Home Theater Buying Guide

What makes up a home theater?

The idea of a home theater means different things to different people, but a complete home theater usually includes some or all of the following:

A high-definition LCD TV or Plasma TV
An audio receiver with a decoder for either Dolby Digital or DTS
A 5.1 or 7.1 surround-sound speaker system
A DVD player or Blu-ray player

Picking the right TV

The television sits front and center in your home theater system. It's typically the first piece people will notice and the piece that people will most strongly associate with your home theater setup. Make sure it's making the right statement.

High-definition TVs

High-definition TVs are mostly found in two types nowadays: LCD and plasma. Either one can give you extraordinary high-definition quality, but plasma will generally be superior in terms of clarity, contrast and a sharply defined picture through even the most high-intensity action. Of course, this also means that plasma-screen TVs will have a heftier price tag. Every day the quality of LCD high-definition TVs gets closer and closer to that of plasma, and the concerns over quality in early LCD TVs (such as blurring during high motion, washed-out colors and poor contrast) are largely a thing of the past. Regardless of which type you choose, it's always nice if you get a chance to experience the picture quality first-hand before you buy, so you know exactly what you're getting.

Don't forget that if you are looking to use a Blu-ray player or watch high-definition channels, you'll need a high-definition TV to get the best picture quality. You can certainly use a Blu-ray player without a high-definition TV, but you'll want to upgrade to a high-definition sooner or later so you can experience the fantastic high-definition picture quality that Blu-ray is capable of.

Standard-definition TVs

You can always use your existing television as the foundation for your new home theater system. While you won't be able to watch the high-definition channels that are becoming increasingly prevalent, nor watch Blu-Ray videos in the high resolution that they're capable of, you can still enjoy DVD and Blu-Ray movies and videos. If your television has component (i.e. Y/Pb/Pr) inputs, then you can get 480p progressive-scan output from a DVD player or a Blu-ray player which gives a smoother, clearer picture than standard 480i interlaced video.

Get immersed by surround sound

For many people, the difference between "just a television" and a home theater system is having a surround-sound system. To get 5.1 surround sound, you need two pieces: the speakers and a receiver that supports 5.1.

5.1 speaker systems

A 5.1 speaker system consists of a total of six speakers: the basic left and right speakers, the surround left and right speakers (to give you sound from behind you), the center channel speaker to give mid-range clarity to dialogue and other sounds and the subwoofer to give everything a strong low-end. While you can always piece this system together yourself, you'll often get the best sound if you buy a 5.1 speaker system that's been pre-matched. A set of matched speakers, which generally just means speakers of the same brand and same basic model, will have the most balanced sound because all of the speakers will have similar tonal qualities. If you buy your 5.1 speakers as a set, you can be confident that everything will be matched for optimal audio quality.

5.1 audio receivers

The audio receiver plays a simple role: take the audio output from the source -- be it from a DVD player, Blu-ray player, cable TV, satellite TV or something else -- and pass it along to the speakers. But don't let this simplicity fool you -- many consider the receiver to be the absolute heart of a home theater system. It's the receiver that makes 5.1 surround sound possible. Many receivers will include a decoder for one or more surround sound standard, such as Dolby Digital or DTS, and most can also take a basic stereo input and up-mix it to play over all of the surround sound speakers.

With DVDs, it was sometimes hit-or-miss when you wanted a surround sound standard that your receiver could decode, although Dolby Digital and DTS have become increasingly common over the years. If you upgrade to Blu-ray, then you can be confident that every Blu-ray disc will have both a Dolby Digital and a DTS track, so you can safely pick a receiver that supports one or both of those standards and know that you'll be getting phenomenal surround sound audio from all of your Blu-ray movies and videos.

Pre-matched home theater systems

If you're feeling less-than-confident about putting together your own receiver and speaker system setup, consider a complete home theater system. These systems generally include a DVD player, audio receiver with decoder and 5.1 speaker system -- everything you need but the TV to have a great home theater setup.

Stick with DVD or upgrade to Blu-ray?

If you've got a DVD player and a vast library of DVDs and videos, then you may be hesitant to replace your player with a Blu-ray player. If you're going to use a standard-definition TV for your home theater, as long as it has component inputs and your DVD player supports progressive scan, then you can already get the best picture quality possible short of upgrading to high definition.

Of course, if you choose to upgrade to Blu-ray, make sure you get a model that will play your existing library of DVDs -- which shouldn't be difficult, as nearly every Blu-ray player will play DVDs. If your home theater is going to include a high-definition TV, you'll need a Blu-ray player to get the extraordinary high-definition picture quality that your TV is capable of. DVDs have video up to 480p, which generally means 640 x 480 standard screen or 720 x 480 widescreen with progressive scan output; however, a high-definition TV can show higher resolutions like 720p and 1080p, and you'll need a Blu-ray player or high-definition TV channels to get input at those resolutions.

Don't forget the cables!

No home theater system is complete without the cables to connect everything together. Depending on what components you buy, some may include the cables you need. Often times the easiest way to find out exactly which cables you need is to look up the installation guides for the pieces you'll be buying and see which cables you should use to get the best possible connections between them.

For connecting Blu-ray to a high-definition TV, this typically means an HDMI cable.HDMI is convenient because it carries both audio and video signals over the same cable; if you're using a home theater receiver with surround sound decoder as a video switcher, then you can simply run the HDMI cable from the Blu-ray player to the receiver, then another HDMI connection from the receiver to the HDTV to carry the video signal.

If you aren't able to use HDMI, then you'll need separate audio and video cables. Some high-definition TVs have DVI connections instead of HDMI; however, DVI connections on a Blu-ray player are uncommon, so you'll probably need an HDMI-to-DVI cable. If you're connecting a Blu-ray or DVD player to a standard definition TV, you'll need component (i.e. Y/Pb/Pr) cables to get 480p resolution. If your TV doesn't support progressive scan, then you'll want to use an S-video cable, with a composite (sometimes just called coaxial) cable being your least-preferred option.

As for the audio cable, an optical audio cable (typically in the TOSLINK form-factor, although there's also a mini-optical connector) or a coaxial digital cable can carry Dolby Digital or DTS signals from your Blu-ray or DVD player to your receiver, and optical audio cables are known for being the least susceptible to any kind of electrical interference. If your player has the decoder built-in, then you may have "multichannel analog" output, which is basically six coaxial outputs, one for each speaker. Often you won't see this kind of cabling unless you want to use one of the high-bandwidth 7.1 surround sound formats that Blu-ray discs may support, such as Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio, but your receiver doesn't support HDMI. When in doubt, always feel free to check with the manufacturer to make sure you're getting the best cables for your setup!