Home cinema
Encyclopedia
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
experience and mood with the help of video and audio
Home audio
Home audio, essentially, refers to any audio electronics intended for home use, such as shelf stereos and surround sound receivers, which are becoming the most popular piece of home audio equipment...
equipment in a private home.
In the 1950s, playing home movies
Home movies
A home movie is part of the motion picture filmmaking process made by amateurs, often for viewing by family and friends. When the hobby began, home movies were produced on photographic film, but accessibility of video production with video cameras and low cost data storage devices has made the...
became popular in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as Kodak
Eastman Kodak
Eastman Kodak Company is a multinational imaging and photographic equipment, materials and services company headquarted in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded by George Eastman in 1892....
8 mm film
8 mm film
8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the filmstrip is eight millimeters wide. It exists in two main versions: the original standard 8mm film, also known as regular 8 mm or Double 8 mm, and Super 8...
projector equipment became affordable. The development of multi-channel audio systems and later LaserDisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
in the 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
created a new paradigm for home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
. In the early to mid 1990s, a typical home cinema in the United States would have a LaserDisc or VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
player fed to a large rear-projection television
Rear-projection television
Rear-projection television or RPTV is a type of large-screen television display technology. Up until the mid-2000s, most of the relatively affordable consumer large screen TVs up to used rear-projection technology...
set. Some people were using expensive front projectors in a darkened viewing room. Beginning In the late 1990s, and continuing throughout much of the 2000s home theater technology progressed with the development of the DVD-Video
DVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
format, Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
5.1-channel audio ("surround sound
Surround sound
Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...
") speaker systems, and high-definition television
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
(HDTV). In the 2010s 3D television
3D television
A 3D television is a television set that employs techniques of 3D presentation, such as stereoscopic capture, multi-view capture, or 2D-plus-depth, and a 3D display – a special viewing device to project a television program into a realistic three-dimensional field.- History :In the late-1890's,...
technology and Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
have ushered in a new era of home theater once again.
In the 2000s, the term "home cinema" encompasses a range of systems meant for movie playback at home. The most basic and economical system could be a DVD player
DVD player
A DVD player is a device that plays discs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards. These devices were invented in 1997 and continue to thrive...
, a Standard Definition large-screen television
Large-screen television technology
Large-screen television technology developed rapidly in the late 1990s and 2000s. Various thin screen technologies are being developed, but only the liquid crystal display , plasma display and Digital Light Processing were released on the public market...
with at least a 27" diagonal screen size, and a "home theater in a box
Home theater in a box
A "home theater in a box" is an integrated home theater package which "bundles" together a combination DVD player/ multi-channel amplifier , speaker wires, connection cables, a remote control, a set of five or more surround sound speakers and a low-frequency...
" surround sound
Surround sound
Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...
speaker
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
system with a subwoofer
Subwoofer
A subwoofer is a woofer, or a complete loudspeaker, which is dedicated to the reproduction of low-pitched audio frequencies known as the "bass". The typical frequency range for a subwoofer is about 20–200 Hz for consumer products, below 100 Hz for professional live sound, and below...
. While a more expensive home cinema set-up might include a Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
player, Home theater PC
Home theater PC
A Home Theater PC or Media Center appliance is a convergence device that combines some or all the capabilities of a personal computer with a software application that supports video, photo, music playback, and sometimes video recording functionality...
(HTPC) computer or Digital media receiver
Digital media receiver
A digital media receiver , also commonly referred to as a media extender, media streamer, digital media hub, or digital media adapter , is a home entertainment device that can connect to a home network to retrieve digital media files from a personal computer or other networked media server and...
streaming devices with a 10-foot user interface
10-foot user interface
In computing a 10-foot user interface is a software GUI designed for display on a large television with interaction using a regular television-style remote control."10 foot" refers to the fact that the GUI's...
, a High Definition
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
video projector
Video projector
A video projector is an image projector that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system. All video projectors use a very bright light to project the image, and most modern ones can correct any curves, blurriness, and other...
and projection screen
Projection screen
A projection screen is an installation consisting of a surface and a support structure used for displaying a projected image for the view of an audience. Projection screens may be permanently installed, as in a movie theater; painted on the wall; or semi-permanent or mobile, as in a conference room...
with a 100+" Diagonal Screen size "and a several thousand-watt home theater receiver with five to seven surround sound speakers plus a powerful subwoofer. The most advanced systems are 3D TV enabled home theaters making use of 3D TV sets/projectors and Blu-ray 3D players which use special glasses to aid viewers in seeing 3D movies and sporting events. Home theater
Home theater
A home theater or home theatre is a theater built in a home, designed to mimic commercial theater performance and feeling, more commonly known as a home cinema...
means different things to different people. Home theater designs and layouts are personal choices and the only known minimum set of requirements for a home theater are: A television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
set or video projector
Video projector
A video projector is an image projector that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system. All video projectors use a very bright light to project the image, and most modern ones can correct any curves, blurriness, and other...
