The Benefits of Using a Home Cinema Designer

Designing a Home Cinema Room utilises a different skill set than our usual multi-room audio and video installations. Home Cinema's work by having a good atmosphere and being pleasing to the eye. When we install whole house systems we rarely get involved in the individual room designs - we might install in-ceiling speakers and a TV but we wouldn't get involved in paint finishes and carpet styles. The closest we might come is adapting an existing piece of furniture to house a plasma lift or setting up lighting scenes for the first time.

In a Home Cinema room things like the type of flooring and the finish on the walls have a large impact on the quality of the end product both in terms of acoustics and the harder to label 'feel' of the room. This feel of the room should try to encapsulate some of the excitement of going to the cinema and the anticipation of sitting down to watch the latest eagerly awaited blockbuster film. Utilising dark colours can reduce visual reflections in the room and, with dimmed lights, ensure the home cinema screen is the most prominent item in the room. Thick carpet can create a real sense of luxury but also contribute to the aesthetics of the room - absorbing unwanted standing waves and reducing sound leakage to adjoining rooms. Home Cinema Seating should be chosen to accommodate the owner - it is possible to get a huge variety of finishes in leather and fabric and options such as contrast stitching or embroidered initials can really drive home the the bespoke special feel of the room. Day beds can be an option to traditional home cinema seating providing the ultimate place to relax and spend time with the whole family.

Our clients report back that spending time as a family is perhaps the most important element of their home cinema - kids tend to love the fact they can have the movie experience at home. Parents of older children also enjoy the fact that their children spend time with their friends in the safety of your home. The Integration of a Kaleidescape DVD server can ensure kids only have access to the films you want them to be able to see, films with ratings for older kids wont even show unless you enter your pin, and using the list view you can even view films by length ensuring you have time to enjoy the film before bed time.

Custom Controls design and install the ultimate home cinema rooms, with solutions for a huge variety of budgets.

Written by:

Dave Chester

Custom Controls

http://www.CustomControls.co.uk

Custom Control & Entertainment Solutions - Home Cinema, Multi-Room Audio Video, Home Automation & Lighting Control. Premier Dealers for Crestron, Kaleidescape, Lutron and Bowers & Wilkins.

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DLP Lamp Replacement - So Your DLP Lamp Died?

If you own a rear-projection TV, chances are you will eventually come across the annoying little phenomenon of DLP Lamp failure. Your TV will get dimmer and dimmer as the brightness of the bulb decreases, until eventually there is no picture at all. So what do you do, now that you have this huge TV with no picture?

Well, before you start thinking you have a novelty-sized paper weight, you'll want to see if you can replace the DLP Lamp. Chances are, however, by the time your DLP Lamp dies, your TV will be out of warranty. Luckily it's really not that hard to replace it yourself. There are tons of companies out there that sell DLP Lamps, both as OEM and as a full kit, depending on what you need. OEM comes with just the bulb while the 'kit' comes with the lamp inside an enclosure. The main difference between the two is price and ease of use. OEM bulbs are cheaper, while the kits provide faster installation. All you need for installation are some gloves, a screwdriver and some wire cutters.

One company of particularly good quality is DLP Lamps. Even with OEM orders, each lamp comes with instructions and gloves are supplied as well. If along the way you are unsure about what to do during the lamp installation, you can call them up and they can walk you through step-by-step to insure your lamp is installed correctly. Not to mention the prices are very reasonable and even rival eBay auctions of the same product!

Next time your picture goes out, consider buying a new DLP Lamp before throwing away hundreds or possibly thousands of dollars on a new TV. In fact, it's probably best to keep a spare one laying around, just in case.

DLP Lamps: http://dlplamps.com/

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New Gadgets Provide Home Entertainment Centers In Miniature

One of the most fascinating new types of gadgets on the market is the portable video device. These things are also called portable media or entertainment devices, and are direct descendants of the MP3 player. In addition to the digital audio that MP3 players could provide, portable video devices can play video on built in color LCD screens, display digital photos on the same screen, and many models can even be used to play video games as well. These gadgets have a lot of features built into small packages and come in a tremendous variety of different models that range from very basic models all the way up to home entertainment systems in miniature.

On the lower end of the portable video device spectrum are models that are about the same size as many audio gizmos, yet have a surprising capacity to store video. These electronics can easily fit in the palm of one's hand and display video on a screen only an inch or two across, depending on the model. These gadgets can cost as little as fifty dollars and are available anywhere.

On the larger end of the spectrum are some really impressive electronics. These gadgets have hard drives that are bigger than the hard drives in the computers that many of us are still using, and can store anywhere from dozens to hundreds of hours of video depending on the format that the video is stored in. Archos is a major manufacturer of this technology and builds a ton of features into its higher end models. For example, this company makes one model that has a screen that's over four inches across that has touchscreen functionality. This model has built in WiFi capabilities that enable it to access the Internet in a variety of different locations that have wireless hot spots. It even has a built in Opera web browser and the ability to zoom in on specific parts of a web page in order to allow its user to read the page better. It can also display the contents of its screen on a normal TV set in order to provide better visibility. It can also display PDF files that it has downloaded from the Internet as well.

Archos also provides an impressive array of accessories for its higher end portable video gadgets. For example, it's possible to get various docking stations for the devices that enable them to record video that other devices play. This is especially useful because it provides the option of watching anything on the gadgets hard drive either on the full sized TV set or on the go, and the decision can be made on a moment's notice. Plus, with options of recording video in MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 formats, these high end gadgets give their users a good deal of control over how video is recorded.

If you're a busy person who loves TV and video, these entertainment centers in miniature are the perfect gadgets for you.

J. Hall writes articles about the latest developments in technology, electronics, and television. She'd like to inform you about the latest Dish Network services and how you can find the best Dish Network Promotional Offers.

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