Home theater lighting: control and ambience

Room lighting control is an important aspect for home theaters, especially if you have a front projector and screen setup. Video projectors often require a controlled lighting situation due to the low brightness of their screens. Room ambience is another important function of lighting during a visit, as you most likely don’t want your guests to sit in the dark (unless you’re a Really creepy horror movie). Reflected room lighting is a consideration, as you don’t want glare on the screen, whether it’s ambient light from a window or just reflections from a lamp inside your room. Ambient window lighting is important when determining your living room layout or designing a dedicated viewing room. Of course, a dedicated room would be better without windows, if you have the luxury of designing a room from scratch.

Glare control and image enhancement

Controlling room lighting is relatively easy with a little planning. If you want to incorporate your home theater within your living room or family room, you’ll want to position your video screen in a way that any ambient light on the screen is reduced or eliminated altogether. Whenever we move into a new house, one of my first considerations (much to my wife’s annoyance) is where to put the TV in our living room. Since video is my profession, I plan our living room layout around the TV and entertainment center (again much to my wife’s annoyance). The TV is always placed at an angle away from the main window in the room to eliminate window reflections on the screen. Our living room lamps have screens that direct the light downwards and are slightly translucent to minimize reflections. Since I have a front projector and screen in the living room, in addition to the 32″ Mitsubishi that we use for normal viewing, we have vertical blinds that do a good job of darkening the room. We also have velvet curtains that can pull both sides of the screen and they do a great job of providing a controlled lighting environment for our projector.

set the mood

Wall sconces positioned along the sides of your room to create ambience while viewing in a dedicated movie theater are a nice touch and lend to the theater atmosphere. Depending on the overall decor and theme of the dedicated room, sconces can be simple or elaborately eye-catching, like the movie theaters of yesteryear. Basic sconces can be found at your local Home Depot or lighting store. More elaborate theatrical-look chandeliers are available at specialty stores. A dedicated room will benefit from remote controlled lighting, or at least add a touch of class to your theater. There are many varieties of remote control lighting that can be controlled with your standard controller or included within a programmed macro command on one of the many all-in-one macro type remotes, like the Harmony H659, which I’m quite glad to own.

Regardless of whether you’re incorporating a system into your living room or planning a dedicated room, the principles of home theater lighting are the same. No glare or reflections on your video screen and enough ambient lighting for your guests while viewing. If you have any further questions about home theater lighting, please feel free to use the contact form at http://www.Home-Theater-Systems-Advice.com/contact.html and I’ll be happy to answer any of your inquiries to the best of my ability. You can also find more resources for home theater lighting and components at http://www.Home-Theater-Systems-Advice.com, from component selection tips for beginners to room design and acoustic considerations.