouldn't surprised if they figured that one out too). Advances in wireless technology will continue making it possible to "connect" all your home theater components to each other wirelessly, just as you can wireless connect your laptop and PC currently. In fact, there are a couple Blu-ray Disc players made by LG and Sony that already have WiFi built-in as well as some very high-end Plasma and LCD Televisions.
D. The implementation of Ultra-High Definition (what is referred to as 4K). If you think HDTV looks good, how about something four times more detailed? This, along with continued increases in computer processing speed, will enable you to turn your entire living room wall into one large screen, with better quality images than you have now on your HDTV, and, with no more separate need for a projector and projection screen or Television. You will be able access all your media content from anywhere in your house or online and display it on any size space and room you desire. In addition, you will be able to change your wall paper at the touch of a button.
For a peek at this technology, check out an ineteresting video demonstration of the Panasonic "Life Wall" which is an early prototype for this concept:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pekz2XH69CY
Note: I did not shoot this video, but I was there.
To sum it all up, in ten years, your entire home will be just one big home theater environment - if you want it.
No doubt, Robert's insights will be very helpful to many. Robert's website details:
Robert Silva, About.com Guide To Home Theater
http://hometheater.about.com
About.com is a part of the New York Times Company
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