I know im late posting in this but i love home theater much more hands down. for me nothing beats just laying down on the couhc watching a favorite movie, not only that you can even hook up your xbox or computer to the sound system and play videogames on the big screen with surround sound. and its always nice to hear my girlfreind or someone say "it sounds like a theater in here"

the theater i went too tonight when i visited a freind out of town also reminded me of how much i love home theater better... it was probably the worst theater ive ever been too, it was only like 3 dollars for a ticket and the seats where horrible, you couldnt move the armrests or anything so no matter how i sat i was uncomfy.. and sitting through a 3 hour movie (pirates 3) made it even worse.. the movie tself wasent bad, but i couldnt engoy it due to the crappy seating, and this theater only had stereo sound!! i dont even think it was 5.1! i herd almost no bass... wich i just think is really sad for a theater, i have more bass and i live in an apartment building! i never thought i could compare my home theater setup to a real theater and mine actually turn out better... but i guess on the bright side.. it was only 3 bucks lol Either way.. home theater beats all, unless were talking about IMAX, thats hard too top.

Home theater wins hands down, I go to the movie thinking "I paid for this?"

2 points:

First, I don't think this was mentioned, but what about when the sound is too loud? I know sometimes the woofers are so awesome (remember the bomb in the asteroid field on Star Wars Episode 2?), but come on the sound can be too loud or too soft or some dope will crank the surround and the dialog suffers.

I don't cotton to surround sound at my setup just yet, I can't afford one that is any good so the money is better with a 2.1 surround setup until I do, so I have a set of Harmon Kardon Computer speakers with subwoofer, it does fine for $6 from the second-hand store (I love that store)

Any way I look at it, I am in full control of the sound .

Second, let me tell you about a little trip to Disturbia I had recently (liked the film, I am a bit of a Labouf fan and the movie was pretty cool). My friend and I show up just in time to catch a couple minutes of the DLP playing the pre-pre-show ads and previews (I like that, I saw a kick-ass Heroes preview last year when I watched a movie), so far so good, it wasn't in keystone (can't bleme them if it wasn't optical keystone, I will take quality over geometry any day), but it was sharp and bright even with the pre-show lighting all on. I looked for Pixels and I didn't see any, and I think it was a 20' diagonal screen, maybe 30'.

Fine I think, about time they invest in a DLP of high quality. Then the film started, the lights dimmed and a garish projector image appears, it scans off the sides of the screen and in this theater the screen goes to all the way to the side walls, so it looks bad, not only that, the jerks have installed an "Exit" light on the screen, not somewhere where we can see it, but right on the edge of the screen, WTF?!?!

I get past that, until I realize that the lights have dimmed and I still can't make out contrast on the screen, and it is flickering like a son-of-a-bitch ( I can't even use a CRT Monitor @60hz, flickering bugs me), but since it is so dim it doesn't bother me all that much.

Upshot, turn down the DLP until it stops making the movie look bad, Or start playing digital movies on it!!

C'mon you dumb movie companies, with hard drives at 500GB for $100 apiece you could have 2 movies in 4 megapixel resolution, striped and parity across 3 hard drives in a re-usable caddy. How much does it cost to print a film? How much does it cost to image a hard drive? For under $10,000-20,000 a screen the media, player, and DLP (or whatever, have you guys seen the new 2-axis "Laser DLP"?), It is ridiculous when a movie theater can't offer a better experience than $600 worth of home theater, including a LL eVo.

Last gripe, quality of movies, nothing in the last 2-3 months has been really worth seeing, Spiderman, crap, etc etc etc. I am more interested in the plot of Who killed the electric Car, or Tron, or the latest "Modern Marvels", Now that TV is in HD, the movies are an insult to our intelligence.

In fact for 10 grand, how about somebody set up a screen in the local high-school Gym and play HD-DVD or Blu-Ray releases. Maybe that can get some news coverage, it would look better than the theaters I go to.

