Podcast #904: Dedicated Home Theater vs. Media-Friendly Living Room

Dedicated Home Theater vs. Media-Friendly Living Room

We saw this poll over at AVS Forum, Dedicated Home Theater vs. Media-Friendly Living Room and since we are going through this same analysis we thought it would be good to share the results and discuss the pros and cons of each. At the time of this writing the results are:

Dedicated Home Theater 51%

Huge TV in Living Room 44%

Projector in Living Room 5%

Dedicated Home Theater

Pros

• Replicates the distraction-free environment of commercial cinema
• Optimal speaker placement
• Total control over lighting
• Huge screen sizes are achievable with front projection
• A basic rig is not expensive
• Acoustically transparent screens are available for realistic dialog placement
• 3D still supported
• Dedicated seating includes features like reclining and cup holders
• Maximum immersion for movies and gaming

Cons

• Requires dedicating a room to nothing but home theater
• Can't do "true" HDR (i.e. reproduce 1000-nit highlights)
• A high-end room is very expensive to put together

Huge TV in Living Room

Pros

• You have an excuse to put a huge TV in the living room
• Reproduces HDR as its mastered (>1000 nit highlights)
• Compatible with Dolby Vision
• Also usable for sports and gaming and regular TV
• Living rooms already have seating, no need to buy more furniture
• Usable in the daytime

Cons

• Huge TVs are expensive
• Limited speaker placement options
• Easier to get distracted in a living room
• You still need to control lighting (shades, dim lights) when watching movies
• Limits in terms of screen size, extremely high prices above 85"
• A great projector in a dedicated room can look better than most TVs when playing SDR content

Projector in Living Room

Pros

• You can have a huge screen in your living room, larger than any TV
• Roll-up screens can make the system "disappear" when not in use
• Can be combined with a TV for "best of both worlds"
• UST laser light source projectors sit inches for the screen and last for years
• Affordable 4K e-shift projection gets bright and looks good

Cons

• Installation costs are high
• UST laser light source projectors remain expensive
• No true HDR (i.e. reproduce 1000-nit highlights)
• Limited options for acoustically transparent screens
• Requires control over ambient light for daytime use
• Limited speaker placement options
• Easier to get distracted in a living room