Creating an exceptional home theater goes beyond just owning a big TV. It's about finding the right balance between sound, visuals, comfort, and aesthetics to create an amazing sensory experience. Atlanta Audio & Automation, as pioneers in home theater installation, is here to help you achieve the ultimate cinematic setup.
For homeowners seeking a luxury home entertainment experience, adding a custom modern home theater can take movie nights and game days to the next level. More than a trendy accessory, a home theater system provides unparalleled entertainment, delivering crisp sound, high-quality images, and multiple screens. This article outlines the benefits of custom modern home theaters, the various components that make up these systems, and how homeowners can choose the right installation company near them.
Now that CEDIA has hit, technology season is in full swing. Just in time for the holidays, we’ve seen some interesting things coming out of one of the biggest custom electronics expos in the country. Whether you’re looking to install massive flat-panel TVs to enjoy beautiful Ultra HD Blu-rays or you’re just now considering the perfect additions to your home theater, CEDIA 2016 had something for you. After the jump, we’ll take a look at some of our favorite products.
See Also: Big Changes Coming to Control4 in the New Year
Sony’s Big Surprise
When we say “big,” we mean it. Sony unveiled one of the largest and brightest TV displays at this year’s event: the 100” Z9D. It’s part of their Z-series of TVs, which aim to challenge LG’s OLED units for the best-looking 4K HDR images available.
If you’re a fan of home theater tech, you know that OLED is widely considered the best display technology around. It gained praise from industry professionals in recent years because unlike more traditional LED displays, which use white LED backlighting but LCD technology for color and clarity, OLED does away with LCDs, allowing for a deeper, more natural black and sharper contrast between pixels.
Find The Home Theater Design That Fits You and Your Georgia Home
Your home theater is where you come to relax and unwind. It’s probably also the space that all of your family likes to gather in and spend the most time together. In a lot of ways, it’s replaced the dinner table. And while we might not talk as much during a movie as we would eating spaghetti, it’s still a great way to spend quality time in a relaxed environment with the people that mean the most to us.
So designing a home theater that fits your Atlanta residenceis important. Because you need the type of screen, sound, and seating that is conducive to the viewing experience that you want to have. And with help from one of our entertainment and AV experts, you can design the home theater you’ve always wanted.
Over the past few years, Dolby Atmos has been taking over home theater audio systems. The reason is simple: it sounds better than anything you’ve ever heard before. And it didn’t just improve movie soundtracks – it made music sound incredible as well. The only problem was that it couldn’t reproduce live music with the same impact. If you wanted to experience a live concert in your home, you’d have to settle for stereo. But recently, Dolby devised a way to improve live sound mixing, giving you a more immersive experience when listening to your favorite bands.
See Also: Get the Most Out of Your Dolby Atmos Home Theater
Live Music – the Atmos Difference
While movie buffs have enjoyed the detailed sound mixing of Dolby Atmos for a couple of years now, live music has remained behind the curve. Why? Because of the complexity of mixing multiple sounds at once as individual “objects” – the method that Atmos uses to create the immersive effect – was simply too difficult.
Earlier this year, however, Dolby figured out a solution. And it turns out the translation was easier than expected. According to Ian Morris at Forbes, “The files [used to record live music] contain key parts of the track separated out, so vocals, bassline, melody and drums are all given their own tracks. This is much like a multitrack sound system in a recording studio, but greatly simplified.” Ultimately, Dolby realized the technology already existed, and they improved on it.
That means you can hear live music with the same directional sphere of sound reproduced in your home theater. Venues like London’s Ministry of Sound now offer better-than-ever listening experiences. It also means that live concert streams and broadcasts can now air in the format. So if you’re a music buff who loves concerts, you’ll potentially be able to stream concerts with full Dolby Atmos on services like Vimeo.
