As audio and video technologies evolve, home design ideas change, people alter their habits to fit their lifestyles, and that thing we call the home theater becomes subject to trends and evolutions. While the traditional dark basement with a 5.1-, 7.2-, or 12.1-channel audio system, big screen, and rows of reclining seats on risers is still considered the classic idea of a home theater, the A/V systems people install in their homes today look very different. This has led many in the professional A/V community to completely abandon the term “home theater” for one of several newer, more flexible terms.

1. Multiple Screens

An increasingly popular trend, according to Joel Silver, president of the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF), is the use of dual and multiple screens. Multiple screens can mean two or more flat-panel TVs on the same wall, a flat-panel TV for casual, everyday viewing that gets covered by a larger front-projection screen for movies and major events, or even screens on various walls in a room, which is a popular arrangement in rooms that function as party or entertainment spaces. Why so many screens? Our video choices are now so vast that people often don’t want to be restricted to just one option in a room.

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Grant Clauser - Technology and Web Editor, Electronic House

Grant Clauser has been covering home electronics for more than 10 years with editorial roles in several consumer and trade magazines. He's done ISF-level damage to hundreds of reviewed products and has had audio training from Home Acoustics Alliance and Sencore. He's also the author of the book The Trouble with Rivers. Follow him on Twitter @geclauser.