Popcorn, ugh, I am allergic to Soybean, and thier "butter" gives me the worst indigestion, I only like Orville Redenbocker's Pop Secret with the right amount of Yellow butter (not one of these flavorless white butter brands), and proper Sea Salt from the health food store. And they expect me to pay for the privilege of eating that crap they call popcorn? Shame.

I feel ya man, its really sad that home theaters are becoming better than movie theaters, i think home theaters are even cheaper in the long run . i mean you put the 1000 or 600 down (how ever much your going to spend on the projector) and then you buy all the movies you want, or whatever. and you get to buy whatever type of seating you want. comfort is also the big plus side, and you dont have too listen to people behind you talking on cell phones, and also im noticing this alot on movie theater screens now... theres always a black line going accross the screen every once in awhile... i never used to notice it before but man it bugs the hell out of me. but anyways i also love how you could buy a 500 dollar or so projector that would end up being better quality than what you see in the movie theater... just alittle smaller

sometimes they really turn up volume till your ears bleed. I remember once the operator tuned the volume during the commercials and went away. There is a controller board inside the movie theater. Once the movie started the film was awful loud. Finally someone had to get that guy to turn down the volume.

I also hate it when you can hear the slot machines and stuff, that they have standing all the place outside nowadays, during a silent scene.

The best thing about Home theater is, that you can change your opinion. Normally i bring more than one movie from the rental. If i don't like the movie the DVD goes straight back into the cover.
In a movie theater within the first 20 min you realize "Ok, that movie gonna suck" and you have 2-3 hours to think about the money you have wasted and watch a movie that you probably won't like.

Speaking of flickering, I saw Ocean's Thirteen last weekend, and the left side of the screen could not keep a consistent brightness. It was like they had two bulbs in there and the one that lights the left side was burning out or poorly seated or something. Drove me nuts.







Pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel sticking out of the fly of his pants.
Bartender says, "What's with the steering wheel attached to your crotch? Isn't that annoying?"
Pirate says, "Yarr, it drives me nuts."

God that drives me insane! I hate it when they do that.



Yeah, what the hell is the deal with that? You can hardly ever hear the surrounds. It's very lame considering how many surrounds most theaters have.

The way I got mine setup now I will say kills any theater. I have 2 center channels, 2 left fronts, 2 right fronts, 2 large 10" subs, and 4 surround channels. It's audio bliss.

Every Tuesday a new DVD comes out, every Saturday Night is Movie Night In my Home Theater! I see no reason I would ever have to go out to a theater again. The movie starts when I want it to , stops when we need a bathroom break, and if we miss a good scene we can replay it. how many times have you been to a movie and you miss a word? cant rewind in a theater.

This is old, but the talk of theatres being WAY too loud reminds me of a joke from an old Tiny Toons Video.

A couple characters are in a theatre, when some parody of the Dolby logo and chime come on REEEEEEAL loud. Then a deep majestic voice announces, "The audience is now deaf."

Just thought that was kind of funny back then. Guess it all shows how the movie makers are realizing that great special effects still don't make up for an otherwise crappy movie, so they're hoping that loud theatres will.

The theater I work at only has 'real' surround in two of the theaters. The largest is DTS, the second largest is Dolby 5.1. All the rest of them are stereo or mono optical, with the surround signals generated by a circuit.


That would be switching between reels. Films come in reels of about 20-30 minutes of film each, most theaters now splice them together to play the movie, but you can still see a spot in the upper right corner right before the splice and usually you can see the tape or a mark they might put on the film for when they take it apart again. I notice it every time too, so I always know how far into the movie I am

BTW I went to see 'Fantastic Four' in the theater where I work and the three ....largest.... people sat in front of me right after the start of the movie - I had to sit up the whole time to see the screen. And it was crowded, I usually don't like watching with a lot of other people with the exception of during a comedy.

