Probably the most common instance of a home theater today is the living room or family room theater. This is most often a multi-use room which won’t always have the audio and video systems in use. The room will be used to watch TV, movies, sports, video games, and more. And often this system will be the basis of a distributed audio system to get music to the rest of the house or the backyard. So the system has to be easy to use, while at the same time providing as much flexibility as the media room.
There are many factors to consider with a living room theater, such as acoustics, ambient light, sources, audio distribution, seating, and interior design. The system has to look good both when it’s on and when it’s off!
Room acoustics
Living rooms are rarely enclosed regular spaces. Hallways, dining rooms, kitchens, extra entertaining areas, and extra high ceilings all pose significant challenges to the acoustics of the room. And because the room is not primarily an A/V room but rather an entertaining space, the furnishings often do not lend themselves well to the really good sound absorption, reflection, and dispersion that’s necessary for the best sound. The A/V team and the interior designer need to work together to ensure that both the design goals and the A/V goals are met.
Sources and screen
As with the media room, clients will want their living room entertainment system to perform every possible function, from movies to video games. There will be more of an emphasis on TV watching than in the media room, although both types of rooms will require a good TV experience.
A living room is much more likely to employ an LCD or Plasma panel than a projector. This means the screen size will be smaller, and you’ll need to consider whether the screen needs to be camouflaged or hidden when not in use.
The equipment will need to fit aesthetically into the room. You may want to locate the equipment in a closet that can be closed off, or in furniture such as a low-boy or other cabinet. Make sure there’s adequate ventilation, though. If you completely block in the equipment, it will overheat and burn out, or worse, burn up! Remember, if this system is the foundation for distributed audio, there may be more equipment than you expect in the cabinet.
And finally, consider the placement of the screen. Many people will want the TV over the fireplace (if there is one) because it creates a single focal point for the room. Interior designers often dislike this option because it takes away from the elegance of the room. Either way, it’s best to provide several options, because the homeowner will likely change their mind later. In particular, make sure there’s power and a cable chase above the fireplace and in the most likely alternate locations. This will enable the A/V team to respond quickly and efficiently to the homeowner’s requests to move the TV, and will earn high marks for forward thinking for the builder.
Ambient Light
Most living rooms have lots of light, by design. This is a good thing when entertaining in the day, but can wreak havoc on watching TV or a ball game in the afternoon. The choice of video display is impacted by the any light in the space and relative locations of the screen and the windows. Powered curtains or shades that can be remotely controlled can be a way to automatically remove light from the room when needed.
Disguising the screen
Many homeowners and interior designers don’t want the screen to be visible when it’s not in use. There are many options for this, from picture frames that go around the TV bezel, to mirrors that disappear when the display is on, to covers that can essentially replace the screen with a work of art that slides out of the way when the display is in use.
Often, you’ll need to build an inset for the TV so that it doesn’t look unsightly from the side. Again, ventilation is important – you can’t build a frame tight to the TV, unless you also put in fans to keep the TV cool.
Seating
Theater chairs are generally banned from the living room, so plan for sofas and chairs. Remember that the room also has to act as a conversation pit, so plan furniture locations accordingly. And consider sight lines from other rooms, too. For example, the homeowner may want to see the TV from the kitchen or breakfast nook.
Other thoughts
In addition to the above considerations, note that TV mounted above a fireplace is higher than normal. In order to make sure the viewers are comfortable, you’ll need to be sure the seats are far enough away that there’s no need to crane necks to see the screen. A longer viewing distance may also necessitate a larger TV.
Tilting the TV can help a little, but the image is usually higher than most people like. The tilt actually solves the glare problem better than it solves the height issue.
The living room (or den or family room) has some special considerations compared to a media room or a cinema room. In particular, the living room has to have excellent design even when the A/V equipment is not in use. And finally, you need to allow the client to rearrange the room and to expand the system. Doing so will earn you high marks for forward thinking, while failing to do so will have clients grumbling down the line.
Where to get help
For any electronic system, it’s important to bring in a CE pro (custom electronics professional). The CE pro will be able to help design the electronics, in conjunction with the architect, builder, and interior designer, in order to deliver the perfect experience for the client. That same CE pro will be able to recommend and provide the right mix of equipment and control systems for the client, staying within the client’s budget, and finally install and calibrate the equipment to ensure the best experience possible.
If you’re looking for a CE pro that you can trust to work with you and deliver the best results for your clients, call the experts at Inspired Electronics, Inc. We specialize in residential and commercial audio, video, and control systems. Call Keith Rose at 847.471.420 or email at keith@inspired-electronics.com.
