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Over the past decade I’ve sat through countless home theater demonstrations. The equipment differed among them, but they shared one common trait: complete darkness. So dark, in fact, that it was impossible to take legible notes about the gear and its performance, which is important when you’re reporting on this stuff.
If I can’t see a pad of paper on my lap, how can I expect to find a bowl of popcorn, a remote control or even my dog in a room like this? But hey, home theaters are supposed to be pitch-black, right? Well, yes and no.
It depends on what kind of home theater viewer you are. Purist might contend that a home theater simply isn’t a home theater unless you can’t see anything in the room but the images on the screen. Given that this is the type of environment in which most A/V shops choose to demo their home theater gear, lots of regular folks—myself included—have probably been led to think this way, too.
But we’re starting to see a shift. Theaters are lightening up. As more and more homeowners are choosing to incorporate big screens and surround-sound systems into family rooms, dens and other spaces, home theaters are no longer being designed as dark, isolated rooms, but as integral parts of a house where light is considered a part of the atmosphere.
This is no surprise to us. We’ve noticed a gradual shift in home theater thinking for some time now. People are still putting in theaters, but they’re adding other elements, like bars, gaming systems, karaoke stages—and lights—to extend the use of these spaces as all-around, multipurpose entertainment or “flex rooms,” as Bob Hadsell, home theater sales manager at Draper, has coined them. Draper is just one of many manufacturers currently developing home theater products specifically for flex rooms. Draper’s new screen material, the XS850E, for example, has been engineered to reject ambient light and provide a wide field of view—qualities that are essential when watching video in a room where the lights are on and viewers are sitting to the side of the screen.
I recently saw the XS850E in action during a demo at a trade show in New York City. It was the first home theater demo I can recall sitting through where I could see my notes, the person speaking and the people next to me. If you plan to incorporate a home theater system into a flex room, be sure your demo is conducted with the lights on, too.
Based on interviews with countless installers and homeowners over the past couple years, I don’t think I’m in the minority when I say I like to have the lights on when I watch movies, ball games, etc. Entertainment comes in many shapes and forms, as do people’s preferences.
Home owners are entitled to their own set of priorities. If they want a front projection cinema, and reference image quality is their primary goal, a dark room is required. Should they want to subjugate picture quality for other usage priorities in the room, there are techniques and solutions for minimizing the compromises. Most consumers have no understanding of the inevitable consequences to picture quality that certain interior design decisions will have. Few interior designers understand these issues either. Most viewers have never even experienced the impressive beauty of a reference video image. Unfortunately, there is still insufficient understanding of these issues among many home entertainment professionals as well. Thanks to the Imaging Science Foundation, THX, Joe Kane Productions, CEDIA, etc., education across the marketplace is ongoing. A skilled home entertainment solutions provider should be able to quantify and articulate to the homeowner what the specific consequences to image and sound quality certain room design decisions will have. Only then, can the client weigh the consequences against conflicting priorities.
“Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.” H.L. Mencken
This is the first time it has been mentioned publicly, but the theme for this year’s “Home Theater Design All-Star Panel” is the challenges and opportunities of multi-use rooms. Panelists Sam Cavitt, Theo Kalomirakis, and Tony Grimani will all be showing us case studies of this kind of project. Lighting and acoustica issues will both be centerstage. This session was brought back to EXPO by popular demand and should be a great one.
The trend towards larger LCD TVs (70” - 80” - 90”) at lower prices is only going to accelerate this trend, as these big screens can be used under any kind of lighting and aren’t subject to contrast flattening as projection screens are.
The fact is; Americans like and want big, inexpensive TV screens and also want to leave the lights up. They also like lots of windows and tall atrium ceilings that make it difficult to control exterior light.
That’s not a ‘theater’ environment per se, but that’s what people want. We’re already seeing this trend in the corporate space - projectors are being replaced by large LCD screens that work under normal ambient lighting.
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It’s not just regular consumers who want projectors in non-caves. Check out Sam Runco’s (founder of Runco Home Theater Projectors) livingroom/kitchen theater here:
http://www.electronichouse.com/slideshow/hoty/1139/249