I was in Chattanooga Tennessee this weekend and went to the Imax to watch Dinosaurs 3D.

What a frickin waste of $8.

The screen was 8 stories tall and they went through a 5 minute lecture about how superior the picture/sound was. Then the movie starts and it was literally the worst 3D/Picture I have ever seen. The screen was to dim and the 3D was that blurry crap that hurts your eyes.

I asked the usher if something was wrong afterwards and he was like "What was wrong , this is the most state of the art system out."

I told him to come watch a movie at my house and he wouldn't think so.

Hearing how nice home thaters are from you guys is realy making me want to finish mine. I just have to get my room cleand and then i will start work on it. (link in my signeture). I think the only thing that a home theater will never fully reproduce is the IMAX at the Liberty Science center. Its amazing, The entire aria behind the screen is speakers and the screen is wraped around, i think its something like 130 degrees. It truely is amazing.

Never been to the liberty science center but I think we are close to Imax. I love my theater. of all the things I have built I think this is the most enjoyed. I enjoyed building it, I enjoy watching it, I enjoy bragging about it, I look forward to watching it, after three years the novelty has yet to wear off. I like these so much I build them full time, got a 10.6" design I will start this week.

The home theater might be close to a regular imax, but not the lcs. It has a wrap arround screen so you fell imersed in it. Heres a picture of the outside, the dome like thing is the screen.

I hate those Imax screens. I can't stand having to look left and right to see the picture. Gives me a headache and you miss half the movie.

I agree, a DLP system at home with polarization could probably blow it out of the water.

What type of 3D was it? I ask because I did a 3D monitor project for my final in my computer class, and I set up 2 LL eVo's on a silver screen for Polarized projection before I built the 17" LCD setup (non-projected, just direct-view and half-silvered mirrors.)

Does anyone around know much about the difference in 3D quality setups between regular Imax and a home setup? I know that guy from Spain has the dual 19" 3D projection setup, and he re-encodes his movies into 3D, but I don't know if he has ever compared it to an Imax experience.

I would have thought that it would be superior, but I also think you should expect to shell out $30-50 a ticket if you expect a higher-quality experience.

If your home setup is better, bitch your head off, talk to the manager, talk to the Imax rep, get a refund. if for a qaurter the price of a compact car you can have a better setup, don't take it.

Interesting 3D point, I have never seen a 3D movie (except the ones on my setup), how is it in a "real theater"?

The best 3D I've seen yet is Meet The Robinsons 3D. It was HD , not blurry, and it looked 3D throughout the whole movie.

The 3D at Imax was 3d but it was the blurry 3D like the old Jaws 3D movie. And very dim also.

I don't know anything about home 3d. I'll have to look into it.

I've only seen one iMax movie. (Batman Begins at the Indiana State Museum), but I was fairly impressed. Personally, I've kind of thought of the HD DIY Home Theatres as Min-iMax. But then, that's just me.

You dont like the Chattanooga Imax?.........Whats wrong with you man!?!?! , I know what you mean, the dinosaur movie has crappy 3D, but the Underwater Ocean and Space Station is very cool.

I also noticed that the contrast isn't that great at the cinema, honestly my pj was better, & that doesn't have the best contrast. The lights were dimmed at the time too.

As someone else said, the sound is better at home because of the size of the room, in cinemas the room is too huge so the sound isn't coming from an obvious direction & is washed out.

I love the cinema, as long as it's a big screen, with good projectionist, no kids, no people who can't understand English so they talk through the film in their language, no idiots kicking my chair, no crunching, munching, slurping, rustling of crisp packets, illuminating mobile phones, mobile phones ringing, idiots shouting out the obvious whenever something happens in the film, idiots who clap loudly during the film, if you get a small screen with flat seating arrangement, you have to sit on the front row to see the film, which gives you neck ache & a terrible viewing angle.

