Home Theater Guide

Designing your ultimate home theater experience can be an exciting yet overwhelming experience. Whether you are a new home owner or trying to just keep up on the latest technology, there is always a way to meet your entertainment desires in your home and still keep within your budget. The benefit of Cowboom.com is that you will find all types of products highlighted in this guide and great prices in a variety of new and usable conditions. Before you begin the search on the various products for your Home Theater, read through this guide to better assist your decision on the types of products you will be searching.

Current Design

Maybe you have a ten year old television with a VCR and that is all you have known until you recently decided to update your home theater experience. Hey, there is nothing wrong with VHS tapes on that bulky television, but maybe you want to start watching all the DVD extras or catch the high-definition graphics of a Blu-Ray movie on a flat screen plasma TV? Maybe even throw in some surround sound behind that to really get the full effect? Well currently, the general design for a home theater system would be those things. As mentioned, you can find a way to make your own design and still remain within your budget at Cowboom.com. So remember the four basic essential products in creating a basic Home Theater:

Either a high-definition plasma TV or LCD TV
Either a DVD or Blu-Ray player
A surround sound speaker system
An audio receiver in either Dolby Digital or DTS

Alright that’s a quick list of the basic products to creating the design to your Home Theater experience. Now, let’s look at some more detail of each of them. Keep in mind when selecting your Home Theater products the size and dimensions you will be able to fit in the area of your home you desire to update your design.

Television

The first and possibly most important purchase to your Home Theater system is going to be what type of television you purchase. The type of television you purchase will also help you determine the other elements of your home theater design. It’s also going to be the center piece that will get the most attention from family and friends.

First thing to keep in mind is that you are going to want a high-definition television and these come in two general types: plasma and LCD. Both offer a high-definition experience but differ in the quality. The following is a breakdown of both types:

Plasma	LCD
With its high-definition capabilities you are sure to find enjoyment with plasma’s vivid coloring, well structured contrast, and crisp picture. This type of television is known for its well defined picture quality as well as the type of components available for audio and extended visual enjoyment. You may find plasma’s at a higher sales price, but the overall quality is worth it if within your budget.	Standing for Liquid Crystal Display, this high-definition TV offers you a well defined picture resolution and contrast. Offering a variety of video and audio components, you will be able to start a standard home theater design with this model television. While the overall quality of an LCD is not that of plasma, constant innovations from different manufacturers make the LCD a solid purchase.

Plasma

LCD

With its high-definition capabilities you are sure to find enjoyment with plasma’s vivid coloring, well structured contrast, and crisp picture. This type of television is known for its well defined picture quality as well as the type of components available for audio and extended visual enjoyment. You may find plasma’s at a higher sales price, but the overall quality is worth it if within your budget.

Standing for Liquid Crystal Display, this high-definition TV offers you a well defined picture resolution and contrast. Offering a variety of video and audio components, you will be able to start a standard home theater design with this model television. While the overall quality of an LCD is not that of plasma, constant innovations from different manufacturers make the LCD a solid purchase.

DVD or Blu-Ray

Alright, so you have a pretty good idea on what type of television you want to purchase. You found a great deal through our website on that LCD or plasma and now you want to figure out what type of movie player you want. The fact that you updated to a high-definition television is really going to make your purchase of a new movie player that much more valuable. Both types of television will allow you to plug in your new DVD or Blu-Ray. Let’s take a look at each type in more detail.

DVD	Blu-Ray
DVD’s offer many features than a standard VHS tape, like movie extras, faster navigation, enhanced sound, easier maintenance, and quality viewing.	A slight upgrade from a DVD player, the Blu-Ray offers a crisp picture with intense sound capabilities. With higher resolution and excellent video navigation, it’s an incredible experience. Enjoy online interaction with friends. Even watch your regular DVD’s along with Blu-Ray discs.

Surround Sound

To complete the ultimate Home Theater design you will want to make sure that not only your visual quality is supreme, but also your audio experience. This would involve seeking out speakers and a receiver. The 5.1 speaker system is one of the most common for a home theater system. This consists of; general right and left speakers surround sound left and right speakers, and the channel speaker from the center. That is where the 5 comes in. The .1 is the subwoofer which gives an extra boost to your listening pleasure. Out of the five speakers, the surround sound speakers give you the feeling of audio behind and around you. The channel speaker at the center provides crisp audio at a direct listening approach. You can purchase each of these types of speakers separately, but it is encouraged that you buy the entire 5.1 all together to ensure quality in your surround sound experience.

Receiver

A crucial piece of equipment necessary for your surround sound system to fully operate is an audio receiver. Its use is primarily to connect any device (Cable TV, Satellite, Blu-Ray player, DVD player, etc.) to your speaker system. An audio receiver can be found in either the Dolby Digital or DTA decoder formats, which helps depict the audio from the component of choice for best possible listening enjoyment. Keep in mind that a DVD player may have a more difficult time for a Dolby Digital or DTS decoder to track visual and audio files. Whereas Blu-Ray discs more often than not will have Dolby Digital and DTS tracks built-in and the receiver can detect them, allowing for supreme audio satisfaction.

Your Design

Alright it’s time to decide how you want to design your home theater. You’ve been given a look at what the modern home theater systems look like and have been geared for success in your decision making. When browsing all of our essential products in this category keep in mind the information you found in this guide. You are not limited on just buying each piece individually, often there are Home Theater systems already packaged together for sell to get all essential components. Other accessories as well can be found through our site, such as HDMI cables and optical audio cables. A great deal is just a click away.

Should you need further explanation on home theaters or particular product listings, please contact our helpful Cowboom customer service. Remember, this wonderful gift of being able to create your own entertainment arena is in fact YOURS. Take pride in your decision and enjoy the show!

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