How does a Home Theater work?
The main part of a home theater system is its Audio Video Receiver that takes input from a CD/DVD player or Blu-ray disc player, decodes the sound in Surround sound format and sends video output to TV or some visual display unit and different audio channels to multiple speakers in a proper home theater setup. As we have already told, there are two options available with home theater setup. You can either go for cheaper, easy-to-setup theater-in-a-box or an expensive, high-quality custom, assembled unit. However, the selection depends upon your budget and what kind of performance you expect from the individual components.
First, let’s consider the widely popular option - Home Theater all-in-one.
Home Theater (all-in-one)
 Samsung HT-TX75T Home Theatre |
A Home Theater-in-a-box comes with all essential components of a basic home theater like CD/DVD player, AV Receiver, amplifiers, Surround sound decoder into a single unit and a set of speakers and subwoofers are also provided when you buy a unit.
The compact design, cheaper prices, easy-to-install & use features, multiple connection options make many customers to go for home theater-in-a-box instead of assembled, custom home theater setup which is usually expensive and needs special skills to install.
However, the downsides of home-theatre-in-a box setup are also significant, when it comes to the quality of speakers and powerful sound features. As these units come with specifications set by the manufacturers and are designed to suit specific room conditions, they may lack critical sound features when used in larger rooms. For higher end installations, you need to look for a custom unit, as theatre-in-a box units have fewer options to cater your needs. Despite its excellent performance in home theater setup, the performance could be a bit disappointing when it comes to playing music from CD or audio DVD format. Although home-theatre-in-a-box system comes with various connection options, it largely depends upon models. While higher end models can provide connection to multiple devices like game consoles, VHS and cable or satellite TV input, cheaper models may have just one or two options.
Audio Video Receiver
An Audio Video Receiver (A/V Receiver) in a home theater system is made of various components each performing different task. In a home theatre-in-a-box, it includes input devices such as DVD player. In a custom home theater setup, it is a separate unit that is connected to input sources like VCR, DVD or Blu-ray or satellite TV cable.
 Sony ES AV Amplifier  Sony HD Home Theatre Receiver |
The functions of A/V Receiver are as follows:
- Receives audio and video information from audio & video input sources via separate cables.
- The pre-amplifier unit amplifies the sound signals and sends the sound signals to various sound channels via the sound decoder. It also outputs the video signals to the TV set.
- The Surround sound decoder receives the signals, processes and sends them to the appropriate channel amplifier.
- The Channel Amplifiers, then, send the audio information in surround sound format to the various speakers.
Home Theater Path Diagram
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Audio/Video input devices
The visual experience of home theater largely depends upon this component. With wide ranging input options available now, the priority should be on reproduction of picture preferably on a larger screen with more picture details. For that, there cannot be a better option than a DVD player or a blu-ray disc player. If you can get HDTV programmes on your cable network, make sure that your a/v receiver has connection options to enjoy HDTV in your home.
Video output
HDTV enabled plasma TV or LCD TV are excellent options. For enhanced home theatre experience, choose a larger screen (over 26") depending on the room size. Rear-projection TV and video projectors are suitable for dedicated, home theatre environment but will be very expensive. You may also use a large sized, flat screen CRT TV when you are bound by any budgetary considerations.