CRT
Cathode ray tube
The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
(no new models sold in U.S.), LCD, DLP , Plasma display
Plasma display
A plasma display panel is a type of flat panel display common to large TV displays or larger. They are called "plasma" displays because the technology utilizes small cells containing electrically charged ionized gases, or what are in essence chambers more commonly known as fluorescent...
, organic light-emitting diode
Organic light-emitting diode
An OLED is a light-emitting diode in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compounds which emit light in response to an electric current. This layer of organic semiconductor material is situated between two electrodes...
(OLED), SXRD
SXRD
SXRD is Sony's proprietary variant of liquid crystal on silicon, a technology used mainly in projection televisions and video projectors. In the front and rear-projection television market, it competes directly with JVC's D-ILA and Texas Instruments' DLP...
, Laser TV
Laser TV
Laser color television , or Laser color video display utilizes two or more individually modulated optical rays of different colors to produce a combined spot that is scanned and projected across the image plane by a polygon-mirror system or less effectively by optoelectronic means to produce a...
, rear-projection TV, video projector
Video projector
A video projector is an image projector that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system. All video projectors use a very bright light to project the image, and most modern ones can correct any curves, blurriness, and other...
, etc. (SDTV, HDTV, or 3DTV) at least 27" inches measured diagonally, an AV receiver
AV receiver
AV receivers or audio-video receivers are one of the many consumer electronics components typically found within a home theatre system. Their primary purpose is to amplify sound from a multitude of possible audio sources as well as route video signals to your TV from various sources. The user may...
or preamp (surround processor) and amplifier combination capable of at least stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
sound but preferably 5.1 Channel Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
and DTS audio,and something that plays or broadcast movies in at least stereo sound such as a VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
HI-FI VCR or LaserDisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
Player (no new stand-alone models of either are available. VHS vcr's are usually bundled in combo decks with DVD players), a DVD player and/or a Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
Player, cable
Cable
A cable is two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry...
or satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
receiver, video game console, etc. Finally a set of speakers at least two are needed but more common are anywhere from six to eight with a subwoofer for bass or low frequency effects.
The most expensive home theater
Home theater
A home theater or home theatre is a theater built in a home, designed to mimic commercial theater performance and feeling, more commonly known as a home cinema...
set-ups, which can cost over $100,000 (US), have expensive digital projector
Video projector
A video projector is an image projector that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system. All video projectors use a very bright light to project the image, and most modern ones can correct any curves, blurriness, and other...
s and projection screens, and maybe even a custom-built screening rooms which include cinema-style chairs and audiophile
Audiophile
An audiophile is a person who enjoys listening to recorded music, usually in a home. Some audiophiles are more interested in collecting and listening to music, while others are more interested in collecting and listening to audio components, whose "sound quality" they consider as important as the...
-grade sound equipment designed to mimic (or sometimes even exceed) commercial theater performance.
Design
Today, Home Cinema implies a real "cinema experience" and therefore a higher quality set of components than an average television with only built-in speakers provides. A typical home theaterHome theater
A home theater or home theatre is a theater built in a home, designed to mimic commercial theater performance and feeling, more commonly known as a home cinema...
includes the following parts:
- Video and Audio Input Devices: One or more video/audio sources. High quality movie media format such as example Blu-ray Disc are normally preferred, though they often also include a DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
,Or LaserDiscLaserdiscLaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
player and/or video game console systems. Quite a few home theaters today include a HTPC (Home Theater PC)Home theater PCA Home Theater PC or Media Center appliance is a convergence device that combines some or all the capabilities of a personal computer with a software application that supports video, photo, music playback, and sometimes video recording functionality...
with a media centerHome theater PCA Home Theater PC or Media Center appliance is a convergence device that combines some or all the capabilities of a personal computer with a software application that supports video, photo, music playback, and sometimes video recording functionality...
software application to act as the main library for video and music content using a 10-foot user interface10-foot user interfaceIn computing a 10-foot user interface is a software GUI designed for display on a large television with interaction using a regular television-style remote control."10 foot" refers to the fact that the GUI's...
and remote controlRemote controlA remote control is a component of an electronics device, most commonly a television set, used for operating the television device wirelessly from a short line-of-sight distance.The remote control is usually contracted to remote...
