Technology is a large part of our day to day existence, and has redefined our houses. In the world’s richer countries, possessing a Hi Def flat screen TV seems almost ubiquitous, and full surround-sound (once the sphere of nerds and audiophiles) is quite standard. Combine that with live TV, games consoles and blu-ray dvd players by pausing and rewinding – you have a awesome entertainment package.
As the millennium dawned, many of the so-called pundits foreseeing what the home of the future would look like largely disregarded the growth television and home recording systems would make, in its place directed on energy efficiency, automation and refrigerators that insult your intelligence by informing you when you’ve run out of milk.
Dedicated media rooms used to be only for the mega-rich, but as the cost of hardware has dropped noticeably, they have developed into a far more classless scheme. You can now outfit a room as a distinct media space as modestly as UKP5,000. Needless to say, you could easily budget for £100K if you were feeling especially extravagant, but you can authentically get remarkable effects for sensible amounts.
Frequently, expert suppliers now put in home cinemas as part of a refurbishment or new-build project. Designers and retailers state that a growing number of clients are searching for furniture to complete their media rooms such as disc storage, in addition to ways of concealing cabling and other gear. A lot of folks also want to include existing audio visual equipment such as IPod and MP3 decks, CD players and amplifiers. You can opt foroff the shelf or custom made cabinetry to house all or some of your gear. These can be created to contain plasma or LCD screens which can be lifted on a scissor jack when required and hidden in the cabinet when not in use. The most current equipment is exampled by Infra Red repeater systems that permit all of the equipment to be enclosed anywhere in the room or even the house and remote controlled. The most labour saving option is to have a single touch screen of remote controls which can organise your entire equipment, in addition to electric blinds and the lighting.
Home cinema is now a reality, and is destined increasingly mainstream within a few years. The future could see self-styled 4-D cinema could start to make inroads into our homes as well. 4-D cinema combines 3D visuals and audio with virtual effects such as wind, rain and vibration. And businesses including Apple are already working on holographic cinema, where images in 3D can be seen without without 3D specs from any position or angle. If any home cinema set up could ever truly replicate the cinema experience is open to question, though.