For more information about Inspired Electronics, Inc., visit our website at http://www.inspired-electronics.com/.
Showing posts with label game room. Show all posts
Showing posts with label game room. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Game and Media Rooms for Contractors
In the first article in this series, we talked about the different types of home theaters that you might be asked to put into a home. In the second, we focused on the dedicated cinema room.
This time, we’ll focus on a common basement remodeling project – the media room or game room. This room differs from the home cinema in that it’s usually part of a larger entertaining space, which may include a bar, a pool table, conversation areas, or other entertaining spaces.
The media room is often separated from the rest of the space by a half-wall or a counter where a row of stools provides additional seating. There may also be more viewing screens such as flat panel TVs around the bar or in other segments. And your client will want to do more than watch movies on the main screen. Our clients want to watch sports, TV, and even video games on the big screen. And sometimes they even want a stage for their kids to perform on.
There are differences in acoustics, sources, seating, ambient light, and video distribution among other things.
Room acoustics
The first thing we notice with media rooms is that they’re missing a wall (sometimes two!). The back wall is often a half-wall, and a side wall can be missing or partially missing. This makes the theater room part of the rest of the space, including the other occupants in the movie, sports show, or video game if they choose. It also allows sound to move between the spaces, so the movie is heard at the bar, and the pool table is heard in the theater. The base level of ambient sound (the “Noise Criteria”) can be much higher when there’s a party, which means the volume needs to be higher in order to hear the softer passages. Of course, that volume invades the rest of the space during the louder scenes. This is probably exactly what the client wants when they’re watching a baseball or football game, but may not be ideal in a movie. It also means the sound bounces around the room differently, which can impact the surround-sound imaging even when there’s nobody else sharing the space.
Sources
When a client asks for a media room, they usually are thinking the space will serve multiple purposes. They’ll want to watch movies (Blu-Ray, Internet downloads, or Video-on-demand), sports (over-the-air or cable TV), regular TV programming, home movies, and even video games (Wii, Xbox, or Playstation). You need to consider where these sources will live, and especially in the case of the Wii, how the users will interact with the screen. There has to be enough room to play the active games like Wii Sports without knocking into the screen or the seating. And finally, people standing in front of the front row are likely to interfere with the projector image unless the room is very carefully designed and configured.
Video and Audio Distribution
Since the clients want the rest of the space to interact with the theater, you many need to consider multiple screens to ensure that everyone has good sightlines. The guest sitting at the bar will want to know the score without having to walk around the corner to the theater room. And of course you’ll want to carefully plan speaker locations so that all guests can hear the game without annoying echoes or delays, and without it being too loud for conversation. Speaker types and locations are important here, as is proper amplification.
Note that the client may also want to put something different on different screens. For example, the main screen may be showing the home team football game, while the bar TV may be showing a different game. A TV in a conversation area may show a movie for the kids, while the outdoor TVs may be showing a baseball game! For each different item that’s showing, you need a source, and you need a video switcher capable of routing that many signals to that many displays. And if the displays aren’t all capable of showing the same resolution (some may be 1080p, while others are 720p), you need to be able to scale the signal appropriately. And of course you need a way to control all of this!
Ambient Light
As the space is also an entertaining space, you’ll need to make sure there is plenty of natural light in the room. This means a normal low-lumen projector, designed for use in near complete darkness, won’t be able to project an image bright enough to compensate. You’ll need a brighter projector and possibly a higher-gain screen to make up for the additional light but still provide an excellent picture. And night-time entertaining will have a different level of light than day-time entertaining, which means the projector may need multiple calibration levels.
Seating
Many times, clients will opt for sofas instead of theater chairs in a media room – they’re considered more friendly in this type of space. And tiered seating may be out of the question, although bar stools behind a counter or half-wall may give the client backup seating space. But these seats aren’t usually within the surround-sound-stage, which means the audio portion of the event may not be very good from those seats unless the speaker locations are designed correctly.
Other thoughts
In many ways, a media room is even more complex than a cinema room. While the cinema room has to do audio and video very well, the media room has to be able to switch personalities quickly and easily.
Where to get help
For any electronic system, it’s important to bring in a CE pro (custom electronics professional). The CE pro will be able to help design the electronics, in conjunction with the architect, builder, and interior designer, in order to deliver the perfect experience for the client. That same CE pro will be able to recommend and provide the right mix of equipment and control systems for the client, staying within the client’s budget, and finally install and calibrate the equipment to ensure the best experience possible.
If you’re looking for a CE pro that you can trust to work with you and deliver the best results for your clients, call the experts at Inspired Electronics, Inc. We specialize in residential and commercial audio, video, and control systems. Call Keith Rose at 847.471.420 or email at keith@inspired-electronics.com.