Simply put the cinema is great but you want a big screen, & an empty theater unless it's something funny like Borat, the atmosphere in the cinema when Borat was on was great.

I love estimating how huge the projection is at the biggest screen at cineworld when I walk in or out of the auditorium, I'm guessing it's at least 4 UK Houses in size. That to me is the most amazing thing about the cinema.

For my home cinema I have re-created a full cinema playlist; slideshow, adverts, cinema experience ad, trailers, film title screen, anti-piracy warning, everything to make it just like it would be at the cinema. I'm also working on 35mm film effects to add to the video because I'm one of those people who say you can't beat film.

I think the best would be a bit of both: a proper cinema style room but smaller (for better sound), with cinema trailers, 200"+ projection size, 5.1DD, & a large meal.

I like dual LCD, just mirror one of the PJ's to flip the polarization from 45° to 135° and use some polarized 3D glasses from Berezin3d.com

I used a Silver Matte Da-lite screen and it was awesome, the guy from Spain swears by Aluminum paint, the shiny kind with real aluminum. Basically it needs to be a polarization preserving surface so that the glasses you wear will block the light from the PJ that you shouldn't see with that eye.

Dual DLP will work too, just add polarizing at the lens, and of course there is always (ugh) Shutter Glasses, but I don't like them. Upside is you only need one projector, downside is that the cost is much greater the more people try to watch. The passive glasses are like $0.50 or less in quantity, even nice plastic ones are only $2.50.

I played a lot of games in Dual-Mirrored Stereoscopic 3D on my nVidia video card, Tomb Raider Legend was just sick, she is really modelled/animated well let me tell you, and the environments really pop in 3D, especially waterfalls. TMN Sunrise is another game that is kick-ass awesome in 3D, it is just a plain sick game though, like racing meets Tony Hawk's half-pipe and the hot wheels roller coaster track. World Racing 2 VW demo is awesome, they let you drive anywhere, top of mountains to middle of the river, the Tuareg really gets itself going in 4wd.

I used to be an assistant manager/projectionist at a 10-plex and I'm gonna let you all in on a little secret in case you didn't already know: The big movie theatre chains are NOT in the film exhibition business, they're in the CONCESSIONS business.

They want to sell as many snacks as they can, period. Quality presentation comes AFTER the concessions stand. Ever notice that you always pass by at least one concessions stand on your way to the cinema?

So many things can go wrong from a projectionist's point of view that you can always get a better presentation at home if you have a halfway decent setup. Even when the presentation's perfect, you still have to share the cinema with the general public. The best shows I ever had at the cinemas were when I/we stayed late and had private showings (I loved "previewing" movies all by myself in 300+ seat cinemas with the sound cranked. Especially great the night before a huge release )

There are reasons to go to the cinemas: (1) See the movie before anyone can spoil it for you. (2) To get out of the house/be social. (3) For the audience experience. (4) Your setup at home is not as good as the cinema. (5) To support the cinemas, especially the small independent theatres. We wouldn't want Hollywood to stop making movies would we? I'm sure there's others, but I can't think of them.

Bottom Line: HT is better in every way other than the above reasons, and if presentation is most important to you, then HT is the way to go.

I think there's huge advantages and disadvantages to both, and neither is superior. I myself cannot see my local iMax bieng topped in terms of image quality or sound, however the price reduces it's value for money. Likewise some films are btter suited to hom viewing (the Weather Man, Lost in Translation etc) as they are more persoanl and many (at theatres) started shouting at the screen meerly because they where expecting a different film to what they recieved. Hell, I remember the first time I saw Casino Royle I was with a mate and there was a group of around 15 13-14 year olds at the theatre and they started running around and making loud noises (I ended up yealing ath them when they where all in front oif me and they basically froze up then sat down and did not move an inch after). But sometimes you can't beat the atmosphere you get in cinemas (like the yearly charity rescreenings of Serenity or of comedies). What does annoy me however is when someone tries to sing aside Sweeney Todd, bieng a fan of the play it didn't spoil anything, but was damn annoying (to make it even worse they had a terrible voice and where actually asked to leave). But hese are the bad, I've had more good experience with cinemas then bad (ironically the best theatres near me, in terms of quality are also the cheapest (one is for god knows what reason, its a beutifull cinema and extremely cheap, and another one is a cinema that looksrun down on the outside but inside the seats are large and comfy, the screen is as clear as I have seen and the sound is far better then most cinemas). A few years ago they had a buy 1 for two movie deal, and I was getting movies for $2.75c each.