If you’re a fan of technology, you’ve probably already had a home theater integrated in your Atlanta property. For some homeowners though, they expect limited content when it comes to 4K. After all, 4K Ultra HD was a big shift from now-standard 1080p, which requires increases in network bandwidth and upgrades to some of your home technology. But if you’ve gone through the trouble of integrating that new tech, you don’t want it to go to waste. In this blog, we’ll cover some of the ways you can enjoy 4K Ultra HD resolution right now. Read on for more.
See Also: Using Sonos for Excellent Audio in Your Georgia Home Theater Part 2
4K Physical Media and Digital Downloads
It seems like forever ago that we were talking about 4K Blu-ray first hitting shelves. Today, many of your favorite movies are getting prestigious 4K UHD re-releases on home video. And just about every major studio blockbuster of 2016 received a simultaneous HD and UHD release when they hit home video. If you’re in the market to bolster your collection with more discs featuring 4K UHD and Dolby Atmos compatibility, you won’t be shortchanged at the local video store.
However, as 4K UHD continues to grow, digital downloads are becoming more and more common. Homeowners are waving goodbye to their physical collections and replacing them with digital downloads. Companies are offering full 4K video storage servers that minimize space requirements while hosting a wide selection of full Ultra HD movies.
You have always dreamed of having your own custom home theater where you can enjoy your favorite shows and movies with family and friends. But now that you're in the process of designing your dream home theater, you don't know exactly where to start.
Before you feel overwhelmed, here are some useful tips to use as your guide:
AV Solutions, Acoustics, & Comfy Seating
A home theater should bring everything you’d find at the local cinema right into the comfort of your own home – but leave all the negative features at the door! No more sticky floors, overpriced snacks, or too-talkative seat neighbors. Well, that last one might still be unavoidable – however, your dedicated home theater design can instead match the views, sounds, and comforts of a commercial cinema and improve them tenfold!
In this blog, we’ll dive into what design aspects truly make up the ultimate home theater in your Atlanta, GA living space and how these features can take your entertainment setup to the next level. Keep reading below to find out more.
The Options Are Truly Endless!
A professional home theater installation from our team at Atlanta Audio & Automation entails so many components – from the room’s acoustics and seating to the overall setup. But what about arguably the most important, certainly eye-catching, part of the room?
Your screen display is crucial to the appearance and performance of your Alpharetta, GA home cinema – and when it comes to the sizing, resolution, and type, you have endless options. Keep reading below to explore the possibilities!
Feel Like You’re Sitting Courtside with a Proper Home Theater or Media Room Setup
The time is near for collegiate basketball fans to turn their hearts and souls to the nearest TV for three weeks of NCAA frenzy. March Madness is a perfect reason to bring friends and family together within your Atlanta, GA home to celebrate camaraderie, conversation, and bonding over basketball.
If you’re planning to be the host this season, consider these three audiovisual tips to ensure your home theater or media room is properly set up for weeks of immersive basketball viewing.
Embrace the Power of Hidden Technology in Your Home Entertainment
With the rollout of a new generation of smart home tech, home audio and video has become more powerful and more accessible than ever before.
We recently worked with a client in Sandy Springs, GA who wanted a powerful home audio system without the unsightly wires and cobbled-together feel of even some of today’s most powerful audio tech.
Large speakers that give you the audio experience you crave can often take up far too much space and change the look and feel of the rooms of your home. When you’ve worked hard on your decor and the arrangement of each space, you want home audio and video solutions that integrate seamlessly with the rest of your home.
We were able to provide our client in Sandy Springs with a solution that allowed them to create beautiful soundscapes in their home without the tech dominating the space visually.
There are plenty of hidden tech options that allow you to integrate audio throughout the entirety of your home—here’s what we recommend.
Don't rule out switching to a larger size based on assumptions, but keep these TV buying tips in mind.
If it's been a while since you last bought a TV, you might be surprised to learn that what's considered "big" has changed a lot. These days even 42 and 50 inches are barely considered "midsize." This is thanks to manufacturers being able to make larger screens more cheaply, and also 4K and 8K resolutions making huge TVs more usable. Ultraslim designs also mean that larger screens take up less space.