For more information about Inspired Electronics, Inc., visit our website at http://www.inspired-electronics.com.
This time, we’ll focus on a common basement remodeling project – the media room or game room. This room differs from the home cinema in that it’s usually part of a larger entertaining space, which may include a bar, a pool table, conversation areas, or other entertaining spaces.
The media room is often separated from the rest of the space by a half-wall or a counter where a row of stools provides additional seating. There may also be more viewing screens such as flat panel TVs around the bar or in other segments. And your client will want to do more than watch movies on the main screen. Our clients want to watch sports, TV, and even video games on the big screen. And sometimes they even want a stage for their kids to perform on.
There are differences in acoustics, sources, seating, ambient light, and video distribution among other things.
Room acoustics
The first thing we notice with media rooms is that they’re missing a wall (sometimes two!). The back wall is often a half-wall, and a side wall can be missing or partially missing. This makes the theater room part of the rest of the space, including the other occupants in the movie, sports show, or video game if they choose. It also allows sound to move between the spaces, so the movie is heard at the bar, and the pool table is heard in the theater. The base level of ambient sound (the “Noise Criteria”) can be much higher when there’s a party, which means the volume needs to be higher in order to hear the softer passages. Of course, that volume invades the rest of the space during the louder scenes. This is probably exactly what the client wants when they’re watching a baseball or football game, but may not be ideal in a movie. It also means the sound bounces around the room differently, which can impact the surround-sound imaging even when there’s nobody else sharing the space.
Sources
When a client asks for a media room, they usually are thinking the space will serve multiple purposes. They’ll want to watch movies (Blu-Ray, Internet downloads, or Video-on-demand), sports (over-the-air or cable TV), regular TV programming, home movies, and even video games (Wii, Xbox, or Playstation). You need to consider where these sources will live, and especially in the case of the Wii, how the users will interact with the screen. There has to be enough room to play the active games like Wii Sports without knocking into the screen or the seating. And finally, people standing in front of the front row are likely to interfere with the projector image unless the room is very carefully designed and configured.
Video and Audio Distribution
Since the clients want the rest of the space to interact with the theater, you many need to consider multiple screens to ensure that everyone has good sightlines. The guest sitting at the bar will want to know the score without having to walk around the corner to the theater room. And of course you’ll want to carefully plan speaker locations so that all guests can hear the game without annoying echoes or delays, and without it being too loud for conversation. Speaker types and locations are important here, as is proper amplification.
Note that the client may also want to put something different on different screens. For example, the main screen may be showing the home team football game, while the bar TV may be showing a different game. A TV in a conversation area may show a movie for the kids, while the outdoor TVs may be showing a baseball game! For each different item that’s showing, you need a source, and you need a video switcher capable of routing that many signals to that many displays. And if the displays aren’t all capable of showing the same resolution (some may be 1080p, while others are 720p), you need to be able to scale the signal appropriately. And of course you need a way to control all of this!
Ambient Light
As the space is also an entertaining space, you’ll need to make sure there is plenty of natural light in the room. This means a normal low-lumen projector, designed for use in near complete darkness, won’t be able to project an image bright enough to compensate. You’ll need a brighter projector and possibly a higher-gain screen to make up for the additional light but still provide an excellent picture. And night-time entertaining will have a different level of light than day-time entertaining, which means the projector may need multiple calibration levels.
Seating
Many times, clients will opt for sofas instead of theater chairs in a media room – they’re considered more friendly in this type of space. And tiered seating may be out of the question, although bar stools behind a counter or half-wall may give the client backup seating space. But these seats aren’t usually within the surround-sound-stage, which means the audio portion of the event may not be very good from those seats unless the speaker locations are designed correctly.
Other thoughts
In many ways, a media room is even more complex than a cinema room. While the cinema room has to do audio and video very well, the media room has to be able to switch personalities quickly and easily.
Where to get help
For any electronic system, it’s important to bring in a CE pro (custom electronics professional). The CE pro will be able to help design the electronics, in conjunction with the architect, builder, and interior designer, in order to deliver the perfect experience for the client. That same CE pro will be able to recommend and provide the right mix of equipment and control systems for the client, staying within the client’s budget, and finally install and calibrate the equipment to ensure the best experience possible.
If you’re looking for a CE pro that you can trust to work with you and deliver the best results for your clients, call the experts at Inspired Electronics, Inc. We specialize in residential and commercial audio, video, and control systems. Call Keith Rose at 847.471.420 or email at keith@inspired-electronics.com.
For more information about Inspired Electronics, Inc., visit our website at http://www.inspired-electronics.com.
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