Home cinema, also called home theater, seeks to reproduce cinema quality video
and audio in the home.
Technically, a home cinema could be as basic as a simple arrangement of a
television,
DVD, and a set of
speakers. It is therefore difficult to specify exactly what distinguishes a "home cinema"
from a "television and stereo". Most people in the consumer electronics industry would agree
that a "home theater" is really the integration of a relatively high-quality video output with
surround sound.
Today, "home cinema" implies a real "cinema experience" and therefore a higher quality set of
components than the average television provides. A typical home theater includes the following parts:
- Input Devices: One or more audio/video sources. High quality formats such as HD DVD or
Blu-ray are preferred, though they often include a VHS player or Video Game Systems.
Some home theatres now include a home theater PC to act as a library for video and music content.
- Processing Devices: Input devices are processed by either a standalone AV receiver or a
Preamplifier and Sound Processor for complex surround sound formats. The user selects the input
at this point before it is forwarded to the output.
- Audio Output: Systems consist of at least 2 speakers, but can have up to 11 with additional subwoofer.
- Video Output: A large HDTV display. Options include
Liquid crystal display television
(LCD), video projector, plasma TV,
rear-projection TV, or a traditional CRT TV.
- Atmosphere: Comfortable seating and organization to improve the cinema feel. Higher
end home theaters commonly also have sound insulation to prevent noise from escaping
the room, and a specialized wall treatment to balance the sound within the room.
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