So if you're considering a new TV, it's understandable if you're thinking of getting the same size, give or take a few inches. But the reality is, you can probably go a lot bigger. How big? Maybe you don't need a TV the size of a wall or a TV that is a wall, but in most homes a 65- or 75-inch TV will fit just fine.
Overall our advice is simple: Get as big a TV as you can afford. The longer answer depends on your room, your seating distance and the acceptance factor of any cohabiting co-deciders. Here's how to figure out how big you can go.
With the New Year now in full swing, it’s time to start looking ahead at the new technology you’ll soon be able to enjoy in your Georgia home theater. Everything from advanced display technology to top of the line audio gear means you’ll be seeing and hearing a lot more in your private cinema this year. In this blog, we’ll highlight some of our favorite trends to look out for in 2017. Read on for more.
See Also: Is iTunes Gearing up to Replace the Movie Theater?
Displays
High-dynamic range and 4K Ultra HD have taken the world by storm in 2016, so what’s next on the horizon? There’s plenty to look forward to in the coming months. Here are some of our favorites:
OLED: While OLED technology has been around for a while, it’s been a bit slow to catch on in the mainstream market. For a long time LG was the only major manufacturer producing TV displays with the backlighting technology, but with big announcements from Samsung and Sony that they would be jumping on the OLED bandwagon soon, it looks like this year may be its time to shine.
A home theater can come in virtually any shape or size. Whether you’re looking for a fully immersive, dedicated private cinema or simply a place to enjoy the Braves game with your friends and family, a theater can be customized to reflect your personal style and specifications. But no matter how you plan to utilize your space, you’ll want to make sure your components are optimized for peak performance – whether they’re in or out of your house. Read on to find out how your home theater can transform the way you experience your home entertainment.
Customize Seating for a Great Experience
For many homeowners, a home theater is a place for the whole family to come together for quality time with a nice movie or television show. For others, it’s a place to experience the way their favorite films were meant to be seen and heard. Whatever your preference, the right seating can make all the difference when designing a theater. While a nice, plush couch or recliner may seem like a comfortable option, it may interfere with the sound quality or disrupt the viewing angle. Customized theater seating by Palliser is a comfortable and functional solution for viewing movies and achieving the best possible sound and image in your space. Whether you’re a true film buff or simply looking to augment your family time, customized seating is a great option for any home theater.
Hear More With Dolby Atmos
Before you know it, the holidays will be over and you’ll have to start thinking about what’s really important: the slew of sports championships hitting in the early months of the New Year. With Super Bowl 50, March Madness, NBA Finals all around the corner, sports fans throughout Atlanta won’t be seen outside of their home theaters until summer. That means now’s the time to prepare with the coolest technology available for your home theater. Read on to find out how upgrading your space now can lead to a winning championship season.
SEE ALSO: Build a Better Home Theater for the Ultimate Man Cave Experience
4K Sports HFR Compatibility
Between 4K UHD, OLED and HDR you might feel like all of the acronyms surrounding the next generation of video displays are taking precious brain space away from important game statistics and player info. But here’s one you’ll really want to pay attention to: HFR.
HFR stands for high frame rate. Why is that important for a sports fan? The frame rate is all about motion. Movies are generally shot at 24 frames per second (fps), lending a “cinematic” depth to the image, as well as capturing the distinct difference between light and shadow. Sports are currently shot and broadcast in 60 fps, flattening out the plane and capturing movement with incredible detail. But higher resolution allows for even higher frame rates. When you upgrade to 4K, sports can be broadcast in rates well over 100hz, turning your home theater into the ultimate game-watching zone.
"The Best Seat In The House" Control4; Accessed August 11th 2021
The Best Seat In The House
A home theater should feel like a special destination in your house—the one place you can retreat for a couple of hours to escape from reality and be transported into another world. The place you like to visit frequently with friends and family to enjoy the latest blockbuster releases—but without walking out with a backache from sitting in a poorly constructed seat.
