Latin America. Many people live excited to get a home theater and yet for lack of technical information, for inattention or for lack of common sense, they make huge mistakes that ruin the emotional experience that can produce a true and well-formed home theater.
Therefore, the Mexican company Multimedia has prepared a list of the most obvious and everyday failures:
1. Buy the cheapest possible components. If you are buying an extremely cheap AV receiver (according to the public price, you easily got it on the web) it is likely that a) it will be repaired b) it has been at the home of a client who did not know how to treat it or c) it is obsolete. But also a cheap component will not have the necessary analog and digital inputs and outputs with updated protocols (HDMI 2.0, HDCP 2.2, 4k HDR and more), so sooner or later you could regret it.
2. Do not consider investing in cables and accessories. It is another common thing, people make a single expense and do not consider that they will need decent quality cables, an AC line conditioner, a universal remote control (programmed by an expert) or a renewed access point to connect the system to the Internet. Some fans leave it for later and others simply never add these valuable equipment that can make a noticeable difference in a graceful TV room.
3. Do not connect to the internet, everything that needs to be connected. Today virtually every component of a home theater must be connected to the network. Preferably or almost necessarily wired by Ethernet: Smart TVs, streamers such as Google Chromecast, Apple TV or Roku, Blu-ray readers, AV receivers, even certain speakers ... Internet connections are used to solve problems, respect the system, to obtain more and better content or to have the update firmwares. This is how it is necessary to consider the purchase of a Gigabit Ethernet switcher that must be located in the furniture of the entertainment center.
4. Do not purchase a service and maintenance policy. At the basic level, every TV 50 inches and above should be purchased with a service policy. Failures by a "burned" pixel are more common than you think. When that happens, the panel has no repair you have to change it and that costs a fortune. In addition to the fact that very few brands have collection or home service, if you have a technical problem with your TV and do not have a service or extended warranty policy, be prepared to suffer. When you have hired a professional company that does the integration and installation services of all the components, pay the service policy, we assure you that in the long term you will be saving a lot of money.
5. Bad TV location. The TV should go to the center of the room and the eyes of seated viewers should be located – on an imaginary horizontal line – between the lower margin and the middle of the television. Unfortunately many people place their TV practically in the sky which forces them to tilt their necks or establish really uncomfortable positions in the armchair. Don't. In the long run, the nape of the neck and even the spine can be damaged.
6. Buy a TV of 50 thousand pesos and a sound of 5 thousand pesos. We see this every day. People minimize the sound impact to achieve the true home theater experience. Believe us, a "sound bar" can never be compared to a speaker system with unreserved amplification.
7. Bad lighting. In this same sense we will have to take care that the location of the TV is not in front of a large window that does not have blinds or curtains, even the side windows can cause many problems of reflection. Whether the lamps at night or the sun could be reflected causing discomfort in the eyes and causing us to lose part of the action in the scenes. Eye, this is magnified in curved televisions.
8. Do not calibrate the television. You may have bought the non-plus-ultra TV on the market with the most fascinating features possible, but if you haven't done or paid an expert professional to do an image calibration for you, you're wasting much of your investment money. In a standard way, the image of the TV's is oversaturated in color and contrast and with a lot of processing that instead of improving the image causes us to consider it more false than the argument of a Mexican telenovela. Let yourself be helped by a professional or do a lot of research on the internet, the key word: ISF calibration.
9. Inadequate ventilation. Putting components in a bookcase or a table without adequate ventilation will bring you many problems. Rest assured that one or more components will fail in the short term and will considerably reduce the life of all equipment. Heat kills.
10. Put the speakers on the floor. Unless it is large tower speakers (floorstanding) or a subwoofer, you should not put speakers on the ground, not only are they dangerous for children, but they are heard very badly and will never have the dispersion to cover a certain area. Don't.
11. Do not locate surround speakers. This is more common than it seems, many fans are made of a 5.1, 7.1 or higher system but by decision, for convenience or laziness, they never place the rear or side speakers where they should go; they are thrown around next to the TV, behind a piece of furniture or on top of a shelf without proper orientation. Forget the surround feel of ambience and spectacular sound effects.
12. Failure to make proper placement and calibration of all speakers. The same thing we pointed out with the TV. Today, surround processors offer powerful DSPs to calibrate and adjust speakers according to the acoustic characteristics of the room. It is a chip-based platform that "studies" the conditions of the place and establishes frequency response and appropriate levels for each speaker. It is done using a calibration microphone. Do it, changing the sound is like day to night.
13. Do not foresee electrical problems. It is clear that the electricity that reaches our homes is not only unstable and "dirty", but has "ups and downs" in current and voltage that can spoil our equipment in a second. Do not connect your valuable components to a 20-weight contact strip. Buy a suitable voltage regulator and better yet, an AC current conditioner and breathe easy. If you suspect that there are electrical problems in the installation of your home, urgently turn to a certified electrician.
To achieve a high-performance TV room or home theater, you have to dedicate time, money and a lot of research. It is possible to do it autonomously as long as the fan puts effort, dedication and responsibility. Otherwise it will always be better to turn to a truly professional company in the design of TV rooms and dedicated home theaters.