. - Audio Processing Devices: Input devices are processed by either a standalone AV receiverAV receiverAV receivers or audio-video receivers are one of the many consumer electronics components typically found within a home theatre system. Their primary purpose is to amplify sound from a multitude of possible audio sources as well as route video signals to your TV from various sources. The user may...
or a PreamplifierPreamplifierA preamplifier is an electronic amplifier that prepares a small electrical signal for further amplification or processing. A preamplifier is often placed close to the sensor to reduce the effects of noise and interference. It is used to boost the signal strength to drive the cable to the main...
and Sound Processor for complex surround soundSurround soundSurround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...
formats such as Dolby Pro-Logic/and or Pro-logic II, X, and Z, Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES, Dolby Digital PlusDolby Digital PlusDolby Digital Plus is a digital audio compression scheme. It is an incompatible development of the technologies used in the earlier Dolby Digital system. E-AC-3 has a number of improvements aimed at increasing quality at a given bitrate compared with legacy Dolby Digital...
, Dolby TrueHDDolby TrueHDDolby TrueHD is an advanced lossless multi-channel audio codec developed by Dolby Laboratories which is intended primarily for high-definition home-entertainment equipment such as Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. It is the successor to the AC-3 Dolby Digital surround sound codec which was used as the...
and DTS-HD Master AudioDTS-HD Master AudioDTS-HD Master Audio is a lossless audio codec created by Digital Theater System. It was previously known as DTS++. It is an extension of DTS which, when played back on devices which do not support the Master Audio or High Resolution extension, degrades to a "core" track which is lossy. DTS-HD...
. The user selects the input at this point before it is forwarded to the output. - Audio Output: Systems consist of at least 2 speakers, however most common today is 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system, but it is possible to have up to 11 speakers with additional subwoofers.
- Video Output: A large-screen display either an SDTV, HDTV, or 3D TV. Options include Liquid crystal display televisionLiquid crystal display televisionLiquid-crystal display televisions are television sets that use LCD display technology to produce images. LCD televisions are thinner and lighter than cathode ray tube of similar display size, and are available in much larger sizes...
(LCD), plasma TV, OLED, SXRDSXRDSXRD is Sony's proprietary variant of liquid crystal on silicon, a technology used mainly in projection televisions and video projectors. In the front and rear-projection television market, it competes directly with JVC's D-ILA and Texas Instruments' DLP...
, DLP, Laser TVLaser TVLaser color television , or Laser color video display utilizes two or more individually modulated optical rays of different colors to produce a combined spot that is scanned and projected across the image plane by a polygon-mirror system or less effectively by optoelectronic means to produce a...
, rear-projection TV, a traditional CRT TV,(only available second-handSecond-HandSecond-Hand was a 2005 Romanian film directed by Dan Piţa.-Plot summary:The film's plot surrounds the romantic involvement of two contrasting characters: Petre , a Mafioso, and Andreea , a young violin player. The pair meet and fall in love...
at this point) or video projectorVideo projectorA video projector is an image projector that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system. All video projectors use a very bright light to project the image, and most modern ones can correct any curves, blurriness, and other...
and projection screen. - 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.
Flow diagram
Component systems vs. theater-in-a-box
Home cinemas can either be set up by purchasing individual components or a HTIB (Home Theater in a Box) which includes all of the pieces from a single manufacturer. The benefit of component purchasing is that one can attain improved quality in video or audio with proper knowledge and research. For instance, some speakers perform better in smaller rooms while others perform better in larger rooms and seating location must be considered. HTIB systems are a simpler and more cost-effective solution for most families.Dedicated home theater rooms
This idea can go as far as completely recreating an actual cinema, with a projector enclosed in its own projection room, specialized furniture, curtains in front of the projection screen
Projection screen
A projection screen is an installation consisting of a surface and a support structure used for displaying a projected image for the view of an audience. Projection screens may be permanently installed, as in a movie theater; painted on the wall; or semi-permanent or mobile, as in a conference room...
, movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
posters, or a popcorn
Popcorn
Popcorn, or popping corn, is corn which expands from the kernel and puffs up when heated. Corn is able to pop because, like sorghum, quinoa and millet, its kernels have a hard moisture-sealed hull and a dense starchy interior. This allows pressure to build inside the kernel until an explosive...
or vending machine
Vending machine
A vending machine is a machine which dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, consumer products and even gold and gems to customers automatically, after the customer inserts currency or credit into the machine....
with snack food
Snack food
A snack is a portion of food oftentimes smaller than that of a regular meal, that is generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged and processed foods and items made from fresh ingredients at home....
and confectionery
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
. More commonly, real dedicated home theaters pursue this to a lesser degree. Presently the days of the $100,000 and over home theater is being usurped by the rapid advances in digital audio and video technologies, which has spurred a rapid drop in prices making a home cinema set-up more affordable today than ever before. This in turn has brought the true digital home theater experience to the doorsteps of the do-it-yourself people, often for much less than what you would expect to pay for a low budget economy car. Current consumer level A/V equipment can meet and often exceed in performance what you would expect to experience at a modern commercial theater.
Seating
Home theater seating consists of chairs specifically engineered and designed for viewing movies in a personal home theater setting. Most home theater seats have a cup holderCup holder
A cup holder is a device to hold a cup or other drinking vessel. It is a fixture in automobiles, trains, and other vehicles, as well as in some movie theatres, sports arenas, etc.- Automobiles :...
built into the chairs' armrests and a shared armrest between each seat. Some seating is movie theater-style chairs like those seen in a movie cinema, which features a flip-up seat cushion. Other seating systems have plush leather reclining lounger types, with flip-out footrests. Available features include storage compartments, snack trays, tactile transducer
Tactile transducer
A tactile transducer or "bass shaker" is a device which is made on the principle that low bass frequencies can be felt as well as heard. A shaker transmits low-frequency vibrations into various surfaces so that they can be felt by people. This is called tactile sound...
s for low frequency effects, and electric motors to adjust the chair. Home theater seating tends to be more comfortable than seats in a public cinema.
Backyard theater
In places that have the proper outdoor atmosphere, it is possible for people to set up a home theater in their backyard. Depending on the space available, it may simply be a temporary version with fold able screen, a projector and couple of speakers, or a permanent fixture with huge screens and dedicated audio set up poolside. Due to the outdoor nature, it is quite popular with BBQ parties and pool parties.Some specialist outdoor home cinema companies are now marketing packages with inflatable movie screen
Inflatable movie screen
An inflatable movie screen is an inflatable framework with an attached projection screen. Inflatable screens are used for outdoor movies, film festivals, drive-in theaters, sports, social and other events requiring outdoor projection.- Design :...
s and purpose built AV systems.
Some people have built upon the idea, and constructed mobile drive-in theater
Drive-in theater
A drive-in theater is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor screen, a projection booth, a concession stand and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movies from the privacy and comfort of their cars.The screen can be as simple as a...
s that can play movies in public open spaces. Usually, these require a powerful projector, a laptop or DVD player, outdoor speakers and/or an FM transmitter to broadcast the audio to other car radios
Car audio
Car audio/video , auto radio, mobile audio, 12-volt and other terms are used to describe the sound or video system fitted in an automobile. While 12-volt audio and video systems are also used, marketed, or manufactured for marine, aviation, and buses, this article focuses on cars as the most common...
.
1950s, 1960s, and 1970s
In the 1950s, home movies became popular in the United States and elsewhere as KodakEastman Kodak
Eastman Kodak Company is a multinational imaging and photographic equipment, materials and services company headquarted in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded by George Eastman in 1892....
8 mm film
8 mm film
8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the filmstrip is eight millimeters wide. It exists in two main versions: the original standard 8mm film, also known as regular 8 mm or Double 8 mm, and Super 8...
(Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
9.5 mm in France) and camera and projector equipment became affordable. Projected with a small, portable movie projector
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
onto a portable screen, often without sound, this system became the first practical home theater. They were generally used to show home movies
Home movies
A home movie is part of the motion picture filmmaking process made by amateurs, often for viewing by family and friends. When the hobby began, home movies were produced on photographic film, but accessibility of video production with video cameras and low cost data storage devices has made the...
of family travels and celebrations but also doubled as a means of showing private stag film
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
s. Dedicated home cinemas were called screening rooms at the time and were outfitted with 16 mm or even 35 mm projectors for showing commercial films. These were found almost exclusively in the homes of the very wealthy, especially those in the movie industry.
Portable home cinemas improved over time with color film, Kodak Super 8 mm film
Super 8 mm film
Super 8 mm film is a motion picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format....
film cartridges, and monaural
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
sound but remained awkward and somewhat expensive. The rise of home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
in the late 1970s almost completely killed the consumer market for 8 mm film cameras and projectors, as VCRs connected to ordinary televisions provided a simpler and more flexible substitute.