The autumn is the perfect time to integrate upgrades to your Atlanta home theater system. With the major holidays right around the corner – and don’t forget the Super Bowl hitting early next year – you’ll want to begin upgrading your space with full 4K UHD HDR picture quality. But not all systems are created equal, and there are some issues you’ll want to address before you can enjoy the beauty of higher resolution and color range. In this blog, we’ll show you what to look out for. Read more after the jump.
See Also: The Coolest Things Atlanta Home Theater Owners Will Love From CEDIA 2016
Cabling
The most common – and most frequently overlooked – issue with upgrading your system is ensuring the proper amount of bandwidth. Remember, 4K UHD offers four times the resolution of 1080p HD, and that means your cables need to support four times the information. Throw HDR into the mix and you could suffer from a downscaled signal or even no picture at all.
So upgrading your cables is essential. For any devices contained within the theater, say a local UHD Blu-ray player, you can connect them with HDMI 2.0 cables. For any hardware racked neatly in the basement, you’ll want to fortify your signal with fiber optic cables which, unlike HDMI 2.0, can transmit 4K signals over long distances.
Select someone locally. Find a professional home theater company within a 50-mile range of your home. You are more likely to have an installer come by and tweak your system, if need be, when you are within a reasonable distance.
Ask for a link to the home theater installation company's Web site or for some images of recently completed installations. Also, ask to visit the home theater installers' showroom to provide you with living examples of their workmanship. Check our our portfolio. Here at Atlanta Audio we have a 6,000 square foot showhouse that showcases home automation, home theater options, whole house audio, lighting control, media rooms, video surveillance, and much more. Call us today to set up an appointment or visit our website at www.atlantaaudio.com.
Ask for references on finished projects that are similar to what you have in mind for your home theater and are relatively within the same cost range. Ask the homeowner about how the installation company works and how satisfied they are with the finished results. Visit our customer testimonials to get an idea of what our customers say about Atlanta Audio.
Find out how an installer works. For example if you are a neat freak and your professional installer is very proficient in plasma and audio technologies but can seem a little scatterbrained or sloppy, your working styles may not connect.
"Home Theater Design - 3 Essential Ingredients" HTA Certified; Accessed July 6th 2021
Home Theater Design - 3 Essential Ingredients
"Are you in the process of planning a home theater? Possibly you are well into the design or even already have some construction underway. Or, you may have only recently started to consider the possibility. In any case, you have likely been overwhelmed with copious, confusing and often misleading information on just exactly what creates a great home theater experience. To make sense of it all, it is a good idea to step back and consider what is possible, and what is essential to attain the results you desire. This article will consider three key ingredients of proper home theater design.
To be clear by what is meant by the term "home theater" in this article, we are referring to a room dedicated and optimized for movie, music, TV, and increasingly, video gaming. Other synonyms home technology professionals may use interchangeable for the term "home theater" are "home cinema" and private "screening room". What we are not referring to here are dual-purpose rooms that may double as the Living Room, Great Room, etc, that are open to other rooms in the home and that are not able to be optimized for high-performance audio and video. In home technology professional speak, these dual-purpose, more casual rooms are called "media rooms".
"Home Theater vs. Media Room - What's the Difference?" HTA Certified; Accessed July 27th 2021
Home Theater vs. Media Room - What's the Difference?
Nomenclature is a challenge when it comes to home technology. We struggle with terms that resonate with homeowners. From the “AV guy" to system integrators to custom installers to technology designers to low-voltage contractors, the home technology industry seems to have an identity crisis, even though all those terms mean essentially the same thing to an insider. The same goes for the terms that we use to define rooms in the home, which brings us to the topic du jour: What is the difference between a media room and a home theater?
Most homeowners do not know or even care about the difference.
You will hear them referring to their dedicated home theater space as a media room and vice versa. For architects, interior designers, builders, lighting designers, and other contractors, however, these distinctions can be important in defining your vision and communicating with each other. In other words, it’s good to know the difference between the two.
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