I'll take an art house running 35 or even 16mm reel to reel projectors anyday. Here in Chicago the Music Box, Facets, Gene Siskel, or the U of C Doc Films all stand out, but I'd rather stay at home than go to a Multiplex.

Let's face it... If you're between the ages of 14 and 28, going to the movies is just an excuse to get to third base so you can get to fourth later on.
So you quit going to the movie theaters and what... That just means you go to the the lake on your first date and "do the movie thing" later. LMAO Same differance.

All the best movie theaters here are too expencive for tickets and too uncomfortable. Yet you can't go to the "good" movie theaters on a date that only cost $4-6 a ticket and have reclining seats with fold-down arm rests because you're not going to take a date to a $5 movie theater... Ofcorse you also wind up with being in a different class of people in a $5 movie theater... You know... The kind where every third movie you see a cop walks up and down the theater looking for some rank thug that hasn't had a shower this week...

Blah...

I prefer the movies because my projection isnt that big, YET. `Not to mention I dont have to pop the corn and etc - though I did try and buy a hot air popper here in town and guess what. nothing - not a damn one.

now that said there are certain things you cant do at the theaters which you can do when the kids are in bed and she is looking fine in that towel after a relaxing shower

I do like the atmosphere on a good night with nice fresh bucket popcorn the size of a microwave oven, and a gallon of soda.

I would take an equipped home theater over a movie theater. Unless the movie theater was empty . I like my peace and quiet while watching movies. So I usually go and watch movies in the morning whenever there is a new movie the theaters I want to watch. Still jammed packed, but most of these people who are there in afternoon know to shut up during a movie.

Only thing I have close to a home theater is a 32" HDTV and a PS3 with nearly 400gb worth of dvd rips and hd rips.

I actually haven't ever taking a date to a movie. Though I think i've asked friends if they wanted to go (and I think they thought that was my intention, which I only realized later).

I love going to our "local" sneak preview on mondays. It costs me only 5€ (7,5€ is the normal price) and it is so freakin funny. We have a trailershow, that indicates the upcomming movie. The movies are in their oroginal language (usually they are dubbed). And everybody can scream out comments, make jokes, laugh loud or boo. Some movies are shown weeks before they get release oficially. I have seen "eagle eye" three weeks before release for example.
I recognized a not so good contrast and not so dark black on the screen and in some theaters the bass could be cranked up more but it is ok. I barely heard any cellphones ring during my last visites to cinemas.

-sNOOp- from Hamburg, Germany

I recently completed my RPTV conversion / home theatre and am surprised at how much we use it. At 56" the screen is large enough for viewing and still small enough for the boys to use it for first person shooters. I loved going to the theatre when I was younger but find the crowds and the cost to be a little to much to bear as I get older.

It's nice to have a good home cooked meal and then curl up on the couch with your loved one and enjoy a theatre experience with out leaving your home. I never though a bit of of DIY technology would make my life better but it has.

My thanks to all those who blogged their builds and made it possible for me to build mine.

I know this is a old post ,but I just have to say this......The last time I went to a MT ....Paid to much,to much noise ,laser pin kept flashing across the screen..
....then at the end of the movie they forgot to turn on the stair lights and my sister came flying down the stairs and past us and landed on the floor between rows three and four. Now you know why I love my HT....Toto , there's no place like home.