1980s
The development of multi-channel audio systems and LaserDiscLaserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
in the 1980s added new dimensions for home cinema. The first known home cinema system was designed, built and installed by Steve J. LaFontaine as a sales tool at Kirshmans furniture store in Metairie, Louisiana in 1974. He built a special sound room which incorporated the earliest quadraphonic audio systems and he modified Sony Trinitron televisions for projecting the image. Many systems were sold in the New Orleans area in the ensuing years before the first public demonstration of this integration occurred in 1982 at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, Illinois. Peter Tribeman of NAD (USA) organized and presented a demonstration made possible by the collaborative effort of NAD, Proton, ADS, Lucasfilm and Dolby Labs who contributed their technologies to demonstrate what a home cinema would "look and sound" like.
Over the course of three days, retailers, manufacturers, and members of the consumer electronics press were exposed to the first "home like" experience of combining a high quality video source with multi-channel surround sound. That one demonstration is credited with being the impetus for developing what is now a multi-billion dollar business.
1990s
In the early to mid '90s, a typical Home Cinema would have a LaserDisc or VHS player fed to a large screen: rear projection for the more affordable setups, and LCD or CRT front projection in the more elaborate. In the late 1990s, the development of DVD-VideoDVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel audio, and high-quality front video projectors that provide a cinema experience at a price that rivals a big-screen HDTV which sparked a new wave of home cinema interest.
2000s
In the 2000s, developments such as high-definition videoHigh-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
, Blu-ray Disc (as well as the now-obsolete HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
format) and newer high-definition 3D display technologies enabled people to enjoy a cinematic feeling in their own home at an affordable price. Newer lossless audio from Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio
Digital Theater System
DTS is a series of multichannel audio technologies owned by DTS, Inc. , an American company specializing in digital surround sound formats used for both commercial/theatrical and consumer grade applications...
and DTS-HD Master Audio with more audio channels, like 6.1, 7.1, 9.1, 9.2, 10.2
10.2
10.2 is the surround sound format developed by THX creator Tomlinson Holman of TMH Labs and University of Southern California . Developed along with Chris Kyriakakis of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, 10.2 refers to the format's slogan: "Twice as good as 5.1"...
, and 22.2
22.2
22.2 or Hamasaki 22.2 is the surround sound component of Ultra High Definition Television . It has been developed by NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories...
were also introduced for more cinematic feeling.
Entertainment equipment standards
Noise Criteria (NC) are noise level guidelines applicable to cinemaMovie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
and home cinema. For this application, it is a measure of a room's ambient noise level
Ambient noise level
In atmospheric sounding and noise pollution, ambient noise level is the background sound pressure level at a given location, normally specified as a reference level to study a new intrusive sound source.Ambient sound levels are often measured in order to map sound conditions over a...
at various frequencies. For example, in order for a theater to be THX
THX
THX is a trade name of a high-fidelity audio/visual reproduction standard for movie theaters, screening rooms, home theaters, computer speakers, gaming consoles, and car audio systems. The current THX was created in 2001 when it spun off from Lucasfilm Ltd...
certified, it must have an ambient sound level of NC-30 or less. This helps to retain the dynamic range
Dynamic range
Dynamic range, abbreviated DR or DNR, is the ratio between the largest and smallest possible values of a changeable quantity, such as in sound and light. It is measured as a ratio, or as a base-10 or base-2 logarithmic value.-Dynamic range and human perception:The human senses of sight and...
of the system.
- NC 40: Significant but not a dooming level of ambient noise; the highest "acceptable" ambient noise level. 40 decibels is the lower sound pressure level of normal talking; 60 being the highest.
- NC 30: A good NC level; necessary for THX certification in cinemas.
- NC 20: An excellent NC level; difficult to attain in large rooms and sought after for dedicated home cinema systems. For example, for a home cinema to be THX certified, it has to have a rating of NC 22.
- NC 10: Virtually impossible noise criteria; 10 decibels is associated with the sound level of calm breathing.
Projectors used for home cinemas have a set of recommended criteria.
- Brightness, usually at least 1800 lumens.
- Resolution (the number of pixels making up the image), usually at least 1920 × 1080.
- Contrast (how well white, black and greyscales are displayed), usually a minimum of 5000:1.
- HDMIHDMIHDMI is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data. It is a digital alternative to consumer analog standards, such as radio frequency coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, or VGA...
connection sockets. - Specific manufacturers, although this is largely a choice of personal preference and budget.